Page 34 of A Bright Winter Season

“He came on business, but then I guess he changed his mind.”

“Huh?” Alexis frowned, looking confused, and was then overtaken by an enormous yawn.

“Tired, huh?” Vivian smiled.

“Oh, yeah. More than usual.”

“How come?”

Alexis grinned. “Julia and I were busy securing Hazel’s future in the wee hours of the morning.”

“What? What are you?—”

“Alexis?” Allison poked her head into the office. “We just got a wave of customers in for an early lunch. Better get back out there.”

“Sure thing, Allison. Bye, Mom.” Alexis leaned over and kissed her mother’s cheek. “I’ll explain later!”

“You’d better.” Vivian laughed.

Alexis disappeared a moment later, and Vivian went back to her tasks, realizing that she felt even more cheerful than she had before Judd McCormick’s surprise visit.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jacob clicked on the light in his storage closet, thinking to himself that he needed to give it a good cleaning and reorganizing. It was a fairly large closet, adjacent to his small office, but it was still bursting at the seams with tools and various parts that he often used to make repairs.

“I’ll need one of these,” he muttered, rummaging in a clear plastic bin containing various metal parts. “And… one of these.” He pulled a screwdriver out of a glass jar, where a collection of tools were resting like a bizarre metallic bouquet.

He paused, going over a mental checklist. Finally, he smiled to himself, deciding that he had everything he needed. He took one more look around the supply closet before turning out the light, sighing as he reflected that he really needed to find the time to organize his storage space.

If I had a girlfriend, I could ask her to help me,he thought, smiling wryly as he shut the door to the closet.We could make it a whole date. I would bet big money that any girl I end up with will be better at organizing things than I am.

He sighed, wondering if he ever was going to end up with someone or if he was going to end up spending the rest of his days as a bachelor.

He sat down at his desk for a few moments, writing up a quick checklist of all the things he still needed to do before he was finished with the air vents at The Lighthouse Grill. There wasn’t much he still needed to do, and when he was finished with his list he tucked the piece of paper into his pocket, thinking to himself that he was going to be done with that project soon.

He felt a flutter of disappointment at the thought, but he didn’t have a chance to ask himself why, because at that moment his friend, Trevor Duncan, stepped inside his office.

“Hey, Jacob!” Trevor sat down in the chair placed opposite from Jacob’s desk. “What’s up?

“Hey.” Jacob looked up with a grin. “To what do I owe the unexpected visit?”

“Boredom and the fact that I happened to be passing by. What are your plans for the night?”

“Working.” Jacob grimaced good-naturedly.

“Aw come on, man, can’t you put a pause on work tonight? I was hoping you’d come down to the bar at McCormick’s brewery with me and watch the fights.”

“Another time? That sounds like fun, but I’ve got to work at The Lighthouse Grill tonight. They’ve got a tight deadline on the repairs I’m making there. Besides, I have to admit, I’m not sure if I want to support the McCormicks. There seems to be a rivalry going on between them and the pub, and the Owens definitely weren’t the ones to start it.”

“Mmm, you’re pretty loyal to the Owens family. That wouldn’t have anything to do with Hazel, would it?”

Jacob cleared his throat and reached hurriedly for his water bottle, taking a long sip. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Hey, before your relationship this summer, you were doing all kinds of unsolicited odd jobs for Hazel. I felt like every time I called you, you were like, ‘No man, I’m fixing something for Hazel Owens today.’”

“Oh, come on.” Jacob laughed. “That happened like maybe two times. And in the same week.”

“Yeah, but you had this weird tone when you were talking about her.”

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