Mom and Dad cornered me not long after my return to let me know that what I did was irresponsible and dangerous, both of which were fair assessments. And that was before they’d heard about the crash. But they were also happy that Esha was back since it meant Grandma Jo was beaming like a kid, something neither my parents nor I could ever recall happening. That had never been my grandmother’s style. Maybe now it would be.

Dad said the whole thing was a huge relief. And more than anything he wanted his mom to be happy, which she clearly was. Time would tell if Grandma Jo and Esha were in for the long haul or if this was a holiday romance. I had my suspicions on where I thought they’d land.

And Mom and Dad were happy, too.

Their stay at the party lasted about an hour before they gave me a hug and a kiss, grabbed some extra sandwiches, wished me a merry Christmas, then retreated to Dad’s cottage before I could ask what Mom’d talked about with Ms. Lewis. There were times when they seemed so old to me, usually when I was getting in trouble for something. But there were other times when I remembered they were actually crazy young, all things considered, and this Christmas had been a big reminder.

Steve went up to his room for the evening, where he could stay for as long as the weather was brutal, or he wanted it, which we all knew wasn’t long. He hated being cooped up. It simply wasn’t his bag.

I was with Arthur when he told Steve that he would arrange to have the El Camino towed to the Santa’s Sleigh Repair as soon as possible and then have everything taken care of. Gratis, since, if nothing else, they could have easily killed him with the driving mistake. Steve was blown away. But he was also tired. After an elaborate handshake that Arthur could only follow in part, Steve retired for the night.

Once he was gone, Arthur asked me, “Do you think it would be presumptuous for me to buy him a camper?”

It said a lot about the evolution of our relationship that the question didn’t faze me.

Somewhere around the time the snow was stopping, I lost track of Arthur. He’d been in the corner of my eye for most of the night, but once I joined Ayisha in the kitchen for clean-up duty, I couldn’t keep him in my sights anymore.

Ayisha waited until we had loaded both dishwashers and hand-washed all the rest before she grabbed a towel to dry her hands and casually said, “I talked to Mamma about Barrington.”

I stopped what I was doing at once. “And?” I asked, barely able to contain my nervous anticipation.