Nowhere for Christmas

by Heather Gray

  Eli grumbled.

  “What was that?” Avery asked him.

  “You might not think it’s a disaster,” he said, “but I’m still hungry.”

  She laughed some more and said, “Maybe we’ll find an open gas station in the next town.”

  “Not likely,” Gavin said. “It seems that every small town in Oklahoma shuts down at eight o’clock sharp on Christmas Eve.”

  “Okay,” Eli said. “I was on the fence before, but this has now officially become the worst Christmas Eve ever.”

  Everything else must pale in comparison to the loss of food.

  “I respect your priorities, Eli,” Gavin said.

  The words had barely left Gavin’s mouth when his phone started chiming. He reached for it and took a quick look. “I must have a signal. A bunch of texts from Mitchell showed up, and all the ones that were in my outbox are now gone.” Giving the phone a light toss in Avery’s direction, he said, “See if you can call him.”

  She caught the phone and pulled Mitchell’s name up from the contact list and pressed call. It rang one, twice… and then she got disconnected. She tried again. This time she got one ring before it disconnected. After shaking the phone, Avery again pressed the call button. No luck.

  “We lost the signal,” she said.

  “Either you have the worst cell service ever, or a whole boatload of cell towers are down,” said Eli.

  Gavin sighed. “I think the car emits a field of energy preventing communication. Think about it. The only times we’ve been able to call for help are when we’ve been out of the car.”

  Eli shook his head. “Everything seems to be going a lot more smoothly since the car got hit. Maybe the guy who sideswiped it did us a favor.”

  “All I have to do to change that,” Gavin replied, “is press on the gas and bring this baby up higher than thirty miles per hour. Then your teeth will rattle right on out of your head.”

  “Okay, okay,” Eli said. “You have to admit, though, aside from that, we’ve made it through, like, two whole towns, and without any problems. That’s practically a record.”

  Avery’s chin dropped to her chest as she shook her head. “Please tell me you did not just say that out loud.”

  Before anybody could utter a word, the car came to a jarring stop.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Carnegie, OK

  December 24, 10:50 p.m.

  Gavin sat there. He gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white and his hands began to ache. Dread swept through him as he realized that yet one more thing had gone wrong. Through gritted teeth, he managed to ask, “Is everyone okay?”

  “What happened?” Avery asked as she pushed at the airbag that had come flying out at her from the dashboard.

  “I’m never saying things are going good again, I promise,” said Eli.

  “Everyone’s okay?” Gavin asked again, his jaw muscles beginning to relax.

  “Yeah, we’re fine,” Avery said, watching him with her eyebrows drawn together, and questions lurking in her beautiful green eyes.

  “I think the axel broke.” His movements were abrupt as he batted away the deployed air bag. Resting at a drunken angle with the front driver side sunken low, the hatchback felt precariously balanced. Gavin scanned the area outside his window to make sure they were still on the road and not hanging over some heretofore unseen precipice. The way this trip had been going, finding a gaping ravine under his door seemed more likely than finding asphalt. As he searched with his eyes, he saw faded roadway dusted with remnants of the snowstorm.

  Turning to Avery, Gavin said, “I need to get out and see what’s wrong.”

  She gazed at him blankly for a minute before her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “Sorry. I forgot your door’s not working. Hold on.” She opened her door and got out so he could climb across the gearshift and follow suit.

  By the time Gavin exited the car, Eli was out, too. “I’m not sure I want to stay in there alone anymore. Somehow it doesn’t seem safe.”

  “Here’s the problem,” Avery called from the other side of the car.

  Gavin sauntered around to where she stood near the front end on the driver’s side. There was a hole in the road, easily two feet across, and he’d driven the front of the car into it.

  Pulling the stocking cap from his head, Gavin said, “I swear it wasn’t there a minute ago. I was watching the road. I would have noticed something as big as that.”

  Eli and his mother both squatted down to examine the hole.

  “It’s a puddle,” the teen said.

  Avery was fingering the jagged shards of ice at the edge of the hole. “I think it was frozen over. As dark as it is, and with snow blown across the frozen top, it’s no wonder you didn’t see it.”

  Gavin ran his fingers through his crisp black hair. “I’m at the end of my rope here. I’m half-tempted to kick the other tires, but I’m afraid if I do, they’ll fall off, or worse, instantaneously combust.”

  Standing back up, Avery said, “I think the axel’s okay. The car’s small. If we work together, we might be able to lift it out of the hole.”

  “Once we do,” Eli added, “we should light some flares to mark the area around it so nobody else falls in.”

  “I’m sorry, guys,” Gavin said.

  Head angled to the side, Avery gave him an odd look and said, “It’s okay. We’re fine. We can fix this.”

  “This entire trip has been nothing but one disaster after another.” Gavin wasn’t willing to let it go.

  “It’s not such a big deal,” Eli said. “We’re living in a B-rated movie, but a lot more original. I’m not going to have to go to the theater for months after we get back to Albuquerque because nothing those scriptwriters can come up with is going to be able to compare to real life.”

  They were trying to make him feel better, and he appreciated it. Still… “It’s my job to make sure you guys get there safely, and I’m not doing a very good job of that.”

  Her brow furrowed again, Avery frowned and tugged on her scarf. “It was never your job to keep us safe.”

  Shaking his head, Gavin said, “See, I know that. It doesn’t change the fact that I feel responsible for you both. But what happens? You almost got hit the last time we stopped!” With a booming voice, he yelled to the cast-over sky, “This is getting ridiculous!”

  Avery’s eyes moved furtively from him to Eli. Gavin knew what she was thinking. I need to get my son away from the madman.

  Gavin scratched his head then tugged his stocking cap back on. “Okay. I feel better now. Let’s see if we can lift this baby out of here.”

  He approached the car, and Avery took two steps back. Feeling back in control, he winked at her and said, “I needed to let off a little steam. I’m okay now. Honest.”

  She shook her head and said, “You had me worried.”

  “Nah,” he said. “No need to worry about me. I’m as stable as they come. Why, I’m as rock-solid as this car.” When her lips twitched, he asked, “Why is it that you haven’t gotten angry yet? Aside from when you got pulled over back in Amarillo, I haven’t seen you lose your cool once this whole trip.”

  “I heard this sermon once,” Avery answered. “Did you know when God brought His people out of Egypt, He didn’t take them in a straight path to get where they were going? He knew they wouldn’t be able to handle what was on the straight path, so He took them a roundabout way to get there. When we got to the detour after Amarillo, it just kind of hit me. I think this is our roundabout way. It might not make sense to anyone but me, but the way I see it, God is still guiding our path, even though that path isn’t going the direction we want it to go. I’ve still gotten frustrated and haven’t exactly been singing His praises the whole way, but despite that, I just have this feeling inside that we’re exactly where God wants us to be.”

  “For someone who doesn’t feel comfortable talking about her faith, you did a fine job explaining that.” Gavin watched as Avery
became suddenly busy examining the far side of the car. He couldn’t help but smile. He was sure that, if it weren’t for the freezing air that had already turned all their cheeks a ruddy color, he’d have spotted a blush on her face. “Avery?” When she glanced up at him, he said, “That’s a great insight. Thank you for sharing it with me.”

  Then, before she had a chance to say anything in return, he began circling the hatchback. He walked around it twice, using his flashlight to highlight the extent of the hole in the pavement. “Okay, guys. We’re going to put the car in neutral, then we’re going to lift the front end and push the car so it’s back on the road.”

  “We’ll still have to get past the hole,” Eli said.

  Gavin nodded. “I can reverse and drive around it, no problem. It’ll be easier to get the front of the car back than it will be to try to move the whole car forward.”

  “It’s going to be tricky lifting the front and going over the hole as we back it up. We’ve lost the ability to grip an entire section of the car because of the hole,” added Avery.

  “I’m listening if anybody has a better idea.”

  “I’m in,” Eli said. “Tell me where to stand.”

  Avery agreed. “I don’t see a better way. But let’s all please be careful not to fall into the hole. With the water in there, I can’t see how deep it is.”

  Gavin directed everyone to their positions. Eli was on the passenger side of the engine. Avery was in front of the car but close to where her son was positioned. Gavin was alone on the driver’s side by his own design. He didn’t want to risk Avery or Eli tumbling into the hole. Wanting to avoid a face-first plummet into both the asphalt and the pit, he eyed his position and hoped he’d chosen well.

  “On three,” he said. “One, two, three.”

  The car proved lighter than they’d expected. It lifted easily out of the hole, and they were able to move it back onto the pavement with no trouble. Then, as they’d planned, once it was back on solid ground, Eli opened the passenger door, and Avery dove into the car to put the brake on and get it back into park.

  Eli looked around and asked, “Was it supposed to be that easy?”

  Gavin threw his head back and laughed. “I think I finally found a reason to be thankful for the hatchback. There’s no way we could have lifted a giant SUV out of there.” The tension released from his muscles, and he clapped his hand on Eli’s back. “So how about some flares?”

  It took a few minutes to get the flares out, but they used four to mark the area of the hole. Without a way to call out on any of their cellphones, they couldn’t notify the highway patrol. Their best bet was hoping someone saw the flares and was better able to report the problem.

  With nothing else to do, they climbed back into the car and headed down the road again.

  The car definitely had a new vibration to it.

  “Do you feel that?” Avery asked.

  Gavin nodded. “We may not have broken the axel, but I’m pretty sure it’s bent. We’re going to have to limp along, but we should be able to manage. Nowhere shouldn’t be much more than ten miles.” He nodded confidently. “As long as we can get there, we’ll be fine.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Nowhere, Oklahoma

  December 24, 11:40 p.m.

  “We’re almost there,” Gavin said.

  Avery, glad to hear the words, leaned forward in her seat, eager for her first look at Nowhere, Oklahoma. She had come to think of Nowhere as an oasis, a safe haven in the midst of all the troubles they’d had to deal with since leaving Albuquerque.

  The hatchback struggled to climb a hill. Then Gavin, who couldn’t accelerate the car over thirty because of the cylinder, held the clutch in and let the car glide down the other side. Without employing the use of the gas pedal, they were able to pick up some good speed that would give them momentum going into the next hill.

  Avery watched the speedometer. Thirty. Forty. Fifty. Fifty-five.

  A sound, like a tire popping, reached Avery’s ears seconds before the most atrocious odor she’d ever smelled filled the car.

  “What!” came Eli’s choked voice from the back seat before he started gagging.

  Gavin frantically pushed the button to roll his window down. He stuck his head out and started sucking in fresh air. Avery couldn’t do the same. Her window was taped closed against the relief of fresh cold air.

  Tears poured down her cheeks. Her vision was so obscured she almost didn’t see the sign announcing they’d reached Nowhere, Oklahoma. That can’t be right. She had to have seen it wrong. The sign listed the population as three. Three!

  The first building they saw was a general store of sorts. Gavin deftly maneuvered the car into the vacant dirt parking lot, and they all three tumbled from the its interior.

  Eli ran for some shrubs at the edge of the parking lot and doubled over, heaving.

  Avery, collapsed onto all fours and started crawling away from the car.

  When she took a glimpse back, Gavin was yanking everything out of the trunk. She knew she should help him, but her need for escape compelled her toward the store.

  She’d made it about halfway to the steps of the general store before giving up. Sitting cross-legged, she watched as Gavin did what he could to rescue their belongings. Tears continued to course down her cheeks, and there was nothing she could do to stop them. The up-close-and-personal stink of the skunk was worse than anything she’d smelled in her life. Eli left the shrubs and joined her in the middle of the parking lot as the stench surrounding them battered the optimism and fighting spirit that had carried her along thus far on their journey.

  Gavin, his muscles straining, carried both his camera cases and her suitcase to the front porch of the store. Then he carried his backpack, Eli’s suitcase, and the emergency gear the trucker had insisted they purchase. Once he set it down on the front porch, he came back to where she and Eli sat in the dirt.

  He held out a hand to Eli and said, “Come on. Let’s go sit on the steps over there and figure this thing out.”

  Eli took the hand up and ambled toward the steps. When he got close, he spun back to them and made a face. Then he walked in a different direction and sat in the lone rusty chair left out in the parking lot toward the far end of the porch. It had probably been sitting there so the dump truck could collect it.

  Gavin turned his eyes to Avery where she still sat in the dirt. He held out his hand and said, “Your turn. Let’s get you as far away from the smell as we can.”

  “Don’t bother! The luggage stinks to high heaven!” Eli’s words weren’t reassuring.

  Once Avery gained her feet, she asked, “What happened?”

  Gavin sighed, and his voice came in a monotone as he said, “I think we hit a skunk.”

  Avery was tired, hungry, and beyond the limits of what she felt she could endure. A bubble of hysteria rose in her chest. Before she knew it, she was laughing. It was a full-fledged belly laugh. She slapped her hand over her mouth and tried to contain it. When she heard Eli and Gavin joining her, she gave up and let the laughter win.

  She soon found herself gasping for air as the edge of her vision began to darken. Reaching out, she grabbed Gavin’s arm and felt her steps falter. There was nothing she could do to stop herself as she crashed into his side.

  “Avery?”

  Her head cleared, and she heard the concern in Gavin’s voice. His arms were around her, holding her close. When her vision came into focus, she saw a pained look in his eyes, eyes that appeared even darker than usual because of how pale his face had become. She tried to say something, but her tongue felt thick within her mouth and wouldn’t obey her commands.

  “Avery?” he asked again, his jaw working against the words, his grip on her tightening.

  She managed a shaky nod and said, “I’m okay.”

  “What was that? What happened?”

  The tingle of heated embarrassment climbed her neck and passed over her face. Avery broke eye contact and shrugged. “S
ometimes when I get carried away with laughter, I pass out.”

  “Are you sure that’s all it was?”

  Gavin’s voice was tender. Avery was used to people cracking jokes or trying to make her laugh again when they learned her secret. Cruelty endured as a child had taught her to carefully guard her weakness from others. His reaction, the sound of his voice, the way he held her… it was different.

  She could feel herself relaxing into his arms, her body shaping itself against his of its own accord. It had been a long time since a man had held her in anything other than a fatherly embrace. Her gaze skittered across his face, and her breath got stuck in her chest. His eyes were dark obsidian, but it wasn’t worry she saw in them this time. It was…

  Gavin lifted a hand to cup Avery’s chin and bring her eyes back to meet his. His voice was a deep rumble as he asked, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  She nodded, the motion sharp with uncertainty and the press of long-dormant emotions forcing their way to the surface of her consciousness.

  He leaned in, and she closed her eyes. His lips rested against her forehead for the briefest moment, yet her skin felt branded by the touch.

  Gavin let go, releasing her from his hold. Avery, however, continued to feel the warm touch of his arms around her, his lips on her skin. It was a kiss on the forehead, you ninny! That’s how Grandpa used to kiss you. It didn’t mean anything!

  “Hey,” Eli’s voice called from where he sat. “It’s Christmas! You might as well get your cameras out and take some pictures, right, Gavin?”

  “Christmas?” Avery asked. “It can’t be.”

  Eli held up his phone and said, “It’s a quarter after twelve. That makes it Christmas.”

  Avery trudged over to the front steps of the general store. She glowered at a notice on the door before sitting down. “It’s Christmas. We’re stuck here in a town that’s been abandoned. We have nowhere to sleep, no way to exchange gifts, and we don’t even have a Bible with us so we can read from Luke.”