“No kidding. I hope Dave gets here soon. I want to get Meg’s place up and running and then get you back to her before it gets any worse. At this rate, I’ll have to call one of the plows to take you home.”
Belle chuckled, but then the kitchen grew silent again as they ate. He could tell that she wanted to say something, but she kept holding back, and for the moment, he was grateful.
“Surprise!” a voice yelled from the doorway, startling them both so badly that they dropped silverware. James and Annabelle turned around and found Addison standing in the swinging door; Belle groaned at the sight of her, but James saw a swath of Daisy’s hair tumble out of her knit hat as she ran through the door behind Addison and laughed.
“What in the world are you doing here, peanut?”
Addison grinned. “They closed the schools and couldn’t get in touch with you to pick her up, so they called me since I was second on the list.” She tilted her head and made it clear that she wanted Annabelle to really register that last bit. But Annabelle was now obviously distracted by the smiling moppet standing next to James.
“James Everley, who is this little lady?” Belle asked with her hands on her hips.
Daisy held out her hand with a serious furrow of her brow. “Daisy Lou Everley, at your service! Who the heck are you?”
Belle burst out laughing. “Annabelle Harrison. Nice to meet you, Miss Everley. Let me guess. You are… the hostess? The… bartender? Maybe the… accountant?”
Daisy slapped her leg as if that was the funniest thing she had ever heard in her life. “Nah, I’m his daughter. But I pretty much run things around here.”
James reached down and picked Daisy up, tucking her under his arm as she squirmed and laughed. “Alright, boss. You know what to do.”
“Aw, dad,” she said through her laughter. “Do I hafta? I want to help back here!”
“Scoot,” James answered as he set Daisy back down on the floor. Daisy huffed and picked her book bag up off the floor, then dug out a giant book and disappeared back into the dining room, with Addison following her, looking dour.
“What was she reading? Anna Karenina?”
“Close,” James said with a laugh. “Little Women. She’s a smart one; started reading the second she could pick up a book. She definitely doesn’t take after me.”
“You were smarter than you gave yourself credit for, Jamie.”
James felt that knot again and knew he had to make the moment go away. “It doesn’t look like Dave is going to get here in any reasonable amount of time. How about I let Addison stay with Daisy, I’ll leave the key to the shop with Raph, and I’ll get you back to Meg?”
Belle had no reason to argue, even if she wanted to, which she did. He could see it in her face. “Okay…”
“Let’s get going before it gets worse, then.”
The truth was, he didn’t really want to leave Belle. Which is exactly why he knew he had to do it. And as quickly as possible, before that knot in his stomach came back.
5
Belle
Belle walked into the house and shook the snow off her hat and scarf with a shiver. There was no question; she wasn’t cut out for Vermont winters anymore. At least in New York, you could hide inside for the duration of a snow storm and if you were forced to go out, anything you needed was within ten steps of your apartment. This madness was for the bears. Or people with heartier constitutions, which she apparently no longer had.
Annabelle poked her head around the corner of the living room and saw that Meg was awake and watching TV. When she spotted her granddaughter, she smiled and stretched. “Hey, pumpkin! Everything okay at the store?”
Belle plopped down in the giant old easy chair next to Meg and let out a long, tired sigh. “The power was out when we got there but James has an electrician who’s going to stop by and check on everything. I was going to wait there but the storm was picking up and we didn’t want you here alone.”
“It’s been a long time since I heard you refer to you and James as a ‘we,’” Meg said with a smile.
“Don’t start with me, gran. But while we’re on the subject of James, why didn’t you tell me he’d bought the Middle Road Inn?”
Meg shrugged. “You never exactly reacted well when I brought up him in conversation, so I just stopped doing. Years ago, actually. What was I going to say? ‘Hello, dear. Things are good here. Henry caught a mouse in the barn today. And by the way, the love of your life owns the most popular restaurant in town and has become an amazing chef.”
Belle felt her cheeks get hot and she had to take a deep breath to gather her thoughts. “He’s not the love of my life. But you are right about one thing; he’s really good. He made me lunch and it was amazing.”
Meg raised a skeptical eyebrow at her granddaughter. She knew full well that the reason Belle hadn’t dated anyone in so long was because she had never moved on from James, but if Belle wasn’t willing to admit that to herself, she certainly wasn’t going to listen to anyone else. Uninterested in pursuing a conversation they’d had for years after Annabelle left for New York, Meg faked a yawn and smiled.
“Belle, could you make me some tea, so I can take a pill and go back to sleep? This leg is aching something awful.”
Belle didn’t hesitate, happy to be finished with talking about James. And yet, once Meg was comfortable with her tea and dozing off again, her curiosity won out over her common sense. With a light step, she retrieved her laptop from her shoulder bag and tip-toed into the kitchen where she sat down at the table.
She was just about to turn it on when Henry, her grandmother’s tabby, walked up and began rubbing himself against her legs. Annabelle reached into her pocket and retrieved her pills to take one in a hurry before the sneezing started again.
“Henry, you old trouble maker,” she whispered as she gave him a gentle push away. He meowed at her and then wandered in Meg’s direction just fast enough to avoid giving Belle a full-on sneezing fit before the allergy medication kicked in. When she was sure it was safe, and she could hear Meg snoring in the living room, she fired up her laptop and searched James’ name and Wintervale. The first result was an article about the time he scored the game-winning touchdown to win a championship game for Wintervale High. But the second was all about the grand re-opening of the Middle Road Inn.
* * *
Local Boy Gives New Life to Old Wintervale Haunt This Spring
* * *
If you thought the Middle Road Inn would never see life after its unceremonious shuttering by the health department in 2015, you are in for a surprise in April when the doors will open once again.
Hometown hero, James Everley, decided to seek joy from his personal tragedy by turning his late wife’s dream into a reality. On Christmas Eve of last year, when Marisa Brookes-Everley was killed in a tragic car accident on her way to meet her family at the Wintervale tree lighting, James and his young daughter Daisy were left wondering how to pick up the pieces. But Brookes-Everley, of Brookes Organic Farm, had always dreamed of opening a locally-sourced organic restaurant in her hometown of Wintervale, and her husband decided that was the ideal way to honor her memory.
Enter the long-abandoned Middle Road Inn…
* * *
Annabelle had to pause to calm down. She knew a few of the details of what had happened to James wife, but she had no idea how… upsetting it all was. She couldn’t even begin to fathom how he and his little girl had survived such trauma; Belle wasn’t sure she could have done it herself. But she knew she had to keep reading and turned back to her laptop, steeling herself for whatever came next.
* * *
The Inn, long known in Wintervale as a less-than-savory location for warm beer and not much else, was closed for business after the health department found black mold in the kitchen. The previous owners have been attempting to sell it ever since, yet no one seemed interested in taking on such a major project. The Middle Road Inn isn’t just a restaurant; the top floors were once used
as a hotel for railroad workers and newly-arrived manufacturers from places as diverse as Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Scotland, Italy, and Wales.
Once Everley takes possession of the Inn, he intends to re-open the restaurant first, and then in the coming years, renovate the hotel as well.
“Daisy and I are excited to embark on this new adventure and restore the Middle Road Inn to its former glory. Marisa would have loved the idea and it will be a tribute to her.”
The Middle Road Inn will have its grand opening on April 15, and Everley is inviting the whole of Wintervale to join them for a menu tasting, local beers, hand-crafted sodas, and more. For more information…
* * *
Belle closed her laptop and then set her head down on the cool wood of the kitchen table. The James she had known in high school was never much interested in anything but sports; he didn’t know what he wanted to with his life outside of playing baseball or football or running track. When they talked about careers, he would get frustrated and say maybe he would just bag groceries for the rest of his life. It was part of the reason Annabelle had left; she couldn’t picture herself sitting around Wintervale and working in Meow & Then, half-asleep from allergy medication. She’d always been reasonably sure she had made the right decision by leaving but now…
“Belle! Honey! Can you come in here for a second?” Meg called from the living room.
Annabelle was grateful for the distraction because she felt herself spiraling into self-doubt and she knew that wasn’t terribly healthy. She knew she couldn’t go back in time and change things, and she wouldn’t want to even if she tried. Their lives had gone in such different directions and there was no way things hadn’t happened for the best. James had a wonderful life and even after everything he had endured, he seemed happy, and he had a beautiful daughter. If they had stayed together, they would have ended up miserable. And they would have hated each other.
But as she walked back to the living room to help Meg, she couldn’t help but let her mind wander to what might have been.
Or what could be now…
6
James
James yawned and took a long sip of coffee. He rubbed his eyes and stared at his daughter’s homework blankly. After a long day at the restaurant, the last thing he felt like doing was trying to figure out Daisy’s math textbook; math had never been his strongest subject, yet his daughter was in an advanced class at her school. She was doing harder math than he had been when he started high school, which meant that Daisy spent half her time explaining to him what she was supposed to be doing. He thought she mostly asked him to help out of the desire to spend time with her dad than really needing his assistance, which was fine by him.
He just wished there were less math involved.
“I think you are supposed to carry that three, Daisy,” James said with another yawn. Daisy rolled her eyes.
“No, daddy. That’s not how this kind of problem works.” She pulled the pencil out of his hand and set about scribbling out a bunch of numbers that made James’ head spin. He rubbed his hands over his beard in frustration, then chuckled lightly.
“Maybe I should fire my accountant and let you take care of all of our money stuff, little flower.”
“Oh, dad,” Daisy laughed. He watched in amazement as she flew through the last of her homework, then set her pencil down triumphantly. “Well, that’s it! We didn’t have many classes today because of the snow and I finished my writing assignment at the restaurant. Do you think school will be cancelled tomorrow?”
James reached over and moved the curtain aside to peek out the window. The snow was still falling heavily, but the soft white powder was now packed down and forming a nice even layer.
“I doubt it, kiddo. The plows will be out first thing and you’ll probably just go in a little late. Which means it’s almost bedtime. Get your homework packed up and then put on your pajamas.”
He expected Daisy to jump up and run off like she usually did, but instead, she just sat there and stared at him.
“What?” he asked, confused.
“How do you know Annabelle?”
James’ stomach dropped all the way down to his feet. He didn’t know how to tell Daisy about his history with Belle. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if his daughter was aware that he had a past that didn’t involve her mother. He could tell her that Belle was just an old friend, but he wasn’t good at lying, and Daisy tended to see right through him when he tried. So, after a moment of internal waffling, he decided that the truth was his best option.
“Well, when Belle and I were teenagers, we were boyfriend and girlfriend. But then Belle moved to New York and I met mommy and the rest is history.” James hoped she wouldn’t ask follow-up questions, but he could tell by the look on Daisy’s face that he wouldn’t be that lucky.
“But why did she move to New York if you were boyfriend and girlfriend?” Daisy asked, leaning forward on her forearms as though she were a journalist digging in to a really good interview. Sometimes, James wished his little girl was just a tiny bit less perceptive.
“Because, Daisy, she wanted to be a famous chef and she couldn’t really do that from Wintervale.”
Daisy raised her eyebrow. “She’s famous?”
“That’s what I’ve heard. She makes fancy cakes and stuff at a really nice restaurant in Manhattan. Now, my curious little kitten, will you please go put your PJs on and get in bed? We can read a few chapters of Treasure Island before you have to go to sleep.”
Daisy surveyed her father as if she were looking for signs that he was lying about something, but once she decided that he was probably telling the truth, she skipped up the stairs and towards her bedroom.
James wasn’t entire sure why his daughter was asking so many questions about Annabelle, but knowing her, she was up to something…
He’d just have to figure out what it was.
James rubbed his eyes and looked up at the clock as it tick-tock-ed on the wall. It was already starting to get late, but it was also the only time of the day when James had time to himself. For the majority of the day, he was answering a million questions, putting out (metaphorical) fires, or helping other people with their problems. But nighttime was his favorite time; Daisy was slumbering happily in her room, everything was peaceful and quiet, and he could just lay back on the couch in front of the fireplace, reading a novel or binge watching a mindless TV show. Most nights, he would fall asleep on the couch and not wake up until he heard Daisy shuffling around upstairs, already up and getting ready for school.
After tip-toeing his way around a conversation about Annabelle, James was especially happy for the ability to relax that night. He was sitting with his feet up on the coffee table, a glass of wine in front of him and the latest political drama humming away on the television. He also kept checking his phone to see if there were any announcements about Daisy’s school tomorrow.
If they cancelled again, he would have to bring her to the restaurant for the day and he could only get away with that so many times before she started to go crazy. All he could do was cross his fingers and hope the plowing got done so she could finish out her week until Christmas break.
Once it was clear that nothing was coming in, James slid his phone onto the coffee table and lay down on the giant pillow on the edge of the couch. He was just starting to drift off when a knock on the front door startled him so badly, it felt like his heart was beating funny.
“Who in the world…” James muttered as he crawled up to his feet and padded over to the door, his wool socks sliding on the wood floor. He peeked through the window in front door and in the porch light, saw Addison standing there, wiping snow off of her shoulders. He sighed in frustration and set his head against the cool wood doorframe before he opened it. James just needed a second; there was no way that whatever happened next wasn’t going to ruin the peaceful end of his day.
But after a moment, James knew he couldn’t leave her freezing out on the porch any longer. He ope
ned the door with a forced smile. “Addison! Is everything okay? It’s really late.”
Addison smiled and shrugged. “I was just leaving a friend’s house and I thought I’d stop by and drop off this stuffed animal Daisy left in my car.” She held up Daisy’s stuffed elephant and handed it to him.
“You were out driving around in this mess? That’s crazy. And Daisy is asleep. This definitely could have waited until work tomorrow.”
“I didn’t want to forget,” she said with a smile as she peeked over James’ shoulder. “Is that wine? Maybe I could come in for a glass.”
James looked back, having already forgotten about his wine on the coffee table. “Are you old enough to drink?”
Addison giggled and gave James a playful shove. “Of course, I am! Silly.”
James yawned and looked at his watch. “It’s after ten, Addison. I have to be up early to get some ordering done for the restaurant before Daisy wakes up. It’s probably better if you head home and get some rest yourself.”
She stuck her lip out in a pout and kicked the snow on the porch, raising her eyes and batting her eyelashes. “Are you sure you don’t want some company, boss?”
“Nope, I’m really tired,” James said, yawning again, completely oblivious to what Addison was trying to do. “You don’t want to hang around with an old guy like me anyway. If you want to stay out, I’m sure you have friends who are a lot more fun. Anyway, thanks for the elephant. I’ll tell Daisy you dropped it off. Goodnight, and be careful out there!” And then, James shut the door on her without another word.
James shivered from the cold gust of air that followed Addison out when he shut the door. That was weird, he thought with a shrug as he walked back into the living room and grabbed a blanket off the back of a chair. He flopped back down on the couch and listened as Addison’s car crunched out of his driveway; he hoped she took her time as she drove back out to the road, since their property tended to get slippery when it snowed over like this. James was lucky the school bus was even willing to pick up Daisy on days when it snowed.
A Sugar Cookie Christmas: A Sweet Holiday Romance (Wintervale Promises Book 1) Page 4
