Trapped with the Blizzard (7 page)

“What about Walt?”

“He’s gonna be at the meeting, too. I talked to him for a minute…” Bryan said with a shake of his head. “He said he couldn’t sleep, that it was the only thing that saved him this time. The alarm didn’t go off and when he smelled smoke, he thought it was just from his clothes or something.”

“And the house?” Liz asked quietly.

I might’ve been a little slow through the fog of the hangover, but it all snapped together in an instant. We’d dropped the old guy off at the family house before coming home. I remembered watching Liz walk in and…

“Wait. One of the other houses that burned down was Grandpa’s?” I asked in shock.

Bryan met my gaze before looking away with tears in his eyes. “It’s all gutted.”

“Walt’s coming up here to stay,” Liz said with a shaky voice.

Bryan stepped forward with a sad smile and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ve already told him that.”

I stared into the distance as I tried to remember the exact layout of the small house. “I can’t believe it’s gone… but then again,” I said, looking at Liz, “this family has an abnormally high percentage rate of drama, don’t you think?”

Liz’s mouth worked, making her look like a fish gasping for air. Bryan quickly interjected with a jab of his own. “Speaking of which, did you manage not to puke on anyone coming down the stairs?”

I gave him a playful push and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Now, I don’t want you to freak out,” he said to me with a serious tone, “but you realize you’re up and out of bed before noon, right? You are witnessing your first morning in God knows how long, so please don’t panic.”

“Huh. So that’s what all this light is about?” I mocked as I examined the room.

Bryan laughed and leaned against the kitchen counter as he topped up his coffee. “Liz tell you the good news?”

“Yeah! She said a serial killer is coming after me,” I nodded enthusiastically. “Or that I might get burned to death. Either, or,” I replied, tilting my hand back and forth.

Bryan squinted as he looked from her to me. “Not
exactly
what I said,” Liz told him with a tight smile. I could’ve bailed her out but I enjoyed making her squirm.

“She didn’t say anything about you two going up to the mountain for a girl’s day?”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s such a good idea now, with everything that’s happened…” Liz protested.

“It’s not like you can stop the snow from coming. Might as well enjoy it while you can,” he said with a shrug. “Anyway, how’s the hangover, Marsh? Feeling rough around the edges?” he asked me.

“Better than some, worse than others. I’m never drinking vodka again, I can tell you that,” I replied with a groan.

“Never say never,” he chuckled.

To be honest, my head was starting to really pound and I felt like I needed a good couple more hours of sleep. Liz worriedly scanned through her phone as I finished my coffee. I thought about what he’d said the night before and wanted to show I was capable of at least trying.

“It sounds like fun.” Liz’s gaze snapped up to mine. I nearly smiled at the sheer amount of shock in her eyes, but I remained stoic. “Be good to take our mind off things, right?”

Much to my surprise, an hour later we were staring up at Powder Mountain. Bryan had driven and dropped us at the front, along with Jack and a pile of gear. After a swift kiss on the cheek, Bryan rushed away to pick up Walt and get to the council meeting. With my skis strapped to my back, my boots slung over one shoulder, and a fussy baby on my hip, I led the way to the daycare center.

I hadn’t spent much time apart from Jack yet. Apparently, dramatic lives can be quite lucrative. Between royalty checks and a few hefty settlements, we were lucky to not have many financial worries. At least all the bullshit we’d been through had earned us money along the way. I had been living the stay at home mom life for a long time.

Sure, Bryan and I had shared a few date nights, but mostly when his mom was visiting and happy to babysit. I thought I’d be nervous leaving Jack in daycare, but I’ve known Diane since the first winter I lived in Tellure Hollow. The woman was a child whisperer. She could get kids to do pretty much anything, without resorting to bribery.

I pushed my way through the double doors, with Dani behind. The sudden rush of heat flushed my cheeks and fogged my sunglasses. The walls of the brightly colored daycare were decorated with primary colors, shapes, and a variety of animals in various ski and snowboard gear. Powder Mountain was proud of our award-winning nursery center.

I spotted Diane in her office, talking to the young assistants. She was a shorter woman, ten years older than me, with a round motherly face. She was also one of the best drinkers I had ever met. The woman’s circulatory system was part tequila, I swear. When she spotted me through the window, her expression lit up.

“Well, look who’s here,” she said as she rushed out. “Is my little Jacky finally coming to visit me?”

I dropped my boots to the floor, slipped the bag from my shoulders, and placed Jack on the counter top. Diane scooped him up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He immediately giggled and flashed a flirtatious smile at her. Every kid loved her. I don’t know how, but they did. Even the ones that came in kicking and screaming would beg not to leave at the end of the day.

“Mommy’s finally getting some time out on the slopes,” I said with a broad grin. “I know it’s a little late notice, but do you have any space for him?”

“Of course I do! A tiny blizzard during a big blizzard,” she said in a sing-songy voice.

Dani scoffed from behind me. Like with most of the things she did, I chose to ignore it.

“I heard what happened. Are you guys okay?” Diane asked with a glimmer of concern in her eye.

It took me a second to catch on. The speed news and gossip traveled in this town still surprised me. “Oh yeah. Bryan’s already getting everything in order. Poor Walt had to run out of two burning buildings last night. They’re at a meeting right now. The promise of powder brought in the city folk at the last minute and now they’re all stuck.”

“Ah, I’m sure they’re happy about that, too. It’s a good thing the festival was last night, then. At least we didn’t have a bunch of outsiders there,” she gushed as she tickled Jack on the ribs. “It was beautiful, by the way. You did a fantastic job.”

“Thank you,” I replied, remembering Dani heaving her lunch over the edge of the platform. I placed Jack’s backpack on the counter, rifling through to make sure I remembered everything. Dani was growing impatient behind me, and I couldn’t blame her. The freshly powdered slopes were calling to me, too.

“I think I packed enough formula,” I said as I searched through the bag.

“Wait, you don’t breast-feed?” Dani asked with a chuckle. “How did I not know this?”

If there’s one thing I’m sensitive about, it’s anyone critiquing my mothering skills. With a thousand different techniques, and a billion different opinions, I rarely reacted well when somebody criticized my choices.

“Formula is just as good as breast milk,” I said with a tempered tone.

Dani leaned back on one leg and crossed her arms, a smirk spreading across her face. “No absolutely, I understand completely. I mean, you don’t want him overdosing on silicone or anything do you?”

I’m pretty sure my mouth fell open. The amount of attitude that came out in a single comment stunned me into a rare moment of silence. I turned slowly, without responding, and met Diane’s wide eyes.

“Diane. I don’t think I’ve introduced you to Bryan’s cousin, Dani.” I made sure to obscure the face I made by keeping my back to her. Judging by Diane’s reaction, she read my expression like a neon sign.

After a moment’s hesitation, Diane gave Dani a broad smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said brightly.

“Uh-huh,” Dani replied.

“Why don’t you wait for me outside? I’ll be a minute. I wouldn’t want to bore you,” I said through clenched teeth.

I watched as she thought about throwing another cutting dagger at my throat, but she ended up just shrugging. “Whatever,” she said, and walked back out to the courtyard.

A small girl with red pigtails squealed as she ran from the child-sized bathroom with her pants half-undone. One of the young assistants jogged after her trying not to lose control.

“Are you sure you can take him? You absolutely can say no. In fact, I’ll pay you to say no right now so I don’t have to go out with that little… witch,” I finished, glancing at Jack.

“We always have space for the Marshes,” she said. “Well, most of the Marshes. You can keep the cousin,” she said, glancing up. “She’s a little piece of work, isn’t she?”

I rolled my eyes, and leaned against the counter as if overcome with exhaustion. Jack laughed and reached for a chunk of my hair. “You have no idea. Remind me to give this one away the minute he turns thirteen.”

Diane laughed. “Boys are different. They go quiet and hide in the room a lot. Skulk around but keep to themselves. You find lots of stiff socks and washcloths,” she said with a weary acceptance.

“Gross.”

“Girls almost become feral. They should give you special gloves to wear just to be near them. Every little word or look could set off an apocalyptic fight. They get so scary. I swear, there are moments you worry about them eating your face in the middle of the night. You wonder where your sweet baby girl went.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Now there’s an image. I don’t remember many face eating urges when I was her age. I thought maybe I could relate, but it ain’t happening.”

Diane had brought out two brightly colored feathers from under the desk and was waving them in front of Jack’s face as we spoke. “Look, if you can remember back to that age, then you probably remember not wanting to listen to anybody about anything. Even if they agree, they fight with you out of principle.”

I tried to think back to being that age, but I was a different kind of girl. I’d had to grow up so quickly. Between my dad’s deployments, our constant moving, and then my mom’s cancer, I had little leeway for a rebellious adolescence. Dani was old enough to have been raised with a sense of entitlement, making her think the bad things in life were punishments only for her.

“I heard about what happened at the festival,” Diane added, looking up at me through her brows as she stifled a chuckle. “I didn’t see it, mind, but I heard all about it.”

“I’m sure that rumor is spreading as quickly as all the others. If something happens to me or Bryan, our names suddenly become the trending freakin’ hashtag for the town.”

“It’s always nice to be wanted,” she replied. Having seen behind the curtain of fame, she knew exactly what I was talking about.

“So,” I said with a dramatic pause, “I’ll come pick him up at three?”

Diane consulted her roster. One thing that made Powder Mountain’s daycare so great was how attentive the employees were to the children. At no point did Diane allow the ratio to go above three to one.

“That works perfectly. I have a shift change coming up and… yeah, we’re definitely fine. Stop worrying.”

“Then I guess it’s time to say goodbye to my Jacky,” I said with a lump in my throat.

I scooped the little guy up into my arms and gave him a kiss on each cheek, smoothed his hair back, and handed him over to Diane.

“You be good for the ladies, and don’t go falling in love,” I said. Looking into Diane’s understanding face, I continued, “If you have any trouble with him, or need me at all, I have my phone on me.”

“Don’t you worry at all, Mama Blizzard. We’ll take good care of him here.”

Tears formed in my eyes, threatening to fall before I even left the daycare room. I bent and scooped up all my gear. The rush of cold air helped calm my nerves, and I tried to reassure myself that it was good for me to do things on my own, too.

“So are you ready to head up to the top?” I asked Dani, still feeling delicate.

“I’ve been ready for an hour,” she said, blowing past me towards the lifts.

I gritted my teeth, the tears turning into a mixture of sadness and rage. “Maybe I should try to eat her face first.”