I reach an arm around her shoulders, and she leans into me over the center console. “Tell me about her. What are your favorite memories with her?”
She twists her earring and tells me story after story. Bumps and bruises her mom took care of, bedtime stories, watchingbaseball together as a family. So many Christmas traditions. The longer Liesel talks, the more I fall in love with her mom.
And the more I listen, the more I fall for Liesel, too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
LIESEL
Iwake up disoriented. I feel an arm around my shoulders and look over to see Coop asleep, his head at an awkward angle that’s definitely going to leave him with a kink. And the arm around me is his injured arm, too. I try to right his head carefully, but it drops back to the side.
I grab my phone and take a picture.
I don’t know when we fell asleep, but it was sometime after eleven p.m. It’s midnight now, which means we’ve been stranded together for almost eight hours. And we’ve covered a lot of ground. We’ve had conversations and confessions I avoid with everyone, including my family and even Juliet. I don’t keep her in the dark on purpose, but some things are too hard to talk about.
Somehow, Coop makes them easier. More manageable.
I peek out the window and see that the snowfall has lightened up, but I’m still parked in a sea of cars. I get onto my navigation app and look at the comments for any insight.
Trapper4: Emergency services finally made it through!
It’s dated an hour ago. They only got through an hour ago? That means this could stretch on until early morning still!
I stifle a groan, instead looking at the other comments. And then my throat catches.
MommaBird22:Does anyone have food or water? I have three kids, including an infant, and 911 said they can’t guarantee when someone will be here. I’m a hundred yards from the N Kimball Ave exit in a blue Dodge minivan. Please help!
LeeFisch: I’m close! I’ll bring supplies to you.
Her response is immediate.
MommaBird22: OH MY GOSH THANK YOU!!
I nudge Coop awake. He blinks and yawns, then he pulls me close and kisses my temple.
Um, swoon.
“Is the accident clearing?”
“No,” I say. “We have an urgent mission from the North Pole.”
I show him the message, and he smiles. “Good thing we still have our Santa hats.”
Ten minutes later, we’re trekking through the snow with a crate of waters, protein bars, dried apples, cookies, and more. Coop and I both stuffed bags full of supplies, and we’re waving at drivers and offering goods as we go. One couple takes two watersand four protein bars. Someone else takes a jar of peanut butter and a plastic spoon. Another person takes a blanket and several of the sugar cookies Coop and I made the other night.
And each one of them says a variation of the same thing: “Thank you!”
“Bless you!”
“God bless you!”
And every time, Coop and I say, “Merry Christmas.”
We’re running out of supplies, so we trek the last bit without giving anything out, making sure we have enough for the mom and her kids. When we get to the blue minivan, we hear a baby screaming at the top of its little lungs.
Coop knocks on the window, and the mom whips her head around. When she sees us holding up supplies, she starts sobbing and throws open the door. “Thank you! Thank you so much! Bless you!” She pulls me into a hug with one arm. The snow is still falling viciously enough that she ushers us into the van. Coop climbs into the far back of the van, where a boy of around eight is studying him. I kneel in between the two car seats in the middle row
The mom looks at me. “Can you hold my baby while I make her bottle? We had some water, but my toddler accidentally spilled it while he was drinking. My baby’s so hungry. They all are.”
