Page 16 of A Bright Winter Season

Alexis felt tears spring into her own eyes when she heard her mother’s words. “Thanks, Mom. I’m really glad you like it. I’m excited to see pictures of you and Dad up on the walls.”

“People in Rosewood Beach are going to love that.” Julia smiled. “We have customers that have been coming to the pub for decades. They’re going to get such a kick out of seeing the old pictures.”

“Speaking of things being old,” Vivian said, her cheerful expression suddenly becoming clouded, “I do have some not-so-great news.”

“Oh no.” Alexis suddenly felt nervous. “What’s wrong, Mom? You look frustrated.”

“I am frustrated, but it’s nothing to worry about, not really. It’s just annoying.”

“Did Judd McCormick come by?” Julia looked feisty. “If he did, I’m going to march right over to the brewery and have a few choice words with that man.”

“No, no, nothing like that.” Vivian sighed. “The health inspector came by. Terrence Rawlins. He inspected the pub and said that we need the air vents replaced.”

“The air vents?” Julia echoed doubtfully. “They look perfectly fine—but I guess that’s what health inspectors are for. We haven’t been opening them up and checking the insides. I’m sure it’ll be okay, that’s not too big of a deal.”

“Well, we have to replace them all before the Christmas party.”

“Before the Christmas party?” Julia and Alexis echoed in dismay.

“I know.” Vivian shook her head. “At first I thought it wouldn’t be possible, but he insisted, so we’ll just have to take on the extra chaos.”

Alexis sighed, suddenly feeling even more tired than she had before. Even though she knew she wouldn’t be doing the actual work of replacing the vents herself, the idea felt overwhelming to her. There were so many things happening at once!

“Oh, I don’t think that’ll be too much trouble.” Julia seemed fairly unfazed by the news. “We’ll have to rearrange our plan of action a little bit, but I know we can get everything done in time.”

Alexis had to smile despite how flustered she felt. It was clear that Julia was thriving on having something important to focus on, and she seemed almost eager for the challenge of having to get the vents replaced before the Christmas party.

“I hope you’re right.” Vivian smiled, although she still looked a little nervous. “I trust your opinion, Julia. You’ve engineered plenty of events like this before now. And at least it’s notsomething that we have to do ourselves. I’m on my way to talk to Jacob Dorsey about taking on the project.”

Alexis and Julia immediately glanced at each other. Alexis knew they were both thinking about Hazel, and how much of a crush their sister had recently had on Jacob. She’d been handling things well ever since she’d learned that Jacob was dating someone else, but it had been difficult for her. Hazel had had a crush on Jacob ever since high school, and they’d all hoped that she could get together with him before those hopes had been dashed.

“What is it?” Vivian asked, noticing the look that the sisters shared.

“It’s just… well, we’re worried about Hazel,” Alexis said delicately. “You remember she was getting ready to ask Jacob out not that long ago. I know she’s been handling it well, but she’d also been trying to avoid him, I think. I think it might be hard for her if he was at the pub all the time working on the vents.”

Vivian shook her head. “I think she’ll be fine. Surely she’s over that by now—look at how she’s thriving in her life. Besides, who else is there to do the job besides Jacob?”

“True.” Julia sighed. “You’re right, Mom. She does seem to be over him by now.”

The three of them continued to sit and plan for the Christmas event. Alexis was enjoying working with her mother and sister, and her feelings of fatigue and queasiness were beginning to subside, especially as she became more engrossed in the work.

“I think I’ll get each of us a cup of hot chocolate,” Vivian said after a while. “We’ve all run out of coffee.”

“Sure.” Julia smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”

Vivian stood up and went to order three cups of hot cocoa. She came back right away, saying that the barista had offered to deliver the beverages to their table. The three of them got backto work, all of them beginning to remark that they felt they were nearly done with all the planning and feeling great about all of their shared ideas.

A few moments later, the barista carried over three steaming mugs of hot cocoa.

“Enjoy,” she said, smiling as she set them down on the table.

As soon as Alexis inhaled the sweet smell of the cocoa, her queasiness returned with a vengeance. She stood up hurriedly, knowing at once that she wasn’t going to be able to hold her nausea in this time.

She hurried into the bathroom and spent a few moments in a stall, losing the contents of her stomach. Still feeling nauseous but significantly better, she left the stall and went over to the sink, where she washed her mouth and her hands.

As she was washing her hands, Vivian came inside the bathroom.

“Hey.” Her mother smiled gently at her. “Are you okay?”

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