The Saddest Song - By Susie Kaye Lopez Page 0,42
least we get to move forward.”
“Thanks to you knowing Colin.”
“Yeah, we got lucky, finding new friends right when we needed them most. What do you want to listen to?” He asked, fiddling with his iPod.
“Here, let me. I will make us a playlist. Do you have any Christmas music on here?”
Max laughed, “No, definitely not.”
“What is so funny about Christmas music? It’s a good thing I brought my iPod then!” I started to disconnect his so that I could play mine.
“Rainey, no! It’s still November. Besides, I AM driving, you know!” Everyone knew that in this truck the driver had music control.
“Ugh! You and Garrett and your stupid rules! Fine, I will skip the Christmas songs for now. Can I drive home?”
“No!” He grinned a little smugly, but I smiled too. One of the things I loved was how much Max and Garrett could be alike, when they seemed so different. My phone chimed and I read a text from Sophie aloud.
“What time are you going to arrive? It’s snowing! Drive careful!”
“Tell her we will be there by twelve. I bet traffic will be slower driving up the mountain.”
An hour later another text came in, this time from Rylee.
“We are here! Where are you?” I texted her back and let her know when we would arrive. Just then Max pointed out that the rain had morphed into snow as we rounded a hairpin turn taking us higher up the mountain. With each curve the snowfall grew heavier and the beauty of the snow covered pine trees made me smile. Max kept a careful distance from the car in front of us as the roads got steeper and the turns hairier. We both became quiet so he could concentrate and a few times the drop outside my window made me hold my breath. I realized suddenly that Max had probably never driven up a mountain in the snow. I wasn’t worried though, he looked confidant, and before I knew it, we had reached the landmark that told us we were nearly there. Sophie had given us great directions. We took a turn off the main highway and a beautiful lake came into view.
“We’re almost there. It should be just past that Bed and Breakfast,” I said, pointing to a charming A frame with a quaint sign in front. Two minutes further we rounded a curve in the road and my mouth dropped open at the sight of Sophie’s cabin. It wasn’t a cabin at all, not by any stretch. It was an enormous log home. Stunningly beautiful, with a rustic log porch surrounding the entire house, it was massive, more mansion than house. I could see part of a dock peeking out from one side of the circular drive where Colin and Ethan’s cars were parked.
“Wow,” said Max. “Can you believe this place?”
We pulled in behind Colin’s car and before we had our luggage out of the truck, the front door opened and our friends hurried out to greet us. Ethan grabbed my bag, Max took his, and we all headed up the front steps. Sophie’s grandparents waited in the entry and greeted us warmly by name. I knew they were probably in their seventies like my grandparents but they were strikingly attractive and reminded me of models in a Ralph Lauren catalogue. In fact, the interior did the same. I felt like I was dropped in an issue of my mom’s Architectural Digest.
“Your home is unbelievable! That fireplace is so beautiful,” I said, staring. It covered an entire wall and was made out of stone with an intricately carved mantle of dark wood.
“Thank you, “Mrs. Lancaster said. “We love it. It is a copy of one we saw while traveling in Austria years ago.” Two massive couches sat in front of it covered in butterscotch and black plaid. The other wall was nothing but floor to ceiling windows looking over the lake. The snow was falling softly and it was so picturesque I could have stayed there forever.
“This is the most amazing home I’ve ever been in,” Max said.
“Oh, thank you. I hope you will make yourselves right at home. And both of you, please call us Gran and Grandad. Any friends of our Sophie are friends of ours as well. Let’s show these two their rooms.”
“We’ll show them Gran,” Rylee offered, and we followed her and Sophie up an immense staircase with a banister made of logs. As we walked down the hall they pointed out their rooms and