Page 14 of A Bright Winter Season

“I believe you, Mrs. Owens. Nevertheless, under the circumstances, I will be coming back to check on the vents to make sure they’re replaced before your Christmas event.” With a kind of flourish, he tucked his pen inside his messenger bag. “Do you have any questions for me?”

“Yes. When are you coming back to check on the vents? I’m assuming that’s essentially my deadline.”

“Sometime before your party. I know it takes some time to get vents replaced, so it’s not as though I’ll be showing up onyour doorstep tomorrow. Tell you what—” He paused, and again smiled at her in a friendly way that she found surprising. “I’ll send you an email.”

Vivian held back a huff of frustration. “Sounds wonderful,” she said, a bit dryly.

“Any more questions for me?”

“No, thank you, I think that will be all. Have a nice day.”

“You as well. Goodbye, Mrs. Owens.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Rawlins.”

In the past, she would have walked the health inspector to the front door, as a way of being gracious. Today, however, she was happy to let him leave the office without her. As soon as he’d disappeared, she sat down in the desk chair and put her head in her hands.

I feel so flustered, she thought.It’s not really the air vents—we can get that done, although it will be stressful. It’s that all this is making me feel as unprofessional as Judd McCormick accused me of being.

She thought about the email from Terrence Rawlins that she’d missed and wrinkled her nose. Then she thought about the almost teasing way in which he’d told her that he would send her another email about his second visit. She made a mental note that she would have to start checking her email religiously. She wondered if one of her children could help her set up notifications for her on her smart phone, so that every time she got a new email she was notified right away.

For a while, she sat quietly at the desk, thinking about all kinds of things. She thought about all the steps they would need to take in order to repair the vents, and she thought about what Julia might have said if she’d been there. Julia might have tried to resist Terrence more firmly than Vivian had, but Vivian didn’t regret giving in to Terrence’s demands. She wanted to be well within the law. She didn’t want to be unprofessional in any way.

Her eyes landed on a photograph of herself and Frank, resting on the top of the stack of articles and photos that she’d made earlier. She looked at Frank’s huge grin, and the way he’d held his arm around her protectively. She could just imagine what he’d say under these new circumstances—that whatever they did, they should have fun doing it.

She smiled. It might not have been the most professional philosophy in the world, and she felt sure that Judd McCormick would have scorned it, but she’d had a great deal of fun running the pub with her husband. In the end, she thought, community really was more important than money.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Alexis shut her eyes for a moment, wishing she didn’t feel so tired. It was late in the morning on Monday, and she already felt that the week was off to an inauspicious start. She’d come to Seaside Sweets Bakery, hoping that the bustling, cheerful atmosphere would help her feel more productive. She’d already been there for a few hours, however, and she’d continued to move as sluggishly as she had earlier in the morning.

I’ve got to stop feeling so tired, she thought, taking another sip of coffee.I meant to be so much more productive today. I wanted to finish planning this community event at the pub by now.

She glanced at her laptop with a sigh. So far, she was nowhere near done, and she’d wanted to spend time working on her jewelry business that morning as well. She shook her head at herself, wishing she was able to focus better. She reminded herself that she couldn’t control her own fatigue, not now that it was there at any rate, and pushing herself even harder was not a solution to the problem. She still felt annoyed, however, and she wished that her body could keep up with her goals.

“Hey, Alexis!”

Alexis looked up to see Julia entering the bakery. She smiled when she saw her sister, immediately feeling more energized.

“Hey.” She stood up and gave Julia a hug. “It’s great to see you.”

“Great to see you too. I’m excited to talk about this event with you.”

The sisters had arranged an informal meeting to talk about the pub’s Christmas event, since both of them were taking on most of the planning for the event. Julia’s fresh energy and enthusiasm made Alexis feel as though it was going to be a productive day after all, and she felt her spirits lift.

“Let me grab myself a latte and one of those adorable gingerbread cookies, and I’ll be right back.” Julia set her coat down on the chair opposite Alexis. “I can’t wait to hear about all of your ideas.”

Alexis sighed as her sister made her way to the front counter. It wasn’t as though she didn’t have any ideas, but she’d meant to have a great deal more than she did at the moment. She tried to focus and type out a few more things while Julia got her purchases, but she still felt sluggish and as if her brain was filled with fog. She felt a little queasy as well, and even though she usually loved the strong, sugary aromas that wafted around the bakery, today the smell seemed to be making the feeling worse.

“Okay.” Julia returned, sitting down across from Alexis with a big smile on her face. “How excited are you for this? I can’t wait.”

“I’m excited too.” Alexis smiled back, happy to be near her sister’s exuberant energy. “Tell me what ideas you’ve come up with so far.”

“Okay.” Julia took a quick sip of her latte as she pulled a tablet out of her large purse. “I’ve got so many. Some of them may be too time-consuming or not cost-effective, so feel free to tell me if I’m flying too close to the sun here.”

Julia began to outline her ideas for The Lighthouse Grill’s community Christmas event, and Alexis did her best to listen. She had to shut her eyes a couple of times, as the smell of the bakery’s sugary treats kept making her queasiness intensify. After a few moments, however, she got so caught up in what Julia was saying that her nausea began to subside.

“And I thought that we could have Christmas coloring pages for all the kids who come in,” Julia said. “And then we can display those on one of the walls at the event.”

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