“Is she going alone?”
“No, she has a guy in her life. She’s still a beautiful woman.”
“I saw her at the signing. Said hello. You have her looks.”
“Thank you. What about your Christmas plans?”
“I’m invited to two holiday parties on Christmas Eve.”
“Work things?”
“Yeah. I’m planning to go home the next day to see my mother and family.”
“Where are you from?”
“A little town outside of Philadelphia.”
“You don’t seem happy about visiting them.”
“I’m pretty much persona non grata with my brothers. Since…Scotty…I haven’t been around. At all.”
“Surely they understand.”
“My brother Tommy and my mother do, but Liam, the youngest, bears a huge grudge.”
“Why?”
“We were the closest. He felt abandoned by me.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “He’s right. I abandoned them all.”
She raised her chin. “Would you…would you want a buffer?”
“I would. We have a personal connection now, anyway, so being professional acquaintances only isn’t going to cut it.”
“I feel the same.” She stared out the windows then turned to him. “I’d love to go with you.”
He smiled. “I’m glad.”
* * *
On Christmas Eve, Noreen started to her mother’s house early in the day. She’d tell her about the baby and get her counsel. But she knew her mother would want her to keep it, like she kept Noreen without a guy to help. She was driving happily along when she heard two pops. The car swayed. She barely kept it in her lane then eased over to the shoulder. She sighed heavily.
When she exited the car, the wind whipped around her so she zipped up her coat and tied her scarf more tightly at her neck. She found the left front tire had blown. For some reason, she checked the others. What the hell? the right front tire was flat too. She’d had her BMW serviced a few weeks ago and gotten new tires, so the flats didn’t make sense. And she didn’t have two spares, only one.
She got back in her car and phoned Triple A first, then called her mother. “Hello, dear.”
“Hi, Mom.” She told her mother the problem.
“That’s odd.”
“I’m going to have Triple A tow it to my garage in Westwood, but…”
“I’ll come getyouright now.”
“Thanks Mom. I’m at the Syracuse exit. I’m not far away.”
