Page 38 of A Bright Winter Season

She tiptoed up the stairs and went to check on Samantha. Her daughter’s bedroom door was ajar, and through it she could see Samantha lying in bed, sound asleep. A book was lying open on her stomach, making it clear that she had fallen asleep reading.

Hazel crept into Samantha’s room and picked up the book. She placed a bookmark that was resting on Samantha’s bedside table inside the pages and glanced at the cover of the book. She chuckled when she saw that it was some fantasy adventure story involving fairies and ponies. Even though Samantha was rapidly growing up, at a pace much too quick for Hazel’s liking, she was still very much a little girl.

She set the book down on the bedside table and turned out the light. Smiling at her daughter one more time, she closed the door and tiptoed back down the creaky old staircase.

Once she was back in the kitchen, she began to bustle about with a will. She felt excited about getting more work done for the community event, an evening which she felt sure was going to be a great time for everyone.

She packed up the Christmas decorations into several plastic shopping bags, and then made her way out to the car. She piled the bags into the back seat and then returned to the house to lock her back door. Ordinarily, she didn’t bother to lock her doors in Rosewood Beach, but when her daughter was home alone, she liked to take extra precautions.

She walked back to her car, looking up at the silvery moon and taking a deep breath of the frosty air. The stars glittered magnificently in a velvety navy sky, and she felt a rush of contentment and peace. So far, the Christmas season had been even more wonderful than she’d anticipated.

She drove to the pub, feeling pleased about getting ahead on the work that needed to be done for the Christmas event. When she arrived at The Lighthouse Grill, she was surprised to see thelights still on in the dining room. She shrugged as she got out of the car, thinking to herself that maybe the cooks were staying late to play cards together before going home, something that they liked to do on occasion.

She grabbed the bags and made her way to the front door, which was still unlocked. When she stepped inside the dining room, she was surprised to see Jacob standing in a corner of the room. It was clear that he was still working on one of the air vents.

He turned around and grinned at her when he heard the front door open.

“Hey, Hazel! This is a nice surprise.” He hurried over to her and took some of the bags out of her hands.

“Jacob! I didn’t expect to see you here.” She returned his friendly grin. “I thought you would have been done hours ago.”

“Are you calling me slow, Owens?” He laughed, but she could tell that he was genuinely frazzled. His hair was messier than usual and there were circles under his eyes.

“Is there a problem?” she asked him.

“Yeah, there seems to be. And I’ll figure it out, don’t worry, but I want to make sure I get it figured out before I leave.”

“What is it?” Hazel set her bags down on the floor and took the bags that Jacob had grabbed from her out of his hands. She set those on the floor as well.

Jacob smiled at her gesture. “Something isn’t right as far as the vents go when the heating is turned on. The hot air coming out is fluctuating in temperature too much. I don’t want to just leave it, because a big enough heat surge could cause a fire.”

“Oof, we don’t want that.”

Jacob shook his head. “Definitely not. And don’t worry, I’ll make absolutely sure that won’t happen, but unfortunately that means I need to take apart some of the work I’ve already done so I can look deeper in the vents.”

“Are you sure it’s not an issue with the furnace?” Hazel asked.

A corner of Jacob’s mouth turned up into an admiring smile. “No, I already checked the furnace. It’s something to do with the vents.”

“Well, I’d like to help you if I can. What’s something I could do?”

“Really? Thank you so much, Hazel. Are you sure? I mean, it’s late, and I’m sure you have to be up early tomorrow?—”

“Hey, so do you. It’ll go faster if I help you, right?”

“Definitely.”

He smiled at her in a way that was so sweet, she had to remind herself in a hurry that he had a girlfriend, because her heart was starting to beat faster.

They set to work on the vents. Hazel stood next to Jacob’s ladder and handed him tools whenever he needed them. She felt a little silly doing such a basic job, but he assured her that she was cutting his work time in half.

“I don’t like to bring too many tools up the ladder with me at once,” he explained, peering into the vent with a flashlight. “And having to go down the ladder and then come back up all the time takes a while.”

“And it’s tiring, I’ll bet.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, that too.”

Jacob continued to work for a while, but it was clear that he was struggling to diagnose the issue.

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