As they walked through town, they were joined, impromptu, by people happy for any opportunity for something to do on a Friday night. Miriam could not have imagined that any of the Carrigan’s team were ready to laugh, especially not to laugh until they cried and the tears froze in their eyelashes, but they were and they did. It was, she realized, the first time she and Tara had laughed together in months.

I should be streaming, she thought before shaking her head. This moment wasn’t for the Bloomers, it was for her. The real her, no masks. When they all decided that caroling was not worth losing fingers to frostbite, they descended on Ernie’s, the tiny dive bar / music venue / dinner hangout on Main Street.

Advent’s Main Street was full of renovated historic facades, rows of clapboard stores with white trim in a rainbow of colors. Ernie’s was a long skinny room with a stage at the back and a wall of local moonshine. The wood-paneled walls were bursting at the seams with punch-drunk carolers yelling over each other to order French fries, beer, and anything that might warm them up. Miriam snapped pictures and texted them to her Old Ladies, who loved a dimly lit party full of alcohol and carbs.

Cole swooped on a big corner booth, so the five of them smooshed into it. Miriam was, ironically, pressed up against both Tara and Noelle. Elijah took one look at the booth and shook his head. “No way am I smooshing these newly ironed slacks into that mess!” he shouted over the din. “Someone’s starting a Scrabble game, you know where to find me.”

Noelle reached her arms out to him. “Don’t abandon me, my love!”

“You know I can’t resist the siren call of a Scrabble board.” He held up his hands, feigning helplessness.

“Leave them with some dignity,” she told him.

He rearranged his bow tie and folded his jacket over his arm. “I can’t make any promises.”

Noelle turned back to the table and said, deadly seriously, “Never let him scam you into a game of Scrabble.”

“This is a scene from Rent!” Hannah called as the noise crescendoed.

“VIVA LA—!” Cole and Noelle began, in unison, before collapsing into giggles.

A young Black woman with box braids and an impeccable red lip, wearing an apron and carrying an order pad, walked up, eyeing them warily.

“Are your friends okay?” she asked Hannah. Hannah made a “so-so” gesture while Miriam fought back tears as she tried to stop giggling. “Wait”—she squinted at Miriam through cat-eye glasses—“you look just like Cass.”

Miriam came up short.

“I do,” she said. “I’m Miriam Blum, I’m—”

“Ooooh, you’re the long-lost Miriam. Cass talked about you a lot.”

She stuck her pad in her apron and held out her hand. “I’m Ernie. This is my place.”