Maple Creek by Elizabeth Penn

Author:Elizabeth Penn [Penn, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781732212176
Published: 2019-02-12T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

The meatballs that Sarah made for diner tasted even more delicious than they smelled. She served them on chipped white plates with stained silverware, but they tasted like they had come straight out of the kitchen of a five-star restaurant. The meat was soft and juicy, spiced with visible rosemary and sage, and dripping with a thick red marinara sauce.

She opened us a bottle of red wine, which I was hoping would ease my nerves. While the food was delicious, and the night was perfect, I still had a heavy heart. My secret sat on the tip of my tongue and begged to be spoken. I rehearsed it over and over in my head, trying to come up with the best way to start: Sarah, I’ve been meaning to tell you…There is something I need to say, but it’s difficult…Sarah, there is something from my past you should probably know…Sarah…I’m married.

Over dinner, she bubbled about the season and the fun arts and crafts she had planned for her students for the holidays. In between topics she would ask me about my plans, to which I shrugged and asked her more about her own plans in order to keep my speaking to a minimal.

After she wiped the last bit of sauce from the corner of her mouth with a paper napkin, she leapt from the table with a twinkle in her eye, saying, “Oh! It’s dark now. Let’s go outside and see how the lights look. At night.”

I stood, taking her hand and walking to the front door where we put on our coats, padding out barefoot onto her front porch. The lights twinkled, and their cool white lights matched the frosty air. I looked over to Sarah, who was beaming as she admired the holiday décor. Her breath billowed out in puffy white clouds.

“Sarah,” I started, feeling the tingling of my tongue as my secret tried to come out.

“Yes?” She turned to me with a smile, crossing her arms with a slight shiver.

“There is something I need to tell you before anything else happens,” I said, a shiver passing over me, but it wasn’t the cold.

“Shh,” she hushed me, “I don’t want to talk about sad things, or the past. I just want to be right here, right now, okay?”

“Right here, right now,” I repeated with a sigh.

There was a moment of silence between us, and I tried to quiet the fear in my mind. I looked over her curls, her soft lips, her sparkling eyes, and the way the delicate way the twinkling icicles illuminated her fair complexion. Suddenly, the wind picked up, bringing not only her warm vanilla scent, but also a few fluffy snowdrops that floated and landed quietly in her hair.

“Snow,” I gasped, “It’s snowing.”

She looked up and so did I. The snow fell in silence, as even the wind died down to nothing. Puffy white balls of fluff landed on my nose and eyelashes, melting instantly. I stuck my tongue out, catching a few snowflakes as Sarah and I giggled.

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