Page 6 of All I Want for Christmas Eve

He smiles again. “Can you guess?”

“No,” I say, chewing my lip. “Is it something to do with the plane? Were you flying for work?”

“It’s no fun if I just tell you,” he responds. “We’re going to be waiting out the storm for a while, might as well entertain ourselves with a guessing game.”

“I have no earthly idea,” I confess.

“Do I seem like a plumber?” he asks teasingly. “A lawyer?”

“You could be a criminal on the run from the law,” I suggest.

“I could be,” he agrees.

“You could have been smuggling drugs with you on that plane. Or… weapons. Or… I don’t know, something illegal.”

He laughs. “You have a very active imagination. It makes perfect sense that you’re a writer.”

“So, you’re not a criminal?” I say hopefully.

“Do I look like a criminal, Eve?” he asks playfully, leaning forward with a sly smirk.

You look like trouble,I think to myself. But on the outside, I simply say, “Maybe. I haven’t met many criminals, so I have no idea what they look like.”

“What if I told you that my family runs a charity that delivers food, toys, clothing, medicine, and winter coats to children living in underprivileged and remote areas?”

My eyes widen. “Really? So that’s what’s on the plane?”

“Maybe,” he responds. “You’ll have to wait until the blizzard clears up to see if I’m lying. It could be drugs.”

I immediately feel guilty for being so suspicious. He could be a genuinely good guy. Right? The power flickers off, and we both look up to the lights. I sigh. “I have a backup generator,” I explain, as the lights come on again a moment later.

“How long does your backup generator last?” he asks.

“I’m not sure,” I tell him. “At least two days.”

“Hmm,” he responds. “I hope that’s enough time. Did you not realize that a storm was coming?”

I shake my head. “I try not to listen to the news very much. I get way too stressed out. Usually my mom calls me if something major is happening with the weather.”

Adam smiles. “I’m the same way about the news. You and your mom are close, then?”

“We are. As close as we can be while I’m up here at the edge of humanity.”

“Hey, you can meet the most interesting people at the edge of humanity,” Adam says. “I find that Alaska tends to attract the tough, fearless, indestructible sort of person.”

“Indestructible?” I repeat curiously.

“Yes. That’s why a tiny thing like a plane crash could never make a dent in me,” he says with a proud smile. “But it’s more than physical. We’re emotionally made of steel, too.”

“Hmm,” I say thoughtfully, studying Adam.

“Say, do you have any more of those tasty reindeer?” he asks, abruptly transforming from wise and worldly to excited and childlike.

I can’t resist a smile as I head to the fridge, and pull out the whole tray. I deliver it to him, and he sighs happily as he begins to stuff them into his mouth, with a blissful expression on his face.

“Seriously,” Adam says with his mouth full. “Yfvou hafvta mahryie mfe.”

“What?”

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