Aunt Santa

Chapter 9

BB's feet kicked against the seat, a rhythmic thud heralding her boredom. "But I don't want to go home," she said for the ninth or tenth time.

"I know." Sara met her niece's eyes in the rearview mirror as they waited for Sam. He'd wanted some snacks for the drive back to New Jersey the next day and was certainly taking his time in the supermarket. "I'm disappointed too, BB. This isn't exactly how I thought our week would go."

"But why can't we just make Sam go to Norwood?"

"Norway." Sara bit her lip to keep from smiling. "Because it's a long way to go. And it's not fair to make him do something he doesn't want to do. Uh oh." Outside the window, Sam paced in front of the store and yelled into his phone. "What's happening now? Who's he talking to?"

She tried to catch his eye and waved to see if he needed help. He met her eyes in the window and turned his back, his shoulders hunched as he continued to talk into the phone.

Sara felt her own phone vibrate and opened the message from Billy. "Crap." She'd called Mo from the library to tell her that Sam wanted to go home and that she would drive the kids to New Jersey in the morning. She'd apologized for how the week had taken such a turn.

Her friend had been quiet on the phone as Sara relayed what Sam had said. "I think he just wants to be home, Mo."

"No," said her friend with a sigh. "What he wants to do is hide. Be alone. Waste hours staring at a screen, numbing himself into oblivion."

Sara winced at the resigned pain in her best friend's voice. "Mo, is it really that bad? Maybe this is just what he needs right now."

"Maybe he knows what he wants, but he doesn't know what he really needs."

"What is it?" BB asked now from the backseat. "What's going on?"

Sara stared at the message on her phone. "I guess if you're going back home, Mom and Dad had some conditions." She heard Sam raise his voice one final time and finally hung up the phone. Billy hadn't sent a text so much as a warning. "And they just told your brother what those conditions were."

"I'm grounded!" he said, flinging the door open and exploding into the front seat. "For no reason. Mom said if I come home, no video games at all until after Christmas. She said she'd already taken my console out of my room and is going to put it in her locker at the hospital."

"Oh boy."

"It's bullshit!" He whirled around and glared at them both. "I didn't do anything wrong so why am I getting punished?"

"I'm sorry, Sam. That sucks." He ignored her, wrenching the seat belt around his waist.

"Yeah, that really sucks," BB parroted from the backseat. Sara flashed her a look. "Sorry."

She hoped the power would magically be on when they drove back to the house. That would be a welcome surprise, she thought. The thought took hold as she turned a corner and saw a truck from the power company hard at work on a transformer.

A few other cars had slowed down to talk to one of the workers. Sara guessed they all wanted to know the same thing. "How's it going?" she asked him once the window was down.

"Slow," he said wearily. "Ice is making everything slow." He nudged his hard hat up with his knuckle. "What road are you on?"

"Pulley." She watched him scan page after page, her heart sinking with each flip. "It's a private road."

"I see you here, yeah. Only three houses on that road." He grimaced. "Going to do our best to get everyone back by Christmas Eve. That's the plan."

"Oh. Okay, thanks."