The Winter Berry House

by Caroline Flynn

  ‘Some things never change.’

  ‘Obviously.’

  It was one word, a simple answer. But Kait didn’t know if it was meant to pack the weight it did as it hit her in the chest, or if her reaction was merely her own over-analyzing brain thinking he was referring to something he wasn’t.

  Smirking, Branch stole fleeting glances at her as he poured his coffee then went about putting the pot back. Kait wondered if he could hear her racing thoughts, somehow.

  She stood up again. ‘There’s only creamer on the table—’

  ‘Kait,’ Branch laughed, holding up a hand, ‘It’s fine. Will you please sit down and relax? I’m starting to think you’re trying to find an escape route from me.’

  ‘No, it’s not like that,’ she argued. Was it?

  ‘Then, just sit and enjoy your coffee that you obviously don’t need.’ He went about adding sugar and cream to his cup. ‘Also, I do still prefer milk, but cream isn’t that bad, either. You’d be surprised what you can get used to when you have to drink whatever swill they pass off as coffee at a mining camp for weeks at a time.’

  ‘That’s right, you have a fancy job title at a mine up in Canada, huh?’

  ‘Grandma Addie’s words, I take it?’ Branch chuckled, shrugging. ‘But, yeah, I guess I do. It’s the same place I went to work when …’ He paused and cleared his throat. ‘When I left here,’ he finished. ‘I’ve just got the education needed to work my way up since then.’

  Sheepish, she wondered what he had been about to say the first time. When their lives fell apart? When she told him to leave and never come back?

  ‘And now you’re an engineer,’ she replied. She couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud, but she was so proud of him for succeeding.

  Branch nodded. ‘It’s far from glamorous, and I’m gone a lot, but yeah, I’ve got a good job.’

  ‘And now you’ve got a house and vehicles, too.’ The corner of her mouth twitched, but Kait was sad for him. What it must be like to have to sift through all the things in his grandparents’ home and try to decide what to do with them, especially now that he was the only one left to do it. What it must be like to have only tangible things in place of an entire family. ‘Make any headway?’

  An indignant snort was his initial response. ‘I found one of my basketball nets in the attic, does that count?’

  Whatever Kait had expected, it wasn’t that. Laughter burst from her mouth. Thank goodness she hadn’t had a mouthful of coffee. ‘I shouldn’t be surprised. And is that what you did all day, then, shoot hoops?’

  ‘I said I found the net,’ he repeated. ‘No ball, though.’

  More laughter bubbled up, and she shook her head. ‘Can’t very well use one without the other, I suppose.’

  ‘It’s a mess in there, Kait. I’m serious.’ Branch looked uncomfortable having to admit it, and Kait knew why. Grandma Addie had always taken great pride in keeping a tidy and organized home. The house was well lived-in, but everything had a place, and everything was put back in that place when they were done with it. ‘I don’t remember the attic being that full of stuff, but it’s full. Jam-packed. That means that the areas I do remember being full to the brim, like the linen closets and the garage and basement, are even worse than I remember, too.’

  She could only imagine the mountain of memories he was going to have to contend with while trying to decide what to do with everything. Having the rest of the month to deal with it sounded feasible, but Kait knew it was going to be difficult. Especially by himself.

  ‘Have you decided what you’re going to do?’ She couldn’t stop the question from passing her lips. ‘With the house and whatnot?’

  His answer came without hesitation. ‘No idea.’ Letting out a long breath, he leaned back. ‘Sell it, maybe? I don’t know, I can’t imagine what good it would do for me to keep it.’

  And I can’t imagine what it would be like if someone other than your family owned it. She would never say it to him, but there was no way she could picture Addie’s house being someone else’s. ‘It can’t be that awful to think about actually keeping it, can it?’

  Without pinpointing what changed or how, Kait saw Branch’s expression transform from a forlorn resignation into a piqued curiosity. His eyebrows didn’t raise in askance, and his gaze didn’t narrow or widen, but there was a question in his eyes, nonetheless, as he set his mug down. ‘It isn’t, no,’ he replied cautiously. ‘But I didn’t think there was anyone here who would care whether I did or didn’t.’

  He didn’t think she would care, that was what he was really getting at.

  ‘Well, maybe you’re wrong.’ They were on dangerous ground. The stones at the edge of the cliff she was standing on were chipping away in shards and dust. Soon, she would have no choice but to admit to him – and to herself – that she was over the moon about having him back in town. A lot of people in town would be thrilled, even if Branch didn’t realize it. It had taken years for him to return, and Kait wasn’t sure she was ready to give him up again at the end of the month.

  The cliff hadn’t given way yet, however. Kait swallowed hard. ‘Take it one step at a time,’ she said, hoping to get the conversation back into a safer territory. ‘Focus on sorting through things, one room at a time. Keep what you want and need to keep, and donate whatever you’re willing to part with. But don’t stress over it. Worst-case scenario, you don’t finish by the end of December and you have to come back.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said slowly. ‘Worst-case scenario.’ Those dark eyes that Kait used to get lost in when she was eighteen squinted as he stared at her, like he was trying to see her more clearly, trying to understand what she wasn’t saying out loud. ‘Better be careful with your advice, Davenport, or I might be forced to recruit your help purely based on your enthusiasm.’

  His taunting manner caused Kait to raise her hands. ‘Hey, sounds better than the standing plans I have with a set of toddler twins,’ she laughed.

  Branch’s mouth gaped. ‘Toddler … twins?’

  ‘Janna’s two boys,’ Kait chuckled. ‘Not mine.’ She laughed even harder at the relief that washed over him. ‘I live with her, to help her out.’

  Branch let out a heavy breath, pressing his hands against the table. ‘I really thought I was missing a vital piece of information there for a second.’

  ‘Oh, please,’ Kait snickered, waving a hand. ‘The only sordid history I’ve got is you.’

  It was the first time she had mentioned their past and put a humorous spin on it. Ever. The joke at his expense might have caught him off guard, but as Branch took in her faint smirk, he recognized it for what it really was – the beginnings of a truce.

  ‘Touché.’ He leaned in closer, crossing his arms in front of him. ‘So, does that mean you’re in?’

  ‘In what?’

  ‘Help me,’ he requested softly. ‘With sorting through Grandma Addie’s house.’

  Kait’s head snapped back as though she had been slapped. ‘You can’t be serious.’

  ‘Why not? You just said it sounds like more fun than hanging out with Janna’s kids, and you knew Grandma Addie better than almost anyone. She loved you.’

  She held her breath. She wasn’t the only one who’d loved Kait back then. ‘I … don’t think that’s a good idea.’

  ‘Maybe not,’ Branch said, ‘but I would still love it if you’d give it a chance. Besides, if it turns out bad, I’ll be gone in a month.’

  That’s what I’m afraid of.

  Zach was right about her. Maybe it was her nature to want to see the good in everyone. And maybe she was a nurturer, always wanting to help. But that wasn’t what this was about. Branch Sterling had no one left in Port Landon. Was some of that his own doing? Sure. But in the wake of his grandmother’s passing, there was no one left he felt close to.

  No one except her. And it was Christmas-time. No one should spend Christmas alone.

  ‘As friends.’ It wasn’t a question, and she thankfully was able to
get it out without it sounding like one.

  Branch’s hands came up in mock surrender. ‘Friends.’

  In what might have been her biggest lapse of judgment since falling in love with him during their teenage years in the first place, Kait nodded. ‘I’m only agreeing to this because the idea of a break from the twins with terrible-twos sounds like a fairytale right now.’

  Branch’s eyes lit up, rivalling the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree. ‘I don’t care why you’re doing it, Kaitie, just that you are.’

  Something fluttered wildly in her belly seeing that kind of anticipation in his eyes. Hearing that kind of wistful reassurance in his voice as he said her name. It was a recipe for disaster, and yet Kait was looking forward to it. But her eagerness was only due to the temporary break from the mundane routine her life had become. It had nothing to do with what she felt for Branch Sterling.

  Then, or now.

  Chapter 6

  Branch

  Branch awoke the next morning with multiple folks’ voices ringing in his ears.

  He heard Jason suggesting that Kait had forgiven him so perhaps it was time to forgive himself. He heard Kait’s pretty voice saying it was good to see him while nodding her agreement to seeing him again. And, amid those voices was Grandma Addie, loud and clear.

  You kids are so young to be capable of lovin’ each other that deep. His grandmother had spoken those words so many times over the course of his life he had lost count, both during his and Kait’s courtship and long after its demise.

  Not once had she ever said they were too young to feel that way, or too naive in their belief that it was real. Grandma Addie knew better. She had run off and married Grandpa Duke at the tender age of seventeen. She knew a thing or two about real, lifelong love.

  She also never changed that statement to past tense after Kait ended things with him following the accident. Love didn’t end just because we told it to. Just because we wanted it to, or needed it to.

  This morning, as Branch climbed out of the double bed in his childhood bedroom, those words were catapulting through his brain on an endless loop. That was when he knew for certain.

  The love he harbored for Kait Davenport wasn’t some separate entity he had left behind when he escaped Port Landon, and it wasn’t something the last eleven years had chipped away at until only dust remained. What he felt for her was still very much real, and very much a part of him.

  It was also still very much a part of Kait. The war he saw raging within that green gaze when he first walked into the diner proved she was struggling with it, too. And as much as knowing some part of her still loved him elated Branch, it also fueled sadness at knowing they had wasted so much precious time. He found solace in the realization that neither distance nor years had been strong enough to weaken their bond, however.

  He had been determined to see her, then. Kait had given him permission the day before to visit the diner again, and it had taken him all day to do the laundry and cleaning needed to have a tidy bedroom to sleep in, taking care to avoid delving too deeply into the stuff still piled in his closet and dressers. He knew he would find mementos of who he and Kait had once been together in a battered shoebox in the bottom of his closet. Old pictures, folded notes, the burned CDs they used to make for each other of their favorite songs, the concert tickets from the time they snuck into Detroit to see Our Lady Peace’s live show and got grounded for weeks … it was all there, all saved so he could remember.

  Like he could ever forget.

  He hadn’t been prepared to face that shoebox, and he didn’t have time to give it the time and attention it deserved, anyway. He made sure all the mandatory chores of the day were accomplished before he allowed himself the break needed to make good on his promise to see her again. It took him just as long to work up the courage.

  He hadn’t expected her to be on a break, by herself. Or sitting alone in that booth with worn vinyl seats and a marred melamine table, coffee cup squeezed between her hands.

  And he certainly hadn’t expected her to agree to partner up with him and take on the organization of his grandparents’ Victorian home. Kait’s words were clear despite the tremor she spoke them with; she didn’t think it was a good idea. And yet, there had been no denying the glint of joy that reflected in her eyes. Whether that was from being able to spend time with him, or merely being able to have a conversation with someone who wasn’t a toddler, a family member, or a paying customer awaiting her to serve their food, he didn’t care.

  Because Kait was willing to share her time with him, despite everything. And by the time he laid his head down again that night, Grandma Addie’s words whispered through his mind once more. Present tense. You kids are so young to be capable of lovin’ each other that deep.

  Age had nothing to do with it. Neither did capability. Kait Davenport had been his first love. His only love. And that love remained, still deep and still real. He was smiling when sleep pulled him into slumber.

  Snow drifted in softly floating flecks, somersaulting lazily in the late morning air. A gray cloak veiled the sky, but the accumulated snow that covered everything gave the illusion of a brighter day than it truly was. Or maybe the brightness was seen through Branch’s eyes only, tinting everything he saw with more vividness and sparkle.

  He refused to let today go to waste, and his renewed vitality aided him in not only dusting and mopping the entire main floor of the massive house, but he also cleaned the inside of the windows by hand, wiping the dirt and dust from the panes and sills to let the natural light in, unobstructed. By the time his stomach was growling for sustenance, he was convinced there was nothing he couldn’t do within the walls of his grandparents’ home. This place would be gleaming again by the time he was done with it.

  Can I really, truly be done with it? Just thinking about letting the house go hit him like a punch to the gut.

  He needed food. Then, maybe he could curb the life-changing questions that threatened to diminish his new-found organizational groove. Desperate for fifteen minutes without having to witness the disarray around him, he headed for the door. Kait might have said she wasn’t scheduled at the diner today, but Port Landon’s downtown beckoned to him like an old friend. Main Street held everything a person could need in a pinch, including hot coffee and a quick bite to eat. He would take his moment of reprieve there.

  Swinging the door open, work boots tied and jacket zipped up, he jumped back. ‘Son of a—’

  ‘Whoa!’ Jason’s hand was still outstretched, ready to knock.

  ‘Jay, I didn’t expect you to be standing there.’ Branch was far too used to spending his time alone.

  Jason was bundled up just as warmly, a gray wool toque pulled down over his ears and a thick black coat and matching gloves covering his upper body. ‘So much for a friendly greeting,’ he breathed out, the air puffing out in a white fog in front of him. ‘Where are you headed like the place is on fire?’

  ‘Downtown. I need a break and something to eat. You in?’

  ‘My truck’s already running and warm. I’ll drive.’

  The blue Dodge sat idling in the driveway, and after locking the front door behind him, Branch hopped in. The blast of warm air from the dashboard vents was welcomed despite his short trek from the house to the vehicle. ‘What brings you by?’

  Jason headed toward Main Street, fiddling with the dials to make the fans blow the heat at them in more furious gusts. ‘Thought you might need some help, and I was off work today.’

  ‘Appreciate it. You working in town?’

  Jason offered him a sideways glance. ‘I own the old Robinson’s Auto. It’s called Forrester’s Auto now, though.’

  ‘No way.’ First he had suggested his friend still lived with his parents, then he’d failed to ask him about his employment. Branch wasn’t doing a very good job as a friend, even an old one. ‘Wife and kids I should know about, too, or do the surprises end there?’

  Jason’s mouth twitched, but his eyes
stayed focused out the windshield as he pulled down the visor in front of him to reveal a wallet-sized picture of a brunette little girl with curly pigtails. ‘A daughter, Carlie. She’s four. But she lives with her mama in North Springs. I see her every second weekend, though.’

  ‘Wow, awesome. She’s cute, man.’ Even if he hadn’t seen Jason’s face, he heard the tinge of sadness in his tone. There was a story there, one Branch wasn’t sure his friend wanted to get into. They chatted easily on the way, and Branch managed to tell him about Kait’s agreement to help him with the house at the perfect moment, able to put off his friend’s reply by following his confession with a question of his own. ‘Why are we parking here?’ The diner was on the other side of the street, yet Jason steered the truck into a spot nowhere near the diner despite the available parking spots all around them.

  Jason turned the key, killing the engine. ‘You can go to the diner to see Kait to your heart’s content, my friend, but if it’s good coffee you want, the Portside Coffeehouse is where you want to be.’

  ‘Is that so?’ Intrigued, Branch followed his childhood friend inside, vaguely remembering the coffeeshop from when he’d lived here. If his memory served him right, the coffeehouse had only been a new venture in town back then. Or relatively new. He couldn’t remember. Probably because his teenage brain had only ever had room for one thing and one thing only. Or, more accurately, one person.

  The Portside Coffeehouse was obviously the place to be, even when it was frigid outside. Judging by the number of folks filling up the booths and bistro tables, they thought that the extra effort it took to shovel their way out of their homes to get here was worth it. As Branch took in the trendy brick walls, the smooth instrumental Christmas tunes that floated amongst the patrons’ chatter, and the easy, warm atmosphere created by the large electric fireplace with flickering flames on the far side of the room, he hoped it was worth it. The place was cool, giving off vibes of comfort and ease. He could get used to this.