47. Alice

ALICE

M y body jostles, and my eyes drift open.

It takes me a second to remember that I’m on an airplane and that apparently I slept through my first flight.

I blink at the gray light coming in through the window next to me. I know Canada has a lot of wilderness, but this seems like a lot.

I lean closer to the window.

I don’t actually know what the Vancouver airport looks like. But I’ve seen enough Canadian home renovation shows to know it’s a metropolis. And this…

I look out the window at the handful of single-story airplane hangars and evergreen trees as far as the eye can see.

This looks like the middle of nowhere.

“Um, Michael.” I keep staring outside.

“I didn’t want to wake you up and alarm you.”

“Alarm me?” I turn away from the window to look at Michael.

“We—”

The overhead speakers crackle to life. “Thanks for bearing with us through this diversion. We’ve landed safely in Bear Cove and have been told a few hotels in the vicinity should be able to house everyone for the next couple of nights. When the flight attendants give you the all clear to unbuckle and deboard the plane, please follow the signs to baggage claim, and airport staff will be ready to help you with your bookings. Welcome to Canada, and happy Christmas Eve.”

The pilot’s words bounce around in my half-asleep head as I try to make sense of it all.

“Why were we diverted?” I whisper.

“Blizzard,” Michael answers.

I look back out the window.

There is no precipitation falling, but the sky is a solid gray. A sure sign of snow.

“A couple of nights?” I repeat what the pilot said.

As a Minnesotan, I’m used to big snowstorms. But I’ve never been stuck away from home during one.

Michael pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks the screen. “According to the radar, we have about an hour before the snow will start. And my manager just got back to me. He has a place for us.”