Winter Storm (10 page)

Callie nodded, sitting up.

“The mess outside this door is all mine though. She did all her homework by herself.”

“Math?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” They shared a knowing smile.

“By the way, I got a check today, and I came by
Sandra’s
…I thought you might like this.”

“Really? Wow. Thank you!” Callie got up to pull her shirt over her head to try on the black sweater with the lacy neckline. Rebecca smiled at her enthusiasm, glad she had taken the time. The garment fit perfectly as she had known.

Callie’s eyes shone which was a result of more than the unexpected present. “We never went shopping together. I mean, in New York we went for Dina but—”

“I’m used to buying things for people you don’t want to or can’t be present. Otherwise, the girls and David would have been running around naked for most of the time. Anyway…” She cleared her throat, not sure if the reference was welcome.

“You won’t have to run around naked. Even though…”

Callie threw a pillow at her, and they both laughed.

“It’s too early yet for dinner. Come here with me for a moment?” Rebecca’s hesitation hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“I know it’s hard for you to slow down, but Maggie will be fine for a little while. She’s hell-bent on finishing that book. No need to feel guilty.”

“You don’t have to,” Rebecca said with a wistful smile, tapping Callie’s temple gently. “You’ve got so much going on in there. I guess you need a time-out every now and then.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.”

“It’s good to be here,” Rebecca said, curling up against her with a grateful sigh. “You’re right. I need to slow down. Earlier when I left the gas station, I almost thought somebody was following me.”

“Following you?”

Rebecca had been on the verge of drifting off into a light sleep, Callie’s exclamation startling her.

“Oh no.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nicole was here today.”

“Nicole? How…She took a plane and came here? I hope you didn’t let her in.”

“Maggie let her in. I threw her out when she suggested that she and I should get back together.”

Rebecca shook her head, now as far from sleep as she possibly could be. Would the bad news ever end? She didn’t like the idea of this woman in town.

“Just how dangerous is she?”

“She won’t do anything stupid now.” Callie didn’t sound convinced. “I told her not to come back. She’s going to get it.”

“I don’t know. You told her the last time, and still she follows us all the way here? That doesn’t seem to be very insightful. I don’t want her around you, or around my children.”

“I can handle Nicole,” Callie said, the sharp edge to her voice making Rebecca flinch. She wasn’t ready to back down on the subject.

“Let’s talk to Bev.”

“Rebecca, please. Nicole is not welcome here. I made sure she knows.”

Rebecca thought a restraining order would go a long way to making the woman understand. People could change only so much, and she didn’t have a good feeling about Nicole.

The next day, she had to put all of this aside, though, in order to get through the viewing. They met on the front porch, David, Rebecca, both realtors, and the potential buyers. Sarah, who had found this house for David and Rebecca in the first place, kept giving Rebecca sympathetic sideways glances as she introduced everyone. Martin and Delia Waters had two kids, a twelve-year-old son and a baby boy whom Delia carried in her arms. They were looking for a more rural environment for their kids, but not too far from schools, stores, and other comforts of the city.

David and Rebecca waited downstairs with their realtor, while the couple went to look at each room with theirs.

“It’s a beautiful house,” Sarah assured them. “You kept it up to date, so you’re going to get a good price.”

Rebecca studied her feet, wondering what this other couple would see, how they imagined their life in what had been Rebecca’s home for sixteen years. She remembered bringing Dina, and six years later, Maggie, home from the hospital. Both of the girls had taken their first steps here. David and Rebecca had celebrated their ten-year anniversary, and then the fifteenth. She had known this moment was coming. Still, she felt like sitting in a corner to cry.

“I talked to Mom,” David said. “She doesn’t want her share, so any profit off this is ours.”

Rebecca forced a small smile. “Tell her thanks, then. That’s very generous.” In fact, she didn’t like that solution. It meant that she’d owe Laurie forever. Then again, she wasn’t in a position to look a gift horse in the mouth. She looked up to find David’s gaze still on her. Sarah had to have been aware of it, too, since she excused herself.

“I’ll see what they think. You guys have a lot to talk about now.”

“They seem nice,” David said after she had left.

“Sure. David, if you don’t mind…I’m not sure I should be here for this. I trust you, and it’s easier for Sarah if she doesn’t have to consider both of our schedules.”

“There is that. I never did much around the house, so I guess the least I can do is get us some money out of it now.”

“That’s not how I meant it.”

“I know how you meant it, Rebecca, but believe me, it’s not any easier for me.”

“I didn’t say that…”

She broke off her sentence, and both of them smiled as Sarah returned with her colleague and her clients.

Delia Waters’ smile was a whole lot more genuine.

“I’m sorry for you that you had to give it up, but I have to tell you, this is such a wonderful home. The master bedroom, the kids’ rooms—and oh my God, that kitchen!”

Rebecca noted with a hint of irritation that she talked like she was already living here. Yes, it was a beautiful kitchen where she had spent many hours. She’d been standing by the window, the morning when Callie moved into the house across the street.

“We didn’t want a long tedious search, especially considering it’s still winter,” her husband added. “I think we’re ready to make an offer, so we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

“Thank you,” David said. “We’d appreciate a quick transaction as well.”

Rebecca nodded, because she didn’t trust her voice.

Sarah clapped her hands. “I love it when a plan comes together,” she said. She had probably hoped to get a different reaction than the rather awkward smiles.

Rebecca followed David to his car.

“Don’t you want to come in and say hi to Maggie? I’m sure she’d be happy to see you.”

“Just for a few minutes,” David said after a moment of hesitation. “It’ll take me forever to get back in this weather anyway.”

There was a note from Callie on the kitchen table that she had gone into town for some quick errands. Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief. Despite the cease-fire between them, Callie and David in the same room was still something she tended to avoid. David seemed to think the same way.

He went to Maggie’s room while Rebecca put some water on the stove for tea. Children made a separation complicated, she’d learned, yet in some ways easier. You couldn’t slip up, because you couldn’t expect them to be the adult. She prepared two cups, sitting at the table with her own, inhaling the aroma of strawberry and cherry.

“She’s got a nice room,” David said when he returned. It was more small talk than anything. He saw the room before. “I think she’s really happy here, with you.”

“Everything is working out fine…with Dina?”

“Oh yes.” He smiled. “That New York trip really inspired her. She’s now looking into exchange programs and scholarships. That tutor we got her for chemistry and physics also really made a difference.”

Rebecca opened her mouth then thought twice about a retort. That was something David had decided with Susan, obviously, because she didn’t know about it. Dina hadn’t considered it necessary to tell her either.

“Would be great if that lasts. I’m afraid, though, at the moment, she is really into that boy Tomaso.”

“Nice boy. We said hello online.”

“Oh. You did?”

“Sure. You always say it’s important to keep track of what they do on the internet.”

“True. You want some tea?”

“I’ll have it. Thanks.” He went to the counter to get his cup, moving confidently like he wasn’t the guest here. After they’d shared almost twenty years of their lives, Rebecca couldn’t find it in herself to blame him.

“Weird, isn’t it, to have strangers walk around in your home and discuss what they’ll change.”

“Yes.”
Only it isn’t ours anymore—or home.

“The weather’s been crazy,” David said, probably sensing she didn’t want to deepen the subject. “The last time it was like this, you were pregnant with—”

“Maggie.”

It was risky, the doctor said, but both she and David had wanted that baby so badly. There had been a lot of appointments in the early stages, lots of driving in the snow.

Rebecca cupped her tea mug in both hands, letting the warmth reorient her in the present. It was normal for people who had shared a big part of their life to have a conversation like this. They needed to give that time the credit it deserved.

There was a small clank as David sat his cup down on the counter, and then he reached out to brush his hand over Rebecca’s hair gently, his fingertips tickling her neck.

For a split second, she could make herself pretend it was okay. Then she all but jumped to her feet, putting space between them.

“David!”

He met her gaze calmly, his own devoid of apology.

“What do you think? We had sixteen years. Counting from our wedding day, that is.”

“I am aware of that.”

“If you can just brush off every feeling we had for each other, congratulations, Rebecca, because I can’t.”

“But…”
What about Susan? What about the fact that we both made up our minds and it wasn’t for each other?

“You started it. You walked out on me. Don’t tell me what to feel.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t…” There were many ways to finish, but none of them seemed to be the right thing to say
. I didn’t know.
That would make her look stupid.
I didn’t mean to hurt you.
She had anyway.

“I need to go. I’ll call you when I hear about the offer.”

He didn’t wait for an answer.

Rebecca put both cups into the sink, resisting the urge to just slam them. She had no right to tell Callie how to deal with a relationship that refused to be over.

Chapter Five

When Callie moved to Autumn Leaves, there had been mainly two things on her mind: How to get Nicole off it, and her next novel. Asha and her brother had warned her about the small-town ways, and she had laughed it off. She had been certain she wasn’t interested in socializing, and God forbid, a relationship. What she ended up doing was going to church, joining the choir, and falling in love with her next-door neighbor. Before she knew it, all those little rituals she’d been determined to ignore had become part of her life. Like Rebecca’s Saturday brunch.

Maggie had spent the night at a friend’s whose mother would bring her back in the early afternoon. Callie and Rebecca had a leisurely morning where the few minutes to sleep in turned into an hour and more. Not all of the time had been spent sleeping. Callie figured that after Nicole’s surprise visit and the current house-selling project, they were entitled. She could imagine Rebecca was a little sad about leaving that part of her life behind. The Waters family had come through with their offer.

Callie wasn’t sad about leaving Nicole behind, just about the time she’d wasted feeling bad. She wasn’t feeling so bad now, wrapped in Rebecca’s arms, skin to skin.

“We’re going to be late,” she said, just for the record.

“Francine and Roz are always late,” Rebecca murmured. “They won’t mind.”

“They will if we let them wait outside. I need to go buy a few things.”

Her words were followed by at least another five minutes of comfortable silence and no movement from either of them.

“Okay. If I don’t go now, we need to call off brunch. Maggie won’t be home before three, so there’s a lot of time.” She decided the sly look Rebecca gave her meant they were thinking of similar ways to spend that time. “I’ll be quick. You set the table and open the champagne…and put the trophy where everyone can see it.”

Rebecca laughed, picking up the shirt to cover her naked form while Callie picked up her clothes. “I’ll do that…I love you, you know?”

Callie leaned in for a quick kiss before she forced herself to leave. If her intention had been to distract Rebecca from the house sale and the memories, she’d certainly succeeded.

The grocery store was in walking distance, but with the number of things she had planned to buy for brunch it was worth taking the time to clean the snow off the car.

As she browsed the aisles, Callie wondered about Nicole, if she was actually staying in a hotel in Autumn Leaves. There were a few bed-and-breakfasts and some hotel chains further out of town, but she didn’t think Nicole would be very comfortable here. Better that way. She might be back in New York already.