Nowhere for Christmas Read online

  Nowhere for Christmas

  By Heather Gray

  Published by Astraea Press

  www.astraeapress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

  NOWHERE FOR CHRISTMAS

  Copyright © 2013 HEATHER GRAY

  ISBN 978-1-62135-226-6

  Cover Art Designed by AM DESIGN STUDIOS

  Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  in celebration of my Savior

  in memory of my daughter

  with pride in my son

  with gratitude for my husband

  When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.

  ~Exodus 13: 17-18a

  Chapter One

  Albuquerque, NM

  December 22

  Some women are satisfied with one man in their life. There are even women who would say that’s too many. Not me, though. Oh, no. Not me. I get to juggle two.

  Avery Weston stormed into her editor’s office and slammed the door behind her. Mitchell peered up from his catastrophe of a desk. The newsroom had been battling mice off and on for two years now, but Mitchell’s office had remained rodent-free. Her theory? The little beasts are terrified of getting squashed under a falling stack of paper, or worse, getting lost in this mess and starving to death.

  Mitchell, bushy black eyebrows raised, inspected her and asked, “Yes, Avery?”

  She threw herself into the only chair not filled with file folders, books, and other paraphernalia. “I got your memo. You didn’t have the guts to tell me in person?”

  His eyes returned to the article he was reviewing, red pen in hand. Mitchell was old enough to be her… big brother… but he insisted on doing things old school. There was no way he’d ever get caught editing important articles on his computer. He wanted a printout in one hand and his red pen in the other. “I thought your temper might cool down during the walk from your desk to my office.”

  “You thought wrong.”

  “I see that.” Mitchell laid his red pen down on top of the printout he’d been studying. “Has it occurred to you this might be fun?”

  “Has it occurred to you I might look for a job elsewhere?” She’d worked for Mitchell more years than she could remember. He’d given her the start she’d desperately needed, and because of him, she was able to provide for the other man in her life. They both knew she wouldn’t be looking for a job elsewhere, but that didn’t stop her from voicing the empty threat now and then.

  “Think of it as an adventure.”

  Yeah, right. “Have you spent much time with teenagers recently?”

  Mitchell removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is that the problem? You don’t think Eli will want to go?”

  Avery sighed and sank back into the chair she occupied. “He’s fifteen, Mitchell. I told him we’d go north for Christmas so he could go skiing. Now I’m going to be hauling him across three states to a Podunk town in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere! Do you have any idea exactly how not happy he is going to be with me?”

  Mitchell opened his mouth to say something.

  Avery, ignoring him, continued her monologue. “He’s not going to blame you, either. Eli won’t think Mom has such a rotten boss. How dare he ruin my Christmas plans?” She let out a sigh and said, “This is all going to be my fault as far as he’s concerned. I will have broken my word to him, and he will have one more reason to resent me for the rest of his life.”

  This time Mitchell lifted a hand to stop Avery so he could say something.

  Again dismissing his action, she said, “Do you have any idea how hard it is to raise a teenage boy alone? Or to raise any child alone for that matter? He wasn’t always a teenager, you know. Eli started out as a baby, and I thought how hard it was to be a single mom to this tiny little thing that cried and pooped all the time. I never slept. No matter how hard it got, I provided a home for him because he was my responsibility, my joy. Then he was in grade school, and I thought that was as hard as it could possibly get. I worked ten hours a day for a tyrant of a boss, then came home to fix dinner for my finicky son and spend three hours working on homework with him so he could pass to the next grade.”

  Mitchell cleared his throat.

  Avery kept talking. “You know, when I was in school, we didn’t start working on algebra until I was in junior high. Eli started working basic algebra equations in second grade. Who does that? Algebra in second grade! Sure, it was easy stuff, but whatever happened to being a child? But I did it. I wanted the best for my son. I looked at it as an exercise in building confidence as he put in the hard work and saw it pay off, so I sat there with him for hours and hours every night. Because I’m his mom. Has he ever noticed any of that? Of course not! He notices everything he doesn’t get in this life. And now, thanks to you, he gets to add skiing trip to the list of things to hold against me. You’re a peach, Mitchell! An absolute peach.”

  As her voice wound down, Avery eyed Mitchell and saw he had gone back to editing the article he’d been looking at when she’d come in.

  “Are you listening to anything I say?” When Mitchell said nothing, she leaned forward and slapped her palm against the edge of his desktop. She didn’t use much force, but the impact still vibrated up her arm and echoed among the stacks of files and papers around the room.

  Her editor neither jumped nor reacted. Instead, the picture of calm, he put his pen down, took his glasses off, and set them next to the pen. Taking his time, he looked up and asked, “Are you done yet?”

  She tried to stare him down, but he was having none of it.

  Mitchell leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not an entirely insensitive clod, despite what you may think. Sending you off to chase a story over Christmas isn’t my idea. This came down from higher up, and I don’t have a say in it. Apparently the Quaint American Towns feature you’ve been doing for the past year has gotten a good-enough response that the big wigs at Corporate are following through on their promise of syndication and have given me a list of towns and times they want you to cover in the coming year. They’re insisting the national syndication of your feature start with this particular story, and they demand it be authentically at Christmas. I did my best to cull down the list and eliminate some of the ones that would take you out of town for extended trips during the school year. Corporate would not, however, budge on the Christmas trip. In fact, they went so far as to make it a contingency of your national syndication.”

  When Avery started to sputter again, Mitchell held up his hand to silence her. “Contrary to popular opinion, I do have sympathy. You drive down tomorrow, spend Christmas eve and day, drive back the day after, and then you’ll have the rest of his break to take the kid skiing. Besides, I already called Eli and told him about the trip. I wanted to make sure he unders
tood it was coming from me, that you didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

  “You spoke to my son about this?” Avery’s voice was filled with skepticism.

  A bark of laughter escaped as Mitchell shook his head and answered, “Two days ago. I guess he didn’t mention it to you?”

  “My son has known my job assignment for two days, and I am just now finding out about it?”

  Mitchell shrugged. “Hey, I told him to pass the information on to you. The memo was nothing more than the official documentation so Corporate has the nice paper trail they prefer.”

  Avery ran a hand through her light brown hair, not at all embarrassed by her previous rant. “I suppose it’s a good thing we’re friends, and you can’t fire me, huh? If any other reporter came in here and went off on you like that, they’d be out of here in a heartbeat, wouldn’t they?”

  Raising an eyebrow, Mitchell replied, “I guess we can all be thankful you closed the door when you came in.”

  Something in his voice warned Avery she wasn’t going to be happy with what she would see. She spun around to look at the door. There it was, standing wide open. Turning to look at her boss, she said, “I did it again, didn’t I?”

  He nodded.

  Swallowing, she leaned back in her chair. “I’m not a very good example to your other employees.” This wasn’t the first time Avery had slammed the door so hard it had bounced back open rather than shut.

  “Which is why I always tell them to do the exact opposite of whatever you do. Unless they’re on assignment. Then they can emulate you,” he said with a wink.

  “I can’t believe Eli has known for two days and said nothing to me.” Her voice was rueful, all trace of her previous drama gone.

  “You know he’s somewhere howling in laughter over this. He probably has the office bugged, and we don’t even know it.”

  Avery shook her head. “Even the bugs are afraid of your office,” she said, her voice dry. “I don’t think he could have convinced any to stay in here.” She adjusted her scarf and asked, “Has Gavin been yet to take the pictures? It helps if I can see the photos first so I know which parts of the town to include in my piece.”

  Mitchell’s pronounced eyebrows climbed up again. “You didn’t read the entire memo, did you?” She shook her head, and he said, “Gavin’s traveling with you. This was a last-minute push by Corporate, and he hasn’t had a chance to get out there ahead of you, so he’s going to have to go with you.”

  Avery had a sinking feeling and could have sworn she felt a large stone being dropped into her stomach with a loud kplunk.

  Gavin Eastly had once been a rising star in photojournalism. He’d fallen off the radar a couple years back and had only recently started working again. The fact that he was doing work for the Albuquerque Times spoke to how far from grace he’d fallen. She didn’t know the story behind it, but when someone as good at their job as he’d been disappears as suddenly as he had, the assumption tended to be a stint in rehab or a mental hospital. Maybe both.

  She bit her lip before saying, “Mitchell, I’ve never met Gavin. The only things I know about him are the photos he takes… and his reputation. I’m not sure I want to be confined with him for such a long trip.” Her editor watched her but didn’t say anything. I hate it when he does that. It always makes me say more than I intend. “My teenage son will be with me. What if Gavin has… bad habits… that might influence my son?”

  His lips twitched, and she had the feeling he was trying not to laugh at her.

  “Gavin’s story is his own to tell,” he said.

  This time it was her turn to cross her arms and stare.

  With a camaraderie built from years working together, Mitchell sat back, his muscles loose and relaxed, as he looked her in the eye and said, “You don’t have to worry about Gavin being a bad influence on Eli.”

  “I need something more than that. You ought to know that about me.”

  Mitchell ran a hand through his thinning hair and said, “Close the door.”

  Surprised by the command, Avery rose to shut the door then pulled her chair closer to the desk so she didn’t miss anything Mitchell had to say.

  “Gavin is family.”

  Avery’s stomach fluttered akin to when she was on the scent of a big story. “Family?”

  “On my wife’s side. That’s all I can tell you, and you need to keep it quiet.”

  “Why is it a secret?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Smoking, drinking, drugs? Anything I should watch for?”

  “I wouldn’t be sending you anywhere with him if he had any dangerous issues. He’s clean, Avery. And a good guy. He’s having a hard time right now is all.”

  “Mental breakdown? Do I need to make sure the knives are removed from the table whenever we stop to eat?”

  His eyes narrowed and he said, voice deeper than usual, “He’s an amazing photographer, good enough to make even the ugliest town look beautiful.” The easy posture was gone as Mitchell leaned forward and said, “Don’t give him any grief, and do your best not to ask questions. That’s all I’m willing to say about it.”

  I’m not going to let it drop that easily, and you know it.

  “Fine. I’ll go. When do we leave, and whose car are we taking?”

  Mitchell sat back, his brow wrinkling. “Uh, I’ve lined up a rental. It’s in your name, and they will come pick you up at your house tomorrow morning at ten. Gavin is supposed to text you in the A.M. to let you know where to pick him up.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” she said with a smile. “Thanks for setting everything up!”

  Avery breezed out of Mitchell’s office with a triumphant smile on her face. She’d left him guessing, and she knew it. He couldn’t hide his surprise or suspicion, and that suited her fine. I’ll drop my questions about Gavin when purple monkeys start dancing on the hood of my rental car.

  Chapter Two

  “Eli!” she called when she got home. No answer. “Eli! Where are you?” Still no answer.

  It’s not as if the house is so big he’s too far away to hear!

  She stepped into her son’s room and saw him sitting on his bed, back leaning against the wall, earbuds firmly in place. Someday we’re going to have to get those things surgically removed. Avery wrapped her knuckles against his door, and Eli lifted his eyes.

  When he saw her, he had the decency to remove one of his earbuds and ask, “What’s up, Mom?”

  “You need to pack. We’re leaving on a trip tomorrow.”

  Eli jerked his head, pointing it toward the wall behind her. Avery turned to see his suitcase. “You’re already packed?”

  “Uh, duh. Isn’t that obvious?”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Careful,” he said. “They might get stuck in the back of your head.”

  She gave him The Look.

  Instead of squirming the way he would when he was eight years old, he laughed. “Come on, Mom. I’m telling you what you always tell me. If you roll your eyes too much, they’ll get stuck in the back of your head, and you’ll never be able to see anything but your brain ever again.”

  I did this to myself. I tried to raise the boy with humor. That was before I realized he’d eventually get old enough to start turning it back on me. What was I thinking?

  “Did you pack a toothbrush?”

  He shrugged. “I put a new one in so I wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

  “You sure you’ve got everything? Should we go through it?”

  “Yes, I packed enough underwear, but if you want to count, go ahead. Just be sure to put everything back the way you found it when you’re done. I don’t want to have to repack afterward.”

  She backed out of his room to go take care of her own packing, then stopped and popped back over the threshold. “I gave Mitchell a huge lecture today about how he was ruining your Christmas. He let me go on and on about it. The whole my-son-will-hate-me-forever speech.” Eli’s lips twitched. “Were you
ever going to tell me you’d spoken to him?”

  “Nah. I know how much you enjoy ranting. Figured I was doing you a favor by giving you a reason.”

  “Did he at least tell you the name of the town we’re heading to?” When Eli shook his head, Avery took great delight in saying, “We’re heading to Nowhere, Oklahoma.”

  If she wasn’t mistaken, her son paled a bit at her words. “Who names a town Nowhere?”

  She shrugged and said, “We’ll find out when we get there.”

  “Will they even have electricity? Will I be able to charge my phone and MP3 player?” Eli squinted his eyes at her before saying, “Nah. You’re pulling my leg. That can’t be for real.”

  Avery shook her head and laughed as she headed down the hall. “Give me twenty minutes to pack, then I’ll fix dinner!” she called back over her shoulder. When she got no response, she figured the earbuds had been safely replaced. Either that, or Eli was trying to come up with an excuse to get out of eating. If I’d had his aversion to well-balanced meals as a child,, I’d have starved to death!

  ****

  Thirty minutes later, Avery conceded defeat. She’d noticed but hadn’t really registered the size of Eli’s suitcase. Then she’d gone to pack her own bag. By the time she’d added her laptop, tablet, notebook for jotting down ideas, and a couple reading books into it, Avery had no room left for her clothes. As she studied the faded green cloth of the suitcase nestled among the piles of clothes on her bed, she realized something. “Eli!”

  “What’s up, Mom?”

  “You took my suitcase!”

  “I needed room for all my stuff.”

  “I’m standing here trying to figure out why everything won’t fit, and it’s because you left me with the small suitcase.”

  “Come on, Mom. You had to realize what size it was when you picked it up and put it on your bed. And you even saw the other suitcase in my room. It’s not like I was hiding it or anything.”