Peter had given her a Keurig two years ago forChristmas. That's what she told envious co-workers and impressedfamily. Actually, Elizabeth had purchased the Keurig, wrapped itfor Peter and he put it under the tree. He had filled out the gifttag all by himself though. It was one of the best presents he hadever given her. Short of an automatic IV coffee drip, it was thefastest way to get a cup in the morning. Teddy, when motivated (orbribed), could even make her cup and bring it to her. This pastyear, Peter had flown in on Christmas Eve. The end of the year wasalways a busy time for him, and last year had been even worse thannormal. He had said for many years that December was just so hecticthat he did not have time to think about Christmas gifts. As aresult, Elizabeth often bought her own gifts. Last year, however,she did not, and as a result, did not have any gifts to openChristmas morning. Peter did not notice. No one seemed to. Butstill, the Keurig had been a great gift, and Elizabeth was thankfulevery day for it.
Now Elizabeth got through serving breakfast oncruise control and got the kids loaded up into her beat-up oldmini-van. She tried to focus on the immediate task at hand, whichwas driving. She had to get through her day at school. Although shehad packed up Teddy and Sydney's overnight bags, in the chaos ofthe morning, she ran out of the house without them. That meant shewould have to run home to pick them up, then bring them to herparents' house before getting on the road to Susan's. It woulddelay Elizabeth's travels, and it would mean she would most likelyhave to navigate the trickiest part of the drive through themountains in the dark.
As Elizabeth had predicted, her day wasterrible. The kids in her classroom were off the wall and out ofcontrol. One of her autistic students had several meltdowns andElizabeth finally had to call his mother to come pick him up. Shehated to do that to both the student and the parent, but todaythere was just no consoling this young boy. As a result, they hadto have a brief team meeting at the end of the day, which putElizabeth even further behind schedule. It was nearly three o'clockbefore she was pulling into her own driveway to load up her clothesas well as the bags for the kids. It felt as if she caught everyred light driving across town to her mother's. Her luck shiftedslightly, as her mother was not home when she dropped off the bagsfor Teddy and Sydney. She was able to place them in the foyer witha quick little note to tell the kids she loved them, and finallymake her get away.
As she finally started driving out of town,Elizabeth turned the heat on in the van. The temperature wasdropping precipitously as a cold and stormy front moved in.Elizabeth wasn't sure if she packed anything warm enough for theweather. She flipped through the radio stations trying to find aweather report, but found nothing but commercials. The salesmanshouting about his large car deals grated on her nerves, and shesnapped the radio off in frustration. She supposed that Susan wouldbe kind enough to let her borrow a sweater if she needed it.Elizabeth kicked herself for not at least packing the coat warmerthan her windbreaker. It was not unheard of to get a little snow inmid-October, especially up in the higher elevations where Elizabethwas headed.
The silence in the car, although rare, turnedout to be Elizabeth's nemesis. She put the radio back on trying todrown out her own thoughts. Elizabeth continually changed the radiostation, desperately looking for a song that didn't annoy her,grate on her nerves, or make her feel more despondent. Finally,with a huff, she turned the radio off and began to let her mindwander again as she headed east up into the mountains.
She couldn't help but think about her marriage.She wondered how it had all gone so wrong. Peter had been gone forten days, and she had only spoken to him three times. And all ofthe conversations were about the kids. Elizabeth was onlytwenty-five when they married. Peter had been thirty. They had aquick courtship, and some thought they rushed into marriage. Hermother pushed her to take this step, reminding Elizabeth how shewould need someone to take care of her, implying that she was notcapable of taking care of herself. It was only in the last fewyears that Agnes had apparently recanted her statements, tellingElizabeth that she rushed into marriage. But at the time, Elizabethhad never been so certain of anything in her life. Peter had beenworking on his PhD while Elizabeth finished up her master's degree.They met in the school library, sharing an amused glance over alibrarian who had lost her marbles. The amusement turned into a cupof coffee, which turned into a lunch date, and eventually into asubsequent dinner date. Elizabeth had never dated anyone for longerthan three months. No one had ever stuck around, or rather stuckwith Elizabeth longer than that. How could she help but be enamoredwith someone who stayed with her?
But nine years later, she questioned herdecision. If
