“The president will have to wait until December twenty-sixth.”
“What if Santa calls?”
Daniel paused.
“That could be a problem.”
“I knew it.”
He opened the passenger door.
Emily climbed in carrying a small paper bag decorated with hand-drawn evergreen trees.
Daniel noticed.
“I thought we ate those.”
“These are the emergency cookies.”
“What emergency?”
She hugged the bag.
“You don’t know until it happens.”
“That sounds suspicious.”
“You made me promise to be prepared.”
“For snow.”
“Cookies are preparedness.”
Daniel could not argue with that logic.
He closed her door.
Their final delivery was to the Morales family on the south side of Maple Grove.
Mr. Morales had ordered the rocking horse for his granddaughter, whose father had recently lost work.
Daniel knew more of the story than Mr. Morales realized.
That was common in Maple Grove.
The town contained fewer than nine thousand people, which meant everybody knew at least half of everybody else’s business and invented reasonable guesses about the rest.
Daniel started the truck.
The heater coughed cold air at them.
Emily shivered dramatically.
“Luxury.”
“It builds character.”
“You always say that when something is broken.”
“That’s because broken things are excellent teachers.”
They pulled away from the workshop.
Christmas music played softly from the radio.
The right speaker worked.
Emily considered that a good sign.
They had been driving perhaps twelve minutes when Daniel noticed the hazard lights.
Far ahead through the snow, two amber lights blinked at steady intervals.
On.
Off.
On.
Off.
A black sedan sat on the shoulder beside a stretch of road bordered by bare trees and frozen farmland.
Two vehicles ahead of Daniel slowed.
Neither stopped.
A third passed without reducing speed.
Daniel took his foot off the accelerator.
Emily saw the stranded car.
Then looked at him.
He glanced at her.
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re making a face.”
“What face?”
“The face you make when you already know what I’m going to do.”
Emily smiled.
“You’re stopping.”
“Yes.”
“I knew it.”
Daniel eased onto the shoulder behind the sedan.
He switched on his own hazard lights.
Outside, wind pushed snow sideways across the road.
“Stay in the truck.”
“I know.”
“Seat belt stays on.”
“I know.”
“If another vehicle—”
“Dad.”
He stopped.
Emily pointed at herself.
“Eight.”
“That is exactly why I repeat things.”
Daniel pulled on his heavy coat and stepped outside.
The cold hit immediately.
The sedan was a Mercedes.
New enough that Daniel suspected the battery problem might actually be something more complicated.
A woman stood beside the driver’s door.
Elegant navy coat.
Dark hair pinned loosely behind her head.
Leather gloves.
She held a phone toward the sky as though another six inches might improve reception.
She looked toward Daniel cautiously.
“Are you all right?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at the unmoving car.
“That answer normally works better when your vehicle is running.”
She gave a tired laugh.
“Fair.”
“What happened?”
“It started giving me electrical warnings about ten minutes ago.”
“Then everything shut down when I pulled over.”
“That could be more than the battery.”
“I know.”
Daniel noticed that.
She was not helpless.
Just stranded.
“Do you have roadside assistance?”
“Yes.”
“No signal?”
“One bar every five minutes.”
“I’ve been trying.”
Daniel looked toward the road.
Snow was accumulating quickly.
“How far are you going?”