Winter in Snow Valley (Snow Valley Romance)

by Anderson, Cindy Roland

  She smirked. “Sure did.”

  He positioned the camera again toward Lindsey. “So you helped Daddy clean the house?” MaryEllen asked.

  “Uh huh. Miss Piper helped too. I throwed up all over the floor, and she cleaned it up and washed my hair and it didn’t hurt when she combed it.”

  “Who is Miss Piper?” MaryEllen asked, interrupting Lindsey’s long list of accolades for Piper.

  Gabe kneaded the back of his neck with his hand as he listened to Lindsey gush on and on about Miss Piper, pointing out several times how pretty she was and how nice she was in between stating her other accomplishments.

  “Wow, it looks like Daddy found his own Mary Poppins.”

  “No, her name is Miss Piper. Want to see her? She’s coming back over so Daddy can warm her up.”

  If not for the rush of blood to Gabe’s neck and face, he would’ve thought his heart had stopped. He couldn’t believe Lindsey had overhead what he’d inadvertently said to Piper, let alone repeat it.

  Several beats of silence ticked by while he struggled to simply breathe. Then MaryEllen started to laugh. Gabe didn’t know what she found so funny. That Lindsey had innocently tattled on him or that he sort of had a girlfriend.

  “Let me talk to your dad,” she said, still laughing.

  Lindsey looked confused by her mother’s behavior. He desperately wanted to end the call. He could blame it on his Wi-Fi, but Shane had come over to see what was so funny and would know Gabe was lying.

  “Shane, say hello to your mom,” Gabe said, praying that MaryEllen would think of her children for once instead of herself.

  “What’s so funny?” Shane asked.

  MaryEllen suppressed her amusement enough to talk to Shane. When she asked if he’d been sick too, he shrugged his shoulders. “A little, but I didn’t throw up on the floor.”

  “That’s good. I suppose your dad’s new girlfriend helped you too?”

  Gabe stiffened, especially at the look on Shane’s face. “Miss Piper’s not dad’s girlfriend, right, Dad?”

  Rubbing the back of his neck again, Gabe wished he could go with the Piper-is-a-girl-and-a-friend-so-she’s-a-girlfriend answer, but MaryEllen wouldn’t let that answer slide. “She’s my friend, Shane.”

  The answer seemed to satisfy him. He turned back to the computer screen and told MaryEllen about Rascal’s new tricks. When he mentioned that Piper was the one teaching the tricks, MaryEllen made a snarky reply about Miss Piper teaching their father a few tricks too.

  This time she’d gone too far. Gabe stood up, taking the laptop with him into the kitchen. “That’s enough, MaryEllen.”

  “Oh calm down. They didn’t understand that.”

  She was wrong. Shane may not comprehend the deliberate innuendo, but he understood enough to look at Gabe with renewed suspicion.

  “Was there a purpose to this call?” Gabe asked.

  “I wanted to talk to my kids.”

  “Well, you did that.” He glanced at the family room, grateful the kids hadn’t followed him. “Is there anything else?” he asked, more than ready to end this conversation.

  “No, Gabe. Nothing more.”

  He wanted to tell her to stop calling the kids so randomly, but she would call her attorney and stir up problems faster than Rascal had escaped the yard when the electric fence was disabled. MaryEllen was the one to end the call, saving him the awkward goodbyes.

  “Why are you mad at Mom?” Shane asked when Gabe came back into the room. “I didn’t get to show her my Legos.”

  He couldn’t deny his anger toward MaryEllen so he focused on the Legos. “I’m sorry she didn’t get to see it. Do you want to take a picture and then send it to her?”

  “I guess.”

  Gabe pulled his cell from his pocket and pressed his thumb on the home button to allow Shane access to the phone. Before handing it over, he asked, “Do you want me to take a picture of you holding the Death Star?”

  “No, thanks. And it’s called the Star Killer Base, not the Death Star.”

  “Got it.” Gabe followed Shane into the family room, hoping MaryEllen’s presence would be gone before Piper returned. He really hoped the kids wouldn’t bring up the conversation they’d had with their mother. It would create an uncomfortable moment, and he’d be forced to have a “define the relationship” talk before they actually had a relationship.

  It sobered Gabe a little, and he decided he should probably take things slower. Just because he might be ready to start dating again didn’t mean his children were ready for it. He suspected Lindsey wouldn’t mind. The little girl adored Piper. But Gabe had a hard time forgetting the look of distrust on Shane’s face.

  Gabe felt both depressed and relieved when he made the decision to cool things down. When Piper came back to the house, the only way she was warming up tonight was to sit in front of the fire. And when she did, Gabe wouldn’t make any attempts to kiss her either.

  Chapter 11

  Piper wasn’t sure what she’d done wrong, but Gabe had been acting different towards her the past few days. It wasn’t something she could really nail down. He still seemed to like her and was always friendly, but the flirty comments had stopped. He also hadn’t once tried to hold her hand or kiss her. They never sat close enough for that to happen anyway.

  It had all started the night she’d gone home to show the puppies to the family Ian had found. She’d returned with a pot of homemade potato soup and biscuits for dinner and stayed to eat with Gabe and the kids. Although she suspected his comment about warming her up had been an accident, she’d at least expected Gabe to hold her hand.

  Instead, he’d complimented her on the homemade soup and biscuits, listened attentively to that night’s doggy obedience class, and walked her to the door at fifteen minutes after seven. No attempt to kiss her. Not even a hug.

  She’d hoped to see more of him and the kids on the weekend, but Saturday he’d taken his children to Billings to see a new children’s movie that had recently come out, and she hadn’t been invited to go with them. It had been pathetic the way she sat around all day, waiting for them to come home. They had pulled into their driveway just before doggy obedience class. Again, Gabe had been friendly. Actually, a few times Piper had caught him looking at her with longing, but she was sadly disappointed when he’d walked her to the door without so much as a friendly handshake.

  Sunday came and went without seeing them other than their evening class together. She’d fully expected that to be the last night of teaching, but Gabe had requested they keep up with the doggy lessons, even though Rascal was proving to be a poor student.

  He had mastered the command to sit and occasionally would stay until called for, but the barking hadn’t changed. He didn’t jump up on her anymore, but continued to knock everyone else down. At least the dog never had any accidents in the house. He was crate trained too, which Gabe had confided in her was the only reason he’d agreed to take the dog in the first place.

  She wasn’t sure what else she was supposed to teach the dog. Shane really wanted Rascal to learn how to shake, so that would be tonight’s lesson.

  Since she still had time to kill, Piper opened her laptop to look for any new job opportunities. This morning she’d received a rejection letter from the school in Arizona. Although she was discouraged, the Nevada job was still a possibility.

  She clicked on the various websites that posted open jobs for teachers. The only new job listed for a teacher with her qualifications was in Alaska. Piper couldn’t imagine living somewhere colder than Montana and with less sunlight.

  Closing her laptop, she scooted away from the table and knelt down to stroke Anastasia’s fur. “You are such a good little mama.” Anastasia lifted her head and looked at her brood. Piper noticed the largest male puppy she affectionately referred to as Tank break off from his place and nudge the sibling next to him out of the way. “And you are such a greedy little thing,” she said to Tank as she picked up the ousted puppy and placed
him where Tank had been.

  The puppies were becoming more and more active and taking up a lot of her time. It was a good thing because being cooped up inside for most of the day was driving Piper crazy. Watching Gabe’s children had been rewarding. She missed her job. She missed her family, especially her sister.

  Getting to her feet, she went into the kitchen to start preparing dinner. She added two chicken breasts to a pot of boiling water and added a little onion salt and two chicken bouillon cubes for seasoning. Just as she started to crush the Ritz crackers for the topping, she heard her doorbell. It was probably UPS delivering her package from her sister. A few days earlier, she’d received a notice the package had been inadvertently put on another truck.

  Washing her hands, she grabbed a paper towel and dried them as she hurried to answer the door. Doreen stood on the porch, holding out a package to her.

  “Hey,” Doreen said, handing over the box. “UPS just dropped this off.”

  “Thank you. That was sweet of you to bring it to me.”

  She laughed. “Oh, I just found it on your porch, but with the forecast for high-winds coming, you might want to take it in so it doesn’t blow away.”

  “High winds?” Piper hadn’t watched any local television since moving here. She typically read for entertainment or watched Netflix.

  “Yeah, the weather report said the wind should hit Snow Valley sometime during the night. They advised everyone to secure any items outside that could blow away.”

  “Thanks for the tip.” She thought about Mrs. Williams’s wind chimes on the porch and decided she better bring those in.

  “Um, actually that’s not why I came over here.” Doreen twisted her gloved hands and bit down on her bottom lip. “Mr. Wesson texted me that he’s gonna be a little late and asked if I could cook a frozen pizza for dinner.”

  “Do you need help cooking it?” Piper asked, remembering Gabe said his new nanny didn’t have any cooking skills.

  “No, I already cooked it.” Doreen’s eyes grew misty, like she might cry. “But when I went to call the kids to come and eat, I turned around and Rascal had pulled it off the pan and ate the entire thing. I don’t know much about dogs, and I’m worried he might need to go to the vet or something.”

  That dog. Gabe would probably want to cancel the extended obedience lessons once he learned about this. “No, you don’t need to call the vet. I’m sure Rascal is going to be just fine.”

  Relief flooded Doreen’s face. “Oh, thank goodness. The kids were really upset.”

  “Well, you can assure them he’s okay.”

  She bit her bottom lip again. “They were more upset about not getting pizza for dinner. It was the last one. So that’s the other reason I came over here. I was going to make them a peanut butter sandwich, but they don’t have any bread. Do you have any I can borrow?”

  The aroma of the chicken and spices scented the air. Piper was not about to let those kids eat peanut butter sandwiches when she could share her dinner with them. In fact, maybe she could bring everything over next door and give the nanny a mini-cooking lesson.

  “I have a better idea. I was just about to make dinner, but I can bring everything over to the Wesson’s and make it there.”

  Doreen was so grateful that she gave Piper a hug. “Thank you so much.”

  After instructing Doreen to pre-heat the oven, Piper let Anastasia out and gathered up all of the ingredients. Ten minutes later, she knocked on the front door.

  “Miss Piper!” Lindsey said as Piper stepped inside the warm house. “Can I help you make dinner? Please?”

  “Absolutely.” She handed the little girl one of the grocery sacks she’d brought with her. “You can start by taking this into the kitchen.”

  Following the little girl, Piper passed by the piano. She skimmed her free hand over the smooth wood and remembered the duet she’d played with Gabe a few days earlier. It had been a fun moment, and she’d felt close to him. She wished she could ask him what had happened to make him so distant.

  Shane sat on the floor to the right of it, carefully adding parts to an impressive replica of the Star Killer Base from Star Wars. “That’s amazing.” She paused to look at the other things he’d already put together. “I could never do that without looking at instructions.”

  Pride entered his blue eyes that were similar to his father’s. “I never use the instructions.”

  “I’m impressed.”

  He just grinned and went back to building.

  She found Doreen sitting at the kitchen table rapidly typing a message on her phone. “Hi,” Piper said when the nanny looked up at her.

  “Oh, hey.” She stood up and shoved the phone into her back pocket. “I pre-heated the oven like you asked.”

  “Great.” Piper placed the bag containing the cooked chicken breast onto the countertop. Lindsey handed her the grocery sack she’d carried in and asked what she could do.

  “First,” Piper said, pulling a chair over to the bar, “you need to run into the bathroom and wash your hands with soap and water.” She patted the chair. “Then you can come stand on this to help me.”

  “Okay!” Lindsey raced toward the bathroom.

  Piper loved the little girl’s enthusiasm. It’s one of the reasons she’d decided to teach in a grade school. The kids were more receptive and eager to learn than those who were in junior high or high school.

  She turned to find Doreen once again texting someone. That was another thing Piper liked about grade school. Most of the children didn’t own a phone at that age to distract them.

  “I thought you could help me make dinner,” Piper said when Doreen finished her message.

  “Yeah, sure.” Her phone buzzed in her hand. “Sorry, it’s my best friend. I promised her I would help her with a project for school, and she’s freaking out that I’m going to be late.”

  “What time did Mr. Wesson say he’d be home?” Piper asked, pulling out the ingredients for the casserole.

  “He should be here in thirty minutes.” She glanced down at her phone, and a small smile curved her mouth as she read the message. Then she went back to texting.

  Piper suspected the friend was more likely a boyfriend. If it were up to her, she would just tell Doreen to go on home, but she didn’t have that authority. Lindsey came running out of the bathroom, declaring her hands were clean and promised she’d used soap and not sanitizer.

  Already familiar with Gabe’s kitchen, she opened the lower cabinet and pulled out a large mixing bowl.

  “Are we making cookies?” Lindsey asked hopefully.

  “Not this time.” She placed the bowl on the countertop. “We need to mix all the ingredients for our dinner in here.”

  While Piper opened the can of soup, she gave Lindsey the gallon-sized baggie with the crackers in it and had her finish crushing them. The little girl thought everything was fun. She loved dumping things in the bowl and mixing it together. Piper had wanted to show Doreen how easy shredding cooked chicken was, but she was too busy texting.

  “Are these next?” Lindsey asked, holding the baggie of cracker crumbs.

  “No, those are going to be the topping.” Piper removed the small bowl with melted butter from the microwave and placed it on the bar. “We’re going to mix the crumbs in with the butter, but the bowl is hot so be careful not to touch it.”

  They managed to get most of the crumbs into the bowl, and then she helped Lindsey blend the two ingredients together.

  “Am I doing good?” Lindsey asked as she continued to stir the crumbs.

  “You’re doing very good.” Her throat felt tight as she watched the child’s eyes light up from the praise. Forget about falling in love with Gabe. She was falling in love with his kids.

  Piper found a glass casserole dish in the same cupboard as the mixing bowl and sprayed it with cooking oil. Then she had Lindsey help her pour the creamy chicken mixture into the glass dish, smoothing it out and then topping it with the cracker crumbs.

&
nbsp; “The topping is the best part,” Piper said as she slid the dish into the heated oven. “That’s why my little sister always called this the Cracker Dinner.”

  “That’s funny,” Lindsey said with a small giggle. Piper loved the sound of her laugh. It made her wish she could hear it every day.

  Cleaning up the mess on the countertop, Piper gave Lindsey the assignment to throw all of the containers into the trash. The child’s enthusiasm with such menial tasks was refreshing and another reason Piper liked working with kids. She spied Doreen at the table still busy with her smart phone. No wonder Gabe’s nanny didn’t do dishes or cleaning or cooking. She was far too occupied with her electronic device.

  With the casserole in the oven, Piper found a medium-sized pot and measured out the right amount of water for the instant rice. To keep Lindsey away from the boiling water, she excused her to go play with her toys.

  “Can I bring my stuff in here with you?” The hopeful look in the child’s eyes was sweet. Not for the first time, Piper worried about Lindsey growing too close to her. When she left in April, she wouldn’t be the only person affected.

  “Sure, honey.”

  Piper added the rice to the boiling water and turned off the burner, covering the pot with a lid to allow it to cook. Doreen suddenly stood up from the table. “Hey, Piper, since Mr. Wesson is going to be home any time now, I’m going to head out.”

  Piper felt a little uncomfortable with the nanny leaving early, mainly because Gabe would come home and find her in his kitchen, making his family dinner and probably assume she’d sent the nanny home. “Okay, but did you let him know that?”

  “I’ll shoot him a text right now.” She grabbed a backpack next to the table and slipped it over her shoulder. “Thanks again for helping me out again.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Lindsey came back into the kitchen carrying an armful of toys. “See you later, kiddo,” Doreen said as she slipped past the little girl.

  “Are you staying with us?” Lindsey asked Piper.

  “Yes, until your dad gets home,” Piper said, feeling more uncomfortable by the second. She hoped Gabe didn’t think she’d hijacked the nanny. Even though she’d made the dinner, it seemed presumptuous to assume she would stay and eat with the family. It might be better if she gave him a quick explanation about the pizza and then go home. But then she’d have to turn around and come back to help with Rascal.