One Christmas Eve

by Robin Patchen

  “So maybe…”

  The engine died. No weird noises, no warning.

  “What happened?”

  The car slowed to a stop.

  Tallia shifted into park and turned the key. Nothing. She was in the middle of the road.

  Blake’s taillights grew smaller in the windshield and turned at the corner.

  Tallia grabbed her purse to get her emergency auto card out and then remembered. “No! No, no, no! He has my wallet!” She reached into her coat pocket for her phone and panicked. “I don’t have his number, either.”

  “I’ll call Eli.” Kelsey dialed the number. A moment later, she hung up. “His phone is still off.”

  Tallia prayed the car would start and turned the key. Nothing. She counted to ten and tried again. Still nothing. She had to get in touch with Blake. Without her wallet, they were in serious trouble.

  “We can’t just sit here,” she murmured.

  A truck pulled up behind them.

  Tallia checked the rear-view mirror and through the glare of its headlights, saw a tall figure step out and walk towards them. She locked the car doors and met Kelsey’s gaze. “It’s OK.” Her voice shook. “I’ll call 9-1-1.”

  The figure knocked on her window.

  She could only see a coat. A familiar coat.

  He stooped down and looked inside. “Tallia? Are you guys OK?”

  Blake. Thank God.

  She breathed the prayer with heartfelt relief and rolled down the window. “Yeah. The car just…died.”

  “Huh. OK. Sorry it took us so long to get back to you. I had to circle the block. This is a one-way street.”

  “Right.” She took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart. “Thank you for coming back for us.”

  That same look of hurt crossed his features before he slid on a polite mask. “Of course. Let me try. Can you step out, please?”

  Blake pushed the seat all the way back before folding his extra-large body inside the compact car.

  She stood by the window and watched him.

  “Hmm, interior lights are on, dash lights are on.” He turned the key. Nothing happened. “No clicks. Probably not the battery.” He turned the key again.

  “Huh.” He turned to Tallia. “Were any of the warning lights on?”

  “I don’t—”

  Kelsey interrupted. “The check engine light, the oil light, and the brake light are always on.”

  He nodded slowly. “I see. Well, we can’t stay here. We’re blocking the road. Kelsey, can you get behind the wheel please?”

  “Sure.” Kelsey walked around the car, and after Blake stepped out, climbed in.

  “Tallia, will you drive my car, please?”

  “Sure, I guess.”

  “Thanks. Put on the hazards and follow us.”

  “OK.”

  “Kelsey, put it in neutral and keep your foot off the brake. Turn left at the corner. You won’t have power steering, so you’ll have to really yank it. Can you do that?”

  “OK. But how…?”

  Blake addressed Eli, who was standing beside Tallia. “Looks like we’re pushing.”

  A moment later, father and son leaned against the back of the car, side-by-side.

  Tallia followed in the SUV as the car rolled towards the intersection and made a wide left. A few minutes later, the car pulled over to the curb across the street from a well-lit building.

  It was the diner with a neon sign that read, Always Open.

  “Pull over here, Kelsey.” Blake called as he gave the car a final push. It rolled to a stop. He pointed to the diner’s parking lot across the street, and she pulled in.

  Kelsey stepped out of the car and looked around. “Is this all right?”

  “You OK?” Eli asked him.

  “I’m not that old.” Blake said, and then looked at Kelsey. “You did great.”

  “I can’t believe you guys pushed it so far,” Kelsey said. “Thank you.”

  Eli puffed up beside him. “No problem, babe.”

  Blake turned away to hide his rolling eyes. “Let’s go inside and warm up, shall we?”

  “Yes! I need a bathroom!” Kelsey said.

  The two women headed through the glass doors into the diner.

  Eli cleared his throat. “Thanks for…that.”

  “For what?” Blake said. Why make it easy on the kid?

  “For helping Kelsey out.”

  “No problem.”

  “Should we call a tow truck?”

  “Let me have a look at it first,” Blake said. “Maybe I can fix it.”

  Eli said nothing, but his tight lips and narrowed eyes spoke volumes. Apparently, Eli was skeptical of Blake’s ability to fix a car.

  As they neared the building, he could smell the strong, pungent scent of coffee. He looked at his watch. Almost four in the morning. He yawned and walked through the door.

  Tallia almost crashed into him. His keys, which had been in her hand, fell to the ground with a clatter. “Oh, sorry.”

  “Excuse me,” he said at the same time. He picked up the keys, pocketed them and met her eyes. “You OK?”

  “I need to get my wallet,” she said.

  “I’ll get it for you after we order.”

  “But then—”

  “Don’t worry.” He gave her a wry smile. “It’s definitely not a date.”

  “Definitely not.” She turned and walked back inside.

  “What was that all about?” Eli said.

  Blake exhaled his frustration. “Nothing.”

  The four ordered drinks. Eli, Kelsey and Blake ordered food, too.

  At the table, a silence settled and the longer it drew out, the more uncomfortable it became, until Blake was sure he could feel the tension seeping into his skin like the frigid air outside. He hurried to finish his muffin.

  Eli polished off his eggs. The boy had a cinnamon roll resting on a napkin, waiting to be devoured.

  Blake stopped him.

  “Eli, finish that later. I need your help.”

  Eli gazed longingly at the food before looking up. “Right now?”

  “Yes. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s wrong with that car.”

  “How? We don’t know anything about cars.”

  “Speak for yourself. Come on. Maybe you’ll learn something.”

  Blake turned to the girls as Eli wrapped his snack in a napkin and handed it to Kelsey.

  “You two stay inside please,” Blake said.

  “OK.”

  “Thank you.” Kelsey held out the keys to her car and smiled.

  Blake grabbed the keys and really looked at Kelsey for the first time.

  She was cute. Long, straight brown hair, brown eyes with a girl-next-door kind of look. And she seemed sweet and tenderhearted.

  Blake could see what his son saw in her.

  Back outside the air was cold. Of course, he’d worked up a sweat pushing the car. And back at the park he’d been too keyed up to notice the temperature. He wrapped both hands around his Styrofoam cup of coffee as they walked.

  “Since when do you know how to fix cars?” Eli said.

  “Oh, a long time. My uncle owned a gas station and garage when I was growing up.”

  “In Colorado?”

  “Uh-huh. I went to work for him when I was about thirteen. At first, I just filled up tanks. But he started teaching me, and after a few years there weren’t very many jobs he wouldn’t let me do.”

  “Huh. I didn’t know that.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

  The statement hung like their foggy breath in the cold air as they closed the distance.

  Blake unlocked the door to Kelsey’s car and climbed inside. After sliding his coffee cup into the cup holder, he tried the key in the ignition.

  Nothing.

  He popped the hood, climbed out, and walked to the front of the car, propping the hood up. He stared at the engine.

  It was really dark.

&nb
sp; He pulled his keys out and held them out to Eli. “Run to my car. There’s a flashlight in the glove box. And there might be a rag, or some tissues in there, too.” Blake pulled the Broncos cap off his head. He hated wearing hats, and in this darkness, it shouldn’t be necessary. “Here,” he said, handing the hat to his son. “Throw this in the backseat.”

  Eli set his coffee on the sidewalk, and then ran to the SUV.

  Blake checked the battery connections. Solid. He really didn’t think it was the battery.

  A streetlight buzzed on the far corner, illuminating the area slightly, but the car’s hood cast the engine in shadow. He couldn’t see much at all. He searched and found the dipstick handle just as Eli returned.

  “Here you go.” He handed Blake a handkerchief.

  “Thanks. Shine the light for me.” Blake pulled the dipstick out, wiped it off with the handkerchief, and slid it back inside. He pulled it out again. “Shine it right there.”

  Eli did so, illuminating the end of the dipstick.

  Well, that’ll do it.

  He pulled out his phone.

  “What’s Kelsey’s cell phone number?”

  Eli rattled off the digits, and Blake dialed. A moment later, the girl answered.

  “Hey, it’s…” Mr. Carmichael sounded wrong. Blake sounded too familiar. He sighed and said, “Eli’s dad. We need to have it towed. Is there a garage your family uses?”

  “Um, not really. My father always fixes the cars. Are you sure it’s dead?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. There’s no oil in the engine.”

  “Oh. Can we just put oil in it?”

  Blake resisted the urge to laugh. “I’m sorry. It’s too late for that. What’s your address?”

  “You can’t have it towed to my house! My parents will find out and they’ll kill me.”

  Blake grabbed his coffee from inside the car, listening to Tallia’s voice in the background. It was muffled, but he could imagine what she was saying.

  Finally, Kelsey came back on the line. “I guess I’ll have to call my parents.” She gave him the address and hung up.

  Blake felt sorry for the girl as he dialed his auto service.

  Eli caught Blake’s gaze. “I’m going to put this stuff back in your car, check on Kelsey, and get another coffee. Want one?”

  Blake nodded.

  A tired female voice said, “Sorry for your wait. How can I help you?”

  After explaining the predicament, Blake rattled off his membership number and told her where he was. He was looking at the street sign on the corner to confirm the street name.

  She gasped. “Oh, wait! Are you the Blake Carmichael? From the movies?”

  Tonight, he was too tired not to use his fame in his favor. “I am, yes. And I’m in a bit of a hurry. I’m stranded here with a couple of kids and a beautiful woman, and it’s not a very nice part of town.”

  “OK, Mr. Carmichael, we’ll have someone out there ASAP.”

  “Thank you very much.”

  “My pleasure. I’m a big fan.”

  “Thanks. If you get that tow truck out here fast, I’ll be a big fan of yours, too.”

  The woman giggled as she ended the call.

  Sometimes fame worked for him. In fact, it worked for him a lot—but never when it came to his son.

  Never when it really mattered.

  7

  Blake leaned against the car.

  Eli walked across the parking lot towards him. He handed his father a fresh coffee and leaned on the car beside him. “What’d they say?”

  “They’re on their way.”

  Eli nodded and sipped.

  Clouds rolled in above them, reminding Blake of the red light on the Hancock building. Maybe the rain would hold off until they got home.

  Home. How he wished Eli’s home was his own. Which reminded him of a question he’d wanted to ask Eli for some time. It was so rare his son wasn’t angry with him. Now seemed as good a time as any. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “What do you think about your mom getting married again?”

  The boy’s mouth flattened into a tight-lipped line. He said nothing.

  “Not thrilled, I take it.”

  “It’s fine.”

  Silence settled as anger rolled off Eli like a thick, gray fog. This was the first time he’d seen Eli angry with Amber, not him. An interesting turn of events.

  “Don’t you like the guy?”

  “He’s fine. It’s just…do you know why they got married?” He scraped his foot along the ground. It found a pebble, which skipped forward a few feet. “She’s…she’d kill me for telling you this.” In the light from the diner’s sign, Blake could see the bright red creeping up the boy’s neck to his jawline. Eli didn’t turn red when he was angry. But he did when he was embarrassed.

  “If you don’t think you should tell me—”

  “You’re going to find out soon enough.” He scuffed his sneakers on the ground again, took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “She’s pregnant.”

  Blake couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his lips. Seeing his son’s look of horror, he slapped his hand over his mouth and tried to stifle it. “I’m sorry. It’s not funny. It’s just…holy cow.”

  Eli’s lips twitched. “Holy calf,” he said with a little chuckle.

  “I can’t believe it. What a…no wonder you’re mad at her. How embarrassing.”

  “No kidding.”

  “Obviously it was an accident.” Blake said, trying to stifle his snickers. “And I’m proud of her for not, you know, getting rid of it.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “You’re not excited about having a sibling?”

  “The kid’s going to be seventeen years younger than me. And only a half-sibling. And now everything is going to be all about the baby. Which is fine. Whatever.”

  Blake’s smile faded. He wrapped his arm around his son’s shoulders. “You know, when you were born, it was like…like I grew a new heart. I still loved your mother like I had before, probably more. But I had this whole new, amazing capacity to love. And although I never had a second child, I imagine it’s like that with each new one. Your mother won’t love you one bit less because of this new baby. In fact, if you help her out a little bit, she’ll probably love you even more.”

  Eli sniffed and nodded. His son was tearing up.

  The thought brought a lump to Blake’s throat. “Thanks for telling me. I promise I won’t let on that I know.”

  “Sure.”

  “You know, if it gets to be too much at baby central, you can stay with me anytime you want for as long as you want. Provided your mother agrees.”

  Eli ducked away from his father’s arm. “It’ll never get that bad.”

  Blake let the insult roll off of him.

  They sipped their coffees.

  Blake tried not to picture his ex-wife’s shock at finding out she was pregnant, lest he break into laughter again.

  Eli shivered. “Should we go inside to wait?”

  “You go ahead. I’ll stay here.”

  Eli looked longingly at the coffee house. “It could be awhile.”

  “It won’t take that long.”

  “But aren’t you cold?” Eli wrapped his arms across his torso. “I’m freezing.”

  Blake was cold. But it wasn’t as frigid as the weather inside. He and his son were getting along, and he didn’t want to change that, but now that the memory of earlier confronted him, he felt he had to. “Unfortunately, your girlfriend thinks I’m a pothead. She told her aunt that, and they both hate me. Frankly I’d rather take my chances freezing to death than withstand an hour of those two shooting invisible daggers at me.”

  Eli cleared his throat. “Don’t you smoke pot?”

  “I haven’t smoked since high school. I can’t stand the stuff.”

  “Oh. I just assumed.”

  “Pot is how I started, though. That’s why, when I heard you were…” He gulped his c
offee. It burned his tongue and warmed him up at the same time. Thank God he’d gotten to Eli in time. “When you were looking for pot, it scared me to death. I started smoking pot in high school. I didn’t do it long, and I didn’t do it often, because I never liked it that much. But I had friends who did. They were living at home and working crappy jobs, but they had bright futures, big plans. But they kept smoking. I’m pretty sure they’re still living at home, working crappy jobs. Marijuana steals your ambition. And it leads to harder drugs. At least it did for me.”

  “So you moved on from pot to other drugs.”

  Blake nodded.

  “Which drugs?”

  “Cocaine was my drug of choice. I don’t like needles.”

  “Do you still do any?”

  A quick surge of anger. “You do know what rehab is, don’t you? Because I was in rehab for a long time. I’ve been clean for almost two years.”

  “Yeah, but people relapse all the time.”

  He gripped his cup tighter. It buckled on the edge, and he loosened his fist. “Not me. Never.”

  Eli’s tone turned angry. “You can’t know that. How do you know you won’t start again tomorrow?”

  Blake closed his mouth and swallowed his retort.

  Would Eli ever understand the changes God had done in his life? Would he ever trust his father again?

  “I gave my life to God and I trust Him to help me. I take it one day at a time and believe God will give me the grace to handle each obstacle as it comes.”

  “Sounds like useless clichés.”

  Silence filled the space between them.

  Eli didn’t understand.

  But Blake wasn’t going to defend himself or his useless clichés.

  Eli kicked at the ground. “I’m sorry I told Kelsey you smoked pot. I just…I didn’t know.”

  “OK.” An apology. It was a very small victory, but a victory, nonetheless. “I could teach you about cars if you want.”

  “Oh. Um…I don’t know. Maybe.”

  One more thing they didn’t have in common.

  Eli cleared his throat. “So did Kelsey’s aunt call you tonight?”

  “No, I called her.”

  “How’d you know I was gone?”

  Blake stared down the street.

  They were still close enough that if he strained his ears, he could hear the music from the park. Perhaps a new band had taken the stage.