Home on Apple Blossom Road (Life in Icicle Falls)

by Sheila Roberts

  It snowed Christmas day and the fire roared in the big fireplace. The presents were extravagant—gold money clips, hundred-dollar gift cards thrown around like oversize confetti, expensive jewelry, the keys to a new car for Arthur’s mom—a little something from Daddy Claus. Mia had been allowed to share the bounty, too, receiving a couple of those hundred-dollar gift cards herself, as well as a Marc Jacobs purse from his parents and a pretty gold locket from Arthur. All she’d brought was a modest twenty-five-dollar iTunes gift card for Arthur and Sweet Dreams chocolates for his parents, which his mother shared with the other women while Mia kicked herself for not bringing more.

  Although it would’ve been wasted on Grandma Botox, who tried one and said, “It’s not Vosges, is it?”

  What, Mia asked herself, was she doing here?

  Moving on, that was what.

  “My family loved you,” Arthur said as they drove back to the city.

  Well, his parents seemed to. Maybe his grandmother would like her, too, if she changed her chocolate allegiance.

  The months slipped away like thieves, and her relationship with Arthur became something more serious than casual dating. It wasn’t what she’d had with Colin, but so what? What she’d had with Colin had obviously only been a storm of youthful passion that had blown itself out. Arthur was sweet, and she was happy with him. He was good for her and she could be good to him.

  On Valentine’s Day he took her to the Russian Tea Room for dinner and proposed. She surprised them both by saying no. “It’s too soon. I’m not ready yet. I’m sorry.”

  He didn’t look her in the eye. Instead, he looked at the ring sitting in its little box on the table between them. “It’s Colin, isn’t it? You’re still not over him.”

  “I am,” she lied. “I’m just not ready for a serious commitment. I need to concentrate on school.”

  Arthur nodded and frowned, and she felt like a heartless bitch. She reached across the table and laid her hand on his. “I’m sorry, Arthur. Maybe we should take a break from each other.”

  Now he did look at her. “Is that what you want?”

  She didn’t know what she wanted anymore and said as much. “I think I need to sort out my feelings.” Call Colin, try to work things out.

  But she never did gather the nerve to call him, not after their last conversation. She couldn’t bear to get slapped away.

  That summer she got an internship at an ad agency and stayed in the city, and the distance between her and her past grew. Come fall, she and Arthur were hanging out again, and that December when he took her to his parents’ house for Christmas, they shared his bedroom. After that, of course, the next step was to move in together.

  She told Aunt Beth she was seeing Arthur, but she didn’t tell her she saw him when she went to sleep at night and when she woke up in the morning. She knew both Aunt Beth and Grandma Justine were disappointed that things hadn’t worked out with Colin. There was no point in disappointing them further with the news that she was living with someone.

  “When are you coming home for a visit?” Aunt Beth kept asking. “It’s been ages since we’ve seen you.”

  Not since she and Uncle Mark had gone to Mia’s graduation. Arthur had taken them all out for dinner and gotten tickets to a Broadway show. They’d been polite and appreciative, but Mia felt sure they were wondering what she was doing with this new man.

  “I’m so busy with the new job,” she always replied.

  “We all knew you’d go on to do great things,” Beth had said in their latest conversation.

  All except Dylan, Mia thought.

  “But don’t forget us.”

  “How could I?”

  She was sure Colin had forgotten her, though. She wanted to ask about him but chickened out. What was the point?

  “I know Grandma would love to see you,” Beth continued. “We all would.”

  Did that include Colin? He wasn’t in Icicle Falls anymore, either. He’d moved to Seattle. What was he doing there instead of in the town that was so much a part of him?

  Probably the same thing as she was, making a new life.

  When Mia did finally come home to Icicle Falls to visit, she was wearing an engagement ring, but she didn’t keep it on for long after she returned to New York. “I’m so sorry,” she told Arthur. “I can’t marry you. It’s not fair to you. It’s not fair to either of us.”

  “Was he at your aunt’s party? Did you get back with him?” Arthur demanded.

  “No.” She never would now. She knew that.

  “Then I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I,” she said sadly, and placed the ring in the palm of his hand, closing his fingers over it. “You’re a wonderful man, Arthur. You’re funny and kind and smart.”

  He managed a half smile. “I sound like a pretty good deal.”

  “You’re a great deal.” Just not for her.

  Things were over between her and Arthur, and it was over between her and New York, too. She landed a terrific job in Chicago with GF Markets and made a whole new set of friends. And the following Christmas, she decorated her new apartment and cried when she hung the little angel Colin had given her on the tree.

  January 12, 2006

  Dear Emmaline,

  We’re at sixes and sevens after Gerald’s stroke. Dylan and Bethie have been a great help, and we got him settled in a very nice care facility. I’m hoping he’ll recover and be able to come home. He’s such a dear, not a word of complaint. It’s hard for him to speak, and I suppose he doesn’t want to waste his energy on that. I do love him so!

  I wish I knew what to do about the orchard. It would kill Gerald to sell it. But we may need to if he has to stay where he is indefinitely. As I said when we talked on the phone, I’m going to trust God that this will all work out. There’s no point in borrowing trouble from tomorrow for today. Right now I’m simply trying to focus on being there for him and on counting my blessings. I have so much to be thankful for—my family and friends who are all being so supportive, and my health, and, of course, all the wonderful years Gerald and I have had together. I’m thankful I still have him and I do hope he recovers enough to come home. The house is lonely without him. Meanwhile, I’m visiting him every day.

  That’s all for now. I must dash. Gerald will be wondering what’s become of me.

  Love,

  Justine

  Chapter Fourteen

  As she stood among the displays in Christmas Haus, Mia scowled at the tree full of angel ornaments. All that moping around over an immature, untrusting man—what a waste of time! She could’ve been happily married with a couple of kids by now. When she got back to Chicago, she was going to dig out the stupid angel Colin had given her and break its wings.

  “You look pissed,” he observed. “What are you pissed about?”

  “You and your stupid angel ornament, that’s what.”

  “You still have it?” He sounded pleased, almost cocky.

  She wanted to kick him.

  “Mia, Colin, hi.” Ivy Bohn approached, wearing a red dirndl, the standard uniform for both owners and employees of Christmas Haus. Ivy fell in the category of owner. Her parents had the shop before her but had retired and left the business of keeping the holidays all year round to her and her sister.

  “I’ve been expecting you,” she said.

  Mia erased the irritation from her face, putting on a polite mask. “I bet you have.” She pointed to the corner where a variety of elaborate snow globes were shelved. “Do you, by any chance, have a snow globe set aside for us?”

  Ivy grinned. “I do. Justine came in and picked it out herself. I’ve got it over here.” She walked to the cash register, where her loyal assistant, Nicole, was ringing up a sale, and produced a gift bag stuffed with red tissue paper. “I can hardly
wait to hear what you find. Knowing Justine, it’ll be something unique.”

  They thanked Ivy. Then, as more customers were approaching, they moved to the snow-globe neighborhood and checked out theirs. The scene inside the globe showed a little mountain chalet surrounded by fir trees. In front of it stood a couple in the traditional German garb, the man in lederhosen and the woman in a dirndl. Mia gave it a shake, and the couple was immediately engulfed in a snowstorm—Colin and her, before and after.

  “Turn it over,” he prompted.

  She did and there, folded several times and taped to the base, was the pink stationery. She pulled it loose, unfolded it and read, “‘For your next clue something sweet awaits you.’”

  “Well, that’s easy,” Colin said. “It’s gotta be Sweet Dreams.”

  Of course. The town’s favorite source of chocolates.

  “Does it say anything more?” he asked.

  Mia’s eyes misted. “She wants me to keep the snow globe, to remind me of Icicle Falls. ‘Once an Icicle, always an Icicle,’” she read. That was so true. You could take the girl out of Icicle Falls, but you couldn’t take Icicle Falls out of the girl.

  “I keep hoping you’ll move home,” Grandma Justine had said to Mia when she’d come back for Aunt Beth’s birthday.

  Mia had been engaged to Arthur then. “We’ll probably stay in New York,” she’d said, and that had made her sad. What kind of crazy woman got sad about starting her married life in New York?

  The kind of crazy woman who belonged in Icicle Falls. With each new stop on this treasure hunt, Mia felt the pull more strongly. She was the tide, and this town was the moon, drawing her back.

  “I think you’re meant to be here with us,” Grandma Justine said when Mia had called to cry on her shoulder after she broke up with Arthur.

  Maybe she was. Someday she’d come back, bring her family, settle down. She and Colin would see each other at Christmas, perhaps run into each other at Bavarian Brews. By then all the passion and anger would have finally burned itself out. They’d ease into friendship, reminisce. Remember how we thought we were in love? Dumb kids. Glad that’s all behind us.

  “Fine,” Colin was saying. “You keep the snow globe. I’ll keep whatever we find at Sweet Dreams.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t!” she said, snapping back into the present. “Share and share alike.”

  She stowed the snow globe in his car and they strolled down Center Street to the Sweet Dreams chocolate shop.

  “So you kept the angel,” he said. “I wish I’d kept the Santa.”

  “You didn’t?” He hadn’t kept it. Even though it shouldn’t have mattered, Mia felt hurt. “What did you do with it?”

  His mouth turned down. “Stomped the shit out of it. Then kicked myself for being such a tool. I’ve kicked myself for a lot of things.”

  “What a coincidence. So have I,” she murmured.

  They were barely inside the company’s popular shop when Mia spotted Colin’s girlfriend checking out the bags of chocolate-dipped pretzels and potato chips. She glanced over as the sound of the bell above the door jingled, then, seeing Colin, she gave a guilty start and stepped away from the junk food like a shoplifter caught with her fingers hovering over the goods. “I thought you were looking for clues,” she greeted them, her tone accusing.

  “We have been,” he said.

  She rolled her eyes and grabbed a bag of chocolate-dipped pretzels.

  He pointed to it. “I thought you didn’t eat that stuff.”

  “Sometimes a woman needs chocolate.” She marched over to him. “Like when her boyfriend’s ignoring her and searching for clues with another woman.”

  Heidi Schwartz, who worked in the gift shop, glanced from one to the other, her eyes big. Boy, they were better than reality TV.

  Meanwhile, here was Colin, the man who faced bullies single-handed, backing away from the Lorelei assault. “Come on, Lorelei, don’t be like this.”

  Lorelei’s eyes became slits and she narrowed the gap between them. “Like what?”

  Colin backed up some more, bumping into a display tower of chocolate boxes. The tower teetered and he whirled around to steady it. Several boxes dove for the floor and his face turned red.

  “Like. What?” Lorelei repeated. Any minute her head was going to spin right off her neck and shoot off for parts unknown.

  “There’s no need to be jealous,” Mia put in, hoping to defuse the situation.

  “I’m not jealous,” Lorelei spat. “I just think it’s odd that you two are here in a candy store when you’re supposed to be looking for clues to some buried treasure that probably doesn’t even exist.”

  “Of course it exists,” Colin said, picking up the boxes. “Why would I lie?”

  Heidi cleared her throat. “Actually, I do have something for you guys.”

  “See? I told you,” he said, shoving the chocolate boxes back into place.

  “Could we have it?” Mia asked, stepping away from the happy couple.

  “Sure.” Heidi reached under the counter and produced a two-pound box of Sweet Dreams truffles.

  “Oh, the garden collection.” Mia’s mouth watered at the thought of dark chocolate filled with lavender-chocolate ganache and the unique combination of white chocolate and rose water.

  She took it and turned it over. No clue taped to the bottom of the box.

  Now Colin was on one side of her and Lorelei on the other. “Maybe your clue’s inside the box,” Lorelei said.

  “Lorelei, you can’t help,” Colin told her.

  “Just saying,” she shot back as Mia opened it.

  No pink paper was visible.

  “Yeah, that’s some clue,” Lorelei scoffed.

  “Maybe it’s under the liner,” Mia said and set the box on the checkout counter. She carefully lifted the liner, balancing all the little candies in their paper holders.

  One fell on the floor and Colin grabbed it and popped it into his mouth. “Two-second rule.”

  “Yuck,” Lorelei said, wrinkling her nose. Then she helped herself to a white-chocolate truffle. “Are these vegan?” Before Heidi could answer, she said, “Never mind,” and popped it into her mouth.

  Meanwhile, Mia had found the pink paper with their next clue. “‘Her words are valued,’” she read. “‘Let her tell you some of my story.’”

  “Okay, what does that mean?” Lorelei muttered, helping herself to another truffle.

  “Damned if I know,” Colin said. “Her words are valued?”

  “Aunt Beth?” guessed Mia.

  “Works for me,” Colin said.

  “Now where are you going?” Lorelei asked.

  “We’re following where the next clue leads,” Colin said, starting for the door.

  “Make sure it leads you back to me for dinner.” Lorelei, grabbed him by the arm and kissed him.

  His cheeks were russet when they left. Lorelei seemed to have a real talent for embarrassing him. And she sure seemed demanding.

  “She’s a little, uh...” Mia began, then stopped herself. She didn’t need to be pointing out his girlfriend’s flaws.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I know what you were going to say. She can be kind of high maintenance.”

  “Some women are,” Mia said diplomatically.

  “You never were. You were always easy to be with.” His brows knit and once again his cheeks reddened. They were back at the car now and he got into it like a man diving for cover.

  Yes, this was hardly an appropriate conversation to be having. Like so many of their conversations. It was true, though. Whenever Colin had wanted to go fishing, she’d been happy to go along. If he’d wanted to hang out with the guys, she’d gone out with her girlfriends or did something with
Aunt Beth. She’d never been demanding. There was no need to be, because they’d enjoyed each other’s company. They were comfortable together, and happy.

  Was Colin happy now with Lorelei? And if he was, why were the sparks still flying between them, waiting to ignite?

  She got in on her side and turned to him, and the nosy words slipped out. “Are you happy?”

  He blinked. “Yeah, I guess. Well...shit. I don’t know,” he said and seemed suddenly very focused on starting the car and pulling onto the street. “I mean, there are things I’d like to do.”

  “Like own an orchard?” He’d so badly wanted to take over his grandfather’s.

  “Someday.”

  She wanted to ask what Lorelei thought of those goals, but she decided she’d asked enough probing questions. Instead, she picked her flower up from the floor. It was looking sad and droopy. She’d put it in water when they got back to Aunt Beth’s and hope it wasn’t too late to revive it.

  They found Aunt Beth in the middle of altering a dress for Hildy Johnson, but she was happy to take a break and offered them some lemonade.

  “Poor Hildy,” Beth said as she took glasses from the cupboard. “She’s gone up two sizes. She’s too cheap to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. She’s probably going to faint when I give her the bill.”

  “Speaking of giving people stuff,” Colin said as Mia filled a vase with water, “do you have a clue for us?”

  Aunt Beth set two glasses of lemonade on the table. “I already gave you a clue. Remember?”

  “So, you don’t happen to have another?”

  She poured herself some lemonade and sat down. “Nope. Are you stumped?”

  “A little,” Mia said, joining them. She set the vase in the center of the table.

  “What one are you on? I can see you found your clue at Lupine Floral. Poor thing.” She shook her head at the sick-looking rose.

  “It’s had a long afternoon,” Mia explained.

  “So have we,” Colin added.

  “We’re on the clue that talks about a woman whose words have value,” Mia said. “We thought that was you.”