Christmas Travel Advisory by Nicki Bennett

Author:Nicki Bennett [Bennett, Nicki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2021-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

ZACH DIDN’T know what time it was when someone shook him awake. He blinked a couple of times to see Pete shaking Tim the same way. “Sorry to wake you up, but the power’s back on. If you want to grab some coffee for the road, I’ll drive you back to the station so you can fill up and get back on your way to Chicago.”

That woke Zach up faster than any caffeine could do. “Give us five minutes,” he said. Even if Tim needed longer to wake up, Zach could take the first shift. Pete’s news had him completely reenergized.

“It’ll take me that long to get my own coffee,” Pete said. “I’ll meet you at the door we came in through.”

Tim scrubbed his hands over his face, looking adorably ruffled—and sexily scruffy, but that would have to wait for another time. “Come on. Let’s do this while the power is working. You never know how long it’ll stay on.”

Tim nodded, still not talking, and followed Zach to the stoves where the scouts had coffee and hot water staying warm. Zach thanked the girl who served them and headed to the gym door to meet Pete. The air outside was even colder than the night before, something he hadn’t thought possible, but it finished the job of waking him up. And the power was still on when they got back to the station and filled up the tank—and refreshed their store of snacks at Pete’s insistence. He shrugged off their thanks, wishing them a safe drive and a Merry Christmas.

The sun was starting to lighten the eastern horizon—and maybe that was a good sign that the weather was finally clearing, since it wasn’t actively snowing or sleeting for the first time since they’d left Dallas. Zach let the car warm up for a few minutes before putting it in gear and turning onto I-55 northbound. The road surface was still rutted and slippery, but the wind had gentled, making it easier to drive into and reducing the amount of snow blowing across the road.

“I didn’t thank Ms. Bolger,” Tim said suddenly. “We should have at least said goodbye after they took us in like that.”

“We could go back,” Zach offered, because whatever his ex-wife said about Tim being absent and distant, of course he’d feel guilty about leaving the shelter without saying thank you.

“A part of me just wants to get to Chicago before anything else can go wrong.” Tim sighed. “I can send a thank-you note to the school, I suppose.”

“I’m sure she’d appreciate that,” Zach said. “And nobody’s going to blame you for taking your chance to get to Chicago. It’s early enough we might even be there by lunch.”

He probably shouldn’t have tempted fate like that, but the words were out before he could think better of it. Fortunately the universe seemed to have forgiven them for whatever had caused all the delays up until now, because while it was still slow going, the day was bright

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