Chapter 7
Sydney
Thank god chef Franco had another pie in the refrigerator. Letting both Florence and Joan be winners was the only way to settle the argument over who won the Bridal Bingo game.
Once everyone went to bed, I took a bath in the enormous tub and just sat there thinking about all that Emily said that day and that moment between Mason and me in the kitchen when our hands touched. Did he feel it, too, or is it all in my head?
When my skin looked like a prune, I climbed into bed and dreamed all things Mason. The chill in my room wakes me up. I can see my breath in here. What the hell?
Slipping on my robe, I try to turn on the light, but nothing happens. Grabbing my cellphone to use a flashlight, I shuffle over to the thermostat and see that it’s not on. I tap it a few times like that would even help, and no surprise, nothing happens. “Shit.”
I look at the dark fireplace and wonder if there is a switch or something to turn it on.
That’s when I notice firewood sitting in a basket next to it.
It’s not a gas fireplace. Great. Now I have to remember Girl Scouts from forever ago.
“How the hell am I supposed to build a fire? I’m a damn Floridian. ”
There’s a loud knock on my door. “Sydney? Are you okay? The storm knocked out the power.” Emily’s voice comes through my door.
Rushing over, I open the door. “Yes, I’m fine. What about everyone else?”
Emily is bundled up in lots of layers of clothing to keep warm. The hallway is colder than my room is. “Come in. It’s freezing out there.”
“No. I can’t. Mason’s outside babying the generator; I’m going to help him.
Once it’s up and running, it will only cover the common areas and the kitchen.
We’ve got a roaring fire in the main room, if you want to go in there, or I can get the fire going in here for you.
” She points to my dark and cold fireplace.
“No, no. I’m fine. I’ll just get dressed and go out there. What time is it?” With the storm hitting us, it looks so dark outside.
“Almost seven.”
I nod, time to get up anyways. “Is there anything I can do to help?” I offer but have no idea what I could do. If the storm was a hurricane, I’m your gal. Hurricanes, I know what to do for those. Snowstorms? Not a clue.
“If you wouldn’t mind, just checking on the guests, especially the older crowd.”
I give her a small nod. “Of course.”
“Great. Thanks. I’ll be out back with Mason if you need anything.” She leaves and I quickly close the door to keep what little warmth I have in my room.
It took about two hours to get everyone up, dressed, and downstairs where the large fireplace was roaring. The common area along with the kitchen and dining rooms were much warmer than the hallways or the individual rooms.
Thankfully, Chef Franco lives next door to the ski lodge, so he was able to make breakfast for everyone. He even had a stove top percolator and was producing coffee by the gallons. Kris, the groom for tomorrow’s wedding, was fascinated by the old-time technology.
Now that breakfast is done, everyone has gathered in the living room by the fire and is drinking their coffee. There’s really not much more to do until the power comes back on. A few people have even fallen asleep where they are sitting.
“Sydney, tell me you have some kind of plan,” Sarah asks, panicking.
I smile at her. “Of course I do. Now, go sit down.” I point to the spot next to her groom.
Throughout my tour of the ski lodge with Sarah, Kris, and Emily the other day, I noticed that there wasn’t a Christmas tree up, but then I saw it sitting in a box in the corner of the common area living room.
I was glad I found it when I did, or I was going to have this activity outside using one of the live trees.
“Can I have everyone’s attention please?
” I watch Flo elbow Gladys to wake up. “Remember that little project I gave you all to do before coming out here to Aspen Peaks Ski Lodge?” I look around the room and everyone’s nodding but the bride and groom.
They look confused. They should. I didn’t tell them about this activity.
“Great. I’m going to put this Christmas tree together while you all go to your rooms and grab that project and bring it back here. But don’t say anything about it. It’s still a secret to Kris and Sarah.”
Everyone has a conspiratorial smile as they all file out to their rooms in search of their projects.
“Here. Make yourselves useful and help me put this tree together.” I say to Kris and Sarah.
“What’s the surprise, Sydney?” Sarah asks.
I only shake my head and tap my temple.
“It’s a surprise, honey. She can’t tell you,” Kris chastises her.
“But I wanna know.” She whines as she holds the tree steady as Kris plugs in the attached lights.
“You’ve always hated surprises.” He kisses her nose just as the power comes back on in the entire lodge. I can hear the heater kick on and it’s a welcome sound. Seems like Mason and Emily got the generator working.
As everyone comes back into the living room, they’re all talking about the power being back on and each of them have a little box or bag with their project inside.
“Sarah, Kris – please sit over here by the Christmas tree… just like that. Great.” I turn to the rest of the group and in walk Mason and Emily.
“We’re all set for the next twenty-four hours at least. Then we’ll have to figure out what to do about fuel. Hopefully the power will be back on fully by then,” Mason says as he wipes grease from his hands.
“What’s going on here? Oh, you got the tree up.” Her eyes get bright. “Is this where I get to do the thing you told me I get to do?” Emily asks excitedly.
I nod. “Yep. Why don’t you both go get washed up and join us? We’ll wait for you.”
“We’ll be right back.” Emily drags Mason from the room, but he looks over at me and I can’t tell if he’s smiling or smirking at me.
“Who wants another coffee? Fresh off the gas stove,” Chef Franco singsongs while holding up the pot.
As everyone gets their mugs topped off and settled back into their seats, Mason and Emily come in and drag two more seats from the dining room.
“Okay. So,” I turn to Sarah and Kris, “since this will be your first Christmas together, we realized you probably don’t have very many ornaments.
So, each one of us,” I wave across the room, “either brought one that was special to them and they want to pass it along to you, or they brought a homemade ornament that they made specifically for the two of you.”
Sarah starts tearing up. “That’s such a nice thought. And you’re right, Sydney, we don’t have any ornaments except the basic round red and green glass ones.”
I turn to the room. “Okay, who wants to go first?”
“I do!” Gladys says as she stands up and brings the small box over to Sarah and Kris.
“Gladys, tell us if you made this or is it part of your collection and if so, why you wanted to donate it.”
We watch Gladys gently hand the well-worn blue box to Sarah.
“My Harold gave me this on our first Christmas Eve for our first tree. It’s hung on every tree we had.
Until the year he died.” She wipes away a tear.
“I couldn’t put it up anymore without him.
” She swallows hard, “It’s time for this special ornament to find a new happy home to belong; to see new memories being created; and maybe someday be passed on to future generations.
It’s time for my grandson and his new bride to cherish this ornament, now. ”
Everyone in the room is crying. For someone that can come across as so abrasive sometimes, it’s easy to forget that Gladys has been a widow for almost ten years now and you can definitely see how much she loves and misses her husband.
“Thank you, Gladys. We will cherish this forever,” Kris says as he hangs it on the tree next to them.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, “Okay. Who’s next?”
The best man stands up, I can’t remember his name. “I’ll go. But I don’t have anything sentimental.” He looks over at Gladys. “I made this one.”
“Great. What does it represent to you?”
He immediately starts laughing, “Fertility. I’m hoping you guys get knocked up fast and have lots of babies.”
Sarah takes the phallic looking ‘ornament’ and hangs it on the tree, but far away from the ornament from Gladys. I have the feeling Sarah’s not too keen on this ornament, but Kris and his best man are in hysterics. At least it lightened the mood.
After about two hours of ornaments giving, it was finally my turn. I wasn’t expecting Mason to sit and watch the entire thing and now I’m a bit embarrassed to give Sarah and Kris my ornament.
I walk over to them and hand them a small bag with my ornament wrapped in old red and green tissue paper. “This is old, from my school days. Someone very special made it for me and I want to give it to you both. I hope it brings you happiness and joy like it did to me.”
Sarah unwraps the tissue paper and holds up a small glass-blown heart hanging on a red ribbon. She inhales quickly. “Sydney, it’s beautiful. Thank you.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty,” Kris says.
I turn to look at Mason, but he’s left the room and I know exactly why he left.
I just hurt him.
Again.