Chapter 21

Sarah

On Christmas Day, I’m up at dawn to check the weather. It hasn’t snowed in the night, as far as I can tell. Our footprints from yesterday are still in the snow, leading past my bedroom window to the front door. That’s a good sign. As much as I enjoy spending time in the cabin with Graham, I want to get to Monica, Larry and Lindsay for Christmas. I’ve never missed a Christmas with my family.

I pick up my phone from the nightstand and switch it on, checking for calls and messages. I leave it off because I’m worried about the power going out or some kind of emergency, but until now, nothing has gone wrong.

I have two missed calls from Monica, so I dial her number. Lindsay always wakes up early, so I doubt Monica will still be sleeping. Sleeping in with a hyperactive seven-year-old child is damn near impossible — I’ve watched Lindsay often enough to know that this is a fact.

Monica answers her phone on the second ring, like she’s been waiting by her phone.

“Are you okay out there?” she asks right away.

“I am. Don’t worry. Merry Christmas!”

“I haven’t heard from you for days.”

I nod. “I know. I’m sorry. I was keeping my phone off in case of an emergency, so it’s fully charged. I didn’t know if I would lose power up here.”

Monica breathes out like she’s sighing in relief. I didn’t mean to make her worry, and I tell her that.

“Oh, it’s a mom thing, I think,” she says. “I never used to be this paranoid about everything before I had Lindsay.”

I chuckle. Monica used to be the wild sister, the crazy one who tried everything. Then she got married, and now, she’s the model of a good citizen. I know it’s for Lindsay’s sake, and a child couldn’t ask for a better mother, but Monica worries a lot more these days.

“Are you coping all alone up there?” Monica asks. “And with all this snow, do you have enough food?”

“I’m fine. I have enough food, and I’m keeping safe and warm. Really, I’m okay, Monica.”

“I just worry. Being alone for so long when you’re always around people just doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’ll be able to deal with. You’ve never been good at being alone for long periods of time.”

“It’s only been a few days,” I say.

“I know, but with everything happening with the eviction…”

I hesitate for a moment. “Well, I’m not completely alone here,” I say.

“What? Who’s there with you?” Monica asks.

“Graham came over on Saturday to spend the day with me, and he got snowed in with me.”

Monica is quiet for a moment before she squeals. “You’ve been stuck in there with Graham?! That explains your radio silence.”

I laugh. “I told you, I was worried about—”

“Yeah, yeah, you said that,” Monica says, and I’m still laughing. “So, tell me everything. What have you been doing?”

I sit back on my bed and pull the covers over my legs.

“You know… board games, movies, cooking… sex.”

“Oh, my God,” Monica says, and I feel myself blushing, even though I’m not even talking to her face to face. “You’re stranded with the guy you’re in love with in a cabin in the snow.”

“I didn’t say I’m in love with him.”

“Sure,” Monica says. “I still think this is the cutest thing ever.” I laugh again because I don’t know what to say. “You and Graham, snowed in together… it sounds like a movie. It’s the ultimate love story.”

“You’re taking it way too far,” I say to Monica. “We just met, and it’s coincidence that we’re stranded together.”

“Or fate.”

“Monica!” I say, but I’m still laughing, and I hear her chuckling on the other side of the line.

“All jokes aside, though, Sarah. I’m happy for you. You deserve a good guy, a fairytale romance. I’m so happy for you. I know it’s just early days, but this could very well be your happy ending that you’ve been waiting for.”

“I’m going to wait it out and see,” I say. But deep down, I’m thinking the same thing. Of course, it’s only been a few weeks since I met Graham, but the last couple of days together has shown me what kind of person he is, and I can’t think of anything about him that I don’t like. Everything about him is just attentive, caring, sweet and fantastic. I feel like he’s the perfect guy.

“Are you going to be able to come over for Christmas dinner tonight?” Monica asks when we’re done discussing Graham.

“I don’t know,” I say. “I’ll have to ask Graham when he wakes up if we can leave. The cars are snowed in quite badly, but it hasn’t been snowing through the night. I’m hoping we can. I want to see you.”

“We have a lot of gossip to catch up on, face to face,” Monica says, and I agree. I’m not done talking about how I feel about Graham, but I don’t want to do it over the phone where he might be able to hear me.

“I’ll call you a bit later and let you know what our situation is like,” I say.

We end our call, and I get out of bed again to get dressed. When I walk to the little kitchen-lounge area, Graham is already up and making breakfast.

“Merry Christmas, I’m pretty sure today was my turn,” I say, coming up behind him and wrapping my arms around his waist.

He smiles and turns to me in my arms, pulling me against him. He kisses me.

“I heard you were busy in your room, so I thought I would start.”

I let go of him. “That’s very sweet of you, thank you,” I say. “I was talking to Monica.”

“How is she doing?” Graham asks.

“Well, thank you, she wants to know if we can get out of here later so I can join them for Christmas.”

After a delicious breakfast, we head out to Graham’s car. Graham doesn’t even check my car — he refuses to let me drive without snow tires on. I try to tell him I’ve been driving like that every winter, but he doesn’t want to hear anything about it.

His car is still buried too deep in snow for us to be able to leave in it.

“We might have to spend another day or two here,” Graham finally says. “It hasn’t been snowing, but it hasn’t been warm enough for the snow to melt yet, either. It should warm up later today.” He looks up at the sky. “If it doesn’t snow tonight, maybe we can give it another shot in the morning.”

I nod. “I have to call my sister and let her know,” I say.

In the house, I dial Monica’s number again and let her know. She understands, and she tells me to stay safe.

“Do you have enough food for the two of you?” Monica asks. “You didn’t exactly prepare to be snowed in.”

“Actually, Graham bought me groceries when he came. He was overzealous, but that means we have food now, which we wouldn’t have had.”

Monica chuckles. “He’s a keeper, Sarah.”

We banter back and forth a little before I end the call. Graham is in the shower, and I sit down on the couch, staring at the blank TV screen. It sucks that I can’t spend time with my family over Christmas, but I must admit that I enjoy spending time with Graham, and a part of me is thrilled that I get to spend more time with him still. I want to hang out with him, and being snowed in makes it socially acceptable for two people who just met to be this close all the time.

Everyone considers being snowed in as a natural disaster of sorts, but to me, this one is fate.