to, but I need to go to Claude’s to see how the pups are doing.”
“Oh, I want to go with you,” Ashley said. “I’ve been so worried about them. Can I go with Patrick, Mom? Please?”
Stephanie wasn’t sure exactly what had gotten into her girls, but she was really going to have to sit them both down and discuss manners with them.
“No, you may not. And please don’t assume that Mr. O’Brien has to invite you just because you want to go. That is very rude.”
“I tell you what I’ll do if it’s okay with your mom,” Patrick said to both girls. “As soon as I leave Claude’s, I will call your mom with a pup report. Maybe later this week, if it’s all right with your mom, I can take both of you girls to see the pups.” Patrick looked at Stephanie, shot her one of his killer smiles, and her heart turned to mush, but only for a second. She remembered just how hateful he had been to her that afternoon.
“I’ll think about it. I’ll certainly have enough time on my hands to do so,” Stephanie said directly to Patrick.
Patrick looked at his big brown boots. “About what I said today—”
“What’s done is done, Mr. O’Brien. Thank you for offering the pup update. You can call my cell as soon as you have word of their condition.”
With that, Stephanie took both girls by the hand and led them away from Patrick, his promises, and whatever it was he had been about to say.
Chapter 10
Two weeks later…
“Well, I for one think he owes you at least a bit of loyalty. You’ve worked your rear off at that place for two years, and this is what you get? Laid off during the holidays?” Melanie took a sip of her coffee. “I still think you should have told Max and Grace at the tree lighting.”
“I know you do. It stinks, but it is what it is. I didn’t want to spoil their evening. I’ll be fine as long as the deal on the house goes through. I’ve already filled out all the paperwork; the deposit is being held in escrow; now all I’m waiting on is the bank. And you know how banks are. They take their good old easy time. Jessica said if I was lucky, I’d be moved in before the end of the year, but I don’t see that happening. Not with the holidays coming up.”
Stephanie and Melanie had just returned from walking the girls to the bus stop. Since her forced leave of absence had begun, they had spent almost every day together. If anything good had come out of her layoff, it was her close friendship with Melanie. They’d taken the girls to the movies twice, three times to McDonald’s, and once they’d gone out for pizza at a new pizza parlor in town called Izzy’s. Melanie wanted to take them to see a Christmas play in Denver this weekend, but Stephanie really couldn’t afford the tickets. Melanie had told Stephanie it was her treat, but Stephanie, who had no idea just how well-off her friend was, said that was too much. Instead, the four of them were planning to see A Christmas Carol at the high school in Placerville. It was free to anyone, and Stephanie knew the girls would get a kick out of it. Ever since Grace had taken them to see The Nutcracker at Eagle Valley High, they’d fallen in love with live performance of any kind.
“I know you can’t wait to get out of this little place, but I think I will miss it when you and the girls leave,” Melanie said as she gazed around the three-room garage apartment.
“Then you should ask your parents to rent it to you,” Stephanie teased. “I’m sure they would give you a decent rate. Not that they haven’t given me a good rate. I didn’t mean to imply that they hadn’t. I know what they could really get out of this place if they wanted to rent it as vacation property.”
“I don’t see that happening. They’ve loved having you and the girls here. I don’t think the place has ever looked quite as homey.”
Stephanie had tried her best to make the small, cramped area into a home. She’d painted the walls a warm butter color and sewn cream-colored drapes to cover the large picture window in the living area. She’d spent two weekends putting new tile in the one and only bathroom. She’d been quite proud of herself, too. She’d taken a course on installing ceramic tile offered at the local hardware store and found it really wasn’t all that hard to do. She’d borrowed the wet saw and cutters from Max, and the tiles she’d chosen, a creamy beige, were on sale. She’d asked permission first, and, of course, she’d been given complete and total discretion over the apartment. She was told to make it her own, and that was exactly what she’d done.
The kitchen wasn’t much bigger than a closet, but Stephanie had left her mark there, too. She’d wall-papered the one wall with tiny butterflies, bought an inexpensive set of pale yellow canisters at a discount store, and added a sheer yellow curtain over the window above the sink. The table had been there when she moved in. Stephanie now knew that it had been a tenth-anniversary gift from Melanie’s father to her mother many years ago. Solid hard rock maple with four matching chairs. She’d purchased yellow checkered cushions and matching place mats after she’d polished the deep honey-colored wood to a mellow shine. It was homey, just as Melanie said.
Stephanie had been hesitant about putting up a tree that year, hoping by some sheer force of magic that she would be in the new house, and they would have Christmas there, but she hadn’t told the girls about the house, so she’d had to decorate the small artificial tree she’d purchased the first year they lived there. The apartment couldn’t hold much more than that, but she and the girls had decorated wherever possible. They’d tied red and green ribbons on all the door-knobs, and on the handles on the kitchen cabinets. They’d strung cranberries and popcorn on thread and draped it on top of the curtain rod in the living room. Baskets of pinecones they had gathered covered every available surface. Amanda had cut out shapes of stars and Christmas trees from red and green construction paper and taped them all over the walls. Not to be out-done, Ashley had used all the aluminum foil in the house making angels and taping them to the ceiling. That had been quite the task, but they’d all enjoyed themselves. And now their little place sparkled and shone, ready for the holidays.
Though it was expensive and not in her budget, Stephanie had bought the girls each a cell phone for Christmas. Remembering those few hours of fear on Black Friday had left her shaken, more so than she’d let on. She’d purchased cards with a limited number of minutes and would instruct the girls that the phones were only to be used in case of an emergency, but she didn’t see that happening, at least not with Ashley. She was starting to talk on the phone with her school friends, and Stephanie knew she would want to fit in with the rest of her classmates by texting and talking on her new cell phone. When Grace and Max had asked what they could give the girls for Christmas, she’d told them to buy them minutes for their phones.
“Thanks, we love it here, it’s just not big enough. You know what it’s like when three girls share a bathroom?” Stephanie teased.
“I’ve witnessed it with my very own eyes,” Melanie informed her.
“Yes, I suppose you have. I’m just lucky they’re still young. Can you imagine what it would be like if they were teenagers?”
Melanie laughed. “I don’t even want to think about it.”
They chatted for a few more minutes. As Melanie was getting ready to leave, the phone rang. Stephanie hoped the girls were all right. She still didn’t feel one hundred percent secure when they were out of her sight.
She raised her index finger to Melanie, indicating for her to wait a minute.
Melanie
