Elf Against the Wall: A Holiday Romantic Comedy (The Wynter Brothers Book 2)
Elf Against the Wall: Chapter 42

I clawed at the airbag in front of me. The glowing dials on the car dashboard didn’t do much against the murky blue light.

“Dad’s going to be so pissed about his car.” I knew I was panicking. “I think we need to call 911. Where’s my phone? Oh my gosh, did I forget my phone?”

I yelped as something cold lapped at my feet.

Water.

“There’s water in the car.”

“We have to break the window.” Granny Doyle hammered on the glass. “Dammit, doesn’t your dad have a crowbar in here? This is why I told your mother to marry a man who can do things around the house.”

“If we die, then I don’t have to worry about replaceing a job.” A desperate laugh escaped my throat.

“We need to control our breathing. We’re going to run out of oxygen. I figure we’ve got at least an hour—”

“This isn’t a submarine!” I screamed.

“It’s German engineering.”

“We are the least prepared people for this type of a disaster. Oh my god, I need to call Ian.”

Gran grabbed my purse and flung it at the glass.

“Where is that dildo Trish gave you? That’s what we need.”

“I don’t know!” I shrieked. The water was at my calves now.

“I watched a YouTube video about this. We’re going to be fine. This is fine. We just have to wait for the water to fill the car, then we hold our breath, then we open the doors.”

My breath game out in nervous gasps. I wasn’t the most coordinated. “You have what? A minute before you pass out underwater? I’m not going to be able to get the door open. Help!” I screamed as I ineffectively banged on the glass. “I am doing weight training if we get out of here.”

“Fuck that. I’m buying a shotgun. And a Jeep.”

Crack!

I screamed, “We’re going to die!”

Out of the darkness, a knife appeared.

Crack!

A spider web formed where the knife had hit the glass. A face appeared in the dark water. Gray eyes peered at the crack.

“Anderson!” I screamed, banging on the other side of the glass.

Crack!

The glass fractured across the length of the windshield. His fist, wrapped in a leather belt, pummeled the glass, shattering it enough to make an Evie-sized hole.

“Take her first. I’m going down with the ship,” Granny Doyle declared as the cold, dark water poured in through the cracked glass.

I took deep gulps of air, then the icy water was over my head. Disoriented, I tried to swim to the light as a firm hand on my jacket collar tugged me upward.

“Gran!” I cried as soon as I could take a breath. I gasped as icy air burned my lungs.

Anderson, eyes the same color as the gray ice around us, blinked at me, then he disappeared.

“Anderson!” I screamed.

Something that looked like a half-drowned white rat paddled around me then disappeared under the water.

On the shore, my family was panicking.

“Help!” I screamed.

“Evie, swim to shore.” Ian gestured wildly. “Swim!”

“I can’t!”

“Evie Murphy, I paid good money for you to have swim lessons. Why are you still in the water? Henry, go get her,” my mom shouted.

Anderson was down there. So was my grandmother. I pushed the ice around, ducking my head underwater, trying to replace him.

Bubbles brushed my face, then he was surfacing in front of me, Granny Doyle in his arms.

“Come on. She needs to go to the hospital.” He flipped onto his back.

Hands numb, I hung on to his shirt as he kicked us to the shallows, where the ice had collected.

Breaking through the ice sheet, he carried Granny Doyle’s lifeless body on his shoulders.

The doctors in the family immediately jumped into action as Anderson set her down on a cleared patch of snow.

I collapsed in the icy shallows. Anderson picked me up.

“It’s my Titanic moment.” My teeth chattered as he had to half drag me out of the water.

“I have your jacket.” Ian tried to hand it to Anderson as he stripped me out of my water-logged clothes.

“Put it on her.”

“Gran!” I cried as I shivered. “She’s dead, oh god!”

My aunt was on the phone with medevac.

“Someone save her!” I begged no one in particular as Anderson rubbed me through his warm jacket.

My dad tipped Gran’s head back to give a rescue breath.

Granny Doyle’s hand came up to slap his face. My dad cursed.

“I thought Anderson was saving my life. If it’s just going to be you giving mouth-to-mouth, Brian, don’t bother.”

“Of course the lord couldn’t have given us a Christmas miracle for once in this family.” Grandma Shirley stared up at the sky.

“Fuck yeah, I’m back, baby!” Granny Doyle whooped as Aunt Jennifer draped a silver thermal blanket around her. She peered over the icy river where somewhere in the depths, a black Mercedes lurked. “You needed a new car anyway, Brian. Maybe you can buy a truck like Anderson’s.”

“I hate to ask, but you didn’t happen to rescue the dog, did you?” Sawyer asked delicately.

“Snowball!” I cried. “I knew I saw her! Snowball!” I raced into the lake.

“Do not go back in there.” Anderson threw me back into the snow, which was actually weirdly warm compared to the water.

“My dog!” I sobbed. “She tried to save me.”

“Missy’s about to have puppies,” my uncle offered sympathetically. “You can have one.”

“Evie doesn’t need another dog.” My dad had snapped into his detached-surgeon mode as the disaster unfolded.

“You can have one of my cats,” Aunt Trish offered.

“You are moving out today if you bring home one of those cats, Evie,” my mother warned me.

“I shouldn’t. I’m a horrible dog mom,” I blubbered as Anderson petted my frozen hair. “This is the worst Christmas ever.”

“Looks like you’re actually getting a Christmas miracle.” He tipped my chin up.

Snowball paddled furiously against the current toward to the edge of the shore, teeth clamped on the strap of my purse.

“Leave it!” Anderson yelled at the dog.

Snowball ignored him and continued to paddle toward us.

“You going to go jump in there this time?” Aunt Victoria asked Henry, who seemed like he was in shock.

“Goddammit,” Anderson swore then waded into the icy water, scooped out Snowball and my bag, and dumped both next to me on the ground.

“Who’s a brave girl?” I hugged the sopping-wet dog.

“You need to be thanking your brave boy,” Aunt J joked.

My other aunts whistled as Anderson peeled of his already-freezing wet shirt, and my uncles congratulated him.

“He’s goddamn Superman.”

“He just jumped right in there.”

Nat stuck her phone in my face. The video of Anderson jumping into the icy water to rescue me played.

“Hell yeah!” Lauren whooped. “It’s going viral. I just posted it.”

“I told you I was posting my video.” Nat shoved her. “I need to be an influencer.”

“I’m the one who needs some extra income,” I said around my chattering teeth.

Anderson, moving stiffly, dragged me up, his arm still around me.

Frost formed on his eyelashes as he wrapped me in his dry jacket, trying to keep me close to him.

It didn’t seem real, what had just happened.

“You need to get warm.”

“You don’t have any shoes.”

“I’ll be fine. I just need you to be okay, Evie.” His freezing hand stroked my face as his eyes searched mine.

“At least the hike is canceled!”