Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Theo shoved his hands into his pockets, whistling as he walked down the sidewalk. He kept trying to convince himself that The Birchwood House was basically on his way to the post office, when in reality, it would have taken him about ten minutes less to take an entirely different route.
It was a bitterly cold day, and Theo found himself wondering what he hoped to accomplish by walking past the hotel. Did he think Michelle would be sitting on the front porch, and he could wave to her?
He whistled louder, determined not to talk himself out of his intended path. It might not have made much sense to go out of his way to walk past the hotel, but he was determined to do it anyway.
Who knows? he thought. Maybe I’ll even be able to convince myself to walk up to the front door and go inside to talk to her.
As he neared the hotel, however, he saw that such an action wouldn’t be necessary. Michelle was in the driveway of the hotel, battling the fresh layer of snow with a yellow plastic shovel. He could hear her grunting with frustration from forty feet away.
“Hey,” he said when he was closer. “That doesn’t look like much fun.”
Michelle looked up, brushing her hair back from her forehead.
“Oh, hey Theo.” She was panting and her coat was unzipped despite the cold, implying that she was warm from exertion.
“It’s okay. I need to make sure the guests have somewhere to park.
We’ve got a bunch of new people coming in this afternoon. ”
“Yeah? Good thing your mom and grandma are coming back from Boston today, huh?”
Michelle wrinkled her nose. “No, they’re not. There’s a storm over there too and their flights have been cancelled.”
Michelle’s distress was apparent on her face, and Theo’s heart went out to her. “Let me help with the shoveling,” he said, stepping forward. “You’ve already done half of it, let me take over.”
Michelle shook her head, brushing her damp hair back from her forehead again. “I can handle it myself, but thanks.”
“Okay.” Theo watched her struggle with the shovel for a few moments. “I’m sure you can, I respect that.”
Michelle grunted again as she stabbed at an icy patch of snow. The snow didn’t budge, and after one more thrust, Michelle slipped. As she was tumbling toward the driveway, Theo leapt forward and caught her just in time.
For three electrifying heartbeats, he simply stood there holding her in his arms. Michelle made a kind of squeak and he helped her get her feet steady on the driveway again.
“I’ll make you a deal,” Theo said, picking up the shovel that Michelle had dropped when she slipped. “I’ll finish shoveling this driveway in order to earn some time playing with the little fluff monster you keep in there.”
Michelle sat down in the snow on the side of the driveway and gave him a quizzical look. “That doesn’t really seem fair,” she pointed out.
Theo decided to pretend to play dumb. “What?” he protested, putting his hand over his heart. “I think it’s more than fair. That dog and I still haven’t properly bonded, and I’ve been feeling terrible about it. A little shoveling is more than a fair exchange as far as I’m concerned.”
Michelle looked up at him laughing, sitting there in the snow, and Theo felt an odd ache in his chest.
“Come on,” he said, feeling a sudden need to be funny so that he didn’t feel something else. “You wouldn’t take that away from me, would you?”
Michelle sighed and gestured toward the shovel. “Have at it,” she said. “I’m not formally asking you to do it for me, but I do intend to just sit here for a while, so if you end up shoveling while the shovel isn’t in my hands, that’s not my problem.”
Theo grinned. “That’s the spirit,” he said, and began to shovel with a will.
Since he spent a lot of his time doing tough physical labor on the cars that came into the auto repair shop, he’d built up a fair amount of muscle, and the shoveling wasn’t difficult for him.
Because the temperature had fluctuated during the snowstorm, some of the lower layers of snow were icy and difficult to remove, but for the most part the snow was still light and fluffy.
Theo worked quickly for a few minutes, and it was a while before he admitted to himself that he was trying to shovel as fast as possible in order to impress Michelle.
He had to admit it to himself, however, when he glanced in her direction and felt his heart leap up when he realized that she was watching him.
“How are your mom and Elaine feeling about being snowed in?” Theo asked, feeling as though he needed to start talking or he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from grinning triumphantly. “How bad is the storm over there?”
“Well, it sounds like it’s not so bad in Boston itself, but it’s in between us and them so the airlines don’t want to fly the planes through it.
” Michelle sighed. “I’m happy for them—it sounds like they’re going to have a fun day browsing Boston.
I do wish they were coming back today, though.
I was kind of banking on them being here.
I managed to get all the rooms cleaned that needed cleaning this morning, but I definitely cut some corners and it was a lot of work.
” She rolled her shoulders back, and Theo realized that she’d been working hard for many hours, not just since she started shoveling the driveway.
He felt glad that he’d been able to come along when he did. Michelle clearly deserved a break.
“I’m sure none of the guests will realize you cut corners,” he said, tossing a shovelful of snow over his shoulder and smiling at her. “The whole mansion always looks so clean. One little dust bunny under a couch somewhere isn’t going to ruin anybody’s vacation.”
Michelle laughed. “More like I didn’t actually scrub down the bathroom sinks, just made sure they looked clean. And usually I dust the Christmas trees, but I didn’t have time for that.”
Theo stopped his shoveling and stared at her. “You dust the Christmas trees?”
Her eyes shone, and she seemed to be enjoying the way he was flabbergasted. “Just easy dusting—with a feather duster. You know, the cute pink things with all the feathers.”
“I know what a feather duster is.” He shook his head and went back to shoveling. “But what I don’t understand is why you would bother dusting a tree.”
She grinned. “It’s not really the tree I’m dusting, it’s the ornaments. We have all those beautiful antique ornaments on the trees and they look so much better if they’re clean and shining. I always like to dust them off when the rooms change over so that they look their best.”
“No wonder you’re tired.” Theo laughed. “You’re an over-achiever.”
He’d meant it as a compliment, but Michelle’s expression fell a little.
“I just like things to be done well,” she protested. “I don’t think there’s any harm in that.”
“I don’t either.” He paused in his work to offer her a sincere smile. “I think it’s impressive that you know how to do a job really well. Most people don’t care about things being as good as they could be, and you always seem like you do care. I think that’s great.”
Michelle blinked, smiled shyly, and then looked down at the snow for a few moments. Theo continued to shovel, thinking to himself that going out of his way to walk past The Birchwood House was the best decision that he’d made in a month.
Before long, he’d finished the entire driveway. Michelle had lain down in the snow at that point, and she was staring up at the swirling snowflakes with a dreamy expression.
“You’d better go inside before your coat gets soggy,” Theo said, leaning on the shovel and gazing at her.
She sat up. “Well, once you want to tap out, I’ll have to finish—oh!” She blinked in surprise at the finished driveway. “You did it! Thanks, Theo. Wow.”
He grinned and bowed. “You’re welcome.” He almost added, “My lady,” but then he stopped himself and felt suddenly shy.
“You want some hot cocoa?” Michelle asked, standing up. “I’m starting to feel chilly. Hot cocoa is perfect on snowy days like this.”
“Hot cocoa sounds incredible,” Theo agreed.
Spending time with Michelle sounded even more incredible. He could hardly believe his luck—she’d invited him to stay and hang out with her in the mansion again.
They walked up to the kitchen door together. Theo wanted to come up with something funny to say, but for some reason he couldn’t think of anything amusing.
Michelle heated up some warm milk on the stove for them, and Theo got packets of cocoa from the snack table.
“You know there’s milk in the hot cocoa packets, right?” he told her as he set the packets down on the kitchen counter. “You can just use water.”
“I know.” Michelle opened one of the cupboards and got out a pair of mugs.
Ordinarily, a comment like that would have brought out her sharpest sass, but she seemed strangely nervous.
“But the milk makes it taste even better. I mean, the original milk. I mean, the milk in the pot plus the milk in the cocoa packet makes it taste better.” She clapped her hand to her forehead, her cheeks turning pink. “Oh my gosh, I can talk, I promise.”
Theo let out a laugh that sounded like a mix between a snort and a giggle, and then they were both embarrassed. “The more milk the better, I guess.”
Once the milk was hot, Michelle poured it into the mugs and Theo helped her stir in the cocoa.
“We should add some whipped cream and chocolate syrup,” Michelle said, opening the refrigerator.
She took out a can of whipped cream and started to spray it on top of the first mug.
“Oh my gosh, that’s too much.” She squeaked as whipped cream started sliding down the side of the mug and she wiped it up with her finger. “Um, this one can be mine.”
“Hey, don’t give yourself more whipped cream than me,” Theo teased.
“Okay, you got it.” Michelle dramatically topped the second mug with a mound of whipped cream so high it started to lean precariously to the left.
“And then some syrup for both of us.” She squirted chocolate syrup across the whipped cream on both mugs, and the effect was similar to a Jackson Pollock painting.
“Um, now—hmm.” Michelle reached for her mug and realized it was too full to lift without spilling the contents. “Uh…” She bent down and sipped from the mug without using her hands. She got a dollop of whipped cream on her nose. “Oh gosh.”
“Is this a contest?” Theo asked, bending down and sipping from his mug. He got whipped cream on both his nose and his forehead.
Michelle snorted in amusement and sipped more cocoa and whipped cream out of her mug. Theo followed suit, and they both kept sipping their cocoa in a ridiculous way. Finally they were able to pick their mugs up, and they carried them over to the kitchen table and sat down side by side.
Theo was trying to think of something to say when Puddle raced into the kitchen, yapping happily.
“Killer!” Theo said, reaching down to pet the puppy. “You came to see me. Thank you so much.”
Puddle jumped up and down, looking as though she was trying to hop up onto the table.
“Nope, sorry, no cocoa for you,” Michelle said, looking down at the fluffy little animal as she wagged a finger. “It’s not good for puppies.”
“I think she wants to—” Theo began, and then Michelle gasped as Puddle jumped up onto the table, nearly knocking over the mugs of cocoa. “Nope.” He grabbed the puppy and set her back down on the floor. “No cocoa, Puddle.”
“Oh, this little girl.” Michelle laughed. “She’s such a little whirlwind of trouble but she’s so darling. She makes me laugh all the time.”
“I was so surprised when you said you were going to adopt a dog,” Theo said, bending over to scratch Puddle behind the ears.
“I didn’t think you’d want anything as disruptive as a puppy in your life.
But you definitely made the right call—this little one is a great addition to The Birchwood House.
I’m sure the guests are all in love with her. ”
“They are.” Michelle smiled. “And that was unfair of you to think that I’d never adopt a dog. You think I’m so unadventurous. Obviously, you underestimated me.”
“I did underestimate you,” Theo admitted honestly. “You’re full of surprises, Michelle.”
For a moment, they looked into each other’s eyes. Theo felt as though the whole room turned upside down for a second.
“Uh, I should go,” he said, standing up suddenly and clearing his throat. “I have to go to the post office and then to work at the auto shop.”
“Oh. Yeah, for sure.” Michelle looked a little disappointed, but she smiled at him. “I have a lot to do myself. I still have to stock the empty rooms with gift baskets for the guests who will be arriving later, and I’m sure that email inbox has filled up again already.”
“Well, don’t work too hard,” he told her, and if he’d said it to anyone else, it would have been a joke. “Take it easy, okay? This place doesn’t need to be perfect, just great. And it’s already that.”
Michelle’s smile went from forced to radiant. “Thanks, Theo.”
“For sure.” He lingered for a moment, wishing he had an excuse to stay longer. “Well, see you around.”
“See you around.”
Theo felt her eyes on him as he put on his coat and slipped out the kitchen door. He made his way down the steps of the porch, whistling a little as he went.