Page 7 of Meet Me at the Christmas Cottage
Bag unpacked and decision about where to work made, Bronte grabbed her notebook and laptop and headed back downstairs to find a cozy spot to start working.
Settling on the velvet couch, she opened her laptop, trying to ignore the large picture windows that led to the backyard. Holland had said in the listing that this was her childhood home. What would it have been like growing up in a house like this? Having four siblings to play with. Constant activity, running in and out, sports, homework, extracurricular activities. It must have been like a dream.
She’d hoped maybe one day she’d have that. Now…
A prick stung the back of Bronte’s eyes. She blinked furiously. She needed to stop being ridiculous and get to work. Having overactive retrospection wasn’t going to help her get anything done. She let out a quick breath. Yes, work. Writing. Getting the last Pike family story down. The last one. This was it. After this she would move on to…to what? Did she have anything after this?
“Focus, Bronte,” she told herself, ignoring how hollow and alone her voice sounded.
She stared at the blinking cursor. Fingers poised over the keyboard, Bronte closed her eyes to imagine the words she needed to write.
Her eyes flew open. She hadn’t texted Lexi to let her know she’d arrived.
Toggling over to the message app on her laptop, she fired a quick text to her friend, letting her know that she’d made it and all was good.
That finished, she moved back to her open document, closed her eyes again, and tried to conjure up the first line.
Her fingertap, tap, tappedagainst the side of the keyboard.
Ugh, this wasn’t working. Her brain must be too tired from all the travel.
Bronte slammed her laptop closed. No matter. She’d rest tonight and get started first thing in the morning.
She had waited this long to get started—one more night wouldn’t hurt.
ChapterTwo
If you’re planning on breaking Dad’s heart, don’t bother coming back at all.
Jonah’s older sister Amy’s words came back to him. Not that they had ever left since their call two years ago. Whether or not his decision would break their father’s heart was yet to be discovered. He had listened to his sister and stayed away. Until now.
“Are you sure you want me to drop you here? Ferry doesn’t run until morning, if it even runs in this storm. The snow is really starting to come down.” The raspy voice of his Uber driver cut through his thoughts.
As if to prove the man’s point, the wind picked up, depositing snow drifts a little faster. A bit of white stuff, or the fact the ferry didn’t run overnight, wasn’t going to stop Jonah. He was going to get home to surprise his family.
“I’ll be fine.” Jonah stepped out of the car, grabbing his suitcase and backpack out of the trunk.
The Uber driver leaned across the console of his car to look at Jonah through the open window. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay, wait a few minutes, just to make sure you get off the docks?”
“I’ll be fine,” Jonah repeated, shrugging into his backpack and pulling his black stocking cap further over his ears.
In truth, he didn’t have an entire plan yet. The original plan had him arriving nine hours earlier for the last ferry of the day, but thanks to the weather over Atlanta and employee shortages…he was now on the wrong side of Lake Huron, staring through the snow in the direction of Jonathon Island.
“Whatever.” The Uber driver shook his head and peeled out of the parking lot, slushy snow kicking up from the tires.
Glancing at the time on his phone, Jonah grimaced. He really didn’t want to have to ask for someone to pick him up. His sister Holland had mentioned she’d gotten a boat over the summer, but she would have it docked by now. Besides, he didn’t want to call anyone in his family. He wanted to show up, sneak in, and surprise everyone. Mom and Dad should be there at least. Last he’d heard, they planned on parking their RV and spending all of December on island.
In theory, the surprise would make the conversation with his dad go smoother. There would be no breaking of hearts. Hopefully.
Using his teeth, Jonah took a glove off so he could scroll the contacts in his phone, landing on Hunter Barrett’s name. A friend from high school he hadn’t seen or talked to since his last visit, but Jonah knew he’d be there in a pinch. Before he could change his mind, Jonah shot off a quick text.
Jonah
Hey, man. Sorry this is last minute, but I’m standing on the docks and it looks like I missed the last ferry. Would you be able to come grab me?
Jonah stared at his phone, waiting for dots to appear, indicating his friend was responding.
Two minutes later, they popped up. Jonah’s shoulders relaxed. Truth was, if he couldn’t get a ride to the island tonight, he’d have to hike over to the Bayside Inn in Port Joseph and wait until the ferry started running in the morning. But with the snow coming down as hard as it was already, Jonah had to agree with the Uber driver—he didn’t know for sure that the ferry would be an option by morning. He’d rather get there tonight.
