One Frosty Night by Janice Kay Johnson

Author:Janice Kay Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

BEN SLAMMED THE rear door of his Jeep. “This the last of it?”

“Yes, thank God.” Olivia stole a look back at the front window of her childhood home, thinking...oh, silly things. That Mom would be standing there, wistfully watching her go. Instead, the window showed only a faint glow from deeper in the house. If Ben and Carson weren’t there, Mom probably would have turned out the porch light before Olivia so much as got in her car.

Truth was, she hadn’t the slightest idea how her mother felt about her decision to move out. When Olivia had told her the evening before, Mom had only nodded once and said, “If that’s what you want to do.” Not so much as a crack showed in her marble-hard impassivity.

Now it was Tuesday evening, and the big move was taking place. This was the third and final load. Ben and Carson hopped into the Jeep, waiting politely until she’d backed out of the driveway and started toward town before doing the same and then falling in behind her. Combating her desolation, Olivia reminded herself she’d be back. After all, she’d promised to continue to help packing up the contents of the house and had received an emotionless “Thank you” in response.

Seeing the headlights right behind hers during the short drive was a comfort. Once both were parked in the alley behind her new apartment, she carried up a box while Ben and Carson wrestled her dresser up the stairs, followed by a bookcase. Once everything was in, Carson helped her make her bed, while Ben set up the television and DVD player that had been in her father’s bedroom. Then they both insisted on crowding into the tiny kitchen with her to put dishes, pans and utensils in drawers and cupboards.

“Now all I have to do is grocery shop,” she said with a sigh. “Tomorrow.”

Carson burst into song. Amused, Olivia recognized “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie.

“How did you know that?” she asked.

Smiling, Ben leaned back against the cupboard and crossed his arms.

“I played Daddy Warbucks in the school production two years ago. I was awesome,” his son assured her, not so modestly.

Olivia laughed. “What did they do for an Annie?”

“We got this sixth grader. Really short little thing.” He held up a hand about chest high.

“One of the Deaton kids,” Ben contributed. “You know they’re all freckled and redheaded. This one’s hair is curly besides. She even let them cut it so she’d look the part. Fortunately, she could sing, too.”

“Is this the next generation?”

Ben grinned. “Nope. Mom says Tisha was an ‘oops’ kid. I think the next youngest is something like twenty-two.”

“But...oh my God. Hasn’t Mrs. Deaton gone through menopause yet?” The words having burst out of her before she thought, she glanced at Carson to see if she’d embarrassed him.

He was laughing as hard as his dad, who finally got it together enough to say, “By now, probably. The girl is...what now? Thirteen?”

“And her mom must be, like, sixty-five,” Olivia muttered.

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