Sleigh Ride: A Holiday Novella

by Breezie Bennett

  I open my mouth to respond, but decide to just let him hash this idea out before I totally bring it down.

  “Somewhere where it snows for real. I bet in a place that’s actually cold and snowing, there’d be one available.” He rushes into the other room.

  “Uh, honey?” I call after him, drawing the word out.

  “Yeah?”

  “We need the snow machine by tomorrow night. We don’t have time to drive up to the Northeast and drive all the way back with a snow machine. I hate to burst your bubble, but…it’s just not feasible.”

  Mason makes a gurgling laughing sound, and I switch him to the other knee.

  “We’ve got…what?” Matt glances at his watch. “Twenty-seven hours until the time Melody said everything has to be ready.”

  “Well, yeah, but…”

  “Plenty of time. Let me do some digging. You two relax.”

  Relax. That sounds nice. Not even an actual remote possibility, but…it would be lovely. It’s my baby’s first Christmas, so I have that to think about. Plus, I told my dad I wanted to take maternity leave, but the idea of not working just doesn’t sit well for us Vices, so I’ve still been doing projects here and there since Mason was born. Matt and I found this apartment and moved in the span of a week, and I’m still getting used to the whole putting down roots thing. In a good way, though. Unpacking here and settling down with Matt feels more perfect than any flight or hotel I’ve ever booked.

  I take a long, deep breath and lie back on the plush couch cushions, putting my feet up and cradling Mason against my chest.

  He’s silent in my arms, falling asleep. My eyes feel heavy. Relax. Yeah, I could. I think I will…just for a…

  “Babe!”

  And there goes my moment of peace.

  I sit up and smile sleepily, rubbing Mason’s back as Matt runs back into the living room, eyes blazing with excitement. “What’s up?”

  “Shoot, I’m sorry, were you napping?”

  I yawn and wipe my eyes. “Nope. Wide awake. Did you find a snow machine?”

  “As a matter of fact, I did.” He holds up his iPhone and puts the screen in front of my blurry eyes.

  I blink a few times before I can make out the words.

  Your Snow Machine Rental Has Been Booked!

  “Oh my God!” I perk up and laugh with surprise and relief. “You found one? Nice work, babe!” I hold my free hand up for a high five.

  “It’s a little bit farther of a drive, but I did the calculations, and we can definitely make it.”

  “How far?” I ask, reaching for the phone. “Jacksonville? North Florida somewhere?”

  “Not, uh…not exactly.”

  I scroll down a little on the screen, and my eyes fall on the words in a decorative Christmas font.

  Pick up by 10 p.m. in Asheville, North Carolina.

  “Ashe…North Caro…” I shake my head to clear the fog one last time and make sure I’m reading this right. “Matt…how far is—”

  “Ten and a half hours both ways. It’s been snowing all week in Asheville, so they had some cancellations for snow machine rentals. We can have it for tomorrow.”

  Words get caught in my throat as I inhale to talk and can’t even say anything.

  “I did the math, don’t worry. We just have to leave in, like…ten minutes. Five, ideally.”

  A swell of laughter bubbles in my chest, and I drop my head back onto the couch, holding sleeping Mason against my chest. “Matt…babe…that’s over twenty hours of driving in the next…like…day!”

  “I know. But we have twenty-seven.” He starts gathering his keys. “A couple hours to spare. Give or take.” He grins widely. “Come on, Adventure Junkie! This is right up your alley.”

  I take a long, deep breath. “Adventure Junkie has a three-month-old baby now.”

  Matt crouches down so he’s eye level with Mason, who’s drifting in and out of dreamland in my lap. “Hey, buddy. How do you feel about a road trip?”

  Right on cue, Mason grunts and squirms and spits up a little onto his onesie.

  We both laugh, and I wipe it off with a washcloth, shaking my head. “You’re insane, you know that?”

  “I know. But, El, Coach Watson believed in me when no one else did. Everyone thought we were completely and totally screwed when Chase got hurt and I had to start for the rest of the season. But he never sweated it. He told me I was made for it and that everyone else would figure it out when we won the Super Bowl.”

  I swallow a wave of emotion at the memory of that day, my heart tugging with love. “Babe, I want this to happen and be perfect as much as you do. But we really just don’t have the time. We’d have to stop at least a few times, and it could take a bit to load it in the car… We wouldn’t make it. Not to mention we are both horribly unqualified to drive in the snow.”

  Matt drops down on the couch next to me, running his hands through his hair. “Damn it. You’re right. There aren’t enough hours.”

  I reach over and rub his back slowly, leaning my head onto his broad shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  We sit in silence for a little while, the three of us on our new sofa in the place that already feels like home.

  My heart aches for Coach Watson. I don’t want to let Melody down, or anyone else for that matter, but there’s really just no way…

  “Matt!” I jump up, still holding Mason tightly and bouncing him on my hip. Excitement swirls through me as a brilliant idea pops into my head. “Matt, get your stuff. We’re going to Asheville. Right now.”

  “What…Ellie, I love the enthusiasm, but there really isn’t time to—”

  I switch the baby to my other hip and raise my brow. “I didn’t say we were driving, did I?”

  Five

  Frankie Sterling

  “Mama! Mama!” Sammy sits up in his stroller and points eagerly to the massive Ferris wheel as we’re walking by. “Mama!”

  “Oh boy.” I turn to Jessica. “I think someone wants to ride the Ferris wheel.”

  “Ferris wheel!” Asher repeats with a little jump in his step as he turns around to face us. “Mommy, Aunt Frankie, can we pleeease ride the Ferris wheel? Pretty please? I’ve never been on one that high. It’s, like, so high. Please?”

  “Well…” Jess checks her phone. “Last I heard from Elliot, they were still negotiating, but he said it wouldn’t be too much longer. They hope.”

  I laugh and shake my head. “Two NFL players negotiating for a reindeer. It’s just not something you see every day.”

  “The bizarre magic of Christmas, I suppose,” Jess says with a snort.

  “Mama!” Sammy whines again, a little louder this time, still pointing at the Ferris wheel.

  I lift a shoulder. “They did tell us to go off and have fun…”

  “You’re right.” She flips her blond curls over her shoulder. “Let’s do it.”

  “Yes!” Asher exclaims with a fist bump.

  We walk toward the line for the Ferris wheel, and I take Sammy out of his stroller, parking it in a blocked-off section with a bunch of other strollers.

  “On your feet, bud.”

  Sammy hops onto his tiny, wobbly feet and clings to my hand, bouncing and jumping with uncontained excitement.

  “All right.” Jessica corrals Asher and guides him to the entrance to the ride. “Get in line.”

  We step onto the metal base of the wheel and wait for an empty cart to swing in front of us.

  “I haven’t been on a Ferris wheel in ages,” I say to Jessica, absent-mindedly pulling Sammy’s arms to his sides so he stops touching every germy thing in sight.

  “Me, either. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get high enough to see our husbands trying to wrestle a reindeer by the antlers.”

  I laugh heartily. “Oh God, I hope so.”

  The man running the ride is dressed like an elf, guiding people onto the swinging cars.

  The wheel moves, and a car slides right in front of the four of us.

  “Go ahead
, ladies and gents!” Overly Enthusiastic Elf Man gestures toward the empty car. “Enjoy your ride and have a Merry Christmas!”

  We smile and slip onto the hard metal seats of the little cabin, and it swings significantly as we shift our weight, making my heart jump a little.

  Jessica is right there with me, shooting me a wide-eyed look as the metal creaks, and the wheel starts to move, and we lift off the ground slowly.

  “Okay, all right,” I say softly, clutching Sammy on my lap and feeling butterflies as we soar higher and higher.

  “Wow! Cool!” Asher turns and leans over the edge of the car. “You can see everything!”

  “Ash, honey, please stay sitting down. You’re making me nervous.”

  “Sorry, Mommy.” He grins and looks out over the park.

  “We’re, uh…” I shift Sammy on my lap as he giggles softly. “We’re getting up there, aren’t we?”

  Jessica gives a tight smile and a hint of a nervous laugh. “Yeah, this is…pretty high.”

  We giggle with the silent and mutual understanding that we both aren’t totally loving this whole rickety machine lifting us way above the ground thing, but we keep it cool for the sakes of the boys.

  I take a deep breath and look out as our car gets to the top of the wheel. “Look, Sammy.” I hold him even tighter than usual. “Look at all the Christmas magic.”

  “The air’s chillier up here, isn’t it?” Jessica remarks, keeping her arm around Asher’s shoulders as he takes in the view with wonder.

  “It is a little cool.” The car swings in the breeze, and my heart flips a little. “It really is beautiful from up—”

  Suddenly, a loud screeching sound slams my ears, followed by a harsh thud.

  I stop breathing and clutch Sammy as tight as I can as the car screeches to a halt.

  “Oh my God,” Jessica cries. “What was that?”

  Asher clings to her, the look in his wide eyes going from joy and amazement to pure fear.

  I take a few breaths and gather myself. “We’re not moving,” I say slowly, leaning over the rail and looking down the stopped Ferris wheel.

  “Maybe they’re just letting more people on?” Jessica offers weakly.

  “It didn’t thud like that the other times,” I say, trying to cut down on the panic in my voice.

  We all look around, studying the ride and realizing quickly that we are literally at the very, very top.

  I look down at Sammy. “Are you okay, sweetie?”

  His lip quivers a bit, and his eyes glisten with fear.

  I kiss his forehead. “Mommy’s got you. We’re gonna get down really, really soon.”

  “How soon?” Asher asks, looking frantically back and forth between Jessica and me.

  “Shit,” Jessica mutters.

  “Mommy!” Asher gasps. “You cursed,” he whispers, as if that’s the most shocking and concerning thing that’s happening right now.

  “Sorry, Ash.” Jessica taps her phone screen nervously. “It’s just that I have no service right now, so I can’t reach your Dad.”

  “Let me check mine.” I reach into my back pocket, careful to keep Sammy steady on my lap. “No bars.”

  “Okay, okay.” Jessica takes a deep breath. “They’ll get us down. The ride must have just broken down. It happens all the time.”

  “Of course when we’re at the very top,” I groan.

  “I know.” Jess rolls her eyes. “What luck. It shouldn’t be too long, though, right?”

  I reluctantly turn my gaze down to the ground, which fills my chest with a twisting spiral of nerves. The sweet, sweet ground is so painfully far away.

  A swarm of people in Christmas costumes are rushing around. Hopefully, that’s a good sign.

  “Keep your eyes out,” Jess says, looking out over the park. “Maybe we can spot Elliot and Leo.”

  “And their reindeer,” I add, enjoying the relief of the bit of laughter in the Ferris wheel cabin.

  “Mommy,” Asher says, his voice worried. “I wanna get down.”

  “I know, buddy. They’re gonna fix it super fast, I promise.”

  I meet Jessica’s gaze and hope she’s right.

  Six

  Chase Kennedy

  “Jesus, babe, your ass looks amazing.”

  Whit whips her head around and glares at me. “Would you shut up, Six? I’m trying to get up here and see if there’s security guards or anything.”

  I laugh as my wife boosts herself higher up the fence, peering into the entrance of the very much closed Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami.

  I can’t resist giving her rear end another squeeze, and she quickly swats my hand away and stifles a laugh.

  “It looks pretty empty.”

  “They closed at sunset, right?” I ask, checking the website again on my phone. “It’s getting to be pretty dark now. We should be fine.”

  She hops down from the fence and fixes her shiny brown hair, her laughter bringing those familiar sparkles into her eyes. “We really have to sneak in to get pine?”

  “We’ll, we’re not gonna steal it in the light of day, are we?”

  “I wish we didn’t have to steal it at all.” Whit rolls her eyes and glances around again.

  “I know. But I called every Christmas tree farm in the state, and they laughed at me when I said I needed a tree in Florida the day before Christmas Eve. Besides…” I jut my chin at the closed and gated park. “This is more fun.”

  She bites her bottom lip and shakes her head, giving me that look where she simultaneously thinks I’m obnoxious but also can’t resist me. I’ve seen that look since we were in kindergarten. It melts me every time.

  “And if we get caught?” She inches toward me with a raised brow and a flirty smile.

  “Babe.” I give her a look. “Come on. I’m me.”

  She puffs out a breath and shakes her head, leaning her forehead against my chest and giggling softly. “Okay, Six. Let’s get in there and steal some pine.”

  “All right.” I lift her up, helping her climb to the top of the fence. “I’ll give you a boost, and then I’ll hop over after you.”

  I place my hands on my wife’s perfectly toned ass and legs, think how fucking lucky I am, and gently push her over the top of the fence.

  “Okay!” Whitney whispers breathlessly as she hops down on the other side. “I’m in.”

  “Let’s do this.”

  I hoist myself up and clear the metal fence in a swift movement, careful not to put too much pressure on my still questionable right shoulder.

  “Damn.” I wrap an arm around Whit and look around the dark gardens, laughing a little. “This is pretty sick.”

  “It’s amazing,” she agrees softly, tugging on my hand and pulling me down a winding path. All kinds of plants and trees and flowers are sprouted up all around us, making it feel like we’re in our own little private bubble of nature.

  She looks back at me, her eyes glinting with wildness and moonlight. “You’re sure no one’s in here?”

  “You’re the one who peeked in, Nit Whit.” I jog lightly to catch up to her and give her waist a squeeze. “If there is anyone, it’s on you.”

  She laughs, a mixture of giddy and nervous, leaning into me as we make our way down the trail. “We should hurry, then. Do you see any pine trees?”

  “Hang on.” I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. “I saved some pictures of the exact type of trees Coach was talking about. Melody sent them to me. The real ones with the Christmas smell.”

  She peers at my phone screen. “We better get searching, then. There’s a metric shit-ton of plants in here.”

  We laugh and sneak around the gardens, every second becoming more comfortable, and I can already feel the recklessness of the night burning into my mind as an insanely awesome memory.

  “Maybe over here?” Whit suggests as we round a corner onto another path, and the plants start to look less tropical and a little more Christmasy.

  “Yeah, this lo
oks promising.”

  “Just follow your nose,” she says teasingly, planting a kiss on my lips that sends sparks flying.

  “Pine…pine…” I say slowly, studying the massive and elaborate displays and arrangements of every kind of plant I didn’t even know existed. “You smell any Christmas?”

  Whitney leans over toward a huge clump of trees, bending down and trying to sniff the leaves and branches.

  I can’t help but laugh as I crouch down and join her, both of us closely examining these trees as if we have any fucking clue about plants.

  “Wait!” Whitney jumps up and hurries over to another section of trees, her smile brightening. “Remember when my family and I spent Christmas in North Dakota with my aunt that one year when we were in high school?”

  I smile slowly, chuckling at the memory. “Oh yeah. I had some really hot date over winter break, and you just abandoned me. I had no one to tell about it!”

  She scrunches her face up in mock annoyance. “You had the entire student body of adoring Chase fans.”

  “But…” I wrap my arms around her waist. “I missed you.”

  She kisses my lips softly. “Guess that’s why that hot date didn’t work out.”

  “Guess that’s why none of them did.”

  I kiss her back, a little harder, slipping my tongue into her mouth as we smile against each other.

  I run my hands down the slopes of her sides and admire every flawless curve, feeling my heart rate pick up.

  Whit giggles and runs her hands up and down my back, tracing my muscles. “I was going somewhere with that story, Six.”

  “Oh, right,” I say without pulling away. “North Dakota.”

  She reluctantly slips out of my embrace and rushes back to the section of trees clustered off the path. “I smelled the pine. The kind Coach was talking about.”

  “Like real-ass Christmas trees?” I walk over, trying to shake off the steam of that kiss and how she always leaves me wanting more.

  “Yeah, kind of.” She leans into a bushy section of branches and takes a deep inhale. “Pine! This is it. I’m sure of it.”