On the top of the paper, Mackenzie scribbled the words Operation Nuptial Nullification.
Hollie couldn’t help herself. She burst out laughing. When she’d picked Mackenzie Kennedy-Jones as her friend, it had been a good choice.
*
The next morning Mackenzie carried two coffee mugs to the kitchen table and placed one in front of Hollie. “Are you ready?”
“As ready as ever I suppose.”
“Just remember you don’t need to explain yourself, justify anything, or tell people what happened. The wedding is off and you’re canceling your booking. Simple. Keep it short, sharp, factual and to the point.”
Hollie giggled. “Like you?”
“Are you saying I’m short?”
“Well …”
“Don’t answer that.” Mackenzie slid a piece of paper in front of Hollie.
Hollie stared at it. “You typed up the list?” There were even little boxes for her to tick when she’d made the cancellation.
Mackenzie shrugged. “The one I made last night at your place was too messy.”
“You are a one-of-a-kind friend. Can I marry you?”
Mackenzie waggled her left hand. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m taken.” She tapped her pen on the piece of paper. “Come on. Enough procrastinating. This is a bit like medicine. It will taste like crap but it’s good for you.”
One hour, some tears and three cups of coffee later, Hollie’s final call was to Qantas. Every box on Mackenzie’s list had been marked off and, surprisingly, it hadn’t been as difficult as Hollie expected. She had lost the deposit for the photographer, her dressmaker suggested once the dress was finished she could sell it on eBay, the flowers were easily canceled, as were the wedding cars. Mackenzie graciously made the call to her sister-in-law Kate to cancel the venue. Kate and her husband Joel owned and operated Eagles Ridge Farm, an organic paddock-to-plate café which was to be the venue for Steve and Hollie’s romantic rural wedding. Kate was more concerned for Hollie than she was about the canceled booking. The difficulty came with the airline.
“What do you mean I can’t change the tickets?” Hollie asked, running a hand across her face.
“The tickets you booked are non-refundable, Ms. Douglas.”
Hollie slumped back in the kitchen chair. “So what am I supposed to do?” She moistened her dry lips. “Can I swap the dates?”
“Yes, but the flight must be taken within twelve months. And we can only change the ticket in your name. The ticket belonging to Mr. Marks will need to be changed by him personally.”
Hollie sighed in relief. “Okay, that makes it slightly better.” She held her hand over the phone and whispered to Mackenzie. “I can change the dates.”
“You’ll need to select a date now though,” the Qantas operator said.
“Now? But I don’t know when I want to travel. I’ll have to arrange more annual leave.”
Mackenzie tapped her on the arm. “I’ve got an idea,” she whispered. “Hang up.”
Hollie stared at her. Mackenzie was grinning as she scribbled on a fresh sheet of paper. “Hang up,” she hissed again.
Hollie frowned and tilted her head trying to see what Mackenzie was writing. Mackenzie turned the paper around and pushed it toward Hollie. On the top in large letters were three words: Operation White Christmas.
“Um, thanks,” Hollie told the Qantas operator. “I’ll have a think about dates and call you back.”
“That’s fine, Ms. Douglas. But as it stands, your flight is still booked for the twenty-first of December.”
Hollie disconnected the call and stared from Mackenzie to the piece of paper then back to Mackenzie, not understanding.
“You don’t need Steve to have your dream white Christmas holiday. Start making a list of things you want to see and do.”
Hollie gnawed on a nail. “It won’t be the same on my own though.” All the things she’d planned to do included Steve. Romantic walks around the Falls, romantic dinners for two, romantic drives around the lake. She sighed heavily. Her childhood dream of having a white Christmas in Canada had started when she read Anne of Green Gables as a child. A dream which was rapidly crumbling around her.
Mackenzie rolled her eyes, grabbed her laptop and opened up a web browser. “Don’t be ridiculous, Hollie. There’s plenty to do without Steve. You can go to Niagara Falls – obviously – build a snowman, go tobogganing or cross-country skiing, make a snow angel, go ice skating.”
Half an hour later Mackenzie had created an entire Operation White Christmas Pinterest board. When she was finished, she sat back, folded her arms across her chest and stared at Hollie with a satisfied grin. “Who said you need a man?”
Chapter 3
The windshield wipers slashed backward and forward and back again across the glass in a useless attempt to clear the windscreen. Fat, fluffy snowflakes fell, blanketing the entire world. It had started out as rain, quickly become sleet then turned into a curtain of solid white, limiting her visibility to almost nothing. Hollie gripped the steering wheel of the hire car tighter as she narrowed her tired eyes and leaned forward, trying to see where she was going. She considered herself a good driver, but she’d never experienced anything like this before.
Dumb, dumb, dumb idea.
It was two days before Christmas, the start of another stunning Australian summer, and yet, because of her friend’s harebrained plan, Hollie was driving through a snowstorm in New York.
New York State, not city, she reminded herself.
Until four hours earlier when the plane had bumped down in Buffalo, Hollie had never been out of Australia and had never even seen snow, and now she was slipping and sliding her way at twenty kilometers an hour on a highway wide enough to land a jumbo jet. Bumper-to-bumper traffic crawled in both directions, the cars’ headlights casting strange shadows on the snow in the pale afternoon light.
Spending Christmas in Canada had seemed like such a great idea when Australia was enjoying day after day of thirty-degree-Celsius temperatures and cloudless bright blue skies.
When the day of her would-be wedding came and went, Hollie didn’t even shed a tear because she was so excited about her upcoming holiday. Mackenzie had reminded her every day for two months that Operation White Christmas was all about Hollie having the holiday of a lifetime – the holiday she’d dreamed of for years. So Hollie spent her would-be wedding night alone in the Rydges hotel near Sydney international airport and still didn’t shed a tear. Before the birds woke the next morning, she boarded a plane bound for the U.S. of A.
So what if it had to be on her own? She was going to have her dream white Christmas in spite of Scumbag Steve. Unfortunately, now it was looking distinctly like a dumb idea. A very dumb idea.
What no one had thought to mention was that flying from Sydney to Los Angeles and straight on to Buffalo would feel like four night duty shifts in a row. Hollie dragged a hand through her greasy hair and rubbed the grit from her eyes. She was so tired and could have killed for a pillow, a nap and a good cry. At the speed she was driving, there was no way she was going to make it to the hotel before check-in at two. She glanced at the clock on the dash. It was likely to be closer to five o’clock.
Hollie’s gaze darted from the speedometer back to the wintery wonderland. The grumpy man at the car hire counter at the airport had given her a map and pointed her in the direction of the American-Canadian border. She’d somehow managed to get from the airport through Buffalo with only a few wrong turns and when she crossed into Canada, she wanted to cheer for having made it that far.
When the border security man checked her documents and handed them back through the car window, she wanted to cheer again – she felt like a world traveler with two stamps in her passport. The man gave her directions to get to the Queen Elizabeth Way – QEW – then recommended she invest in a GPS, or book a hotel for the night. She’d shrugged off both suggestions. How difficult could it be now? One simple highway all the way to the Falls – Ni
agara Falls – her dream destination. She’d find the hotel and crash.
With a cheery wave and the most Aussie-sounding “thanks mate” she could muster up for good measure, she’d driven off. He had said it was only a twenty-one-mile drive to the Falls and should take half an hour on a good day. She’d been driving for over two hours so far. Obviously today wasn’t a good day.
*
Hours later Hollie found the Marriott hotel in Niagara Falls and parked the car. She grabbed her purse and sprinted through the cold to the doors, groaning in pleasure when she stepped into the overheated hotel foyer.
She greeted the young girl behind the desk with a smile. “Hi. My name is Hollie Douglas. I’ve got a booking under the name of Steven Marks.”
The girl tapped on her keyboard and frowned. She looked up at Hollie. “How do you spell Mucks?”
“Marks,” Hollie repeated slowly. “M.A.R.K.S. Steven with a V.”
“Oh, Marks,” the girl replied, emphasizing the R. “Sorry, your accent—”
“It’s no worries,” Hollie said. In the short time she’d been in America, and now Canada, she’d discovered the Australian accent caught everyone by surprise.
More tapping. More frowning. More anxious looks at the screen. The young girl stopped, looked up, licked her lips. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a booking under that name.”
It was Hollie’s turn to frown. “What about Steve Marks?”
The girl shook her head. “Sorry. Nothing. I checked that too.”
“Is that your manager?” Hollie asked, indicating an older man. “Can you ask him to check please?”
The young girl beckoned him over. He smiled warmly at Hollie and asked what the problem was. Hollie explained. More clicking and tapping and typing. He eventually looked up at Hollie and cleared his throat.
“There appears to be a small problem. Your booking was canceled.”
“Canceled?” She pressed her lips together and clenched her jaw. “By whom? When? Why?” Her pulse beat in time to the headache now thumping in her head. Whoever said international travel was glamorous was lying.
“Mr. Marks canceled the booking last week.”
“Last week?” Hollie ground her teeth rather than swear. How dare he? He’d left all their wedding cancellations to her and yet he’d canceled the accommodation? What sort of game was he playing?
She drew in a shaky breath and let it out slowly. Let it go, she told herself sternly. It’s not worth it. He’s not worth it.
“That’s fine. Can you please book me into another room?” she asked.
The man cleared his throat again. “Unfortunately we’re fully booked.”
Hollie raised her eyebrows. “You’re joking, right?”
“I’m sorry, but between the honeymooners and the holiday season . . .” The man smiled apologetically and moved off to attend to someone else.
“What am I supposed to do?” Tears threatened. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Getting upset wasn’t going to fix the problem. She checked her phone. “Do you have free Wi-Fi? Perhaps I can get on the internet and see if I can find somewhere else to stay.”
The young girl leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Do you have your heart set on staying in Niagara Falls?”
“Um, no, I guess not. Why?”
“It’s pretty tacky – honeymoon capital of the world and all that. Too many tourists, especially this time of year. If you’re interested, my parents run a bed and breakfast in Niagara-on-the-Lake.”
“Where’s that?”
“It’s less than half an hour away. You’ll love it. It’s the prettiest town in Canada.”
“Do you think they’ll have room?”
“I’m happy to call them for you and find out, but when I was chatting to Mom yesterday she said they’d had a cancellation.”
“Sure, why not.” It seemed like a better alternative than trolling the web looking for somewhere to stay.
Five minutes later the girl returned with a wide grin. “All sorted. The room is still available.”
“For how long?”
The girl scrunched up her nose. “That’s the only small flaw to this plan. I told them you were booked here for two weeks, but their place is only available for five nights.”
“Oh that’s fine,” Hollie replied, relief flooding through her. “I’m sure I can find somewhere else to stay for the rest of the time. I really appreciate you helping me out like this.”
“You’re welcome.”
Chapter 4
The snow had finally eased and Hollie stared out through the windscreen across white paddocks. If it wasn’t for the occasional car on the road she might have believed she was the only person left in the world. Or in Canada at least.
After she’d thanked the girl at the Marriott, she’d gone back to her car wondering if she’d made a big mistake. She hadn’t even asked to see photos of the bed and breakfast. What if it didn’t exist? Or it was a dump? Or worse? Hollie could hear Steve now. He’d be horrified at what she’d done. She shook her head to get rid of his voice. It was his entire fault she was in this predicament.
She drove slowly for another few kilometers or miles – she could no longer remember which – willing her eyes to stay open. When her headlights picked up animal eyes in the middle of the road she stamped on the brake pedal. Her mouth went dry as she realized too late what she’d done. In slow motion the rear of her car fishtailed left then right then left, leaving tracks behind her in the snow. The car slid sideways as though pushed by an invisible hand. Snow scraped the undercarriage, causing her to grip the wheel even tighter. With a sickening sound and a lurch, her back wheels dropped off the edge of the road into a shallow ditch. The vehicle came to a shuddering stop at an odd angle.
Heart thumping, Hollie raised a trembling hand to her chest. At least the car was still running. When she’d caught her breath and her legs had stopped violently shaking she took her foot off the brake pedal and slowly eased her foot down on the accelerator. The back wheels spun and squealed, churning and turning in the snow, but the car didn’t budge. Something was causing her to be stuck tight.
She collapsed back into the seat and willed her breathing and heart rate to return to normal. She was okay. She wasn’t injured, and other than being bogged or stuck, the car was probably okay too. She hadn’t hit anything or anyone. At least not that she was aware. She peered into the dimness but couldn’t see any sign of the animal on the road.
She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. It had been ages since she’d last seen a car, but someone was bound to come past at some point in time. She pulled out her mobile phone – cell phone, she corrected herself – and checked she had a signal. Just as well she’d bought that prepaid phone thingy at the airport. She opened the glove box and dug out the paperwork the car hire company had provided her. Top on their list of important numbers was the Canadian roadside assistance service. She dialed the number and waited for the call to connect. After being on hold for five minutes, she was finally put through to a real person.
“CAA, how may I help you?”
“G’day. My name is Hollie Douglas. I’ve had a bit of an accident.”
She briefly explained the situation.
“Where are you, ma’am?”
Hollie rubbed her head and peered into the distance. All she saw was the meeting of snow-covered paddocks and gray clouds on the horizon.
“Well that’s a good question. Right now it feels like I’m in the middle of woop woop,” she said.
“I beg your pardon, ma’am?”
“Woop woop. The middle of nowhere. I’m somewhere on the road heading toward Niagara-on-the-Lake.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Please hold while I find out if there is anyone in your area.”
Hollie rolled her eyes while she waited, enduring the tinny sounds of Christmas music. After another three cycles of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” she was ready to hang up when the woman came back on the line.
&nb
sp; “We’re very busy tonight, ma’am, due to the heavy snow. But we’ll have someone out to you before seven o’clock.”
Hollie gasped. “Seven o’clock?” Her chest tightened and once again, tears threatened to spill over. “That’s nearly two hours away!”
“I’m sorry, but the bad weather means lots of call-outs.”
“So what should I do? Sit in my car and wait?” Hollie shivered, picturing herself freezing to death and not being found until morning.
“Perhaps you could walk to the nearest town?”
Hollie’s eyes widened in disbelief. Was the woman kidding? She must be sitting in a climate-controlled office with no windows. “But it’s snowing!” She sucked in a deep breath and let it out. It wasn’t the woman’s fault. She tried again, putting a smile into her voice. “I’m visiting from Australia, on holidays. I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere and don’t know a soul. I’d really appreciate you trying to get someone here as soon as possible. Please.”
“I understand your situation ma’am and I assure you that someone will be with you soon. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
“No. Thank you.”
“Then I suggest you either start walking or stay warm in your car until help arrives.”
Hollie disconnected the call and gazed out the window at miles of nothingness. She sighed. So far the white Christmas dream wasn’t going according to plan.
She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, grateful that although the car wasn’t moving, at least the engine was still running and the heater still worked. She glanced down at the petrol gauge. At least she had half a tank of petrol – gas – left. She had no idea what to do next. She wasn’t the type of girl to sit around waiting to be rescued, but the alternative – tramping through the snow into the unknown – didn’t seem like a wise move either. Still, she should at least check she hadn’t blown a tire. Or perhaps there was something beneath the car she could remove herself. Her dad had raised her to be independent, but then Steve . . . She shook her head. She was done with Steve, and that meant she was done with thinking about how much she’d changed in the years they’d been together.
Operation White Christmas: Escape to the Country Page 2
