Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Audrey clambered onto her hotel bed and opened her laptop.
It was snowing lightly in Boston, but when she’d checked the weather earlier that day, she’d seen that there were still storms between Boston and Coral Sands.
The wind seemed to be the biggest problem that day, and it was very windy in Boston.
Every once in a while, a terrific gust would rush against the old windowpanes, causing the glass to rattle.
She checked the weather for the following day first, and her eyebrows lifted when she saw that the meteorologists had predicted that the storms would clear up in the middle of the night.
She sucked in her breath excitedly, wondering if their flight had finally been rescheduled.
She pulled up her email next and let out a squeal when she saw that the airline had emailed to say that they had a flight scheduled for early the next morning!
She jumped off the bed and hurried across the wooden floorboards of the hotel room on bare feet.
Her phone was resting on the desk by the window, and she snatched it up and then jumped back onto the bed, covering her feet with a blanket because they were cold.
She immediately dialed Evan’s number, grinning while she listened to it ring.
“Hey, sweetheart.” He sounded a little out of breath, and she guessed that he was on an afternoon run.
“Hey! I have great news!”
“You do? Is your flight back on?”
“Yes!” She flopped back onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling, grinning. “We get to come home tomorrow morning. I’m so excited.”
“Oh my gosh, me too. I can’t wait to see you.” Even though Evan was panting a little from running, Audrey could hear the smile in his voice. “Thank goodness you’re finally coming home.”
“I know.” She shook her head. “This has really been a wild ride. Yesterday was fun, and we stayed up late watching all of the videos from the conference. My brain felt like it was going to explode by the end there, but I’m glad we watched everything.
Then we slept in today and so far, I’ve hardly done anything.
I’m really itching to get home and see you. ”
“I’m going to give you the biggest hug in the world. You know this is the longest we’ve been away from each other since we started dating?”
“I sure do.” She laughed. “It’s been awful.”
He laughed too. “Well, I’m glad you missed me as much as I missed you. I can’t wait to go out on a date with you to celebrate you coming home.”
They chatted for a few more minutes, both of them reveling in the relief of knowing that they were going to see each other again soon. Finally, Evan said he was nearing the end of his run and he would need to take a shower before an upcoming meeting.
“Talk to you later, sweetheart,” she said. “No, better yet—see you tomorrow!”
“See you tomorrow. I can’t wait to kiss you.”
As soon as she and Evan had said goodbye and hung up, the door of the hotel room opened and Elaine stepped inside.
“I’m home!” she joked cheerfully. She was carrying a white plastic bag that was letting out heavenly spicy aromas.
“I decided to stop and get us some Chinese takeout for lunch. I got us some egg rolls, Crab Rangoon, fried rice, orange chicken—” Elaine paused when she saw how happy Audrey looked.
“You’re glowing! Either you’re really excited about this food, or you have good news. ”
“Both!” Audrey hopped off the bed and hurried forward to hug her mother. “We get to fly back home tomorrow morning!”
Elaine dropped the bag of takeout and squealed with happiness. The two of them jumped up and down in a circle, hugging and laughing.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Elaine said, wiping tears of joy from her eyes. “This has been fun, but I’m just dying to get home. I absolutely cannot wait to see Michelle, and Puddle, and…”
“And Shep.” Audrey finished the sentence for her mother. She’d learned to recognize the smitten gleam that came into her mother’s eyes whenever Elaine was thinking about Shep.
“Yes.” Elaine sighed like a schoolgirl. “And Shep.”
“Come on,” Audrey said, picking up the bag of takeout and carrying it over to a little table that was in the corner of the hotel room. “Let’s enjoy our lunch and then maybe we can go somewhere. I can’t wait to get home, but I also don’t want to waste our last day in Boston.”
“Sounds great to me.” Elaine started to open the containers of takeout, which let out puffs of steam and overpoweringly delicious scents. “And speaking of Shep, I still haven’t found the perfect Christmas gift for him.” She bit her lip, looking stressed.
“Don’t stress, Mom,” Audrey said soothingly, knowing how much her mother cared about getting her boyfriend a wonderful Christmas present.
“Do you remember that antique shop we passed by on our first day out on the town? There was a sign in the window that said they sold vintage bakeware. I didn’t really think about it at the time, but that might be a great place to look for a gift for Shep. ”
“I love that!” Elaine’s eyes widened with excitement as she considered the idea.
“Maybe I’ll actually be able to find something he likes there.
He prefers to buy all his own cookware, but I’ve heard him say many times that vintage items are always the best since they used to make things so much better than they do now. ”
“Perfect.” Audrey chuckled. “Maybe you’ll be able to finally find that perfect gift for him.”
They ate a great deal of the delicious food and tucked the leftovers into the mini fridge in their room.
Then they bundled up in their coats and hats and gloves and made their way down to the lobby, where a pianist was playing live music on the grand piano.
They stopped and listened for a few minutes, soaking up the beautiful sounds.
“Ready?” Elaine whispered to Audrey after a few minutes. “I hate to rush you, but I’m itching to get over there.”
Audrey laughed. “I can see that impatient gleam in your eyes. Yes, I’m ready. Antique baking pans, here we come!”
They stepped out into the light swirl of snow. Audrey took a deep breath of the frigid air, feeling energetic and happy. She couldn’t wait to get back to The Birchwood House, and she felt as though she could taste Christmas on the very snowflakes that were tumbling down from the sky.
The antique shop was a short walk from the hotel.
As they pushed open the front door, they were greeted with the musky scent of old things.
The store had a hushed, serene atmosphere that Audrey found soothing.
She felt that hundreds of treasures were resting on the shelves in front of them, waiting to tell their stories.
“This is fun,” Elaine whispered as they began to wander the narrow aisles between the shelves. “There are so many great things in here.”
“Look at this little wooden rocking horse,” Audrey said, pointing to the antique toy, which bore a grin that would have given modern-day children nightmares. “Do you think he would want that?”
“Oh my goodness, no.” Elaine made a face of mock horror.
They went deeper into the antique store, remarking on all of the fascinating objects.
“Look at this fan!” Audrey gasped, picking up a black lace fan that had been hung up on the wall to display it properly. “Isn’t this gorgeous?”
“I don’t think Shep will want that,” Elaine said, laughing.
“No, I don’t think it would go well with the brown sweaters and khaki pants that he always wears,” Audrey teased, making Elaine snort with amusement as they kept walking.
“Look,” Elaine said, picking up a butter dish shaped like a femur. “He could bring this out at Halloween.”
Audrey let out a squeak of distaste. “Ugh, it shouldn’t be out ever. Talk about ruining someone’s appetite!”
“Or what about this?” Elaine held up a plate that had a picture of a singing tomato on it. “This has plenty of artistic flair.”
Audrey chuckled. “Listen, I know you’ve helped Shep find his sense of humor, Mom, but I don’t know that he’s ready for a totally off the wall gift like that.”
“It’s not off the wall. It came off this table here.”
Audrey groaned over Elaine’s silly joke, and Elaine gave her a sideways hug, chortling.
“Come on,” Elaine said. “Let’s go where all the real treasures are.”
They reached the section of the antique store that held the baking and cooking supplies and began to look around in earnest. Audrey had a feeling that if they did find anything for Shep in the antique store, it would be in that section.
Elaine seemed to think so as well, because she was rummaging through everything with a determined look in her eyes.
Audrey was staring at a cookie jar shaped like a chubby cat and wondering if Shep might like it or not when she heard Elaine say, “Hmm!”
“What?” Audrey asked curiously. Her mother was standing with her arms crossed, her head cocked to one side. She was peering intently at something, and as soon as Audrey saw what it was, she laughed out loud. “You’re not really thinking of that, are you?”
“I think I am.” Elaine’s expression was a mixture of surprise and delight. “I know it’s goofy, but I really think Shep will like it.”
The item in question was a crock pot that featured a picture of the Grinch, scowling, wearing an apron, and wielding a spoon. It looked to be perfectly functional, and clean, but it was so odd that Audrey could hardly believe her mother was seriously suggesting it.
“Are you sure?” Audrey stepped closer to the crock pot. “I mean, it looks nice, but…”
“I know you’re thinking there might be something better, but I really don’t think so.
” Elaine sighed. “I’m at the end of my rope here.
I’ve been looking and looking for ages, and this is the first thing I’ve found that I think might be right.
Shep said once that he’s never owned a crock pot before, so this is perfect because he really should own one.
And the Grinch picture is hilarious—he knows he’s an old grump so he’ll get the joke and it’ll make him chuckle.
” She put her hands on her hips, squinted at the crock pot for another second, and then nodded.
“Yes. I like it. I’m going to buy him this. ”
“Okay.” Audrey laughed as Elaine triumphantly picked up the crock pot and began to carry it toward the front of the antique store. “Are you going to have to check a second bag to bring it home, though? It won’t fit in your suitcase, will it?”
“Yes, I probably will.” Elaine’s enthusiasm was undaunted. “It’s okay, it will be worth it.”
They made their way to the front of the antique store, where Elaine paid for the crock pot, and the proprietress wrapped it up in tissues and newspaper.
“Enjoy.” The woman smiled at Elaine. “This is a really fun one. Is it a Christmas present?”
Elaine took a deep breath and let out a sigh of satisfaction before answering. “Yes, it is.”
“For someone with a great sense of humor, I’d say.” The proprietress handed her the wrapped crock pot inside a large bag. “They like the Grinch?”
“Oh, something like that.” Audrey bit back a laugh. “Thank you very much.”
Elaine and Audrey stepped back out into the snowflakes. Elaine held the crock pot close to her chest, hugging it tightly as if it were a precious thing. Audrey wrapped an arm around her mother.
“You finally did it, Mom. Do you feel ready for Christmas now?”
“Oh boy, do I.” Elaine’s smile was radiant. “Coral Sands, here we come! I think this is going to be the best Christmas any of us have had in a long time.”