Page 100 of Snowed In
As one, we turn to the figure in the doorway. It is Zoe. A very cold-looking Zoe wearing a hundred layers with a light dusting of snow on her head.
“What are you doing here?” Molly exclaims, as Hannah walks in behind her, carrying her bag with a smug look.
“Surprise!” she calls, as the two sisters hug.
“The traffic is awful,” Zoe grumbles when they break apart. “An inch of snow and the country goes berserk.”
“I think it’s more than an inch, Zo,” Molly says with a smile. “Where’s Tiernan?”
“Oh, I got bored of him. I gave him to this nice lady at the bus stop.” She takes off her coat, glancing around the room. “He’s with Mam and Dad. Thought I’d come down and see you when they offered to babysit. Then I thought I’d make it a surprise. Hope that’s okay, Mrs. Fitzpatrick,” she adds to Mam, who looks like she just won the lottery. My mother loves nothing more than a full house.
“Are you staying the night? You can bunk with Christian.”
“Oh, he’d love that,” Zoe teases. “Unless he’s too busy with the new girlfriend.” Her eyes swing my way, full of trouble. “What was her name again? Mildred? Margaret?”
I smile in warning. “Megan.”
“Megan!” She snaps her fingers. “That’s the one. Your loving girlfriend, Megan. Is she here?”
“She’ll be here for dinner on Saturday,” Mam informs her. “You should join us.”
“Unfortunately, I’m just around for the day,” she says, finally leaving me be. “But I’ll stay this evening if there’s room?”
Mam nods, all business as she leaves for the dining room, probably to get out the good plates as opposed to the terrible bad plates her regular family uses.
“I was also hoping to take this one away for the next few hours,” Zoe adds, turning to Molly, and Andrew, who had been smiling at the scene, immediately stops.
“I thought we could go shopping,” she continues, as some twin communication happens between them.
“Yeah?” Molly asks.
“Yeah,” Zoe says lightly, and they start grinning at each other, and now I’m very confused.
“Shopping?” Andrew asks.
Zoe nods. “Girls only.”
“We actually have plans,” Andrew says. Molly frowns at him.
“No, we don’t. You said you just wanted to go for a drive.”
“I know, but…” he trails off, and I can practically see the wheels turning in his head. “You also wanted to go.”
“Can’t we go tomorrow?”
“No.”
“But—”
“We can’t.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a surprise.”
I kick him again, but this time he doesn’t so much as flinch.
“What’s a surprise?” Molly asks, as Zoe’s attention flicks to me.
