Spring in Snow Valley

by Cindy Roland Anderson

  After several inches of empty holes where there should have been evenly spaced stitches, Natalie faced the inevitable: the needle was not catching the thread in the bobbin, and she would need to take the machine in for a tune up.

  The cost of the repair and the drive into Billings were beyond her pocketbook right now. She picked up the phone and called Aunt Sophie, hoping to borrow her machine to finish the project.

  “Hello?” came the feeble voice.

  “Aunt Sophie? Are you okay?” asked Natalie.

  “I’m feeling a little under the weather.”

  Natalie’s heart sank. She couldn’t ask a favor from her aunt when she was in this condition. “What are your levels at today?”

  “I was 120 before lunch. It’s not my diabetes; I have a head cold.”

  Natalie breathed a sigh of relief. Head colds they could deal with. “I can bring you some chicken soup later on.”

  “That’s sweet of you, dear. I look forward to it.”

  They said goodbye and Natalie hung up the phone, wondering how she was going to ever finish the sleeves, complete the dress, and maintain her composure. Eli’s kiss had her heart spinning in happy circles. Her head could barely keep up, wondering what his show of affection meant for her marriage. And the broken needle made her want to stomp her feet. Dropping her head into her hands, she moaned. “I live in Snow Valley, not a soap opera! I can’t take all this drama.”

  ***

  Later that day, as Natalie sat in the break room puzzling over the employee schedule for the next week and trying not to obsess over Eli—Eli’s lips, Eli’s half grin as he handed her the keys, Eli’s… well, everything Eli—Tracie breezed in.

  Natalie paused in her work. “How’s the orange prom dress coming?” she asked.

  Tracie brightened. “It’s quick. I should be done by Easter.”

  Natalie nodded. Making a dress a second time was much faster than the first. Especially when you had a working machine. Maybe Eli was right; maybe the universe was out to get them. “That’s great.”

  “What about your project?”

  Natalie rolled her eyes. “I broke my Bernina.” She sighed. “Hailey’s going to have to wear something she already has. Even though the hemlines of her skirts are getting a bit high. Not that Hailey shortened them. Her legs have grown longer,” Natalie added quickly.

  Tracie nodded, a knowing look in her eye, and Natalie wondered if Tracie had handled the same problem as a teen, because her parents were pretty wrapped up in themselves and often left her to make her own way. “You can use my machine,” offered Tracie.

  Natalie’s jaw dropped at the incredibly generous offer. “Are you sure? I don’t want to take away from your prom dress. That’s making good money.”

  Tracie waved her off. “What do you have left, the sleeves? It’ll take you a half hour tops.”

  When Natalie was beginning to give up hope and feel like she was alone in her small dreams, a window opened. Maybe the world wasn’t out to get them. Maybe the universe cared. Or maybe it wasn’t about Natalie—maybe good people stepped up to help their neighbors. Like the people who sent the cards. They might not live in Snow Valley, but they had become real neighborly angels in Natalie’s eyes.

  “Okay, I’ll come over around six.”

  “Perfect! I’ll see you then.” Tracie flipped her red hair over her shoulder and pushed through the swinging door.

  ***

  Natalie followed Tracie through a small, cluttered living room and down to the unfinished basement, where she’d sectioned off an area by hanging sheets over clotheslines. Her sewing machine was under a bare lightbulb in the center, and the floor was covered in scraps and threads.

  “Aunt Sophie would have my head if she saw this place,” laughed Tracie.

  Natalie agreed. “She’d hand you a garbage bag and stand here until every scrap was disposed of.”

  Tracie shrugged. “It works for me. Here, have a seat.”

  Natalie sat down and pulled her project and thread from her bag. She had pinned the sleeves in before she left home, so all that remained was to actually sew them in place.

  “You don’t mind if I post this to my blog, do you?” asked Tracie.

  “No! You’re the one doing me a favor. Post away.” She threaded Tracie’s machine while Tracie snapped a few “before” pictures.

  “Why did you take the extra fabric out of the sides?”

  Natalie picked up the dress and flipped the fabric over to show the zipper. “Most people think that they should take extra fabric out of the back, but if you do that, you pull everything off the correct lines. Sleeve holes, neckline, shoulder seams … they all shift. And the side seams won’t line up under the arms correctly. But if you take the extra fabric out of the sides, everything stays in place.”

  Tracie snapped a picture of the side seam and the raw-edged armhole before Natalie could sew them together. “You sound like Aunt Sophie when you explain stuff,” said Tracie.

  “Thanks.” Natalie smiled. That was one of the biggest compliments anyone could have given her—and she needed to hear a few encouraging words. Realizing that Eli’s issues weren’t her fault had freed her from the guilt of causing his depression. Still, she wondered if she was enough. Aunt Sophie was capable and amazing. If Natalie was like her, she’d be okay.

  When Natalie had one arm finished, Tracie snapped more images and then disappeared behind her computer.

  As Natalie was clipping the thread ends, Tracie called from across the room, “Come check this out!”

  Natalie made her way over and bent at the waist to see the computer screen. There was a whole blog post on taking in the side seam of a dress. Natalie stood up. Darn it all if the page didn’t look good. “That’s great! You blogged the whole alteration that fast?”

  “It takes me longer when I’m sewing and posting, but it’s fun to share my techniques with people.” Tracie shrugged. “Let’s take a picture of the final project.”

  Natalie hugged the dress to her stomach. “It’s supposed to be a surprise for Hailey. What if she sees your blog?”

  “I’ll schedule it to post after Easter.”

  “You can do that?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I guess that would be okay.”

  They worked together to get the garment on the dress form and took pictures from different angles. Once they were done, Natalie hung the dress on a hanger and slipped a black garbage bag over the shoulders to protect the fabric from messes and hide the surprise from Hailey.

  “Thanks, Tracie. I had a good time, and I would have never finished the dress without your machine.” Natalie was doubly surprised Tracie had been so nice. There was a big age gap between them, and Tracie acted like their ages didn’t matter.

  “Thank you for letting me post about the sleeves. Have you thought any more about doing a guest post?”

  A thrill of possibility went up Natalie’s arms, leaving behind a trail of goose bumps. When Tracie first asked her to be a guest blogger, Natalie had said no because she didn’t think anyone would want to see what a frumpy old housewife was doing. Natalie didn’t see herself that way anymore. Reducing herself was no longer the plan, nor would Natalie allow herself to fall into the self-depreciating trap again.

  “You could sell patterns or something to make it worth your while,” added Tracy. “I can’t pay you …”

  Blogging was outside Natalie’s comfort zone, which meant she could use a blog post or two to stretch through her self-imposed boundaries. “I think … I want to. Let me look through things and see what I can come up with.”

  Tracie beamed. “Fantastic!”

  Natalie grinned all the way home. Something she had made, well altered, was going to be on a blog. Who would have ever thought that she would be sending her ideas out into the world! And she had so many ideas. Plaid was in right now. She could take some of the old shirts in the back of Eli’s closet and make them into little girl’s dresses or cute infinity scarves
. Then there was that trunk of clothes at Aunt Sophie’s. Updating some of those old skirts would be a blast.

  Blogging would take time. Time was one thing she felt like she didn’t have enough of lately. This was the first inkling of excitement over doing something that was hers and hers alone, and she was eager to see where she could take her posts.

  There had actually been two exciting things that happened today. She smiled to herself. Eli’s kiss this morning had been pretty exciting. She hoped she was going home to find the guy that made her heart chug-chug so she could include him in her plans for the blog and maybe entice another kiss.

  Chapter 12

  Natalie was at Tracie’s working on Hailey’s surprise, and Eli was determined to take some of the load off her shoulders. He’d gathered the dirty clothes and sorted them into hampers. He was feeling pretty pleased with himself … until he faced the washing machine. What was the difference between a “speed cycle” and a “cotton cycle?” Was there a reason he should worry about spin speed?

  Rather than ruin a load’s worth of laundry, he dumped the soap on the clothes and slammed the door. Ryan could get the blasted thing going when he got home.

  Not as far along as he’d like in his efforts, he left the laundry closet and moved on to making dinner. He and the kitchen had become acquainted over the last few months, making finding pans and ingredients easier than starting the washing machine. In no time, he’d chopped an onion, and the sweet smell of sizzling onion and butter filled the room. Enjoying the domestic feel, Eli put on his favorite playlist and bobbed his head to the Iron Stix and Garth Brooks. Adding a pound of hamburger to the onions, he welcomed Ryan and Hailey home with a “Dinner’s almost ready.”

  “Good, I’m starving,” said Ryan. He pulled the milk out, poured himself a huge glass, and downed the liquid in three gulps.

  Eli turned off his music, determined not to space out on the kids tonight. “Easy there. You’ll ruin your appetite.”

  “Not possible.” Ryan grinned.

  Eli remembered being that age. His stomach made more decisions for him than his brain. Ryan was already an inch taller than Eli. If he kept eating—and growing—Eli would be looking up to his son.

  Ryan grabbed a bag of chips and a jar of Natalie’s homemade salsa and started working his way through both. Annoyed that Ryan failed to notice the meal on the stove, Eli tried to get his point across. “Hey, seriously, we’re eating in ten minutes.”

  Hailey reached for a chip. “He’s making up for missing lunch.” Ryan threw a warning look at Hailey, making her widen her eyes. “I think I’ll go wash my hands.” She disappeared down the hall.

  Fighting off the urge to let the opportunity to connect slide by— to let his lazy side take over— Eli asked, “Why’d you miss lunch? Is everything all right?”

  Ryan shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

  “It is too!” called Hailey from down the hall.

  Eli raised both his eyebrows and stared at Ryan.

  Ryan rolled his eyes. “I gave my lunch money to the Bucks for Bunnies fund,” he said through a mouth full of tortilla chips.

  Hailey came back in, a huge smile on her face. “And now all the student body officers are doing it! They’ve pledged their lunch money from now until Easter. It was Ryan’s idea. They were behind on donations and he jumped on the stage and gave his pledge and other kids followed and we might make our goal now.” She hugged herself as if she couldn’t keep from hugging someone.

  Eli didn’t see handing over hard-earned money through such rosy glasses. Not only was the kid still shoveling food into his mouth when Eli had asked him— twice— to stop, he knew they had a truck to fix and he gave money away. They weren’t rich—they weren’t even middle class. Natalie was borrowing a sewing machine and had begged help from Aunt Sophie so Hailey could have an Easter dress. Eli had skipped out on playing softball this year— something he’d loved but couldn’t financially justify. “Are you living in an alternate universe?” Eli growled.

  Ryan’s jaw dropped.

  Eli continued, his voice growing louder with each syllable. “What were you thinking?!”

  The garage door banged open, and Natalie arrived with a garbage bag over one shoulder and a smile on her face. Eli’s heart jumped to see her spirit lighter than she’d been in weeks, and his first thought was of their kiss this morning. Had he put that smile there? His shoulders squared. Yeah, I did.

  His joyful satisfaction didn’t last long. Natalie’s smile melted as she took in the wide-eyed stares of their children. “What’s going on?”

  Eli’s shoulders caved in once again. “Your son is giving away his lunch money without a thought as to how hard you work.” Eli spun around to face Ryan, the heat building inside. “Do you have any idea how tired your mom is? She’s not wearing herself out so you can hand over your lunch money. How could you do this to her?”

  Ryan lifted his head, his jaw set in a way Eli recognized as imitating his own. He picked up a stack of mail and threw the envelopes across the kitchen counter. Letters fanned out like a deck of cards under an experienced dealer’s hand. Half a dozen cards from across the country stared up at Eli. “How could I not?” demanded Ryan. “I’ve had my time with chocolate bunnies and new dress shoes. If I give up a meal so some little kid can have a happy Easter—so be it.” Ryan stormed down the hallway and slammed his door.

  Hailey took one look at Eli and slipped into her room as well.

  Eli turned to Natalie, expecting some gratitude. After all, the kids should appreciate how hard she worked. Instead, he was met with a look of pity. “What?” he demanded.

  “Ryan was doing good.” She set her purse on the counter.

  “He didn’t give a thought to this family or our needs.”

  Natalie’s hand went to her hip, her face thoughtful. “It’s not about you.”

  “I didn’t say it was.”

  “No, you didn’t actually say those words, but that’s what you’re broadcasting. Ryan looked at someone in need and gave all he had. His act of selflessness had nothing to do with you. He isn’t out to get you and he’s not trying to disrespect me. I think you were a little rough on him.”

  Eli couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He threw his hands out to the side. “I was defending you.”

  “I wouldn’t have picked that fight.” The corners of Natalie’s mouth lifted sadly. She ran her fingers through her hair, tucking it behind her ear.

  “What?”

  “I can’t help but think that the guy I married would have handed over his lunch money, too.”

  “Maybe I’m not that guy anymore,” Eli countered.

  Natalie bit her lip, and her eyes dropped. “Then I guess I have some things to ponder and decisions to make.”

  Even though Natalie was calm, Eli had a hard time bringing his voice back down. There was some kind of block keeping the messages to chill out from reaching his body. His neck burned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Natalie pressed her lips together and shook her head. Eli waited. Finally, she sniffed and brought her gaze up to meet his.

  And then he saw a kaleidoscope of emotions in Natalie’s eyes that shook him right down to his toenails—questions, loneliness, and a distance he’d created between them. Eli balled his hand into a fist. Those sentiments had never been in Natalie before. Not until this very moment had she questioned them—not when he lost his job, not when he slept on the couch, and not when he failed over and over again. She’d never looked at him with her guard up … until today.

  It killed him.

  Eli reeled knowing he was the one who had put the doubt there. He was the one who forced her to back away. He yelled. He berated his son for giving to those less fortunate. He’d been pushing her away for months, and tonight, he’d pushed too hard. Or maybe her wall had been built brick by brick from his smaller misdeeds, and tonight had sealed the holes. Whichever it was, Natalie’s withdrawal scared him in a way that made the foundat
ion of his being shudder at the possibility of losing his better half—and she was certainly the better of the two of them.

  Needing an escape, Eli grabbed his keys off the counter. “I’m going out. The tacos are probably ready. Don’t wait up.”

  Natalie pressed her back to the wall to allow him enough space to pass that their bodies wouldn’t touch even accidentally. Eli felt every millimeter of the distance like a needle to the heart.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid, echoed his boots on the stairs.

  The car started easy enough and he backed out of the driveway, wishing he knew what to do or say that would make things better. Natalie was probably calling her sister for a reference to a divorce lawyer right now. Pressing his fist to his chest, Eli held back the rush of pain. Losing Natalie would be like losing the best part of himself—the only part worth keeping, as far as he was concerned.

  Driving aimlessly around Snow Valley didn’t take long. The city center only had a few blocks. The one light on Main Street stayed green, allowing him to cruise right through. Thankfully there wasn’t much traffic, because Eli’s mind wasn’t on the road.

  Could Natalie leave him?

  Not that he would blame her if she did. He rubbed at the back of his neck. How could she even consider walking away from the promises they’d made before God and their families and friends? Not to mention the deep commitment they’d made in their hearts. He’d always believed she would be true; she had more integrity than anyone he’d ever met.

  The lights were on at Aunt Sophie’s, so he pulled up to the curb and killed the engine. He sat in the dark car, debating whether he should go in or not. Aunt Sophie was really Natalie’s aunt, though she’d taken Eli in as one of her own. He’d been considered family from the first day he came to Snow Valley, and the welcome had been a balm for his turbulent childhood.

  Hailey had stopped by after school. He shouldn’t bother Aunt Sophie tonight, even if he could use a large dose of her motherliness right about now. If anyone could help him dig his way out of this mess, it would be Aunt Sophie. She’d tried to tell him, not two weeks ago, to appreciate what he had. However, until he’d seen the uncertainty in Natalie’s eyes, he didn’t think he had anything left to lose. Oh how wrong he’d been.