Snowed in for Christmas

Epilogue

Benjamin

Four and a half years later…

I STEP INTO MY father’s house, and confetti bursts in my face.

“Congratulations!” a dozen voices shout all at once.

I’m assaulted by confetti and hugs before I even close the door. Dad squeezes me hardest of all, nearly strangling the breath out of my lungs.

“Benjamin, I’m so proud,” he says. “You really did it.”

“Dad, you didn’t have to do all this,” I say. “What’s going on?”

“I did have to do all this,” he says. “How many times is my son going to graduate from grad school, huh?”

Even so, the party is extravagant. Jett and I got in last night on a flight from California, where I studied. I expected a small gathering with my father and a few friends and family members, but Dad’s house is buzzing. A banner hangs over the living room that says “CONGRATS, GRAD” in huge letters. The entire kitchen table and most of the counters are laden with food: cake, soda, pre-made sandwiches, bowls of chips, even a tray of grandma’s special deviled eggs. Every aunt and uncle and cousin I have crowds the living room, spilling out into the backyard, where distant music plays.

Jett’s mom is here too, and she smiles before hugging me.

“Congratulations, Benjamin,” she says. “Jett’s been telling me all about how hard you’ve worked. You really earned this.”

I smile back at her. Jett and I waited until we graduated from college to tell our parents about us getting together. We had little choice at that point. By then, I knew I was going to grad school in California — and that Jett was coming with me. Our parents were a bit shocked by this abrupt-seeming decision, but I think they’ve since chalked it up to things happening at school without them knowing. None of us have talked about that doomed Christmas vacation ever again, and it’s likely better that way. For everyone. I’m sure Jett agrees with me that our parents don’t need to know what happened during that blizzard, even four and a half years later.

Speaking of Jett, where the hell did he go?

We arrived together at my dad’s house in our rented car, but he vanished somewhere between me opening the door and me getting pummeled by hugs and well-wishes. I move through the party, stopped every couple steps by another person who wants to congratulate me and talk to me about school and life and my future. I struggle to make it from the door through the living room and into the kitchen, but even when I do, there’s still no sign of Jett.

“Have a deviled egg,” my grandmother says before I can escape to search for my boyfriend.

I accept, happily eating two before begging her to stop offering me more.

“You’re too skinny,” she declares. “You should eat more of them.”

“I’ll eat until I explode,” I say, “but there’s also cake and stuff.”

“Cake isn’t as good for a growing boy. You need eggs. They’re healthy.”

With the amount of mayo she puts in them, she’s probably canceled out any nutritional benefits, but I don’t point that out. In any case, she heeds my pleas for mercy and allows me to stop shoveling egg into my mouth and move on.

I escape into the backyard, but that, too, proves a gauntlet of eager relatives and neighbors and friends. I spot Jett’s old college roommate, Ryan, amid the throng. They stayed in touch after graduation and remain close friends to this day. At this point, I consider him a friend as well. He graduated and became a teacher of all things, but his energy is a great match for his students, who apparently adore him.

“Nah, haven’t seen him,” Ryan says when I ask about Jett.

“What the hell?” I say, running a hand through my hair.

“Relax, I’m sure he’s around. He just had to get something.”

“Get something?”

My gaze sharpens, and Ryan stands up a little straighter.

“I mean, uh, I’m guessing he needs to get something,” he says. “I don’t know. Just assuming. Anyway … oh, hey, Becca!”

He waves and hurries toward his wife. Yup, his wife . He ended up marrying the girl with the espresso machine. Never did I imagine a guy like Ryan would get a respectable job and settle down after graduation, but here he is, and according to Jett, him and Becca are even talking about when they might start a family.

It’s dizzying, and also a completely different life from anything I’ve known. I’ve been so busy with school that I’ve sometimes neglected my relationship with Jett, despite my best attempts to the contrary. He’s been patient and understanding the entire time, but that doesn’t stop the guilt from creeping in when I have a moment to breathe. I’ve promised him things will get better. I have a job lined up with the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife. Things should become more stable, more predictable. Maybe we’ll even get a chance to be like Ryan and Becca some day…

If I could find my damn boyfriend, that is.

Seriously, where could he even go? This is my father’s house. It’s not like he’s visiting his childhood bedroom. Oh God, is he visiting my childhood bedroom?

I nearly sprint back inside to check on that, but Ryan suddenly takes me by the arm.

“Hey, why don’t you, um, hang out here with me for a minute?” he says.

“What?”

Okay, something is not right. My suspicion hardens, and Ryan flounders.

“I, uh, it’s been so long. We should catch up, man!”

“We have caught up,” I say. “I need to find Jett.”

I try to pull away, but he clings harder to my arm.

“Hang on!” Ryan says. “I … um … have you met Dane? He’s another teacher at my school.”

He introduces me to a guy who could not care less about meeting me, nor I him, yet Ryan will not let me go until I’ve shaken the guy’s hand and shared some idle chit chat.

I nearly escape.

Then the party goes strangely quiet.

Chatter hushes. Someone turns off the music that was playing outside. Everyone’s attention moves the same direction. I follow their eyes to find the people inside the house shifting, letting someone pass.

Jett steps into the backyard.

Ryan, Becca and Dane slink away behind me. As Jett steps forward, it feels like the entire party disappears, leaving no one but us. He’s holding a box, a small wooden box that I know without asking he whittled himself. As he steps up to me holding it, he lowers onto one knee.

My eyes fly wide. I gape down at him before he says a single word, leaning back like I might wobble right off my feet.

“Ben,” he says.

“Holy shit.”

He smiles. “Yeah. Holy shit, huh? But we’ve come this far, and I know for a fact I’m not going anywhere. Not if you’ll let me stay beside you.”

He opens the box, and sure enough a ring sits inside, a simple amber band, the same color as our eyes.

“So what do you say?” Jett says. “You cool being stuck with me for good?”

A hush settles over my father’s house. If everyone was quiet before, they’re actively holding their breaths now. Jett’s chest rises and falls as he awaits my answer, his hands quivering on the box.

I drop hard to my knees and clasp his face in my hands to kiss him over and over, not stopping until we’re both gasping.

“That is the worst way anyone has ever phrased that question,” I say. “But yes. Yes, I’ll be stuck with you for good.”

Family and friends clap around us as we kiss again, then Jett helps me onto my feet so he can slide that ring onto my trembling finger. He already has an identical one ready for himself, and he lets me put it on him so we can show them off for everyone around us.

It’s hard to believe this all started with a freak snowstorm that trapped two enemies in a house together, yet here we are, surrounded by love and linking our lives permanently.

I never believed in the magic of Christmas. I never wrote notes to Santa Claus, even as a child. But if Jett has taught me anything, it’s that sometimes the season will find you anyway, whether you believe or not.