“I’m here, Preston,” I said quietly.
“Dad, you have to call them right now! You have to fix this!” He was almost screaming, his words tripping over each other so fast he sounded like he was running out of oxygen. “We’re in the lobby. Security is standing right here by the desk. They locked the keycards ten minutes ago because the front desk says the primary card was flagged for fraud and the chargeback went through. They’re saying we owe thirty thousand dollars in cash or valid backup right now or we have to get off the property!”
I didn’t say anything for three seconds. Through the earpiece, I could hear a woman crying in the background, Courtney’s voice, sharp and frantic, accusing someone named Kyle of not checking the portal before they left Denver.
“Dad, are you listening to me?” Preston shouted, his voice cracking on the syllable. “They won’t let us back into the chalet! All our luggage is still upstairs in the bedrooms, and Courtney’s mother is having a fit in front of the entire concierge staff. Read me a card number. Give me your corporate card or the savings account routing digits right now. We have nowhere to go. The hotels in town are booked solid for the holiday and they want twelve hundred a night just for a cot!”
I leaned my hip against the hallway wall, looking past the doorway into the living room where the little porcelain church on the mantel was glowing softly in the twilight.
“Preston,” I said, keeping my voice very level. “Remember what you told me nine days ago?”
There was a dead, hollow silence on the line, save for the whistling of the wind against the Telluride lobby doors three thousand miles away.
“What?” he whispered, his voice dropping into a shaky, terrified register. “What are you talking about?”
“You told me to stay home,” I said softly. “You told me not to be miserable, and you told me not to ruin your Christmas.”
“Dad, this isn’t the time for, “
“I listened to you,” I interrupted, my voice as steady as the stamping press at the plant. “I stayed home. I didn’t ruin your trip. You wanted a Christmas without me hovering over your shoulder and counting your pennies. Now you have one.”
“Dad, please! They’re looking at us! Courtney’s father tried to use his platinum card and it was declined for the incidental hold, they think we’re, they’re treating us like criminals!”
“You’re a grown man, Preston,” I said. “You wanted an elite holiday with the high-society folks. Looks like you found out what it costs.”
“Dad! Dad, wait, “
I pressed the small red button on the top of the landline base, cutting the connection with a sharp mechanical click. Then I picked up my cell phone from the kitchen table, flipped the switch to silent, and laid it face-down beside the saltines.
The house was wonderfully, perfectly quiet.
I walked back into the kitchen, took a sharp carving knife from the magnetic strip on the wall, and sliced myself a thick, medium-rare piece of prime rib. The meat was tender, warm, and seasoned just right. I put it on a stoneware plate with a spoonful of horseradish and carried it into the living room, sitting down in my armchair right as the little red light inside Eleanor’s porcelain church flickered against the darkening glass of the window.
The phone didn’t ring again. Outside, the first flakes of a real Cleveland snow began to tap softly against the storm glass, settling down into the quiet dark without a sound in the world.
