Lucy McConnell's Snow Valley Box Set

by Lucy McConnell

  Soon, he was breathing deeply, and then he slept.

  Chapter 10

  The next morning Natalie woke to an empty bed and the hazy memory of being wrapped in Eli’s arms. He’d wanted to talk last night, and she couldn’t let him. For one blissful minute, she wanted to believe and feel as though everything between them was normal and happy and settled once again. Apparently, her weakness had chased him away.

  It’s not about you.

  The phrase came with force and was a reminder to not be easily be—especially without knowing if any offense was intended.

  Scrubbing her face, she ripped off the covers, wrapped up in her fluffy robe, and shuffled out to make sure the kids had their lunch money and a coat before they left for school. She heard them in their rooms, no doubt gathering their notebooks and scattered school supplies. Neither of her children were known for their organizational skills.

  Eli came in from the garage at the same instant she entered the kitchen. They stared at each other, neither one knowing what path to take to cover the awkwardness that stretched between them.

  “I need to get another part from IFA,” offered Eli. “I’ll be back before you need to go to work.”

  “Thanks,” she whispered. She hadn’t intended to sound breathy, but she couldn’t help but remember the smell of his skin and the feel of his whiskers on her cheek the night before.

  Eli gulped, crossed the space in two long-legged strides, wrapped one arm around her back, and pulled her in. He paused, searching her eyes for the briefest of moments before pressing his lips to hers.

  Shocked, Natalie froze, and then … her body sparked to life. Heat flooded her tummy and ran like bubbles in a soda can. Her heart hammered, filling her ears with a boom-boom-boom giving her a high akin to cranking the radio when her favorite song came on—only this was so much better! She was barely able to catch a moan before she let her passion for Eli escape.

  Eli released her just as quickly as he’d gathered her up, and she found herself grasping the kitchen counter for support as he disappeared through the garage door.

  “What was that?!” she asked the empty room. Pressing the back of her hand to her mouth, she grinned.

  Eli slammed the car door and jammed the key into the ignition. He hadn’t premeditated kissing Natalie. He’d simply acted out of a need to feel.

  When he’d woken up this morning with Natalie curled against him, he’d longed to stay right there, to awaken her with kisses and watch her eyes brighten. Recognizing that the effort at tenderness would have been hollow if she hadn’t been happy to see him, he’d retreated in fear. But his need to feel loved by her—to feel anything, really—was strong enough that it propelled him across the kitchen and into dangerous territory.

  The kiss had worked exactly like he knew it would. Natalie had always had that effect on him. The second their lips touched, his heart picked up and thrummed powerfully, sending heat searing across his skin and making him feel like a man who could slay dragons. The attraction between them was as awe-inspiring as ever, and he hated himself for taking from their well without having anything to give in return.

  Chapter 11

  Once Natalie got dressed and made sure the kids were out the door on time, she decided to work on Hailey’s dress until she had to leave for work. For better or worse, the dress had become a symbol of her determination to find the best in life no matter what she was handed. This morning she’d been handed something sweet, and as she hefted the heavy appliance onto the kitchen table she had a grin as wide as Snow Valley itself.

  Setting up her machine only took a few seconds. Even though she moved forward at a steady pace as she worked on shortening the sleeves, her mind wasn’t on the presser foot, the armhole, or the tension on her bobbin.

  Letting her thoughts drift back to Eli’s kiss was as effortless as putting a pin through satin. Instead of allowing her daydream to follow Eli out the door, she pictured herself wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. His hands were in her hair, tipping her head so he could deepen the kiss as he pressed her back against the fridge.

  BANG.

  Natalie jerked out of Eli’s imaginary arms and stared in horror as her sewing machine came to a shuddering stop. A quick inspection revealed the broken needle. She cursed under her breath as she twisted the hand wheel backwards to inspect the damage. The machine fought her all the way, and she worried that more than the needle was broken. With a lot of tugging and a little cursing, she was able to get the fabric out of the mechanism and inspect the damage. In her starry-eyed haze, she’d run right over a pin. The pin was bent at a ninety-degree angle, and she tossed it into the garbage. Disgusted with herself for not paying better attention, she replaced the needle in the machine and rethreaded it.

  After several inches of empty holes where there should have been evenly spaced stitches, Natalie faced the inevitable: the needle was not catching the thread in the bobbin, and she would need to take the machine in for a tune up.

  The cost of the repair and the drive into Billings were beyond her pocketbook right now. She picked up the phone and called Aunt Sophie, hoping to borrow her machine to finish the project.

  “Hello?” came the feeble voice.

  “Aunt Sophie? Are you okay?” asked Natalie.

  “I’m feeling a little under the weather.”

  Natalie’s heart sank. She couldn’t ask a favor from her aunt when she was in this condition. “What are your levels at today?”

  “I was 120 before lunch. It’s not my diabetes; I have a head cold.”

  Natalie breathed a sigh of relief. Head colds they could deal with. “I can bring you some chicken soup later on.”

  “That’s sweet of you, dear. I look forward to it.”

  They said goodbye and Natalie hung up the phone, wondering how she was going to ever finish the sleeves, complete the dress, and maintain her composure. Eli’s kiss had her heart spinning in happy circles. Her head could barely keep up, wondering what his show of affection meant for her marriage. And the broken needle made her want to stomp her feet. Dropping her head into her hands, she moaned. “I live in Snow Valley, not a soap opera! I can’t take all this drama.”

  Later that day, as Natalie sat in the break room puzzling over the employee schedule for the next week and trying not to obsess over Eli—Eli’s lips, Eli’s half grin as he handed her the keys, Eli’s… well, everything Eli—Tracie breezed in.

  Natalie paused in her work. “How’s the orange prom dress coming?” she asked.

  Tracie brightened. “It’s quick. I should be done by Easter.”

  Natalie nodded. Making a dress a second time was much faster than the first. Especially when you had a working machine. Maybe Eli was right; maybe the universe was out to get them. “That’s great.”

  “What about your project?”

  Natalie rolled her eyes. “I broke my Bernina.” She sighed. “Hailey’s going to have to wear something she already has. Even though the hemlines of her skirts are getting a bit high. Not that Hailey shortened them. Her legs have grown longer,” Natalie added quickly.

  Tracie nodded, a knowing look in her eye, and Natalie wondered if Tracie had handled the same problem as a teen, because her parents were pretty wrapped up in themselves and often left her to make her own way. “You can use my machine,” offered Tracie.

  Natalie’s jaw dropped at the incredibly generous offer. “Are you sure? I don’t want to take away from your prom dress. That’s making good money.”

  Tracie waved her off. “What do you have left, the sleeves? It’ll take you a half hour tops.”

  When Natalie was beginning to give up hope and feel like she was alone in her small dreams, a window opened. Maybe the world wasn’t out to get them. Maybe the universe cared. Or maybe it wasn’t about Natalie—maybe good people stepped up to help their neighbors. Like the people who sent the cards. They might not live in Snow Valley, but they had become real neighborly angels in Natalie’s eyes.

>   “Okay, I’ll come over around six.”

  “Perfect! I’ll see you then.” Tracie flipped her red hair over her shoulder and pushed through the swinging door.

  Natalie followed Tracie through a small, cluttered living room and down to the unfinished basement, where she’d sectioned off an area by hanging sheets over clotheslines. Her sewing machine was under a bare lightbulb in the center, and the floor was covered in scraps and threads.

  “Aunt Sophie would have my head if she saw this place,” laughed Tracie.

  Natalie agreed. “She’d hand you a garbage bag and stand here until every scrap was disposed of.”

  Tracie shrugged. “It works for me. Here, have a seat.”

  Natalie sat down and pulled her project and thread from her bag. She had pinned the sleeves in before she left home, so all that remained was to actually sew them in place.

  “You don’t mind if I post this to my blog, do you?” asked Tracie.

  “No! You’re the one doing me a favor. Post away.” She threaded Tracie’s machine while Tracie snapped a few “before” pictures.

  “Why did you take the extra fabric out of the sides?”

  Natalie picked up the dress and flipped the fabric over to show the zipper. “Most people think that they should take extra fabric out of the back, but if you do that, you pull everything off the correct lines. Sleeve holes, neckline, shoulder seams … they all shift. And the side seams won’t line up under the arms correctly. But if you take the extra fabric out of the sides, everything stays in place.”

  Tracie snapped a picture of the side seam and the raw-edged armhole before Natalie could sew them together. “You sound like Aunt Sophie when you explain stuff,” said Tracie.

  “Thanks.” Natalie smiled. That was one of the biggest compliments anyone could have given her—and she needed to hear a few encouraging words. Realizing that Eli’s issues weren’t her fault had freed her from the guilt of causing his depression. Still, she wondered if she was enough. Aunt Sophie was capable and amazing. If Natalie was like her, she’d be okay.

  When Natalie had one arm finished, Tracie snapped more images and then disappeared behind her computer.

  As Natalie was clipping the thread ends, Tracie called from across the room, “Come check this out!”

  Natalie made her way over and bent at the waist to see the computer screen. There was a whole blog post on taking in the side seam of a dress. Natalie stood up. Darn it all if the page didn’t look good. “That’s great! You blogged the whole alteration that fast?”

  “It takes me longer when I’m sewing and posting, but it’s fun to share my techniques with people.” Tracie shrugged. “Let’s take a picture of the final project.”

  Natalie hugged the dress to her stomach. “It’s supposed to be a surprise for Hailey. What if she sees your blog?”

  “I’ll schedule it to post after Easter.”

  “You can do that?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I guess that would be okay.”

  They worked together to get the garment on the dress form and took pictures from different angles. Once they were done, Natalie hung the dress on a hanger and slipped a black garbage bag over the shoulders to protect the fabric from messes and hide the surprise from Hailey.

  “Thanks, Tracie. I had a good time, and I would have never finished the dress without your machine.” Natalie was doubly surprised Tracie had been so nice. There was a big age gap between them, and Tracie acted like their ages didn’t matter.

  “Thank you for letting me post about the sleeves. Have you thought any more about doing a guest post?”

  A thrill of possibility went up Natalie’s arms, leaving behind a trail of goose bumps. When Tracie first asked her to be a guest blogger, Natalie had said no because she didn’t think anyone would want to see what a frumpy old housewife was doing. Natalie didn’t see herself that way anymore. Reducing herself was no longer the plan, nor would Natalie allow herself to fall into the self-depreciating trap again.

  “You could sell patterns or something to make it worth your while,” added Tracy. “I can’t pay you …”

  Blogging was outside Natalie’s comfort zone, which meant she could use a blog post or two to stretch through her self-imposed boundaries. “I think … I want to. Let me look through things and see what I can come up with.”

  Tracie beamed. “Fantastic!”

  Natalie grinned all the way home. Something she had made, well altered, was going to be on a blog. Who would have ever thought that she would be sending her ideas out into the world! And she had so many ideas. Plaid was in right now. She could take some of the old shirts in the back of Eli’s closet and make them into little girl’s dresses or cute infinity scarves. Then there was that trunk of clothes at Aunt Sophie’s. Updating some of those old skirts would be a blast.

  Blogging would take time. Time was one thing she felt like she didn’t have enough of lately. This was the first inkling of excitement over doing something that was hers and hers alone, and she was eager to see where she could take her posts.

  There had actually been two exciting things that happened today. She smiled to herself. Eli’s kiss this morning had been pretty exciting. She hoped she was going home to find the guy that made her heart chug-chug so she could include him in her plans for the blog and maybe entice another kiss.

  Chapter 12

  Natalie was at Tracie’s working on Hailey’s surprise, and Eli was determined to take some of the load off her shoulders. He’d gathered the dirty clothes and sorted them into hampers. He was feeling pretty pleased with himself … until he faced the washing machine. What was the difference between a “speed cycle” and a “cotton cycle?” Was there a reason he should worry about spin speed?

  Rather than ruin a load’s worth of laundry, he dumped the soap on the clothes and slammed the door. Ryan could get the blasted thing going when he got home.

  Not as far along as he’d like in his efforts, he left the laundry closet and moved on to making dinner. He and the kitchen had become acquainted over the last few months, making finding pans and ingredients easier than starting the washing machine. In no time, he’d chopped an onion, and the sweet smell of sizzling onion and butter filled the room. Enjoying the domestic feel, Eli put on his favorite playlist and bobbed his head to the Iron Stix and Garth Brooks. Adding a pound of hamburger to the onions, he welcomed Ryan and Hailey home with a “Dinner’s almost ready.”

  “Good, I’m starving,” said Ryan. He pulled the milk out, poured himself a huge glass, and downed the liquid in three gulps.

  Eli turned off his music, determined not to space out on the kids tonight. “Easy there. You’ll ruin your appetite.”

  “Not possible.” Ryan grinned.

  Eli remembered being that age. His stomach made more decisions for him than his brain. Ryan was already an inch taller than Eli. If he kept eating—and growing—Eli would be looking up to his son.

  Ryan grabbed a bag of chips and a jar of Natalie’s homemade salsa and started working his way through both. Annoyed that Ryan failed to notice the meal on the stove, Eli tried to get his point across. “Hey, seriously, we’re eating in ten minutes.”

  Hailey reached for a chip. “He’s making up for missing lunch.” Ryan threw a warning look at Hailey, making her widen her eyes. “I think I’ll go wash my hands.” She disappeared down the hall.

  Fighting off the urge to let the opportunity to connect slide by— to let his lazy side take over— Eli asked, “Why’d you miss lunch? Is everything all right?”

  Ryan shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

  “It is too!” called Hailey from down the hall.

  Eli raised both his eyebrows and stared at Ryan.

  Ryan rolled his eyes. “I gave my lunch money to the Bucks for Bunnies fund,” he said through a mouth full of tortilla chips.

  Hailey came back in, a huge smile on her face. “And now all the student body officers are doing it! They’ve pledged their lunch money
from now until Easter. It was Ryan’s idea. They were behind on donations and he jumped on the stage and gave his pledge and other kids followed and we might make our goal now.” She hugged herself as if she couldn’t keep from hugging someone.

  Eli didn’t see handing over hard-earned money through such rosy glasses. Not only was the kid still shoveling food into his mouth when Eli had asked him— twice— to stop, he knew they had a truck to fix and he gave money away. They weren’t rich—they weren’t even middle class. Natalie was borrowing a sewing machine and had begged help from Aunt Sophie so Hailey could have an Easter dress. Eli had skipped out on playing softball this year— something he’d loved but couldn’t financially justify. “Are you living in an alternate universe?” Eli growled.

  Ryan’s jaw dropped.

  Eli continued, his voice growing louder with each syllable. “What were you thinking?!”

  The garage door banged open, and Natalie arrived with a garbage bag over one shoulder and a smile on her face. Eli’s heart jumped to see her spirit lighter than she’d been in weeks, and his first thought was of their kiss this morning. Had he put that smile there? His shoulders squared. Yeah, I did.

  His joyful satisfaction didn’t last long. Natalie’s smile melted as she took in the wide-eyed stares of their children. “What’s going on?”

  Eli’s shoulders caved in once again. “Your son is giving away his lunch money without a thought as to how hard you work.” Eli spun around to face Ryan, the heat building inside. “Do you have any idea how tired your mom is? She’s not wearing herself out so you can hand over your lunch money. How could you do this to her?”

  Ryan lifted his head, his jaw set in a way Eli recognized as imitating his own. He picked up a stack of mail and threw the envelopes across the kitchen counter. Letters fanned out like a deck of cards under an experienced dealer’s hand. Half a dozen cards from across the country stared up at Eli. “How could I not?” demanded Ryan. “I’ve had my time with chocolate bunnies and new dress shoes. If I give up a meal so some little kid can have a happy Easter—so be it.” Ryan stormed down the hallway and slammed his door.