Page 29 of Wintering with George

“What should I have said instead?”

“Psychopaths who are trying to kill him and his wife and ransom his sons.”

Kurt rolled his eyes.

“No? You think I’m being dramatic?”

“Well, obviously not, as we’re driving to the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night to hide from a murderous loan shark your friend is going to…what? Kill?”

“Along with everyone else involved, yeah.”

Big audible catch of breath from everyone.

“Really?” Brad finally said. “That lovely young woman is going to kill people?”

“What? No. The guy in the car is.”

“Oh, I didn’t see him,” Thomasin rushed out. “I thought she was the hitman. Or hitwoman.”

“Contract killer,” Kurt corrected her. “Hitman is no longer the appropriate term.”

“Probably hasn’t been since The Godfather came out,” Brad chimed in.

“You know, I’ve never seen that movie,” Thomasin confessed.

“Are you kidding?” Her husband sounded horrified.

“No, Brad, I’m not kidding.”

“Well,” Kurt said, “since we’re wintering with George, maybe we can pick a night and watch it if the cabin has Wi-Fi.”

“Doing what with George?” she asked him.

“Wintering,” Kurt replied. “Like, you know, digging in, hibernating, as it were.”

“I don’t⁠—”

“We need to get a tree,” Brad interrupted her. “And figure out how to decorate it for the boys. We have the opportunity for an off-the-grid, but warm, holiday celebration.”

She jolted like something had surprised her.

“Sin?” Kurt asked, concerned.

“I just—that’s true, isn’t it? I mean, I grabbed the gifts, but I had things coming to the house that⁠—”

“Same for me,” Brad assured her. “The big things, we have, but there’s usually so much more, and now…”

“Now it has to be enough,” she stated. “It’s so strange, but there’s normally so many people around, and with only the six of us…what a small celebration we will have.”

“Which is fine,” I said because they both sounded so sad. “We can play games.”

Kurt did a slow pan to me.

“What?”

“Who are you?”

“I’ll have you know I’m kick-ass at trivia.”