Chapter 4
JILLIAN
Jillian awoke the next day just before her alarm, and thanked her lucky stars. Her phone chime had woken the girls yesterday morning, since they were sharing a room. But she was glad to let them sleep a few extra minutes today, since the bus wouldn’t come for them until well after she had to leave.
She’d expected to be restless with everything she had going on right now, but something about the cold drafts under the old wood windows made her sleep like a baby, and she suspected it was the same for Posey and Mari.
The two of them were sharing a bed for now, and they looked so cozy in the predawn light, all soft cheeks and dark hair spread on the pillows.
Slipping out of her own bed, Jillian grabbed her things and headed downstairs to use the bathroom there, since the one in the upstairs hall was leaking so they couldn’t use it.
If she had thought the bedroom she shared with the girls was cold, it had nothing on the rest of the house. Her bare feet turned into icicles as she crossed the wooden floorboards downstairs, and she was shivering by the time she made it to the bathroom where the tile felt like a skating rink.
But she was getting more into her routine than yesterday, and soon enough, the steamy water from the shower had chased away the chills, and she was planning out her day.
Jillian had always been a morning person. Her sister Amberlee was more like a sloth, wanting to sleep late and go to bed early. But Jillian liked to get a head start on her day, which meant she had a little extra time to adapt when things went wrong, as they so often did.
She was dressed and headed to the kitchen to start the coffee before she realized what had gone wrong today. As she passed the dining room windows, something bright caught her eye, causing her to turn back.
Stepping closer to the window, she could see the trees outside were frosted with snow. Pink dawn was just beginning to sparkle in the falling flakes.
“Oh no,” she murmured.
Of course she had known that snow was inevitable in the hills of Vermont. But she had been hoping the worst of it would hold off until January. From what she could see out the window, there seemed to be at least a few inches of the white stuff on the ground already, and it was still falling.
It’s fine, she told herself. I have time to shovel.
But she wasn’t really sure she did have time. The driveway was long, and she still had to get the girls ready for their day.
She headed to the door and began bundling up. Snow shoveling meant she wanted a vest with a coat on top, a scarf, a hat, and then waterproof gloves and boots.
She was completely outfitted when she remembered that Grampy kept the shovels in the basement. He said it was easier to reach the basement than the shed in the backyard when there was deep snow.
So she shuffled awkwardly in her bundled condition back through the house, turning sideways to navigate the narrow cellar steps with the wooden shelves of canned goods on one side.
By the time she got back up with the good shovel, she had begun to sweat.
At least it’s a break from feeling cold.
She headed out the front door, enjoying the blast of snowy air that hit her the moment she stepped outside.
The open porch wasn’t too snowy, which was a little odd, but a good thing.
It wasn’t until she reached the steps that she realized what was really going on.
Someone had already shoveled.
There was a perfect path down the center of the steps, and the walkway to the driveway was cleared. So was the front part of the driveway, wrapping around toward the rear.
She could just hear the sound of a shovel scraping the gravel out back, and she panicked at the thought of her grandfather doing this much work by himself.
The worst part was that she was pretty sure he wouldn’t even be out here if it wasn’t for her. He and Gram probably just stayed home during big snows these days. He was only doing this because Jillian and the kids needed to get out for school. If he got hurt, it would be her fault.
She shuffle-ran down the driveway, her heart in her mouth. This was a heavy snow, maybe dangerously heavy for an old man’s heart.
She arrived in seconds to find a bundled-up figure bent over near her car, working away.
“What are you doing?” she panted in relief and frustration. “This is exactly what I’m here for…”
But she swallowed the rest of her words as the man straightened up, bigger and taller than Grampy had ever been.
“Hey,” the big figure called back to her in a familiar voice.
“Tripp?” she said in surprise.
He strode over with a friendly expression on his face.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I thought you were my grandfather.”
“No, I’m me,” he replied with his crooked smile.
She felt a wave of warmth in her chest, like she was standing on a beach in the tropics instead of her grandparents’ snowy driveway.
“Well… thank you,” she managed. “This was so kind of you.”
“I’m just right up the street,” he said, shrugging. “It’s easy enough to finish up at my parents’ place and just keep going. I’ve got a snowplow on my truck for the driveway.”
She looked past him to the truck with the plow attachment that she hadn’t even noticed in her worried state.
That would certainly make the driveway easier, but he had still shoveled the porches and walkways, and dug out the cars all by hand.
“Thank you, Tripp,” she said again, feeling helplessly awkward.
“It’s my pleasure,” he told her.
His blue gaze was as warm as the Caribbean. She felt a blush rise in her cheeks, and she somehow couldn’t think of another word to say.
“Well, I’ll just finish up,” he said, turning back to her car.
Jillian just stared in amazement for few more seconds before gathering herself and heading back to the house.
She thought about trying to stop him and finish up herself, or at least help, but he was making short work of it, and she was afraid he would notice how hard she was blushing.
Walking back around the driveway without her heart in her throat from worry, she couldn’t help noticing how pretty the snow was.
Now that the snow wasn’t threatening her schedule or her grandfather’s health, she realized that the trees looked soft, like something out of a painting.
And the pink and gold dawn that filtered through the snowy branches cast pools of warm light on the snow below.
The peaceful sight had her feeling almost like herself again by the time she stepped back in the front door and started peeling off layers.
It was only when she started down the hall to start the coffee that she realized there were already noises coming from the kitchen.
As she got closer, she picked out happy humming and the murmur of early morning news on the radio.
She stepped into the room to find her grandfather standing over the stove in the kitchen island.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” he said cheerfully, looking up from a pan of bacon as she entered.
“Good morning, Grampy,” she said, joining him at the stove to wrap an arm around his shoulder and lean her head against him like she’d been doing since she was small. “Did you get up early to cook breakfast just for us?”
“I always cook breakfast,” he reminded her with a smile. “But yes, it’s just a bit early today so I can have some extra time with you and the girls.”
“That’s so nice of you,” she told him. “Gram’s sleeping in?”
“Not this time,” her grandmother’s voice floated down the back stairs just before the woman herself arrived, resplendent in a fluffy royal-blue robe. “I wanted to see you off today.”
Gram had never been a morning person by choice, but she had always gotten up bright and early anyway when it was time to take care of her kids or her grandkids. And after so many years, she had earned the right as a great-grandparent to sleep as late as she wanted.
“Not every day though, right?” Jillian asked. “You deserve to enjoy a little lie-in.”
“Maybe not every day,” Gram allowed.
“You know Tripp Lawrence is out there shoveling?” she remembered. “Isn’t that so nice of him?”
“Oh, yeah,” Grampy said. “He likes to come by for that. He says shoveling’s a better workout than the gym. Sometimes he pops in for a little advice for the team too.”
“And to drop off a milk delivery,” Gram added.
“Yep,” Grampy agreed. “Every week. He’s a good kid.”
The whole situation suddenly rearranged itself in Jillian’s mind.
It was Tripp who was coming by to fill the fridge, and Tripp who had obviously been looking out for her grandparents in other ways too.
All that, plus the fact that Tripp had taken over coaching Grampy’s beloved Woodchucks was almost enough to make her wonder if she had the wrong idea about the kind of man Tripp Lawrence was.
“Mama, I got dressed,” Posey called out proudly as she skipped down the backstairs.
“Great job,” Jillian told her, trying to shake off her revelation about Tripp. “How’s Mari doing?”
“She’s still in bed,” Posey said sadly. “She doesn’t want to go to school today.”
“I guess Gram’s not the only night owl around here,” Jillian said brightly, heading up the stairs before her grandparents could panic. “I’m just going to check on her.”
But her own heart was sinking. Hopefully, nothing too terrible had happened at school yesterday to make her daughter want to avoid it today.
When she pushed open the bedroom door, Marigold was sitting on the bed, her eyes fixed on the window.
“Isn’t the snow pretty?” Jillian offered.
“Do we have a snow day?” Mari asked hopefully.
“It would take a lot more than this for us to get a snow day in Vermont,” Jillian said with a smile. “Sugarville Grove has snowplows and salt storage, so it will be perfectly safe to get on the bus.”
There was a moment of silence that Jillian was dying to fill, but she held off.
“I don’t want to go,” Mari admitted softly.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jillian said, lowering herself to the bed beside her daughter. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t have a best friend,” Mari said, looking down at her hands like she was ashamed.
Relief flooded Jillian’s heart for the second time in one morning. Though of course this was a big problem in Mari’s eyes, Jillian was relieved that she hadn’t been bullied by another student or scolded by her teacher.
“You’ve only been at school for one day,” Jillian said carefully. “That would be awfully quick to find a best friend.”
“I met Hallie on the first day of kindergarten,” Mari said, her voice tiny.
“Well, that was the very first day of school for everyone,” Jillian said. “This time it’s just you, Petal, so it might take a little time. I have a job for you to do in the meantime though.”
“Okay,” Mari said, looking up. Down as she might be feeling, Mari loved having a task to attend to, just like her mom.
“When you’re out on the playground,” Jillian said. “Look around to see if there are any children who don’t have anyone to play with. It’s important that nobody be left out, so if you see someone all alone, you make sure to go and invite them to play.”
“Okay,” Mari said, her eyes lighting up. “I’ll make sure.”
“Good girl,” Jillian told her. “And you’ll have a new best friend in no time. I’m sure of it.”
Mari practically leaped out of bed and got dressed right away after that. Then the two of them hurried downstairs, Mari to freshen up in the hall bath, and Jillian to see if she could help with breakfast.
But Posey was already setting the table as Gram placed mugs of coffee at the adults’ places and orange juice for each of the girls.
“Wow,” Jillian said. “This is so nice.”
“It’s good to have a village,” Grampy said, winking at her as he carried over a tray of bacon and a basket of toast. “Isn’t it?”
“It is good to have a village,” she agreed.
Soon enough, Mari was sitting down, and Gram shared a simple prayer of thanks before they all dug in.
“I like bacon at breakfast,” Posey said a few minutes later, patting her little tummy.
“Me too,” Mari said. “We usually have oatmeal.”
“It’s good oatmeal,” Posey said quickly, glancing over at her mom.
“Oatmeal does get a little boring when we have it every day, I guess,” Jillian laughed.
“Nonsense,” Gram said. “We used to have oatmeal every day before school. I loved it.”
“Oatmeal is nice and easy,” Jillian said. “This meal was lovely though, a very nice treat.”
“Well, I’ve got nothing else to do,” Grampy said firmly. “So, I’ll be on breakfast duty.”
The girls cheered. Posey hugged him before Jillian could protest, and he winked at her again over the little girl’s head.
It really was good to have a village.
“What time do you all have to leave?” Gram asked, eyeing the clock.
“Oh dear,” Jillian said. “I’ve got to go in about two minutes, but the girls have another fifteen. Why don’t we clear the table and gather up all your coats and hats and things, girls?”
But Gram and Grampy insisted on clearing the table, and while Jillian tried to help, the girls began carrying their winter things into the kitchen and laying them out on the table.
“Okay,” Jillian said. “Two coats, two sets of gloves, two pairs of boots, two scarves, and three hats. Where did this one come from?”
She held up a knit cap that looked somehow familiar, even though she was sure she’d never seen it before.
“My friend gave it to me,” Posey sang out, grabbing the hat and cramming it down on her head. It was awfully big on her, which only made it more adorable.
Jillian was glad at least one of her daughters had a friend, although she was a little worried that this friend might be hatless now.
“Isn’t that the hat you made for the Lawrence boy?” Grampy asked.
“It sure is,” Gram said.
“Yes,” Posey said. “Mr. Lawrence let me wear it.”
“Wait, your friend is Tripp Lawrence?” Jillian asked, stunned.
“He was at my school,” Posey said nonchalantly. “I squirted him with a hose.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Gram laughed.
“He let me,” Posey said. “He got me first by accident. That’s why my hat was all wet.”
What on earth is going on around here? Jillian wondered helplessly. Is everyone in this family hanging out with Tripp Lawrence behind my back?
Am I missing something?
She tried not to think about Tripp and focused on getting herself bundled up and out the door. But as she reached her cleaned and shoveled-out car, it was impossible not to recall the feeling of warmth she’d felt when he’d been standing in front of her in that very spot.