Shopping for a Yankee Swap by Julia Kent

Author:Julia Kent [Kent, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781950172597
Publisher: Julia Kent

8

Declan

* * *

“Damn it.” I stare at my phone, trying to figure out a solution. Dave always makes sure I have plenty of external battery devices on me when I travel or have Boston meetings, but I'm on my own time here, and Shannon's about as careful with charging devices as she is with not eating an entire pint of ice cream in one sitting.

“Phone died? We can use mine,” Jason says, pulling his out, then frowning. “No signal.”

“Duh, Mr. Jacoby. No one has a signal here,” Steegan calls out.

“Then what have you been doing on your phones?”

“Playing app-based games.”

“Andrew has a signal,” Jason says, twisting from the driver's seat toward him. “Let's use your phone.”

Andrew frowns. “The van's dead?”

Jason turns the key again.

Click

“Yep.”

“Can Perlman give us a jump?” Jeffrey asks.

“He just left.”

“Anyone else here?” Jeffrey persists.

“Nope. Besides, we don't know if it's the battery. Could be something else. What we need is Perlman, here.”

“When's he getting back?”

“Tomorrow. Remember?” Jason squints, looking out the window, throat moving as he swallows. Being stranded in Maine with a van full of kids and wreaths was not part of the plan.

“I have a solution,” Andrew says slowly, typing like mad on his phone. He looks around the van, pointing at each person, counting. “Seven.”

“Seven people,” Tyler repeats.

“Okay. We can do it,” Andrew mutters as he texts someone. With a flourish, he sends the text and announces, “Help is on the way.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, but he ignores me, climbing out of the van and walking toward the tree farm.

“Any open fields here?” he asks, walking fast to the right, then cantering around the barn.

“TO THE LEFT!” Jason shouts. “The hay fields?”

I throw his puzzled look at me right back.

“What's he up to?” I mutter, climbing out of the van.

“Mr. Jacoby? My mom and dad will really worry if I don't text them in the next hour. I'm supposed to check in,” Jordan explains.

“It's okay. Mr. McCormick has a phone that can text. What's your mom or dad's number?” He opens the glove box and pulls out a pen, turning his wrist over to write on his skin.

Jordan recites the numbers and Jason records them. He climbs out, and I join him on Andrew's heels.

“Andrew! One of the kids needs you to call their parents.”

“My phone function isn't working, but text is.”

“Great. Let's text Jordan's parents, then text Shannon and Marie and let them know what's going on. We're going to need a rescue, and it's a two-hour drive for Marie. We'll need two cars for all the kids.” He looks back longingly at the van. “And the tree.”

“The tree?”

“Uh, the tree and the wreaths.”

Andrew reads the number on Jason's arm and takes care of the text to Jordan's parents, then texts twice more. I assume he got Shannon and Marie. “Got it all covered.”

“Good.”

“No, I mean,” he says, pointing to the large field, “I've got it all covered. I re-routed the helicopter from Portland Airport to this field. Gave the pilot the address, and he knows the coordinates.

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