One Snowy Night (Sweet Home, Alaska #1) - Patience Griffin Page 0,21

the alarm. I heard you pull up. You really need a new muffler.”

“I know.”

“So how did it go?” Piney asked.

Hope flipped on the lights. “You mean, other than Donovan hadn’t really ordered any groceries?”

Piney winked at her. “Who said he didn’t? Maybe it was a ploy to get you out at the lodge alone.”

“He wasn’t alone.” Hope raised her eyebrows at Piney.

“Who was with him? I didn’t see a wedding ring.”

“A lot of men don’t wear rings,” Hope said, thinking of her father, who never wanted his ring to get caught in the equipment at work. “His business manager, Rick, is with him. Donovan said he didn’t order any groceries and I believe him.”

Piney laughed. “Always siding with that boy. Some things never change.”

Hope opened her mouth but then decided it wasn’t worth the effort. She changed the subject instead. “Ella said we’re out of milk.”

“You better take a package of cookies with you, too,” Piney suggested. “You look like you’re in need of some stress eating.”

Hope pointed to the street. “I see Bill’s truck is gone.”

Piney peeked around her. “Huh. So it is.”

“Bill was here earlier, wasn’t he?” Hope said accusingly.

Piney smiled. “’Night, buttercup. Set the alarm before you leave.”

“Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Hope said, as Piney made her way back up the stairs.

Hope skipped the cookies—her billfold couldn’t afford any sort of bingeing. She grabbed the milk, paid, set the alarm, and then headed to her car. But then she remembered she needed to get on the Internet to turn off autopay on her utility bill.

Fifteen minutes later, Hope was finally on her way home. When she pulled up to her tiny rental house, the lights weren’t on, which meant Ella wasn’t home yet either.

Hope went inside, made herself a bowl of off-brand Cheerios, and ate her dinner in silence. Next, she texted Ella and asked when she would be home.

The answer came quickly: Soon.

To pass the time, Hope pulled out her sewing machine and reached for the box of clothes on the floor of her closet. Everyone in Sweet Home contributed their no-longer-wanted items so Hope could upcycle them into bags for the Hungry Bear. Piney didn’t charge the locals when they forgot their bags—unless they were perpetual abusers—but she did charge $4.99 a bag to those who didn’t live in Sweet Home, for which Hope got two bucks a bag. She made most of her bag money during the summer months, though there was only a fraction of the tourists in Sweet Home compared to when she was a kid. Bag money became the emergency fund, stored in the coffee can on top of her fridge. Last winter, bag money had paid for Ella’s two rounds of antibiotics when she’d gotten a bad case of strep.

Behind the box of clothes to upcycle, Hope spied the Rubbermaid container of Izzie’s clothes. Mom had saved them and now Hope saved them, too.

Apparently, tonight was all about revisiting the past—seeing Donovan twice tonight, thinking about him ever since, and now the Rubbermaid container. She gave in to the urge, deciding it was okay to dredge up more crushing emotions, as she dragged out Izzie’s clothes and pulled the container over to the couch.

Every dress and every blouse Mom had made for Izzie was in that container. Hope laid each piece on the floor, remembering the good times when Izzie was here—the apple dress she wore to the church picnic, her Brownie uniform, even the pink plaid blankie Izzie had dragged to bed each night and the Sunbonnet Sue quilt that Hope had made her. Hope then stood back and examined the collection. And was surprised when she saw what she’d done.

It was crazy, but somehow, Hope had laid out the items in the shape of Izzie’s tree. A fat trunk center was made up of pants near the bottom, with shirts toward the top and their sleeves outstretched as branches. The blankie stretched out underneath as the ground. Hope could see how quilt blocks would fill in the tree. Emotions—good ones—flooded her, and it felt like kismet. All these years, she and Ella had contributed to Izzie’s Memory Tree, and now it was time to make one of their own.

Hope went back to her closet and pulled down the shoebox that held Izzie’s favorite things. She took hair bows, buttons, and a charm bracelet back to the “quilt” laid out on the floor and positioned the new items on the branches. When she was satisfied with how