[a moment] that ends in a cliffhanger

[moment 12]

My children enjoy watching TV shows together and that day, two fo them had two episodes to finish of the current season of a show on Netflix. They had little time to watch before one of them would be away from home for a couple days, so they decided to watch the episodes on the way to drop the one child off at their girlfriend's house.

As we neared our destination, it was clear they still had about a half an episode to go, so I suggested we stop and get coffee on the way. That particular Dunkin' is usually busy, the wait in line on the longer side, but when we arrived, there was only one vehicle in front of us. I didn't end up buying them much time at all. 

Almost to our destination, I drove past the turn and pulled into a parking lot so they could finish the final few minutes of the show. I had previously watched it with another of our children, so knew exactly what was going to happen. And I knew they weren't going to be happy.

As I waited in that parking lot for the episode to finish, I took in the view in front of me. The beauty of the trees silhouetted against the darkening sky struck me as I took a deep breath and relaxed into my seat. 

Soon, squeals of exasperation at the cliffhanger ending of the season filled the van. Theories about who and when and what might happen started flying as I pulled out of the parking lot and made our way to our destination. 

It will be months before the show's story continues, but I'll carry the beauty and comedy of those moments in a parking lot with me for a while.