The Noel Bridge

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

T he next morning, the scent of butter and cinnamon woke Alicia from her slumber. She blinked a few times, noting her eyelids seemed to agree with the time. The change of location must have helped her to rest.

When she padded into the kitchen, she found a note from Evelyn saying she’d run out to get a few groceries and instructing her to enjoy the cinnamon rolls she’d baked for breakfast. Alicia lifted the towel covering the basket on the counter and the sugary aroma was heavenly. She pinched one, took it with her into the living room, and went over to the window.

She took a bite of the sticky confection and contemplated what a strange world this was. Every person’s reality was completely different, yet they all existed together. While she’d been wallowing in misery back in Savannah, Evelyn had been inspiring students in this lovely little town, and Leo was getting his diner up and running. And while she and Evelyn were playing board games last night, Dean was… Where was he ?

She zeroed in on the weekend crowds already filling the sidewalks and the stream of cars with out-of-state plates heading into town. Were all those people going to the bridge to change their lives? Like the world outside, the bridge was also unchanging. But people brought their hopes and dreams, their fears and worries. They called out for help or happiness or relief under that bridge. Could the miracles just be a shift in their thinking?

Alicia had experienced the shift firsthand, playing Scrabble with Evelyn. It was still her, but her thinking had changed. She’d slipped out of the grieving adult and into the playful girl she’d been. It wasn’t a miracle, but her own doing.

“Miss me?” Evelyn asked, the door closing behind her after she walked in with a bag of groceries. She set it on the bar.

“I did, actually,” Alicia said, turning around. “What are you doing for Christmas?”

Evelyn’s brows rose. “I’m going to Mom and Dad’s in the morning and then hanging out here. Why?”

“I scheduled my flight for next Friday, so I’m staying through the holiday. Want a housemate?” Alicia liked this part of herself she’d reconnected with, and she was happy to spend more time with her friend.

Evelyn clapped her hands together excitedly. “Absolutely! You can come with me to my parents’ house if you want. They’d love to see you!”

After lunch, Evelyn and Alicia decided to drive down to Chapter and Verse, the local bookstore on Main Street, to look for a new read for the holiday.

“We should drive through the bridge today,” Evelyn said as they got into her car.

“Why? ”

“So I can make a request.”

Alicia fastened her seat belt. “The bridge is probably a zoo on a Friday, and you know it has no power at all.”

“I can’t get Leo’s dad out of my mind, and I want to do everything I can, even if that means asking for a miracle at the bridge.”

“We don’t need to waste our time with the old superstition of that bridge.”

“Choose to believe the magic or not, but it doesn’t hurt a thing to ask for Mr. Whitaker to be found safe. And maybe—just maybe—we’ll be the next success story.”

“All right,” Alicia said, humoring her friend.

They drove through town and turned at the fork to head toward the bridge. As expected, they soon slowed due to the line of traffic clogging the route. Evelyn flicked on the radio to a station playing Christmas music, but for some reason the jovial tunes didn’t fit with the atmosphere. All Alicia could think about was how each and every car held a need so great that the journey to the bridge was worth the drive. What turmoil lingered in each vehicle? Were people dealing with cancer diagnoses? Lost loved ones? Family problems? In a way, she didn’t feel so isolated anymore, but at the same time, she realized the complexity of this life. No one had it easy. Not a single person.

When they’d finally reached the opening in the bridge, Alicia took in the greenery draped along the entrance, beckoning them inside with holiday cheer. Sure, it boasted its Christmas spirit, but how many hopes would never be realized?

Once they were under the shade of the bridge, Evelyn said, “Hey, Bridge. We’re old friends, here. I’ve been visiting my whole life and I’ve got a big ask. Could you help us find Dean Whitaker safe and sound? It might be the biggest gift you can give this season.”

Alicia allowed her friend to send up her request, not believing it would help. But just before they drove out, with the gray winter light sliding across the dashboard, she offered up her own quick request: I’ve already had one death to deal with. Please, don’t give me two. I need a Christmas miracle for Dean. They exited the bridge, and Alicia hung on to her appeal as they drove back to town.

At Chapter and Verse, the old oak floors creaked as the women entered, and the scents of ink and paper took Alicia back in time, clearing her mind of everything but the memories of this place during her childhood. The owner, Marty Simmons, raised his hand from behind the vintage counter and Alicia waved back. He didn’t look the same as he had in his early thirties, but she could tell it was him by the point of his nose. He’d been the talk of the town gossips when he first bought the place at such a young age. People wondered if he’d come into some money or if he’d had bags of it stashed away his whole life. No one had ever answered that question for her definitively, and she’d forgotten all about him and the rumors until now.

“Oh! Let’s play The Stacks,” Alicia said to her friend.

Evelyn’s face lit up. “I haven’t played The Stacks with anyone since you left.”

Alicia surveyed the few patrons in the shop and then eyed the tall bookshelves that stretched up to the original tin ceiling. “I’ll take the front if you take the back.”

“Okay,” Evelyn said with a giggle. “But we don’t have our notebooks.”

“Just type it into your phone,” Alicia directed.

She moved to the first alcove of books—the gently used section—and ran her finger along the spines of each of the novels, looking for a title she could use to build a sentence. The goal was to use three titles, all from books on the same shelf, to create a sentence before Evelyn could. The person without a sentence would buy the other’s book that day.

Alicia tugged on a slightly battered copy of The Bridges of Madison County and pulled it out of the row just a bit so she could come back to it. Then she squinted at the books around it, none fitting her strategy. She’d never told Evelyn, but she always looked for titles that would give her two nouns and a verb. It worked every time.

At the end of the shelf, she tugged out The Shack from its spot, thinking “bridges” and “shack” might go together. Then she searched for a title with a verb on the same shelf. While looking, she formulated ideas for shacks and bridges to form her sentence. She pulled out her phone and quickly typed the two titles to make up for the time she spent searching for the third. There had to be a verb title on this shelf. If not, she’d have to abandon the two other books and move to another spot.

Then she found it. She pulled out The Road Less Traveled a tad and finished typing a sentence into her phone, the first thing that came to her: After enduring The Bridges of Madison County , she took The Road Less Traveled to The Shack .

“Done!” she called out, peeking around the shelf to the main aisle.

Marty jumped and then she caught the shift in his eyes as he seemed to remember their game.

“How do you find a sentence so quickly?” Evelyn asked, emerging from her aisle.

“I’ll never give away my strategy.” Alicia held out her phone so Evelyn could read. “They always just come to me.” Then she led Evelyn over to the bookshelf to show her the three books in question.

“Unbelievable.”

Alicia laughed. “You don’t actually have to buy my book, though.”

“Oh, no. I have to. I lost The Stacks.” She waved an arm around the shop. “Find a good one.”

They spent the next hour perusing the shop. The large display window and the overstuffed chairs and sofas dotting Chapter and Verse made it a haven for booklovers. Alicia felt as if she’d come home after a long trip abroad, suddenly noticing all the little things that made her who she was. Every scuffed floorboard, the old oak shelves, the baldness of the wheels on the rolling ladder along one wall called to her as if their imperfections belonged with her somehow.

With a pile of books beside her, she snuggled into the Victorian-style antique sofa, the plum-colored velvet soft under her hands. She and Evelyn thumbed through their hopefuls, looking for that one book that would pull them in and not allow them to swim back out of it.

The shop hadn’t changed much at all since the rainy days of her youth when she and Evelyn would drop their umbrellas at the door and rush to the teen section to spend their babysitting money. The shop seemed to cradle her as if to say, “I’m here for you,” and everything else faded away. Now she could fully remember why she’d rushed to the bridge that day so long ago and pleaded not to leave Noel, tears streaming down her teenage face.

“Are you going to be okay for a couple hours? I have to be at school early to get all the kids into costume,” Evelyn said as they lumped their bags of books onto the chair in her apartment.

“Of course. I have tons to read.”

“Want me to run back and pick you up?”

Alicia dug through her bag and pulled out a new mystery she’d bought. “That’s silly. I can walk. It’s not that far.”

“You sure? It’ll be getting dark by then.”

“Well, maybe I can ask Leo. He could probably drive.”

“Great idea. We’ll invite him to dinner after.”

With her mystery novel calling her, Alicia curled up on the sofa while Evelyn freshened up for the play. Before she knew it, her friend was on her way out again.

“See you tonight,” she said before closing the door behind her.

Alicia waved and then finished the chapter she was reading. Then she texted Leo to ask if he could drive her to the play and to invite him to have dinner with her and Evelyn after. As she waited for his response, cocooned in the warmth of the little apartment, the Christmas tree sparkling in the corner, a wave of calm washed over her. She thought back to her condo in Savannah and understood why Bo had loved it more than she had. She enjoyed a more cozy, homey feel.

She decided to call her parents to check in and let them know her plans for the holiday.

“Helloooo,” her mother answered.

“What are you up to?” Alicia asked.

“I’m covered in sand and nearly asleep in a beach chair. What are you doing?”

“Reading in Evelyn’s apartment while she has play practice. We went to the bookstore earlier.”

“Oh? ”

“My flight was delayed due to the storm, so I’m going to spend Christmas with her.”

“That sounds wonderful,” her mother said through the static of wind blowing through the line. “How is Evelyn?”

“She’s doing well. She’s exactly the same,” Alicia said, fondness for her friend making her smile. “She’s got an apartment in the building they’d just started to renovate when we moved—right off of Main Street.”

“Oh, yes. I remember. So what are you two going to do while you’re there?”

“Tonight I’m going to watch a play at the middle school. She’s the drama teacher.”

“I can see that being a good fit for her,” her mother said with a chuckle.

“Do you remember the old diner at the end of Main?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s been completely redone. It’s so nice. And the owner is going with me to the play. His name is Leo Whitaker. I met him my first night in Noel. He’s new to town.”

“That’s wonderful.” The hope in her mother’s voice was thicker than maple syrup. “Let me know how it goes.”

“I will.”

“How about Christmas? Got any plans?”

“I think we’re going to the Batons’ for the day. Evelyn said they’d be happy to have me.”

“I wish I could go with you. You know, your dad has had us hiking all over and he got us all tickets for zip-lining through the woods. He still thinks he’s twenty-five. I told him he better not throw his back out.”

Alicia laughed. “I’ve never known you—or him—to be the zip-lining type. ”

“I think it’s a midlife crisis. It was either that or parasailing. Have you seen how high those things go?”

“Well, have fun.”

She could almost feel the eye roll on the other end of the line.

“Call us later.”

Alicia got off the phone, glad everything had worked out the way it had. She’d much rather spend time in Noel than zip-line across the humid Florida brush. She also noted that this was the first time since losing Bo that she actually had an opinion about what she’d rather do with her free time.

Her phone pinged with a text message from Leo. He said he could come get her and he’d love to go out to dinner after. A tiny spark lit inside her at spending the evening with him and her best friend.