Home for the Holidays

by Sara Richardson

  “Yes.” Her aunt closed the desk drawer and took a seat in the chair. “Colt has graciously agreed to bring his horse team to pull the sleigh. His father was the one who used to do that, you know.”

  “Really?” She thought back, but the memories were fuzzy. “I don’t remember ever meeting Colt before.”

  “Well, he’s a few years older than you girls, but he was around.” Her cheeks turned a shade of pink Dahlia didn’t often see on her face. “His mother passed away when he was young, so it was just him and his father.”

  “I remember the sleigh rides. They were always a highlight of the extravaganza.” But she didn’t remember much about the man driving the sled. “Will Colt’s dad be coming to the extravaganza then?”

  “I’m afraid not.” Her aunt stood abruptly. “He passed away a few years back.” She turned, and Dahlia had to wonder if Sassy was trying to hide tears.

  “I’m sorry to hear.” Dahlia walked around the desk so she could get a peek at her aunt’s expression. The woman smiled but sorrow seemed to dull her bright eyes.

  “Yes, well, I promised I would help Mags with the baking prep in the kitchen.” Sassy paused on her way out the door. “I have to admit, I’m a little worried about her. She doesn’t seem to be herself today.”

  “I noticed that, too.” At breakfast, Mags had hardly touched the delicious strawberry waffles their aunt had made. “She wasn’t feeling well a few days ago when we were out shopping either. We’ll keep an eye on her.” Hopefully it was some kind of short-lived virus.

  “Yes, we will.” Sassy patted her shoulder. “You’ve always been good at taking care of people, Dally. Even when you were young.” She leaned closer like she wanted to share a secret. “Just don’t busy yourself so much with taking care of other people that you forget to take care of yourself.”

  “It might be a little late for that.” When she’d woken up this morning, the first thing on her mind was what she could do. She didn’t know how to simply be. Somewhere in the midst of listening to the kids and listening to her husband and listening to all the things others needed from her, she’d forgotten how to listen to herself. And now…she didn’t know what she needed.

  “It’s never too late, my dear. Remember that.” Sassy wrapped her in a hug the way she used to and then let go. “Look at us, standing here together after all these years.” Oh, that smile. Sassy had the most unique smile. It seemed to wedge itself into her cheeks, and it made Dahlia smile, too.

  “If there’s one thing I know, this is the perfect place to come and reflect,” her aunt went on. “When you’re not so busy, when you’re not occupying yourself with taking care of others from morning until night, you start to find yourself again. Trust me.” It was as if Sassy had known that Dahlia needed a time-out from her life. But how could she have known? Dahlia was about to ask when Ike walked into the living room beyond the office’s French doors.

  “Hello?”

  “We’re in here!” Sassy waved him over to where they stood. “You’re just in time. It appears my darling niece has finished quite the thorough cleaning in my office and is now ready to tackle another project.”

  Ike whistled as he looked around the room. “I’ll say it’s a thorough cleaning. Last time I was in here you couldn’t even see the desk.”

  Well, what could Dahlia say? She had become more than comfortable with making things look shiny and clean. Unfortunately, she was less comfortable spending the day with a man who clearly had a way with women, so whatever her aunt was trying to pull by matching her up with Ike would most likely backfire.

  “Well, I’ll let you two get to it.” Sassy scurried away. “I’ll catch up with you later this afternoon!” She disappeared around the corner, leaving Dahlia staring blankly at Ike. He hadn’t shaved that morning, but the stubble only enhanced his well-formed jawline.

  “Where should we start?” He scrubbed his hands together like he couldn’t wait to get out there. Dahlia, on the other hand, had nerves churning through her stomach. How ridiculous was that? She’d talked to plenty of Maya and Ollie’s friends’ fathers with no problem. Though none of them were single or ruggedly handsome. The prospect of spending the afternoon alone with this man felt very different than hanging out at a playdate. The fact was she was too used to hiding behind her kids. She’d used Maya and Ollie as an excuse for why she couldn’t put herself out there when what she really feared was having her heart broken again. Was it worth the risk?

  Instinctively, Dahlia dug the spreadsheet out of her pocket and carefully unfolded it. “I thought we would start in the old barn.” She didn’t have to look at the paper to formulate the plan—she pretty much already had it memorized—but she stared at it anyway.

  Ike leaned over to have a look. “Is that a spreadsheet?”

  His amusement automatically made her defensive. “Yes. With so much to do, I thought it would be best to plan and prioritize. This covers all the details. The areas that need cleaning up, the supplies we’ll need in each location, and the specific tasks that need to be accomplished in each different area.”

  “Wow.” He eyed the rows and columns with an impressed smirk. “Are you looking for a job? I need to hire you down at the office.”

  “I live in Minnesota,” she said, quickly tucking the spreadsheet back into her pocket.

  “I know.” He laughed a little. “I was joking. I mean, I’d hire someone with your organizational skills in a second, but you’d be way overqualified to be a receptionist.”

  Of course, he’d been joking. Her face heated. “I don’t know about that.” Dahlia slipped out of the office and they walked to the entryway where her winter gear was hanging. To her surprise, Ike helped her on with her coat. She might as well add “thoughtful” to his list of positive qualities. “I stayed home with my kids, so I haven’t worked in a long time.” She pulled on gloves and her hat as he opened the front door and gestured for her to go first.

  The sun was out but that woodsy heavy scent in the air promised more snow would be on the way soon. Dahlia led the way down the porch steps and started to walk on the plowed part of the driveway.

  “Staying home with your kids sounds like work to me.” Ike fell in step beside her. “How old are they?”

  “Ollie is five and Maya is eight.” Her heart settled a bit talking about the kids. They were always an easy topic of conversation—the thing she knew most about in the world. “And it is a lot of work. But I love it. It feels like the most important job I could be doing right now.” Now that they were both in school, she’d considered going back to work, at least part time. Jeff had tried to talk her out of it, though. He seemed to like that she could be on call to pick them up from school whenever they were sick or to help with projects like the Christmas cookies. I don’t mind paying you alimony all the way until they’re ready to leave the nest, he’d said in his good-natured way.

  At the time it had felt like a gift, a relief when she was overwhelmed with everything else the divorce entailed—dividing up everything into two separate households, drawing up custody agreements, preserving the kids’ sense of family—but now it felt more…oppressive. Why shouldn’t she find an outlet for herself? Why shouldn’t she pursue something that would give her financial independence?

  “My mom stayed home with us too,” Ike said, pausing outside the barn door. “And I’ve never known a harder worker.”

  Dahlia let the last bit of nerves go. Ike didn’t seem to be trying to charm her now. He was easy to talk to. Yes, he was good with words. But they seemed to come from a genuine place. Not like Jeff who was always trying to impress people with his wit and charisma. “Did you grow up around here?” Had she met him at some point during her childhood?

  “Nope.” He opened the barn door for her and followed her inside. “I grew up in Arizona. But I’ve always been obsessed with snow.”

  Dahlia laughed. “I supposed you didn’t see much of it there?”

  “None.” He walked over and flipped on the li
ght switch, illuminating the exposed bulbs that hung overhead. “I didn’t see snow for the first time until my parents brought me out to Colorado for a ski trip when I was twelve. And after that, I was hooked. I did my undergrad and medical school in Boulder, and then did my residency in Denver.”

  A glimpse inside his story piqued her curiosity. “But you didn’t want to stay in Denver?” As a doctor he’d likely make more money in a larger city. Then again, Ike didn’t seem to be the type who cared much about money. Every time she’d seen him he’d been dressed casually. And his truck certainly wasn’t fancy.

  “I wanted more snow.” He grinned, that playful glow coming back to his eyes. “And I wanted to be in a small town where I could get to know my patients as people outside of the office.” He laughed again, a low deep rumbling sound that brought rivulets of warmth cascading through her. “Basically, I wanted what I never had—the freezing-cold, small-town life.”

  Dahlia found it easy to laugh with him. “I’m in the same boat. I was born in Savannah, but I ended up in Minnesota.”

  “I guess we have something in common then.” He glanced around the cluttered space. “So where should we start?”

  Oh, right. She’d been so into what he was saying she’d forgotten all about their project. “I guess the first thing we need to do is sort through the junk and make a trash pile.” At least that’s what she’d outlined on the spreadsheet. Not that she wanted to pull it out again and highlight her idiosyncrasies. He likely already recognized her extreme anal retentiveness, but luckily it didn’t seem to bother him. Not like it had Jeff. Even though her ex had always relied on her to organize their lives, he’d always complained about her obsession with details, too. He’d complained she wasn’t fun or spontaneous.

  She did her best to shake herself out of the past, but that was much more difficult to do at the Juniper Inn. Sassy was right. She had more time to reflect here, and, while she’d made sure to cover up the wounds her divorce had left behind, they were much more difficult to hide when she didn’t have to worry about keeping up a front for her kids. It was tempting to blame the problems in their marriage on Jeff, but she couldn’t pretend Jeff wasn’t right about her. She didn’t know how to be spontaneous. She never veered away from the plan. But maybe she should start…

  “A trash pile sounds like the perfect place to start.” Ike drifted over to the stacks of stuff outlining the wall. On her walk earlier, Dahlia had stopped in to see what they were dealing with, so she already knew there were scraps of wood and old lawn maintenance tools and half-broken lawn ornaments scattered around. The old sleigh they’d used for the Christmas extravaganza years ago was still parked near the back of the space, and thankfully it seemed to have been protected from the elements and any rodents that happened to be residing in here.

  “Looks like a lot of this can head right into the dumpster.” Ike lifted a few broken boards off the stack, checking both sides before starting a new pile closer to the door.

  “That’s what I was thinking.” Once they had the space cleared up and cleaned out, Rose could figure out what she wanted to do for decorations. Well, Rose and her best friend Colt. Dahlia had to smile. “Sassy has an old truck parked up at the house. Maybe we should drive it down here so we can load everything up and bring it over to the dumpster.” Lord knew, she wouldn’t be carrying all that scrap wood. Who knew what types of critters they would find. She’d already seen three spiders and Ike had only started going through things.

  “Sure.” He lifted some rusted sheet metal and dragged it over to the trash pile.

  Dahlia moved in to help sort through Sassy’s collection of old gardening tools and broken flowerpots, glad she had on some heavy-duty gloves. “What’s this?” She pulled a few cracked two-by-fours off a huge log sign. “Oh, wow.” Though grime covered the surface, she could still read the words:

  The Juniper Inn

  Breathe in the Magic

  “That’s quite the sign.” Ike knelt and brushed away some of the dirt that had marred the words.

  “It used to hang on a post right where you turn off the highway.” Dahlia crouched next to him. “I wondered what had happened to it.” Seeing it now brought memories flooding back again. “It was always the first thing we would see when we were a half mile down the road. The three of us would argue over who spotted it first.” She distinctly remembered elbowing her sisters so they’d be distracted, and she could point out the sign before anyone else saw it. “I wonder why Sassy took it down.” Sure, it had gotten old, but with a little work it could be restored.

  “I’m guessing it’s just like other things around here.” Ike stood. “The time, the weather, things tend to wear out after a while. This place would be a lot to manage on your own.”

  “I wish I would’ve gotten in touch with Sassy years ago,” Dahlia admitted. “I mean, we loved her. She was so important in our lives when we were young, but the older we got, the busier we got. And…she had some kind of falling out with our mother. So I guess I always felt like it would be disloyal somehow to reach out to Sassy.” She’d also figured her aunt didn’t want anything to do with them. Her mom had said as much on more than one occasion.

  “I always wondered about her family.” Ike studied the sign again. “She never said much but I figured she had to have some family somewhere. Although she does seem to make everyone she meets her family.”

  “Did you meet her at the office?” Instead of continuing with the cleanup, Dahlia faced the man she’d been so unsure about.

  “No, actually.” Ike dragged the sign to the wall and stood it up. “When I moved to town two years ago, Sassy was the first person I met.” He went back to sorting through the stack of wood. “I’d just bought the practice, but I hadn’t found a place to live, so I was staying in my van.”

  Okay, that was a little creepy.

  Upon looking at her face, Ike laughed. “I know. It’s a really nice van, if that helps. A Mercedes Sprinter. So more like a camper than a van.”

  “That does help.” Was she smiling too much?

  “Anyway, your aunt was doing some volunteer work on a trail near where I was camping.”

  That sounded like Sassy.

  “When she wandered into my camp, she gave me the third degree, and when she found out I was the new doctor in town, she demanded I come and stay at the inn. She said the town couldn’t have a doctor living in a van.”

  “Camper van,” Dahlia corrected. A Mercedes at that. “Yep, that sounds like my aunt. She’s always been openhearted and generous.”

  He grunted out an agreement as he hauled more trash to the pile. “At first she wouldn’t let me pay rent, but she came around.”

  “I’ll bet.” Something told her Ike could be quite convincing when he wanted to be. “Do you still have the camper van?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He walked back over and stood across from her. “I take it touring every once in a while. Just hop in when I have some vacation time and see where I end up.”

  “That sounds awful.” She slapped a hand over her mouth, but Ike only laughed again.

  “I take it you’re more of a planner.”

  That was one way to put it. “I don’t think I’ve ever gone anywhere without having the place mapped, without having everything scheduled down to the second.” Part of that was how she was wired, but it only got worse after she had babies. Her life had changed fast, and it didn’t take long for her and Jeff to drift apart. Maya had been colicky and she’d had reflux. Then there had been the allergy issues with Ollie. With the long hours Jeff had worked, she’d been on her own to take care of the kids, to keep them healthy, to make sure they hit every developmental milestone. And, yes, admittedly she got swept away in those roles. So much so that hadn’t made much time to take care of her marriage.

  “Well, you should try it sometime. Just getting in the car and seeing where you end up. I highly recommend it.” His gaze held hers, and Dahlia was sure something passed between them. Only she couldn’t de
cipher what.

  “I have an idea…”

  Uh-oh. “Okay…” She did her best to keep an open mind.

  “Why don’t we restore the sign for Sassy?” He led Dahlia to where it stood, propped up against the wall. “We could repaint it, make it look more modern and inviting. And sand it down some.”

  “You lost me at repaint.” He clearly didn’t know her, but she would clue him in. “I don’t have one artistic bone in my body.” That was all Rose. Even Mags had been bestowed with a creative spirit, but somehow it had completely skipped her.

  “I don’t believe you.” Ike posted his hands on his hips looking all doctorly and serious. “Everyone has some spark of artistry inside them.” His grin teased her. “Even if it’s buried way down deep.”

  “I don’t think—” Her phone rang, cutting off the protest. She quickly dug it out of her back pocket and saw Jeff’s name flash on her screen. “I have to get this.” Backing away, she brought the phone to her ear eager to hear an update from Maya or Ollie. “Hi—”

  “You need to talk some sense into your son.” Jeff’s voice had a tight, annoyed undertone that always signaled impending disaster.

  Great. Dahlia turned away and ducked into a corner where Ike hopefully couldn’t hear what was about to transpire.

  “What’s the problem?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

  “Ollie is being completely unreasonable,” her ex-husband barked. “We’re out to dinner and he’s throwing a massive fit right in the restaurant.”

  Dahlia calculated the time. It would be late in the evening there. “Why are you eating out now?” Seriously, Jeff should know by now that Ollie had to be in bed before eight or he turned into a Gremlin.

  “People eat dinner late here,” he snapped. “And everyone else in this restaurant is acting civilized and reasonable. Everyone except for him.”

  “He’s five.” Dahlia could count the number of times they’d had this conversation. Jeff had never wanted kids he had to teach and nurture. He’d wanted kids who were already adults. But having that conversation wouldn’t benefit either one of them right now. “What am I supposed to do about it?”