Trading Christmas - Debbie Macomber [10]
After Faith had finished talking to her sister, she immediately sat down at her computer and logged into her email. To her surprise Emily hadn’t left her a message. Undeterred, she sent another one off.
From: “Faith” To: “Emily” Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2004 Subject: Gift to arrive Dear Emily, I haven’t heard from you all week. Forgive me for not being more of a friend. Look for a present to arrive shortly. Get back to me soon. Love, Faith Half an hour later, the travel agent phoned. “I’ve got good news and bad news.” “Did you get me a flight?” “Yes, that worked out fine. I got you into Seattle, but all the flights into Wenatchee are full. That’s the bad news.” Leavenworth was a few hours outside Seattle, but Faith could manage that easily enough with a rental car. “I’ll book a car,” she said. “I thought of that, too,” Carrie went on to explain, “but this is a busy time of year for car rental agencies. The only vehicle available in all of Seattle is a seven-person van.” “Oh.” Faith bit her lower lip. “I reserved it because it was the last car left, but I can cancel the reservation if you don’t want it.” Faith didn’t take more than a few seconds to decide. “No, I’ll take it.” On December twenty-fifth, she intended to be with Emily in Leavenworth. Not only that, she intended to bring Christmas with her—lock, stock and decorations. Have Yule, will travel. FOUR In Emily’s opinion, everything had worked out perfectly—other than the fact that she hadn’t been able to reach Heather to let her know she was arriving. Not that it mattered. Heather would be as thrilled as she was. When Christmas came, the two of them would be together. Early Sunday morning, Emily caught the short commuter flight out of Wenatchee and landed thirty minutes later at Sea-Tac Airport. Within an hour, Emily was on a nonstop flight from Seattle to Boston. A mere seven days following her conversation with Heather, Emily was on her way across the entire United States to spend Christmas with her daughter. At the same time Charles Brewster, who sounded like a stereotypical absentminded history professor, was on his way to Leavenworth. Apparently their paths would cross somewhere over the middle of the country, her plane headed east and his headed west. Emily would spend two glorious weeks with Heather, and Charles would have two weeks to explore Washington State—or do whatever he wanted. They were due to trade back on January first. Two glorious weeks in Boston. Emily realized Heather had to work on papers and study, but she didn’t mind. At least they’d be able to enjoy Christmas Day together and that was what mattered most. The one negative was that Emily didn’t know her daughter’s schedule. Emily had repeatedly attempted to contact her, but Heather hadn’t returned her messages. Tracy, Heather’s roommate, hadn’t said anything outright, but Emily had the feeling Heather didn’t spend much time in her dorm room. She was obviously working longer hours than she’d let on. Actually, surprising her would be a good thing, Emily thought as she called Heather from Charles Brewster’s condo. It would force her to take some time off and— Surprise her she did. “Mother,” Heather cried into the receiver loudly enough to hurt Emily’s eardrum. “You can’t be in Boston.” Emily realized her arrival was a shock, but Heather seemed more dismayed than pleased. “I didn’t know you had a cell phone,” Emily said. It would’ve saved them both a great deal of frustration had she been able to reach Heather earlier. She’d called the dorm room as soon as she’d landed and Tracy had given Emily a cell number. “The phone isn’t mine,” Heather protested. “It belongs to a…friend.