Christmas at Fireside Cabins - Jenny Hale Page 0,35

those times when things seemed to be moving faster than I could keep up with them, when this place was buzzing with activity and I had Chester by my side—I suppose I thought I’d manage to become one of the lucky ones. But then it all just fell away…”

“Yeah, I get that,” Lila said. “I’ve always wondered why I had to lose my parents.”

“Oh, you poor girl,” Eleanor said, reaching out for her.

“I’m okay,” Lila said. She got uncomfortable whenever people tried to console her about the loss of her parents. Over the years, she’d tried to figure out why, and finally it occurred to her that she’d worked so hard to be strong all her life that if she accepted their loving embraces, she feared that she might crumble to the ground. But sitting there with Eleanor, it became harder to fight, and the tears rose up without warning.

Eleanor wrapped her in a warm hug, squeezing her gently. Lila put her head on the old woman’s shoulder and took in a jagged breath, the feel of Eleanor’s arms around her making her feel safe.

“Thank you. For the hug,” she said, pulling back and wiping her eyes. “I feel like you just get me.”

“Maybe we are lucky, the both of us,” Eleanor said. “Perhaps we’ve come through so much so we could understand each other.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I never had a daughter. And you never had a mother. And here we are.” She suddenly grinned, giddy, and put her hands on Lila’s face. “What a way to start this day,” she said.

“Crying?” Lila asked with a laugh and a sniffle.

“No,” she chuckled. “We started our day by finding a person who understands us. Maybe it’s the first day of our happy ending.”

“I like that,” Lila said, giving Eleanor another squeeze.

“Hold this,” Theo said at the café, having resumed his unsociable behavior, thrusting a bunch of lavender into her hands, the stems filling her nose with their floral aroma. His gaze landed to her and then skirted away before tending to another customer. He was supposed to be teaching her how to make all the signature lattes, but he’d been so busy with a bunch of to-go orders that it had been more piecemeal than lesson. She figured that worst case, she could ask him to write down the recipes.

Even if he was being ornery as usual, Lila was glad to be at the bustling coffee shop this morning. She’d slept with the Christmas lights on last night, feeling isolated way out there in the cabin on her own. Before she’d gone to bed, Eleanor had called and offered a different cabin for her, but she’d declined, not wanting to make more work for the old woman. She said she’d be just fine. But the old wood in Edie’s room had started to smell musty from all the leaking water, and she’d been afraid to light a candle so late at night for fear she might fall asleep with it burning.

“Stuff the lavender into one of those mesh bags over there,” Theo told her, wagging his finger at a stack of small steeping bags. He had the same look of irritation at the process of soaking lavender that he’d had when she’d asked him for almond milk. It was as if making anything other than a plain cup of black coffee bothered him.

He hadn’t mentioned what had happened yesterday yet this morning, and with the way the shop was buzzing, he definitely wouldn’t get much of a chance to. He turned away from her to ring up another customer.

Lila grabbed a mesh bag and did what she was told, while Theo handed the customer her change. “I’ve got a pot boiling in the kitchen,” he said over his shoulder to Lila. “Drop the bag into the water, reduce it to simmer, and set the timer for three minutes.”

Lila went back into the kitchen where a pot of water steamed on the stove. She released the bag of lavender into it and turned down the heat just a bit. Then she set the timer as he’d said. A wooden spoon sat nearby and she used it to stir the lavender water, watching the little bubbles fizz up from the bottom, thinking about when she’d first come in this morning.

She’d allowed her happiness to show when she’d walked in, looking forward to spending some time with Theo despite how up and down he could be, but he had been quiet.