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Grant threw his head back, laughing loudly Ignoring him, I stomped off to the bathroos later, I was dressed and ready to leave the roach motel behind

By the tiine running He refrained fro lot like the hounds of hell were after us Twenty seconds later, I wasevery sord I knew under hts showed up in my rearview lared at hiure, I’d getticket now This was the cherry on top of the crap sundae these last few days had been I restedwheel and counted to ten so I wouldn’t lose hway patrolman

Grant kept hisfifty in a thirty-five ether as he calledlady" and pointed out thatto my boyfriend The te ass was strong, but I could only iine what jail would have in store forAfter fifteen , the sexist, asshole cop finally let us go I left the odious town behind, clenching the steering wheel in a death grip To Grant’s credit, he kept his mouth closed I swear if he would have commented, or if I would have seen sohome

Fifty miles of silence later, I finally cut ry?" I asked

"Oh, hello A a source of entertainment for you, isn’t it? Has there ever been a ti you couldthe next exit that boasted several restaurants Without asking for his preference, I pulled into the parking lot of a quaint-looking diner

"Making fun? Is that what you think I’ve been doing?" he asked, unfolding his six-foot-plus fraroaned as he worked the kinks out of his body "I swear, riding in a coffin would beover to stretch his back I expected hi me our entire lives, but he continued to whine about the size of the car as we made our way into the diner The air outside was brisk I shivered, staring up at the low hanging clouds in the sky I had lived in a snowy state long enough to knohen a bad stor

The warm restaurant, on the other hand, was absolutely heavenly "Wow, I think an elf threw up in here," I said sarcastically It’s not that I hated Christmas decorations All the rotten luck over the past couple of days had just made me overly cranky

"I think they’re cool," Grant said, taking in the endless array ofevery available wall space There werepieces I couldn’t help wondering why they didn’t combine them into one complete set It was impossible to count the number of Santa Clauses scattered around, but I did spot five Christ sizes Whoever decorated them had quite the sense of hu different beer cans as orna up fro down

"Two," Grant and I answered in unison

"A, aren’t you two so cute," she said, grabbing two menus from the hostess stand "My husband and I used to be in sync like that Of course, now he’s too busying fiddling around in his workshop to be in sync with anything else" She winked at me conspiratorially Neither Grant nor I bothered to correct her assumption that ere a couple since she had already moved on to another topic In the short walk to our booth, we learned she had been hters that now lived out of state Grant grinned at me as she placed ourbank of s that looked out the front of the restaurant

"I’m surprised you two lovebirds decided to venture out That stor two filled water glasses on our table as the first snowflakes began to fall fro when he snorted over her choice of words "We’re just passing through," I answered

She shook her head before I finished getting the words out "I’m not sure that’s the best idea This storuess if you have four-wheel drive youout the

Grant and I looked at each other, trying not to laugh The only ould have four-wheel drive was if we picked up our matchbox car and placed it in the bed of the nearest Ford truck

"I’ you’ll be with us the next few days," she chirped cheerily, obviously thinking the saet you to drink?"

"Coffee," Grant answered

"I’ll take the sa out the as distracted by the snow that was already falling harder There was no e could be stuck here for two days We were still more than seven hundred miles from Woodfalls, and Christmas was in four days My mom would have my head if I didn’t make it there for all the pre-Christmas festivities

"Don’t worry, I’ it," Grant said like he had read my mind I pulledsnow

"I hope not My mom will kill eting with et you ho back in his chair

"Oh, you’ll be driving?" I teased

"When I say ’I’ll get you hoht so" I s cups of coffee She took our food order after telling us she had called her niece who runs a bed and breakfast and told her that we’d be cooing to see how far we can get," I said, handing her my menu

Her eyes widened with disbelief, but she didn’t say anything as she headed back to the kitchen shaking her head Not that she gave up Throughout our ave us updates on the weather and traffic conditions She sounded like a walking highway safety billboard as she quoted statistics for weather-related car accidents She even tried highlighting how lovely and romantic her niece’s bed and breakfast was I thanked her for her concern, but re on I explained how our fa us home for the holidays and would be disappointed if we didn’t make it Grant was no help All he could do was sit and try not to laugh with every recurring visit to the table

"You were no help," I chastised him as we paid the check

"I think her concern is sweet," he said as we both shrugged into our jackets

"I brought you two crazy kids a couple of coffees to go," June said, bustling out of the kitchen "You come back and see us here in Whisper Hollohen you’re not so pressed for tiendary maple syrup It’s the best maple in the state," she boasted

"We will," I proh there really wasn’t a "hen it caiving her a hug Maybe it was the cheesy Christmas decorations or I was touched by how concerned she was, but I felt an odd kinship with her It ht thatwe could have stayed here instead if we had known about it