Aunt Santa

Chapter 19

What happened next was a flurry of activity as Jakob rushed them back to the hotel to get their things. "Go, go, go," Sara shouted, picking up BB as they charged through the lobby, leaving Jakob in the car to wait for them.

The older woman with the braids was pouring a cup of coffee for a patron when she heard the commotion. "Oh, you're back, are you?" she called after them as they made for the stairs. "Loud as a herd of reindeer!"

Sara ushered them down the hall and into the room. Luckily, they were mostly packed as they'd barely spent any time in the hotel. She threw her phone at Sam while she got the things together. "Call your mom!" She had managed to check her phone as soon as it connected to the hotel wifi and saw a cascade of messages and missed calls from Mo and Billy.

There were also a slew of messages from her new boss who had somehow managed to get her personal number. The sight of them instantly set her teeth on edge.

Now, Sam looked at the phone in his hand. "What time is it there? Isn't it crazy early?"

"It doesn't matter, just call!"

"Hey, Mom." She shooed him aside so she could stuff a sweatshirt into BB's backpack. "Yeah, it's me, calling from Aunt Sara's phone," she overheard Sam say as she darted into the bathroom. "Yeah, we're heading to the airport now."

"We're good, everyone's okay," Sam added as he took the bag Sara handed to him.

"Hi, Mommy!" BB shouted toward the phone. Sam handed it to her right when Sara picked her up, nearly toppling over backward from the two heavy bags strapped to her back. "That's it, let's go," she mouthed to Sam. He picked up one of the falling bags as they tripped back into the hall.

"Mommy, I petted a dog! A whole bunch of dogs!"

They were probably going to be fine, Sara told herself as she willed Jakob to drive faster. The airport was tiny, after all. It was unlikely that they'd get stuck in security or anything.

The issue, Mo reminded her when they finally talked on the phone after BB's detailed report about the name of each dog, was the number of flights they had to make in order to get home.
"Four flights," Mo had repeated days ago when Sara told her how they would get there and back by Christmas Eve. "You are taking four planes to get home."

"Yes, Mo, I know. Four planes. That was the only option."

"Right. I just want to make sure that one of us is actually saying those words out loud."

"I've been checking," her friend said now, her throat clouded from being woken up by her children and best friend in the middle of the night. "They all look like they're on time so far."

"Don't forget we have layovers at these places, too," Sara said. She jammed the phone against her shoulder, digging into her bag for their passports as Jakob took a sharp turn. "Even if one of the flights is a little delayed, we should be okay. Three of the flights are in Norway so no customs." She almost hit the passenger seat as Jakob hit the brakes. They'd made it to the airport. "How's the weather? Any snow storms coming our way?"

"No. I worried about that too, but the weather is clear for the next five days. There's nothing." Despite the late hour in New Jersey, she swore she could hear Mo smile. "Someone must be looking out for you."

"Yeah. That's been happening a lot this week."

"Aunt Sara kissed a boy!" BB shouted into the phone. They were all climbing out of the car and she heard Jakob laugh.

"Wait, what?"

"A man, not a boy," Sara muttered into the phone.

"What? Who? You've been there five minutes."