“How about the phones?”
“Sorry, love. Not yet. There’s a pay phone in town that always seems to work when heavy snow knocks the rest out, though.” She reached under the counter and gave Anna a handful of change in Canadian coins. “That should do for long distance. And you’ll find a toothbrush and some other necessities at the pharmacy—sorry we’re out, but we didn’t expect such a crowd. Everything’s pretty close at hand around here, though. You’ll find it all, even in the snow.”
Anna kicked out one of her impractical, now snow-ruined high heels. “I can’t walk in several feet of snow wearing these...”
“No worries, love! We’ve got tons of extra winter gear—guests are always leaving things behind. Just out by the door. There are parkas on hooks and boots on the shoe rack.”
Anna said goodbye to Mr. Dadu, who was now happily watching a Bollywood movie that seemed to revolve around a dorky male lead falling for a beautiful woman wearing a spectacular sari. “Spoiler alert, she turns out to be just as dorky as he is,” Mr. Dadu said in a stage whisper, pointing at the screen. Then he waved at her. “Good luck today!”
At the front door, Anna found a roomy, warm parka—andblushed lightly, remembering how cozy Mysterious Josh’s parka had been, how nice it had smelled. This one didn’t smell quite as nice, but it was thick and warm. She also found a pair of boots that were a size too big but better than her high heels.There.Two problems solved with hardly any worrying.
Soon, she reached the town proper. Shop owners were out shoveling and greeting one another. All of them smiled and waved at Anna and declared “Happy Holidays!” as she passed.
Red brick buildings decorated with lights and garlands were lined up like well-dressed Christmas elves along the snowy street. From where she was standing, she could see a sweet little holiday ornament store called Jingle Bells & Co., a curios shop called Yule Love It, a lingerie shop called Naughty or Nice, Northern Lighting, the Christmas Carol Playhouse, and an entire store dedicated to festive garden gnomes. There was a skating rink with a gazebo in its center, strung with tasteful holiday globe-lanterns twinkling in the understated light of the snowy day. Anna couldn’t help but sigh happily. Someone around here had very good taste.
Across the street, Anna spotted the phone booth. She dug in her purse for the change Kath had given her, went inside, closed the door against the swirling snow, took a deep breath, and picked up the receiver. Through some miracle there was a dial tone. She dialed, then put in the requested long-distance amount and waited.Ring. Ring. Ring.Nick picked up on the fourth ring, sounding like he had been sleeping.
“Nick! It’s me! I’m okay!”
“Well,I’mnot!” The storminess of his tone surprised Anna.She had assumed he’d be worried—but instead, he sounded angry with her. “You missed the champagne cocktail gala. You missed dinner. The symphony. Brunch. Now the Christmas market. You didn’t even bother to call.”
“I did call! We talked yesterday.”
“Our call was rushed, and you practically hung up on me!”
“My phone died.”
“Where in the world are you?”
“Snow Falls, just east of Ottawa, where my plane diverted. The storm has knocked out phone service—”
“Sounds like there’s phone service to me!”
“I’m at a pay phone and—”
“If you’re on a pay phone, how is there no service in the rest of the town? And what about your cell?”
“The battery died, and my charger is in my lost luggage. I just thought you might want to know that I’m okay, and—”
“You embarrassed me in front of everyone, Anna. I told them I was bringing someone to every single one of these events!”
Anna could see why Nick was shaken up, of course. They had been planning their first Christmas together for months, practically since they started dating. She was missing so much. Like the festive cocktail party this evening, where she was supposed to get to try a famous Vandergrey martini for the first time. Apparently, the secret ingredient was Goldschläger, not Anna’s favorite because she wasn’t convinced consuming tiny flecks of gold was actually good for you, but she had been determined to be a good sport. Then there was the trip downtown to watch a candlelit performance of Handel’sMessiahat a well-known church, followed by dinner at a restaurant called Canoe, at the top of one of Toronto’s tallest buildings, where his parents, Nick had explained, practically owned a table. Then, for Christmas Eve, the entire family would spend the day volunteering at a soup kitchen—before spending what was likely the soup kitchen’s yearly food budget on what Nick had told Anna would be the most special Christmas Eve dinner party of her life, held at the family home in Forest Hill.
And among all these activities, Anna now knew, Nick had something else planned. The proposal. She swallowed hard. “Christmas Eve is in three days. I still have time. I’ll get there.”
“You really don’t sound all that concerned,” Nick said.
“I’m trying not to worry, okay? But it’s hard. I’m stuck here. If I get all upset about it, that will just make things worse,” Anna protested.
“Do you know how stressful this is for me? I need you here, Anna. Yousaidyou’d be here. I hardly know what to say to you!”
Anna bit her lip—and found she didn’t know what to say, either.
Except that all at once, words were in her head, loud and insistent ones, almost shouting to be heard:I don’t want this. This is not me. I need some space.All those emotions that had been rattled out of her by the turbulence were flying around inside her brain now, like her mind was a snow globe someone had picked up and shaken. Suddenly, Anna found she couldn’t help but ask herself: Did Nick Vandergrey know the real Anna Gibson—or did he just see the woman he wanted her to be?
“Anna? Are you still there?”
“I am,” she said. “I’m here. In an unfamiliar town during a huge blizzard, with no luggage and no idea how I’m going to get a flight out—”
