STORY BEGINS HERE

Home for the Holidays

Driving along the winding road through the familiar forested hills of the county they grew up in was a blast of pure nostalgia for Thomas and Emma. It had been five long years since the couple had been back to the place where they were born and raised but as they pass by the same old country houses and the same old landmarks it felt like that out here time had stood still.

For their friends Christopher and Grace in the back seats the drab gray leafless trees and snow blanketed land looked indistinguishable from everything else they'd seen during the long journey here. As Chris stared blankly out over the passing scenery Grace sat beside him playing a game on her phone and chewing her gum too loudly, as she always did.

The couple in the front sit in silence as they come over the last rise and see their home town revealed in the valley below. Camelot, a grand name for such a sleepy village as this. From here they could see everything. The dark slender ribbon of the river that ran through the center of the community, the parks and landmarks, the old brick buildings of main street where all of the businesses clustered, the elementary school where they met, the high school where they had fallen in love, and the of course the sprawling neighborhoods of two-story houses. Everything seemed so much smaller and plainer now than how they remembered. In the dim glow of evening the seasonal lights and decorations sparkled across the town like twinkling multi-colored stars.

There was only one major change that they could see but it stuck out like an smart phone on display in an antique shop. Smack in the center of town, where the century old stone baptist church used to stand, was a gleaming white windowless three story building with the word 'Avalon' emblazoned across the top in sky blue letters. The pair look at each other, confused.

“Avalon?” Thomas says. “What in the hell is Avalon? Look at that thing. Nobody told me about a new business in town.”

“Me neither.” Emma replies. “Huh.”

In a place where a new stop sign would be the talk of the coffee shops for a day or more it was odd that such a significant new addition hadn't even been mentioned during their calls home. It would be something they'd have to ask about. In the meantime they fall silent once more. For Thomas and Emma this was a moment of opposing emotions. One of them was so very excited to be here, they had been yearning to return to the cozy comforts of family and community since the moment they left, especially at this time of year. The other, however, was filled with dread at the thought of confronting the people from their past and the memories they had been avoiding all this time. The one thing they both knew was to be prepared for the inevitable thousand and one questions they would face about where they were in terms of marriage and having kids.

From the back all Chris saw was just another boring rural town, unremarkable in nearly every way. It had a rustic charm though it was hardly the bucolic picturesque postcard destination he'd heard about from Thomas and Emma. And that blocky white eyesore of a building in the middle soured what quaint beauty there was. His best bud Grace would be pissed once she actually looked up from her screen. This place wasn't going to give her the bump on Insta that she'd been hoping for. And seeing just how small the community was caused Chris' hopes for a fun and tawdry holiday hook-up dim. He wondered where one would even go to meet other singles in a place like this?

As the SUV passes over the crest and starts heading down into the valley everyone is startled as Grace lets out a panicked yelp. “AHHH!”

“What!?” Thomas looks back at her over his shoulder. “What's wrong?”

“No service!” She exclaims as she shakes her phone as if that might help. “There's no service here! You never told me that.” She looks at Chris with horror in her eyes. While they were more each other's wingman than partners they still leaned on each other in similar ways as a romantic couple. “We gotta go back. We can't stay here. We can't!”

“Thomaaaas!” Chris whinges, backing up his bestie but also more than a bit worried himself about the prospect of being cut off from the outside world for a whole week. “You never told us there are no cellphones out here. Do they have even internet?”

“Calm down.” Emma laughs and pulls out her phone. “They aren't living in the stone age out here ya know. Jesus, you two need to leave the city once in a while.” As she checks her phone she sees that she too was not receiving a cell signal. “Huh.”

Chris checks his as well and finds the same. “Yep, nothing. Hmm, maybe...”

“Oh!” Grace peeps, then pops a pink bubble through her pink lips with her gum. “There it is. Never mind, we're good.” Indeed in a matter of seconds the rest of them see their connection return stronger than ever. Grace goes right back to playing her game as Christopher lets out a sigh of relief.

Thomas shakes his head with a chuckle at the histrionics of his citified friends and focuses on the road ahead. They were certainly going to make this visit one to remember. Bringing these two had been Emma's idea. Neither Christopher nor Grace were close to their families, physically or emotionally. The past five years the four of them had spent Christmas together in the city, but since it was decided that they would finally go home this year Emma didn't want to leave their friends alone. She thought it would be a nice thing to do to bring them along to get a real taste of a wholesome, old-fashioned, small town family Christmas.

With nary a glance Thomas cruises right past the old carved wooden 'Welcome to Camelot' sign he'd seen countless times over the years, missing the new town slogan etched in fresh bright letters just below that read 'A Little Slice of Paradise'. His mind was already focused on the days to follow. After five years of pleading from he and Emma's family and old friends they were at long last...home for the holidays.