by Tonya Kappes
No denying she was right. He was heaven on earth and his tall, muscular six-foot frame was that of an angel. There was only one downfall. His northern accent threw me off sometimes, but he was starting to get a bit of a twang. Around here, we called it hillbilly.
“You know that we have traditions here. Them yankies don’t.” Mama’s face drew into a pucker.
“Mama,” I scolded her. “You can’t be calling people from Chicago yankies. He’s a northerner.”
“Northerner, yankie what’s the difference?” she spat in protest.
“The difference is, Finn Vincent is my boyfriend and he loves his family just as much as I love my family. That means that we have to visit them too. We live here, and I see you practically every day,” I reminded her. “Besides, you were okay with it a few weeks ago.”
She stuck her pointer finger up in the air.
“Christmas is once a year.” She jutted that finger towards me. “Once a year,” she emphasized. “A few weeks ago was just that. Now that we are down to the nitty-gritty of Christmas Day, I thought you’d’ve come to your senses by now and decided to stay here.”
If this would’ve been ten years ago when I was a teenager, I’d’ve tried to snap that finger off her hand.
“You two look like you’re having an intense conversation,” Finn said and sat down in the chair between me and Mama.
He had two drinks in his hand and he slid one to me. Daddy sat on the other side of Mama. She grabbed the wine out of his hand before his hind-end hit the chair.
“I’m gonna need the full bottle,” she said in a sarcastic tone.
“It’s from a box,” Daddy corrected her.
“What?” Her face contorted.
“The wine.” Daddy’s head nodded towards her glass. “It’s not from a bottle. It’s from a box up there.”
“Good Gawd.” Mama curled her lips with icy contempt. “Lord, help me. What is this world coming to?”
I shook my head and widened my eyes to let Finn know that what Mama and I had been discussing wasn’t a topic that we should be talking about. Mama had made it very clear over the past few months of her disapproval for me leaving Cottonwood during the big traditional festivities. I was going to miss being here for them since I’d not missed one since birth, but it wasn’t fair to Finn. One thing I’ve learned since dating Finn was the fact that he too had family, a big family, and they loved Christmas just as much as we did.
“Why don’t we work on your waltz since I know you’re going to win and have to do it in front of the entire town the night of the tree lighting?” Finn put his hand to Mama.
She giggled in a school girl way that made me roll my eyes before she took his hand. He guided her to her feet and she tucked her hand into his elbow, letting him lead her. She did that whole Queen wave, hand twitching gesture the whole way to the dance floor.
“She’s lost her mind,” I leaned over to my dad and whispered.
“She’s alright. She’s just trying to keep her mind occupied with you going out of town.” Dad dropped his head and looked at his glass of wine.
He wasn’t all too thrilled about me leaving for Christmas, but he’d at least accepted it.
“You know.” Dad leaned back in his chair. “I remember what it was like to leave my family for the first time at Christmas when I was dating Viv.” He glanced out at the dance floor.
Mama was having too good of a time while Finn waltzed her around the plywood floor to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.
“I remember how sad my own mom was, but when I left for good and moved here, that was a whole different story.” Dad had uprooted his life to move to Cottonwood and it was a story he rarely told. “The look in my mama’s eye is the same look in your mama’s eyes. It’s just a change. Viv will get used to it, but in the meantime, if she wants to be in the Snow Queen pageant to occupy her time and it makes her happy.” He smiled. “Then I support her.”
I reached over and took my dad’s hand.
“It’s only one Christmas,” I assured him and gave his hand a squeeze. “I’m actually looking forward to it.” I drew my hand back and wrapped it around my plastic cup. I’d only met his sister and I was looking forward to meeting the rest of his family. “He’s looking forward to me meeting them.”
“Honey, your Mama is worried that you’re going to go up there, love it and never come back.” Dad patted me on the arm. “By the way you look at that boy, I’m a little worried too.”
“There’s nothing to worry about.” I gulped and suddenly came to the realization that the thought of ever living outside of Cottonwood never crossed my mind.
“If Finn doesn’t want to live in Cottonwood his entire life, it’s an issue.” Dad’s words didn’t comfort me any.
I dragged the cup to my mouth as I watched Finn spin Mama in one direction. On the outskirt of the spin, Mama did that hand-ticking wave thing to whoever was watching and when Finn pulled her back in, she carefully placed her hand on his shoulder like she’d already had the Snow Queen crown on her head.
“Do we know who else is in the running for queen?” I asked because I silently wanted to offer up a little pray for their safety.
“No. And God bless their hearts who do run against her.” Daddy took a big swig of his cocktail and planted a big smile on his face when he saw Mama coming back. “She has practice this week at the fairgrounds. Then we’ll know who her competition will be.”
Once Mama gets something in her head, she doesn’t stop at any expense to get it. It was all part of our Southern upbringing. I wasn’t too off that mark myself. Ever heard of the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree? Well, Mama was the tree and I was the apple. Only I hid my crazy better than she did.
Mama wanted me to go to college and find me a nice man to bring home to Cottonwood where I’d be in her clubs and volunteer alongside of her, but when I told her I was going to the police academy to follow in the footsteps of her dad, my Poppa, Elmer Sims, she threw a hissy fit bigger than a toddler wanting a piece of candy they couldn’t have that was dangling in front of them.
“That was fun.” Mama winked at Finn. I glared at her. It was one thing for her to like my boyfriend, but to blatantly flirt with him was another. And he knew it, egging her on every time.
“My pleasure.” Finn kissed the top of the hand that she’d offered him.
He was good at manipulating her like putty in his fingers. It was only him that talked some sense into her when she’d stomped around for a few days insisting I was trying to kill her by not being here for Christmas. But now, it seemed she’d gotten back on the pity wagon about it.
“Now what about you?” He turned to me with an outstretched hand. “A dance around the floor?”
Before I could even answer, there was a big ruckus going on over at the snack table near the punch bowls. Manuel and a girl that wasn’t Leighann were screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. Manuel grabbed Leighann by the arm and jerked her back from the girl after Leighann started screaming at her too. Finn sprinted across the room, breaking up the three in the heated argument.
“Man, you better tell her to lay off,” Manuel threatened.
“Just stop it!” Leighann screamed at Manuel and then looked at the girl. “You’ve always been jealous of me,” she said through gritted teeth. “Get out of my life! Forever!”
“No problem. You’re dead to me!” The girl turned on the balls of her feet and swung around.
“What’s going on?” I asked after I moseyed on over, not in too big of a hurry because Finn seemed to have it under control.
“Nothing.” Manuel jerked free of Finn and tugged down on the hem of his shirt. His muscular arms flexed without him even trying. “I told you that you need to keep better friends.” His mustache quivered, and he pointed to Leighann. She was visibly upset.
Angela
Durst had come to Leighann’s side and pulled out a Kleenex from the pocket of her Christmas vest. Angela was Sean Graves’s secretary at the towing company. She’d seen Leighann grow up.
Leighann wiped her eyes while Angela rubbed Leighann’s long red hair down her back. Beka, Angela’s daughter walked up and asked Manuel what was going on. He didn’t answer her.
“It’s nothing, sheriff.” Leighann gave a fake smile. “Merry Christmas.”
Manuel grabbed Leighann’s hand. “Let’s get out of here, babe.”
“Don’t babe me.” She jerked away but followed him anyways. “You’ve run off every single friend I’ve ever had.”
“You need better friends,” he said back to her.
“Are you two okay?” I asked again before they darted out the door. They didn’t bother answering me.
Finn and I looked at each other.
“Do you think they’re okay?” He asked me.
“I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Angela shrugged. “They’ve had worse fights than this.”
“It’s getting colder out there. I think the big winter storm is going to be moving in quicker than they predicted. Get this,” DJ Nelly’s excitement blurted out of the speakers and interrupted our conversation with Angela. “We just might have a white Christmas.”
The cheers from the crowd were catching on and soon everyone in the room was singing “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas”. Even me.
“No, no, no.” Finn shook his head. “No white Christmas here.”
“It’s beautiful when it snows in Cottonwood.” I smiled with fond memories of sledding and how they had horse drawn carriages for the tree lighting ceremony.
“Not if we can’t get out of here on that big bird to go see my folks.” Finn’s face grew stern.
“Don’t worry.” I brushed off the white Christmas and any notion the airport in Lexington would close down. “What does a DJ know about weather? She barely knows what today’s hits are, much less how to predict snow.” I laughed and tugged him out on the dancefloor.
I didn’t dare say it, but it would be my luck that we’d get this big storm and here I’d be.
Chapter Two
“Gone away is the blue bird, here to stay is the new bird. We sing a love song as we go along. Walking in a winter wonderland.” I couldn’t stop my finger from tapping on the steering wheel of my old Wagoneer as it rattled down Free Row–what I lovingly called Broadway Street–where I lived.
Free Row was the nickname mainly because the residents that lived on Free Row lived off the commodity cheese and other perks the government gives them.
“Walking in a winter wonderland,” I sang along to the catchy tune as I began my morning route around Cottonwood to make sure everyone and everything was alright with the world. At least in our little part of the world.
The Wagoneer came to a halt at the stop sign at the intersection of Broadway and Main Street.
“Can you believe it, Duke?” I rubbed down my old hound dog and gently nudged his back end towards the seat so I could see if any cars were coming down Main Street before I turned left. “Just a few more days until we go to Chicago.”
Duke wagged his tail and stuck his head out the window into the bitter cold winter jet stream that’d decided to blanket the entire state. His droopy brown eyes had a little sparkle in them as his long tan ears flapped into the wind.
“Well, until I go to Chicago,” I whispered because I didn’t want him to hear me since he was going to have to stay with Joelle Fischer, my best friend.
Though he wouldn’t mind since she owned a food truck and he loved riding with her. Free food, who wouldn’t?
“Good morning, Cottonwood. Remember last night at the Hunt Club’s annual Christmas dance where I announced the weather alert?” DJ Nelly chimed in after the song with her perky voice. “Well, batten down the hatches, get those winter gloves, hats and snow boots out because I’m coming at y’all with a wee-bit of advice since a blizzard is coming. If y’all are anywhere near the Dixon’s Food Town, I suggest you stop on in and get a loaf of bread and some milk. From what I hear, they’ve got a new shipment overnight and it won’t last long. Y’all, we ain’t gonna escape this winter blizzard heading straight for us in a few days. Stock up now and don’t wait.”
“Seriously?” I shook my head and pulled the Jeep out on Main Street and headed north towards downtown. “Every year they say the big blizzard is coming and we get a dusting of snow. A dusting, just like powdered sugar that Ben’s Diner puts on the waffles.” My mouth started to water. “Man, waffles sound good about right now,” I talked to Duke like he was going to answer me. “Ain’t that right, Duke?”
Rowl, rowl. His feet danced on the seat to get a little more balance to avoid smacking into the dashboard when I turned the wheel.
“And while you’re there, be sure to grab a shovel and some salt. Excuse me for yawning, y’all kept me out a little too late last night. You’re listening to WCKK for all your Christmas tunes.” DJ Nelly clicked off and so did I.
“If she thinks that a little snow is going to stop me from going to Chicago and spend Christmas with Finn and his family, she’s got another thing coming and I don’t want to listen.” I gripped the wheel and looked up. “So, if you can hear me,” I should’ve summoned the big guy in the sky, but I didn’t. I summoned the other big guy in the sky that I personally knew and that had come to visit me a time or two in the afterlife, Elmer Sims, my Poppa. “Not that I want you to come because of a murder, but I’d like to go meet Finn’s family. So why not grant me this one wish and stop any snow coming.” I looked at Duke. “That should do it.”
I was confident that there wasn’t going to be any snow. There couldn’t. Not after all the planning Finn and I had done to go to great lengths to make it happen over the past few months. Being sheriff of Cottonwood and Finley Vincent being my only deputy made it hard for both of us to take a day off, much less a few days off.
The Wagoneer headed up Main Street and I couldn’t help but slow down to look at the carriage lights that dotted each side of the street. The Beautification committee had not only hung beautiful and full poinsettias on the rods next to the hung “Christmas in Cottonwood” banners, they also strung white twinkling lights up the poles. It was strange to imagine myself not waking up on Christmas morning, heading down to Ben’s Diner and serving food to the homeless or taking food to the shelter.
The stop light turned yellow, slowing me down to a stop at the intersection of Chestnut Street and Main Street. To the left of me was Cowboy’s Catfish, where the city rented the back portion of the restaurant for the sheriff’s department. It wasn’t a conventional copshop, but nothing in our small town was conventional. White’s Jewelry was next to Cowboy’s, next to that was Tattered Cover Books and Inn, the only place to stay downtown. Beyond that was Ben’s Diner. All of their display windows were decorated with Christmas decorations and lights. The Tattered Cover had green wreaths with big red bows on each window of the three-story brick building.
A smile grew on my face when I imagined what would happen if there was a big snow storm. Downtown would look amazing and much like a winter wonderland you’d see in a fancy winter painting of a quaint small town.
Across the street there was Ruby’s Antiques, that brought visitors from all over the state for Ruby Smith’s delicious treasures. Kim’s Buffet, a local family-owned Chinese restaurant, was next to Ruby’s. Along with the radio station where DJ Nelly was all too happy giving the news of the upcoming weather I refused to even speak of.
I forced the images of the weather report to the back of my head. I’d heard Chicago was amazing this time of the year. Finn had mentioned something about going to see The Nutcracker and I really wanted to go.
Finn was from Chicago and had been a deputy with the Kentucky State Reserve. He’d worked a homicide with me here in Cottonwood and we just so happ
ened to have an opening for a deputy. A few short months later, we were working side by side and we couldn’t deny the chemistry between us much longer, so we started dating. In the spring, he’d asked me to go to Chicago for Christmas to meet his family. It was a no-brainer. Now that it was a few days away, no way was an over-exaggerated weather forecast nor excited DJ on the radio going to stop our trip.
It’d taken a few steps, along with a couple of headaches and campaign promises, to get City Council to approve the request for us to leave and for the State Reserve to send us an officer to fill in for us since it was Christmas. Now...getting my Mama to accept me not being here was an act of congress that still hasn’t gotten full approval.
A big sigh escaped me, and I gripped the wheel a little tighter.
The warm glow of the carriage lights caught the Christmas wreaths in an angelic way. All the quaint shops were closed this early in the morning, but not Ben’s Diner. When I drove by, I could see the regulars were already lined up like soldiers bellied up to the counter. Ben’s baseball cap was turned around backwards like he’d always wore it. His mouth was already flapping while he went down the counter filling up all of the coffee mugs.
“I sure would like a cup of his coffee,” I said to Duke and picked up my thermos I’d filled up with my coffee from home.
The old bean bag coffee holder slid off the floorboard hump when I got my coffee. I should’ve probably invested in a real cup holder for the old Wagoneer, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. This old Jeep was my Poppa’s and many memories of me playing with the bean bag coffee holder were fond ones for me.
“It’s not going to snow,” I repeated to myself before I turned right into the Pump and Munch on the corner of East Oak and Main Street.
The Pump and Munch was the only gas station in downtown Cottonwood. There was a small market attached to the garage with two big steel doors and small windows across the top. Luke Jones was already hunkered under the hood of a car and looked up when my tires ran over the tube that dinged the bell inside.