Page 15 of Girl in the Snow
“I’m so glad I caught you there with Cal.You know, your mother was a wise woman.When she wrote to me, oh, six months ago, and said you would be joining Cal for Christmas, I thought she’d lost her marbles.With the treatment, you know.Very nasty stuff, that chemotherapy.”
Deanna bit her lip.She had no idea what was going on.“You wrote to Mum?”
Distantly, she was aware of Cal putting his arm around her waist.
“Oh yes, we always emailed and talked on the phone to keep in touch.I told her about Cal and his horrible breakup, and she told me about you flying all over the world.But you never had a nice boyfriend, she said.Certainly, no one handsome and charming and intelligent, not like my Cal.”
“Okay.I agree.Cal is all of those things.”She paused, looking up into Cal’s eyes, tempted to add that he was also incredibly sexy.“But I don’t understand what you mean.You said Mum knew I’d be here for Christmas?”
“Maddy organised it all.The lawyer called you to his office to read the will in the week before Christmas.He told you about the lodge in New York State, gave you all the details, about how you inherited a share of the business.She knew you’d be looking for a place to go, somewhere to rest.She sent you there, to meet Cal again.She didn’t want you to be lonely after she passed.”
Cal had pressed his forehead against the side of hers, and he could obviously hear his mother’s words.He kissed Deanna’s temple, making her want to cry.
She brushed her free hand over her eyes.“Mum deliberately set me up with Cal?”
It was ridiculous, and sweet, and exactly the type of thing her mum would do.Maddy was always scheming and matchmaking.She had wanted Deanna to be happy above all else.
Priya was still speaking, and Deanna refocused with some effort.“Yes, she thought you’d be a great match.I must say, I agreed with her.I remember how you two got along as kids.Cal was always so quiet, but you pulled him out of his shell.He was always laughing when you were around, and you were giggling too, inventing games to play.Not to mention, he told me on more than one occasion that you wereverypretty.”
Deanna laughed, as something like joy unfurled in her chest.“I was eleven at the time.I wasn’t exactly a bombshell.”
Priya laughed too, as Cal stroked her back.“Of course not, my dear, but my Cal hardly ever mentions girls to me.Even now.You must have made quite an impression.”
“You certainly did,” Cal whispered in her ear, and her face heated as he kissed the lobe.
“Well, darlings, I’d better run.I have house guests.But I’ll be glad to see you two after they leave.Have a nice Christmas, won’t you?Bye, now!”
Deanna stared at the phone for a second after the line went dead.Priya had hung up.
Cal placed the phone back on the hook, and they stared at each other for a few seconds before they both burst out laughing.
Then Cal pulled her on top of him and they kissed, and everything was right with the world.
After a while, Deanna pulled away to whisper, “So, this is your bed, huh?It seems comfortable.”
“Mmm.Very comfortable.But it’s a bit big for me on my own.”
Deanna nodded, tapping a finger to her temple as if in deep thought.“I could share it with you.To stop you from getting lonely.We could even share body heat.”
Cal chuckled, pulling her close.“What a brilliant idea.”
After a few luxurious hours in Cal’s bed and a long, lazy brunch of French toast and bacon cooked on the gas stove, Deanna sat back on the sofa, eyeing the parcel from her mother.
Cal was beside her, exactly where he should be.He took her hand, threading their fingers together.“I don’t think your mother would have left you anything upsetting.She obviously loved you very much.”
Deanna’s throat felt tight, as she choked back tears for about the hundredth time.“Okay.I’ll open it.”She let go of Cal’s hand and picked up the package.
She opened the wrapping paper carefully, resisting the urge to tear the paper like she would have as a kid.Inside the parcel was a box decorated with stickers, mementos of all the places Deanna had travelled over the years.At some point she’d started buying souvenir stickers from different cities and she’d sent lots to Mum.
When she lifted the lid off the box, the first thing she saw was a plush toy dog named Paris, who wore a little beret.Deanna got that toy when they first lived in London.She patted him and looked through a bunch of letters.Her mother had clearly kept a lot of letters and postcards from her modelling days, as well as some of Deanna’s old school reports and essays.She put them aside to read later.
There was a red glittery yo-yo she remembered playing with in her childhood bedroom when she was talking to her best school friends on the phone.She grinned as she picked it up and tried the ‘walk the dog’ trick.
Last of all, a black box drew her attention.She opened it to find her mum’s old digital SLR camera with a sticky note attached.It read:Use me to take pictures of beautiful things or whatever gives you joy.
“Did you know I studied photography too?I wanted to be a photographer like Mum.I always thought I’d get back to it, one day.”
“You should do it.”Cal smiled at her with a look so full of warmth it made her heart clench like a fist.He really was the most handsome man she’d ever seen.
