Holly twisted around in her seat until she found a sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap. It had fallen off the seat and onto the floor. She held it up, making an unsure face.
“Are you sure you want to eat this?”
“It’s wrapped in plastic. It’s fine.”
“It’s not just that.” Holly turned the sandwich around in her hands and grimaced. “It’s a gas station sandwich.”
“I’m hungry.” Aliyah grabbed the sandwich from Holly’s hands. She gave Holly a glare as she ripped open the plastic and took a big bite. “I’ve eaten worse at the school cafeteria.”
“And that’s why I bring my lunch,” Holly murmured, shaking her head and going back to her grading.
“How's your dad?” Aliyah asked, her mouth full of sandwich. “Is he still closing the store?”
Holly paused her grading. “He's okay
, and yeah. The store is still closing. He just can't make it work without Elements in town. They're his biggest customer. With them leaving, we just don't have the sales.”
Aliyah shook her head. “Damn. I was hoping he was going to make it.”
“Me too,” Holly said. She looked down at her grading, but her eyes didn't want to focus on it. The biggest employer in town, Elements Computer Technologies, or ECT as everyone called it, had been bought by some big tech firm.
At first, the town thought it would be great. Paradigm was huge and had great growth potential. That was until Paradigm announced that they were moving ECT to San Francisco. Suddenly, a huge portion of the town was preparing to move across the country. Both parts of the population, those moving and those staying, were in a panic.
Holly tried not to think about it, but it was affecting nearly everyone she knew. Her students were planning on moving. Businesses were closing or trying to figure out how to deal with the loss of customers.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much Holly could do about it. She was just a second grade teacher.
Snow fell in big flakes on the small car as they made their way up and into the Rocky Mountains. Heat blasted out of the vents, but it was still cold in the old car and Holly was glad she’d worn a sweater. Frost formed on the edges of the windows as they crossed over the continental divide. The trees disappeared at tree-line, giving the two women a clear view of the rocky tops of the mountains and miles of gray clouds.
Winter was heavy in the mountains as they crested the top of the pass and descended toward the ski slopes. White snow drifts stood high on the side of the two lane highway as tall evergreens came back to line the road. The car engine didn’t whine on the way down like it did on the way up.
Slowly the gray faded into black and the mountains disappeared into the darkness of night. Snow drifted in hypnotizing patterns in front of the headlights, dancing around the car and back into the trees.
“Almost there,” Aliyah announced just as Holly finished grading her last page. She was rather proud of her students. They’d all done the assignment and done well. It made her glad that they were learning.
Holly raised her eyes, scanning the snowy mountain road for the ski resort. As a native Coloradan, Holly had been skiing nearly every winter of her life, but the Blue Aspen Ski Resort was always way out of her price range. The lift ticket prices were higher than any other resort, and the hotel price might as well cost her entire teaching paycheck.
Blue Aspen was a place for A-list actors and billionaires to come play in the snow. The skiing was always said to be superb, but the hotel was the main attraction. It was supposedly a winter wonderland of comfort. Holly had only seen pictures of it in fancy magazines.
But today, Holly and Aliyah were going to get to experience it for themselves.
“Are you done working now?” Aliyah asked, turning off the highway and following the signs for the resort. “You promised you would use this as a vacation.”
“I finished.” Holly held up her school folder and tucked it back into her bag. “I’m ready for our weekend adventure. No work, just play.”
She leaned over and turned up the Christmas carols on the radio. Only a couple of weeks remained until Christmas. Holly was already signed up to help with the town parade and the Christmas Party at her dad's bookstore. The spirit of Christmas was slowly starting to infuse her soul.
“Good. We won this trip and we both need to just relax.” Aliyah peered through the dark to check a road sign. “No work.”
“No work. Promise.” Holly held up three fingers like a scout.
“You weren’t a scout, but I’m going to trust you on this.” Aliyah gave Holly a serious look as she turned onto a smaller road. Snow drifted around a beautiful rock sign emblazoned with the Blue Aspen logo. They were almost to the resort.
The car came around a bend and both Aliyah and Holly gasped.
It looked like something on a Christmas card. If Holly were younger, she would have sworn they’d been magically transported to the North Pole and were about to visit Santa.
Tall peaked roofs dusted with snow glowed under white Christmas lights. The windows sparkled with fireplaces inside. Trees sparkled with lights and decorations. Everything was classy and contemporary. No blow-up decorations or plastic figurines, just the careful placement of lights and reflective ball ornaments.