24 Hours

We drove up the snowy, winding road towards the cozy A-frame cabin. There were no cars in the driveway. Where were Jess, Johnny, Paul, Debbie, and Frankie?

We booked this place months ago. I know, I put down the deposit. It was $500 I didn't really have. But, it was sort of our 10-year reunion. Not the real one. None of us went to that. But our own, the Misfits Reunion.

None of us were exactly popular in high school. Actually, I'd say Frankie was the most popular. She was stunning! Still is. Almost 6 feet tall, slim, with dark hair and blue eyes, and with a mind that would make Stephen Hawking cry.

Frankie, or Frances-Jean, as her mother called her, decided we all needed to get together, along with her fellow ring leaders, Johnny and Paul. So she rented a cabin out at Peggy's Cove and dared us to come. Oh, and she told us how much we all owed toward it. Classic Frankie. She messaged me after the fact and asked if I could secure the place. I did. She paid me back a couple weeks later.

So, okay, whatever. I jumped into my car. Well, not even a car, it was a Dodge Caravan. An ugly one, white, old, and just hideous. It's a 2009. I don't care. I'm not about appearances. I learned a long time ago that what you see on the outside isn't any measure of anything.

As I drove the snow came faster and more furious. The weather didn't predict a storm, but a storm I had. Soon, I couldn't see anything in front of me.

I pulled over, my heart racing and tears welling up behind my eyes. I was stuck. No way in. No way out. Yes, I could press ahead, but the combination of steep ocean cliffs and low visibility made that seem like a bad idea.

I could turn back, but I was 5 hours away from home. So I sat. Quiet. Sobbing. Terrified.

I looked at my phone. I could call someone. Yeah, no. Nothing. Not a bar. Not anything.

So, there I was, half a tank of gas, somewhere on the Nova Scotia coast with nothing but myself, my van and a pair of fuzzy blankets I thought to bring.

I turned the van off, wanting to conserve the gas and wrapped myself in one blanket, and then the next. I was shivering.

As much as I maneuvered the phone, inside, outside, up, down, there was nothing. I was stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Then, lights. It had to have been about 3 hours later. But the lights were there. It was another car. A small one. It pulled over, and there was Johnny.

He walked over and knocked on my window. He asked if I had any extra gas. He was nearing empty. I shook my head.

I won't lie to you, my heart lept into my throat at the sight of him! I loved him when I was 17. Seeing him now, even though he was twice the man he once had been, and with less hair, I still did.

"If you and your wife want to sit in here..." I offered, tentatively.

"Just me," he smirked, the same way he did so many years ago.

I unlocked the passenger side door. We sat there, chatting and catching up.

Soon, I tossed the blankets off me. The van was way too hot. I took off my parka. He did too.

His deep, knowing blue eyes melted me. I gazed longingly at his full, moist lips, biting my lip in anticipation. He seemed to feel me and my desire and kissed me.

I could feel my body tremble inside as his lips touched mine. I was suddenly right back where I'd been so many years before, a lovestruck teenager dreaming of the boy I loved.

But this time, he was actually there! He was in front of me. He was kissing me with breath that tasted of a mix of coffee and Whoppers.

Every dream I had in life came true in that moment.

Johnny's hair was thinner but still dark and wavy. He was heavier than I remembered, but then again, so was I.

Hands were everywhere as we declared our secret youthful passion for each other.

I had no idea.

Soon, we were in the back. And every dream I ever had as a wide-eyed ingenue came true. Johnny was mine. I was his. We came together so easily, so readily, as if we were ready-made for each other.

We lay in each other's arms, love's young dream. Or love's older dream.

The storm passed. The sun came up. Its heat seemingly echoing our passion as it melted the snow and ice from the windshield.

Johnny went back to his car leaving me alone with a promise of forever. I'd heard that promise before, but this time, I beleived it. Silly? Maybe? But I trusted him somehow with everything in me. My heart. My soul.

As a lawyer, we're trained to trust our guts. As women, we're trained to be suspicious of fast-talking boys with quick words and even quicker zippers.

But, my heart knew way back and my heart knew again.

We drove to the cabin to try and salvage the weekend.

And there they were, Frankie, Jess, Paul, and Debbie. They seemed to be waiting as the snow began again softly tossing big, lofty flakes above us.

"So, you're a thing now?" Frankie smirked, her eyes blazing with knowledge.

I tried to protest. But these were people that knew me. They remembered the scared little girl. They remembered the insecure young woman who hadn't come into her own. We were once all in the same boat.

That was 8 years ago, almost to the day. Johnny is now my husband and we have a gorgeous baby girl we called Winter. She's smart and fierce. She has a sense of self I wish I had. She knows how brilliant and special she is. She wants to be a doctor like her dad.

She won the science fair this year. And she has her father's gorgeous blue eyes. She has my hair and build. She's a perfect combination of both of us. But we haven't told her how she came to be.

Do we tell her she was created in a stunning snow-capped cabin in the woods? Or do we tell her it was an old cargo van waiting for a storm to pass? Does it matter? I mean it was less than 24 hours...so...ya know