Page 7 of The Mountain that Saved Christmas

“Good on them, I say,” Cora says in her half-Brit, half-American accent.

Toby holds up one last set of walkie-talkies. “Never fear, family. I've got a set for the Sallys too! There ain't no Christmas Road Trip Showdown without the Sallys.”

I frown. “I thought we agreed on the mountain that saved Christmas?”

“That's for when we get to Rainbow. For now, it's the Christmas Road Trip Showdown.”

All of us look around the group at each other with a mixture of amused and impressed expressions. “That's a pretty good name there, Tobes,” Rhett says.

Toby puffs his chest out. “I know. Now, are we gonna hit the road, or just stand heretalkin'about doin' it?”

“Wait. Where's the first rest stop?” Landry asks. “Shouldn't we all know that?”

“Follow me,” Toby says. “I'll lead the way.”

I reach down and lace my fingers with Lee's hand, turning my head her way. “That's what I'm afraid of,” I mutter for her ears only.

She giggles and leans into me again. “Stop, it'll be fun. But first…”

“But first what?” I ask, dipping down so that she's all I can see.

She lifts her chin so that our lips are a whisper's breath away. “Kiss me quick before we hit the road.”

And that's exactly what I do, but it's anything but quick.

5

CORA

“Testing. Testing. Can you hear me? Copy” Toby's voice sounds out of nowhere.

“Who's idea was it to give my brother a walkie-talkie?” Rhett grumbles as we drive westward toward Anchorage.

“His,” I giggle, picking up the handset from the dashboard and lifting it to my mouth. “Ten-four rubber ducky.”

I catch my husband glancing my way out of the corner of my eye. “For the love of all things holy, donotencourage him.

Patting Rhett's leg, I grin. “I don't think that manneedsany encouragement. He does it all by himself.”

“Comin' through, loud and clear, over,” Mags's voice replies over the line.

“Do we think it's wise to say the D word? Don't you know that justthinkin'of that bird seems to make him appear?” Austin muses.

The line goes quiet for a spell and I almost wonder if we're in a dead spot. That's until Toby comes back online. “Austin, you've gotta say over, over.”

“We talkin' about du–D words, or is Toby goin' to tell us where we're stoppin' for this decoratin' contest? Over.” Star asks.

Austin comes back on. “Wait. Over, over? Or just over?”

“Just over… over,” Toby shoots back.

“I'm so confused,” Gramma Ruthie announces. “Do we say over, over, over? Or just over… over?”

“I think we just say over once… I dunno. It's beenyearssince I've had a transistor radio,” Aggie says over Ruthie's line.

“This is gonna be hell, isn't it?” Rhett mutters, holding out his arm for the walkie-talkie. “Message for all radios. You've just gotta say it once, OK? Over.”

“Copy that, Christmas one. Over,” Austin replies. “If Rhett's one, then we'll be Christmas two.”

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