Page 44 of A Winter Thaw

“Oh my gosh, me too. I can’t wait to see you.” Even though Evan was panting a little from running, Audrey could hear the smile in his voice. “Thank goodness you’re finally coming home.”

“I know.” She shook her head. “This has really been a wild ride. Yesterday was fun, and we stayed up late watching all of the videos from the conference. My brain felt like it was going to explode by the end there, but I’m glad we watched everything. Then we slept in today and so far, I’ve hardly done anything. I’m really itching to get home and see you.”

“I’m going to give you the biggest hug in the world. You know this is the longest we’ve been away from each other since we started dating?”

“I sure do.” She laughed. “It’s been awful.”

He laughed too. “Well, I’m glad you missed me as much as I missed you. I can’t wait to go out on a date with you to celebrate you coming home.”

They chatted for a few more minutes, both of them reveling in the relief of knowing that they were going to see each other again soon. Finally, Evan said he was nearing the end of his run and he would need to take a shower before an upcoming meeting.

“Talk to you later, sweetheart,” she said. “No, better yet—see you tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow. I can’t wait to kiss you.”

As soon as she and Evan had said goodbye and hung up, the door of the hotel room opened and Elaine stepped inside.

“I’m home!” she joked cheerfully. She was carrying a white plastic bag that was letting out heavenly spicy aromas. “I decided to stop and get us some Chinese takeout for lunch. I got us some egg rolls, Crab Rangoon, fried rice, orange chicken—” Elaine paused when she saw how happy Audrey looked. “You’re glowing! Either you’re really excited about this food, or you have good news.”

“Both!” Audrey hopped off the bed and hurried forward to hug her mother. “We get to fly back home tomorrow morning!”

Elaine dropped the bag of takeout and squealed with happiness. The two of them jumped up and down in a circle, hugging and laughing.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Elaine said, wiping tears of joy from her eyes. “This has been fun, but I’m just dying to get home. I absolutely cannot wait to see Michelle, and Puddle, and…”

“And Shep.” Audrey finished the sentence for her mother. She’d learned to recognize the smitten gleam that came into her mother’s eyes whenever Elaine was thinking about Shep.

“Yes.” Elaine sighed like a schoolgirl. “And Shep.”

“Come on,” Audrey said, picking up the bag of takeout and carrying it over to a little table that was in the corner of the hotel room. “Let’s enjoy our lunch and then maybe we can go somewhere. I can’t wait to get home, but I also don’t want to waste our last day in Boston.”

“Sounds great to me.” Elaine started to open the containers of takeout, which let out puffs of steam and overpoweringly delicious scents. “And speaking of Shep, I still haven’t found the perfect Christmas gift for him.” She bit her lip, looking stressed.

“Don’t stress, Mom,” Audrey said soothingly, knowing how much her mother cared about getting her boyfriend a wonderful Christmas present. “Do you remember that antique shop we passed by on our first day out on the town? There was a sign in the window that said they sold vintage bakeware. I didn’t really think about it at the time, but that might be a great place to look for a gift for Shep.”

“I love that!” Elaine’s eyes widened with excitement as she considered the idea. “Maybe I’ll actually be able to find something he likes there. He prefers to buy all his own cookware, but I’ve heard him say many times that vintage items are always the best since they used to make things so much better than they do now.”

“Perfect.” Audrey chuckled. “Maybe you’ll be able to finally find that perfect gift for him.”

They ate a great deal of the delicious food and tucked the leftovers into the mini fridge in their room. Then they bundled up in their coats and hats and gloves and made their way down to the lobby, where a pianist was playing live music on the grand piano. They stopped and listened for a few minutes, soaking up the beautiful sounds.

“Ready?” Elaine whispered to Audrey after a few minutes. “I hate to rush you, but I’m itching to get over there.”

Audrey laughed. “I can see that impatient gleam in your eyes. Yes, I’m ready. Antique baking pans, here we come!”

They stepped out into the light swirl of snow. Audrey took a deep breath of the frigid air, feeling energetic and happy. She couldn’t wait to get back to The Birchwood House, and she felt as though she could taste Christmas on the very snowflakes that were tumbling down from the sky.

The antique shop was a short walk from the hotel. As they pushed open the front door, they were greeted with the musky scent of old things. The store had a hushed, serene atmosphere that Audrey found soothing. She felt that hundreds of treasures were resting on the shelves in front of them, waiting to tell their stories.

“This is fun,” Elaine whispered as they began to wander the narrow aisles between the shelves. “There are so many great things in here.”

“Look at this little wooden rocking horse,” Audrey said, pointing to the antique toy, which bore a grin that would have given modern-day children nightmares. “Do you think he would want that?”

“Oh my goodness, no.” Elaine made a face of mock horror.

They went deeper into the antique store, remarking on all of the fascinating objects.

“Look at this fan!” Audrey gasped, picking up a black lace fan that had been hung up on the wall to display it properly. “Isn’t this gorgeous?”