AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re probably driving right now, but I just ran into Mr. Abernathy. His daughter is single again.”
“You should have been here by now. Are you okay?”
I tell my phone to call my mom, and she answers on the first ring.
“Peter! Where are you?”
“I had to swing by the airport. It’s a long story, but I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“The airport?”
“I was dropping a colleague off.”
“Someone flying out? If their flight hasn’t been canceled yet, it’s going to be.”
“How do you know?”
“The storm is coming in too fast. I swear, these meteorologists are just guessing.”
I sigh.
“Whoever you dropped off should go back home before they get stranded.”
“They—Mami, the person I dropped off was flying home.”
“Can they take the train?”
“Flying home to the States,” I correct. “Sheis flying home to the States.” And then I sigh again because this is not going to go well.
“A colleague? Or a friend? You know what, never mind. You have to go back and get her.”
“Mami, I can’t. This is supposed to be our family only.”
Mami scoffs. “You can’t leave her alone. They’ll close the airport, and this storm is going to snow us in for days. She’ll be alone for the holidays. Is she Jewish?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, never mind. We can’t close our doors to her.”
“Are you sure about this? Even with—”
“Yes.” Mami’s voice is firm. “If she’s a transphobe, then we’ll lock her in a closet or something with a dreidel and slip her Linzers under the door. At least she’ll be safe and warm and technically not alone.”
That makes me laugh. “You can give her a reading light and your annotated copy ofThe Transgender Teen.”
“With a fifty-question quiz she has to score perfectly on before she can come out and join us.”
“All right,” I concede. “I’m turning around. Warn everyone, okay?”
“I will. And Peter? It’s going to be okay.”
With my mother’s words ringing in my head, I take the next exit and circle back toward the airport.
5
Kara
There’sa massive line of people because,of course,there is. I wonder if everyone in Switzerland is trying to fly out of Zurich because the line snakes around and around. I have my bags on a cart, the garment bags draped on top, and I join the line.
