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“I have a special request,” Greg’s mom said.
Greg Wong sighed and put the nature documentary on mute. He was pretty sure he would not like his mother’s request.
“What is it?” he asked, clutching the phone to his ear.
“I want you to drive Tasha Edwards back to Mosquito Bay for the Christmas holidays. You’re getting off work early and leaving Monday afternoon, right?”
It took Greg a moment to find his voice. “Yes.”
But he hated it when people changed his plans on him. He loved plans. He made meticulous plans whenever he could.
“Wonderful!” Mom said. “She’ll meet you at your condo at three, okay?”
“Why am I driving her home for the holidays?”
“I met her mother at the grocery store the other day—they had an amazing sale on prime rib, so we’re going to have a roast when you get home on the twenty-third, what do you think? And she mentioned that Tasha’s car had broken down and she hadn’t gotten around to buying a new one yet. Since it’s hard to get to Mosquito Bay without a car and you’re already making the drive from Toronto, I figured, why not?”
Greg took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Dear God.
He’d been looking forward to driving back to his hometown alone. His plan was to listen to CBC Radio, enjoy the solitude, and prepare himself for his boisterous family.
Now it was being snatched away from him.
Instead, he’d be spending hours in the car with his ex-girlfriend.
There were no hard feelings between him and Tasha, though. He’d known her since they were children, and she was the first girl he’d ever loved. They’d started dating in high school when they were sixteen and parted on amicable terms when they were in university, after nearly three years of dating.
God, it had been fifteen years since they’d been together. A lifetime ago.
He hadn’t thought he’d still be single at thirty-four, but he found the whole dating business difficult and usually spent Saturday nights at home, watching Hockey Night in Canada and working on his model railway, which wasn’t a great way to meet women.
So when his parents had set him up with a woman at Thanksgiving, Greg—unlike his siblings—hadn’t minded. Lily was nice, but before he’d really gotten to know her, it became apparent that she and his brother Nick had a history, and now they were in a relationship.
And Greg suspected that the main reason his mother was asking him to drive Tasha home was because she wanted to set them up.
“Mom, I’m not getting back together with my ex.”
“Who said anything about that?” Mom said, but she wasn’t fooling him. “I just want you to drive her back for the holidays, nothing more.”
He grunted.
There was no good reason to refuse. If Tasha met him at his condo, it wouldn’t be inconvenient for him at all, and her parents’ house was only three blocks from where his own parents lived. I want to listen to CBC Radio in peace wasn’t the sort of excuse that people understood, and if he said no, his mother would keep bugging him about it. She’d call him every few hours until he agreed. When she got an idea in her head, she wouldn’t let go of it.
Best to just accept it.
He was driving home for Christmas with his high school sweetheart.
* * *
On Monday December 23 at 3:01, Greg was sitting in the lobby of his building, waiting for Tasha. She should have been here sixty-two seconds ago.
Not that he’d hold being a minute late against anyone, but she’d just sent him a text from Davisville Station, which meant it would take her another twenty minutes to get here.
Hmph.
Tasha was usually on time. She wasn’t one of those people who was always running late—like his sister—but she wasn’t as obsessive about time as he was.
At least, that’s what she’d been like before. He supposed he didn’t really know her anymore. He’d seen her only a handful of times since their break-up—all at get-togethers with mutual friends—and the last time had been five years ago.
Greg was particularly anxious about the time today. He wanted to get out of the city well before five, not only because of the traffic, but because a snowstorm was supposed to hit later this evening. He wanted to be in Mosquito Bay by then, eating prime rib and listening to his family squabble.
Except Tasha was screwing up his plans, dammit.
Finally, at 3:27, she entered the lobby of his building, a big smile on her face. She pulled off her toque, and her braids tumbled about her face, and oh God, what was wrong with him? His heart was beating quickly—had he developed a heart condition?
No, this fluttering was just what happened when she was around. Apparently his body was still conditioned to respond this way, even though he hadn’t seen her in years.
She’d been very pretty as a teenager, and she was very pretty now as a woman. She looked different, though. He couldn’t explain exactly how, but she did.
She grinned even wider when she saw him. “It’s good to see you, Greg.”
His brain suddenly emptied, and he was unable to do anything but grunt.
Tasha didn’t seem bothered by his lack of clear speech, however. That wasn’t surprising—she’d always been able to interpret his grunts, even when he wasn’t sure what they meant. It was one of her superpowers.
“You’re late,” he said gruffly.
“I’m so sorry. I got tied up at work. I told my boss I was leaving early, but we were trying to finish something up before the holidays and...well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Greg had a feeling this was going to be a very long trip.
He just hoped the traffic and weather co-operated.
* * *
Tasha really was sorry about being late. She’d wanted to get out of the office at a good time, excited about seeing her parents for Christmas, but she took her job very seriously. It was the best one she’d had since she’d graduated.
As an aerospace engineer, she was used to being surrounded by men, and at her last workplace, she’d felt like she was always left out and passed over for things, but this job was good. She did aerodynamic modeling at a company that specialized in wind tunnel testing for buildings. It wasn’t what she’d initially thought she’d do with her degrees, but she enjoyed it. Though it was a quieter office than she’d prefer—not much chit-chat around the coffeemaker or anything like that—everyone was kind and respected her.
Greg was an engineer, too. As he took her suitcase, she looked at his right hand and saw the iron ring on his pinky, just like hers.
She followed him into the elevator and down to the parking garage.
“Thank you so much for driving me back to Mosquito Bay,” she said.
He grunted in acknowledgement.
Well, he really hadn’t changed much, had he?
Except he’d filled out a bit since he was a teenager. Even in his winter jacket, she could see the difference.
“I could have taken the train,” she continued, “but it’s a long ways for my parents to go into London to pick me up, and you’re driving to Mosquito Bay anyway, so it’s not like you have to go out of your way. Though if it hadn’t been for me, you’d have left half an hour ago.”
“Yes.”
She hurried to match his long strides. “Like I said, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
He clearly wasn’t happy, but apologizing again wasn’t going to help.
“Nick lives in Toronto, too, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, he’s some kind of hotshot executive.”
She laughed. “Nick? Really?” Greg’s brother, the one closest in age to them, had been a bit awkward in school.
“Yeah. And he was quite the playboy, up until a few months ago.”
She struggled to wrap her mind around that. “What happened a few months ago?”
“He met a woman. Fell in love. You know.” Greg stopped in front of a red Camry. “Get in. I’ll put your suitcase in the trunk.”
“My car is a Camry, too!” she said, then sighed, deflated. “Well, it was. It’s gone now. My dad got it for me second-hand after I finished undergrad. Much older than your Camry, but I loved it.”
He popped open the trunk and gave her a look.
“Oh, right! I should get inside!” She hurried to the passenger’s seat and sat down. “Okay, I’m ready.”
He sat down next to her and started the car without a word.
She had a feeling this was going to be a very long trip.