Until Winter Breaks

by Elana Johnson

  “But I can get dressed if this—” He gestured to his partially clothed body— “distracts you.”

  “Oh, it’s a distraction all right.” Millie plucked a pancake from the platter and packed it with butter. She picked up the maple syrup and glanced at Jared. “On second thought….”

  Jared needed no further encouragement. He swept Millie off her feet, maple syrup bottle and all, and took her back to bed.

  * * *

  Jared didn’t go into work on Thursday either, because his sister was flying in just after lunch. He spent the morning hours with Millie at the shop before heading to the airport. His nerves jumped while he waited. Soon enough, her flight arrived and he stood as the first passengers disembarked.

  He caught sight of her coming down the hall, her honey-blonde hair loose around her shoulders. Marriage and Spain seemed to have melted ten years from her face. She saw him and smiled, moving forward quicker now.

  “Sophie!” Jared swept his sister off her feet and into a hug, startling both himself and her. The last time they’d been at this airport, there had been awkward patting of backs and a tall, blonde man hovering behind Sophie as if to make sure she survived the exchange.

  Sophie laughed, a sound that caused the last of Jared’s guilt to evaporate. “How’s the house?”

  “That’s your first question?” Jared picked up her carry-on and led the way toward the baggage claim. “I moved out several weeks ago. Millie’s been exercising the toilet gaskets for you.”

  He hadn’t told Sophie about his relationship with Millie, but as they waited for her luggage he said, “I need your help.”

  “My help?”

  “I met someone,” he started, unprepared for the flood of emotion that rendered him speechless and caused him to swallow over and over.

  Sophie watched him in that little sister way she always had. He’d hated it when she’d done it as a child, like she was worried about him beneath his tough-guy exterior. He’d tried to protect her from their father, from his drinking, from everything unpleasant. He’d failed, but he supposed she’d seen right through his attempts anyway.

  “Who?” Sophie asked.

  “Millie Larson.”

  Sophie blinked. The crash of the first piece of luggage arriving didn’t divert her attention, nor his. Finally, she threw her head back and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

  Jared let her have her fun. Still chortling, she pointed out her bag, and he heaved it from the track and started toward the parking lot.

  “So tell me how that happened,” Sophie said.

  “Your house is right next to hers,” he said as he lifted her bag into the bed of Tripp’s truck. “The only two houses on the street. And she’s really nosy.” He grinned as he remembered how she’d called the Sherriff that first morning.

  “And you love that.” Sophie giggled again, tossing her hair in a carefree way that was unfamiliar to Jared.

  He hugged her again. “Are you happy, Sophie? With Mont?”

  She gripped him as hard as he did her. “I am, Jared.”

  “Then why did you come home?” He backed up and held her shoulders at arm’s length, trying to see the answer before he heard it. “For real?”

  Sophie studied her hands, twirling her monstrous diamond around and around. “Because if I’d waited until Mont finished shooting in October, I wouldn’t be able to fly home. We would’ve had to stay in Spain. And I didn’t want to have my baby in a foreign country.” She lifted her eyes to his as surprise and pure happiness poured through him.

  “Oh, Sophie.” His voice carried reverence. “Congratulations.” He embraced her again.

  Her grin grew, and grew, and grew until she laughed again, which morphed into a half-sob. She wiped at her eyes and retreated around the truck to the passenger side. “So what do you need my help with?”

  Jared climbed into the truck and started the ignition while Sophie buckled her seatbelt. He reached over and opened the glove compartment, from which he extracted a small box.

  “I need your help surprising Millie with this.” He flipped open the box to reveal the diamond inside, pleased when Sophie’s hand fluttered to her lips and her eyes drank in the ring.

  “So will you help me?”

  “Absolutely!” Sophie grabbed the box and stared at the ring for most of the ride home, while Jared explained what he needed her to do.

  * * *

  Millie met Jared and Sophie at Tripp’s house, where they enjoyed an old-fashioned barbeque with Polly. She’d been hard at work in the kitchen, producing her deviled eggs, baked beans, and the best salad Millie had ever put in her mouth.

  “This has cookies in it,” she said around a mouthful of fruit, cream, and yes, cookies.

  Polly laughed. “Old family recipe.”

  Millie really wanted that recipe—and she wanted to be in the family. “When are you headed over to The Sandy Tortilla?”

  “I don’t need to go down to the stand until tomorrow,” Sophie said, alerting Millie, despite the cookie salad.

  “Sure you do,” Jared said, exchanging a glance with Millie. “Aren’t you opening tomorrow?”

  “Not until Saturday.” Sophie yawned and stretched. “I’m beat. This jet lag isn’t anything to be trifled with.”

  “A quick trip, then,” Jared said, standing and collecting his plate and Millie’s. She grabbed on to her bowl of salad, holding it protectively close to her chest.

  “I don’t want to go.” Sophie stood too and took her dish to the sink.

  “Sophie,” Jared practically growled as he stepped next to her. Millie didn’t catch all of what he said next, but it sounded like, “I need you to go to the taco stand tonight.”

  Millie jumped to her feet. “It’ll just take a couple of minutes, Soph.” She stuffed the last delicious bite of salad into her mouth. “And I stocked your freezer with your favorite swee-eets.”

  Sophie looked back and forth between Jared and Millie, her shoulders deflating. “Okay, let’s go.”

  Millie squealed, hooked her arm through Jared’s, and headed outside to her car. Sophie eyed Jared’s motorcycle, her eyebrows nearly invisible they were so high. “Can I ride with you?”

  “Sure.” Millie unlocked the car and exchanged a glance with Jared. He had the key to The Sandy Tortilla in his pocket and a foxy-sly smile playing with his lips. Lips she suddenly wanted to kiss, and kiss, and kiss.

  He wanted to arrive first and have the stand unlocked by the time Sophie got there, so Millie let him pull out first, unsurprised when he took off down the street like the devil himself had taught him how to ride a Harley.

  She figured he’d have at least five minutes alone on the beach before she pulled up. Millie leapt out of the car so she could catch every moment of Sophie’s reaction to her new taco stand.

  Nerves wrung through her as Sophie became the slowest woman to ever exit a car. Her gaze swept the beach as a content sigh escaped her lips. She hugged her arms around her midsection, where Millie caught the ghost of a baby bump.

  All the pieces fell into place: Why Sophie had come home early and without Mont; why she was so tired; why she’d shied away from the wine at dinner.

  Her eyes landed on The Sandy Tortilla, and true fear crossed her features. “Millie….” she started.

  “Come on!” Jared yelled from the doorway of the stand, waving one arm above his head.

  Millie allowed a squeal to escape as she skipped to Sophie’s side and linked her elbow through Sophie’s. “You’re going to love it.”

  “So this is how my brother fell in love with you.” Sophie gave her a meaningful look out of the corner of her eye. “Conspiring to make a pregnant woman have a heart attack.”

  Millie scoffed. “No. He fixed my roof first. Then redesigned my shop. Then we started conspiring to make a pregnant woman have a heart attack. And congratulations, by the way. My sister is getting a baby soon too.”

  Sophie and Millie stepped into the sand. “Getting a baby?”


  “They’re adopting.”

  “Oh, that’s fantastic.” Sophie gave Millie a genuine smile. “And I love your hair, Mills.”

  “Thanks.” Millie danced ahead of Sophie so she could join Jared in the doorway.

  He blocked the entrance with his body. “You have to look out front first.”

  Sophie shot a glare his way that could’ve withered a rain forest, but she continued around the front of the stand.

  Tears sprang to her eyes, making them glassy and soft at the same time. She kept one hand on her belly and the other on her heart as she took in the new tables, the surfboard, the fresh paint.

  “Millie made the table covers,” Jared said. “The gale ruined the tables, so we upgraded those.”

  “Jared carved your new logo,” Millie said to get the attention off her. He was the one with the creative drive, the designer’s eye. She’d sewn one of the easiest items to make.

  Sophie, someone Millie had never seen cry, let her tears spill down her cheeks. “Thank you.” She launched herself at her brother, and Millie’s heart melted at seeing their embrace.

  “Come look inside,” Jared said, his voice gruff, strained. He tucked Millie’s hand into his as he zipped around the corner, briefly pressing his lips to her knuckles.

  * * *

  An hour later, Sophie knocked on Millie’s front door. When she opened it, her neighbor stood there, a carton of lime sherbet in her hand and a grin on her face. “My place is lonely,” she said with a giggle. “I never thought I’d feel that way.” She glanced over her shoulder to the churning waves. “I don’t like being alone anymore. Me and Mont….” Her voice trailed into nothing, and Millie invited her in.

  Sophie settled in the armchair, leaving the couch for Jared and Millie, who had been lounging, kissing, and laughing while a cooking show blared in the background.

  “Oh, Jared you left a box at my place.” Sophie moaned as she put the first bite of sherbet in her mouth. “I love this stuff. They have gelato in Spain, but I’m a sherbet purist.”

  “A box?” Jared sat up and ran his hand along his jaw. “I don’t think so, Soph.”

  “I know so, bro.”

  “Well, I’m on my bike,” Jared said, glancing at Millie. “Maybe I can keep it here?”

  An alarm sounded in Millie’s mind. But her mouth said, “Sure.” She stood up. The nervous energy in her muscles was suddenly too intense to allow her to sit.

  Jared looked up at her with that fox-grin on his face. “Since you’re up, will you go get it for me?”

  Sophie barely looked away from her lime treat. “It’s on the kitchen counter.”

  “Sure,” Millie said again, wondering when she’d turned into a parrot. She hurried out of the house, unsure of when it had become so stuffy. Maybe when Jared had asked to store his stuff at her place like he’d be there so often he didn’t actually need his things at his place.

  By the time she reached the driveway, the cool night had settled her stomach. It was just a box—something he’d left behind. Surely not anything he actually needed, or he’d have taken it weeks ago when he’d moved in with Tripp.

  Sophie’s living room and kitchen blazed with light, and Millie strode across the floor, her steps only faltering when she didn’t see a box. At least not the brown, taped, bulky one she was expecting.

  The only box on the kitchen counter fit in the palm of her hand. It was black with a delicate white bow around it.

  Millie’s feet froze; her blood raged; her mind spun.

  She slowly reached for the box. The box that belonged to Jared. Jared, who was now standing behind her, said, “Think you can unpack that, sweetheart?”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Being romantic was not exactly Jared’s strong suit. Still, when Millie finally picked up the box and turned toward him like she’d been preserved in amber, he’d managed to get down on one knee.

  “Millie Larson,” he started. “You stole my heart the very first time you called the Sherriff on me.”

  Her choked laughter only caused his heart to swell, burst, surge with love.

  “I know it’s fast, and I know you’re just barely ready. But will you marry me?”

  She held the box like glass, like it might shatter from her body heat. She stared at it, and then at him. “Can I look at the ring first?”

  Bricks fell into his stomach, and he started to get up.

  Millie burst into laugher. “You should see your face right now.”

  He stood and took the two steps to sweep her into his arms. “Look at the ring, sweetheart. Then let me know.” He trailed kisses over her ear, along her jaw, across the column of her throat. She trembled in his arms, but not from a chill. More like from the heat that built, blossomed, ballooned into a palpable thing that boiled through his blood.

  He heard the crack of the box as she opened it. Gave a throaty laugh at her gasp. Tightened his arms along her back when she tried to step away.

  “It’s too much,” she whispered.

  “Not if you say yes,” he whispered back, still tasting her in every place she’d allow.

  Jared was willing to let the silence go on as long as necessary. But he’d only kissed her shoulder once before she said, “Yes.”

  He straightened, his gaze finding and linking with hers. “I didn’t quite hear you, Mills.”

  “Yes, I’ll marry you,” she said, pure music to Jared’s ears. A smile spread across his lips as strong relief sang through his core.

  “I love you,” he said, removing the ring from the box and sliding it onto her finger.

  “I love you too, Jared.” Millie met his mouth with hers, and Jared imagined every day in Redwood Bay to be as joyful as this one.

  THE END

  About the Author

  A speculative fiction and romance author under the name Elana Johnson and an inspirational romance author under the pen name of Liz Isaacson, her published work includes nearly two dozen novels and novellas, both traditionally and self-published. To learn more about Elana, visit elanajohnson.com.