Page 17 of Time After Time

“It’s a little snow,” I remark, aware that her behavior has dampened the mood, which was bright a second ago.

The Rousseau siblings trade glances, their laughter barely contained. They don’t seem to care what Calypso thinks of anything as they walk up to Aksel’s Range Rover.

“It’s my car, I’ll drive,” Aksel protests when Freja takes the key from him.

“No way, you don’t know how to drive in thesnow,” she fires back, already sliding into the driver’s seat.

“It’s my?—”

“Aksel, I think we’ll all be safer with Freja driving.” I grin and tug his hat down his face. He splutters.

Ember chuckles, cheeky and amused. “Aksel, you’ve got the reflexes of a banker, not a driver.”

Jonathan comes rushing out then, his scarf flapping like a flag. “Don’t leave without me!”

“Like I could.” Freja blows him a kiss through the windshield.

I open the passenger-side door and hold it out. Calypso climbs in with a dramatic shiver, her coat free of the snowball incident, though her mood still seems frosty. She slips into her seat, phone in hand, scrolling before the buckle even snaps shut.

The rest of us pile in.

Ember slides into the middle seat of the second row, wedged between me and Aksel, who’s still grumbling about Freja hijacking his vehicle.

Jonathan takes the third row, solo.

“Everyone buckled in?” Freja turns on the car.

“Yeah,” we all call out.

“Then, off we go.”

We’re driving for two minutes when Aksel complains about the music. “Seriously? Mariah Carey?”

“All I Want For Christmasis tradition,” Jonathan protests.

“In America,” Aksel says, as if it were a crime.

“Stop whining, A, or I’m gonna play Taylor Swift.”

Aksel visibly shudders.

“Oh, Aksel.” Ember chuckles. “Shake it off, will ya.”

And so everyone, to Aksel’s chagrin, starts singing Taylor Swift’s hit song, with Jonathan being the loudest. Even Calypso joins in, cracking a smile, loosening up.

It’s a memory in the making.

CHAPTER 5

Ember

Ihalf-listen to Aksel talking to Ransom while I stare out the window.

It’s usually a short drive into town—the roads here are kept immaculate—but today must be an anomaly. The snow hasn’t been cleared as thoroughly, which is why Freja is driving extra cautiously. And why it’s taking longer than I’d like to get to the village…andaway from the distracting pull of Ransom’s cologne.

He wears Sauvage. Every time I go to the airport, I spray some on myself at Duty Free like a pathetic schoolgirl. And then while I fly, I can smell him around me.

God! What am I doing?