Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

through the snow.



Thirty-five days. Bennett’s been in town for thirty-five days, which, by my definition of a calendar month, means he should have left town four or five days ago. Yet when I walk into Spanish each day, he’s still here. We’ve barely spoken since the night in the coffeehouse three weeks ago, and he never looks at me; if our eyes do accidentally connect, he gives me a perfunctory smile, and I avert my gaze. But everything about that night still haunts me, and I can’t quite figure out how he’s still managing to turn my world upside down while simultaneously allowing it to stay exactly the same.
    “I have news!” Argotta sings, beaming and spreading his arms wide. He glances around the room, holding all of us hostage with his words, and we stare at him as he walks back to his desk and sits on the edge of it. “How many of you have heard about my Annual Travel Challenge?”
    A few of us raise our hands. “Good,” he says. “Well, this year, even you will be surprised. Because this year, I have a really big, very exciting reward.”
    He hops down off the desk and pulls on a long tab marked MEXICO . The giant, color-coded map of the country unrolls from its home in the ceiling. “But first, let me tell you about the assignment. Each of you will be planning a fabulous two-week vacation in Mexico. You must depart from our lovely O’Hare International Airport, but you can land anywhere you like. From there, you must create an itinerary that will allow you to see as many Mexican destinations as you can in fourteen days. The person who creates the most logical, interesting, and cost-effective travel plan will win the challenge.”
    He walks forward to the front of the room and stops. “Sound good?” Twenty heads nod in unison. “Great. Travel plans are due next Monday—a week from today.” He turns his back to the class and erases the whiteboard.
    The room is silent. We look around at one another. Finally, Alex clears his throat and raises his hand.
    Argotta spins around and throws his arms up in the air. “Oh, wait a minute!” He walks back and forth in front of the class, grinning. “I bet,” he says slowly, drawing out each word, “you want to know what you get if you win, right?” He stands there at the front of the room nodding and smiling while we nod back at him. Alex lowers his arm.
    “Of course, of course.” He paces his words to build tension in the room. “I have this friend, you see, who works for one of the major airlines.” I bet he’s practiced this all morning in front of the bathroom mirror. “I told this very good friend about my Annual Travel Challenge, and he thought it was such a great idea he arranged for his company to donate a five-hundred-dollar travel voucher to the winner.”
    We all look around the room at one another. I can’t help looking at Bennett and when I do, he gives me an obligatory grin and shifts his gaze to the window.
    “So, what do you think?” Argotta searches the room. “Could anyone here put a five-hundred-dollar voucher to good use?”
    Sure, everyone here could use it. But I’m the only one who thinks it can change my life.

    I sit cross-legged on the carpet in front of the shelf marked with the word Mexico and scan the book spines. The store is empty and, given the storm that’s been raging outside all afternoon, likely to stay that way. Which is perfect, since I have a vacation to plan.
    I pull Let’s Go Mexico from its home on the shelf, and place three more thick books on top of it.
    I thumb through the pocket-size Michelin Green Guide and remove a slim book that opens into a giant road map. Pretty soon, I have a stack of guides, each valuable to the planning effort in at least one way. I pull out my spiral notebook and stare at the stack. And decide I need a latte.
    I pull on my coat, hang the BACK IN TEN MINUTES sign on the door, and lock the dead bolt behind me. It’s only six, but it’s pitch-black outside, and if it