Home on Apple Blossom Road (Life in Icicle Falls) (11 page)

Saturday. Normally, Colin would be at the climbing gym with some of his buddies, or riding bikes onto the ferry to Bainbridge Island with Lorelei. Or filling the day with any number of physical activities, like working out at the gym or going hiking. It was all fun, but in the end, looking at his life in light of the ones his grandparents had lived, it could hardly qualify as meaningful. Aunt Beth had raised Mia and helped raise him. Dad did pro bono stuff. What was
he
doing? No one ever came right out and said it, but he suspected his family was disappointed in how little he’d accomplished so far.

Assembling the gingerbread house was tricky. Who knew it would be so hard to get those walls to stick together? And after the house collapsed, they had to start over putting on the roof, and that had him holding his breath.

“This is hard,” he said. “No wonder Cass charges so much for these things.”

“I think we’ve got it, though,” Mia said and stepped back to admire their handiwork. She cocked her head. “Well, it’s a little sloppy. Maybe I should scrape off some of the frosting.”

“No, let’s not do anything that might make it collapse again.”

“All right, then, I guess we can decorate.”

“Sounds good to me.” He ripped open the M&M’s bag, poured out a handful and popped them in his mouth.

“They’re for the house, remember?”

“Sure, I remember,” he said, and stuck one along the roofline. “Hey, Christmas lights,” he said after he’d added a few more.

“Not bad,” she agreed, lining gumdrops along the base of the house.

“Not bad? It’s downright artistic,” he said, and tossed an M&M at her.

“Hey,” she protested, and retaliated with a gumdrop.

Which of course, called for another M&M assault.

She giggled and threw a second gumdrop.

Somehow, those opening volleys devolved into an outright candy war, and soon Colin had her cornered with what was left of the royal icing.

“Don’t,” she warned. “That’ll make a mess of my hair.

“All right.” He set it on the counter.

The moment he did, she dipped into it and got him in the face, and then they were off and running again.

Finally, with candy everywhere and royal icing on their clothes and faces, they called a truce.

“We’d better get this cleaned up before Aunt Beth comes back,” Mia said and grabbed a dishcloth.

Colin fetched the broom and dustpan and got to work sweeping. “When was the last time we had a food fight?”

“Thanksgiving weekend, your senior year. With the whipped cream.”

He remembered. He’d just wanted to see if she did. That had ended with a mess in the kitchen, too. And a kiss. He missed those days. Did she?

He dumped the candy and walked over to where she stood at the counter, suddenly very busy mopping up icing. “Mia.”

She stopped scrubbing and looked out the kitchen window. “Sometimes I really miss our old life. I miss Grandma Justine.”

“I know,” he said, and put an arm around her. “I do, too.”

She turned into him and he hugged her. It still felt so right. They should’ve been together. He should never have let her go, should have fought for her.

Before he could say as much, his cell phone demanded his attention, bringing him back to his senses. Lorelei was the present. Mia was the past.

She stepped away. “I bet that’s Lorelei. She’s probably starving,” he said and answered. “Hey, babe.”

“Okay, I’m at some place called Zelda’s,” Lorelei informed him. “Are you done yet?”

“Almost,” he assured her.

“Great! I’ll get us a table. For two.”

“Make it for three,” he told her and she hung up on him.

No more was said about Lorelei as he and Mia cleaned up and then drove back to Gingerbread Haus. No more was said, period.

“That’s quite the creation.” Cass smiled, checking out their slightly lopsided gingerbread house.

“Right up there with the Charlie Brown ugly Christmas tree,” Mia said. “I don’t think either of us is going into the gingerbread house business anytime soon.”

“Good. I don’t want any competition,” Cass joked.

“No worries there. Nobody can compete with you,” Colin told her.

“What a flatterer you’ve become,” she said, waving away his compliment. “Now I’ll get your clue. You can keep the house, by the way.”

“Hey, thanks,” Colin said, and broke off a piece of the roof. Gentleman that he was, he offered it to Mia first.

She shook her head.

“Fine. More for me.” He took a bite. “Mmm.”

“Stop that.” She broke off a piece for herself. “You’re a bad influence,” she said and stuffed it in her mouth.

He wouldn’t mind being a bad influence.
Earth to Colin. You have a girlfriend waiting for you at Zelda’s.

Man, he was screwed up.

February 16, 2003

Dear Emmaline,

I hope your knee is healing well. I’ve heard knee replacements are painful, but in the long run I’m sure you’ll be glad you had it done. It was so nice of Joey to call and let us know you came through the surgery okay. I have a little something from Sweet Dreams coming your way. It may not speed your recovery, but I promise it will make you feel better.

I was sorry to hear about J.J. losing his job. How awful to get laid off after fifteen years with the same company! I hope he’ll find a new job soon.

We all had a lovely Valentine’s Day here. Gerald took me to Schwangau for a candlelight dinner. It’s such an expensive restaurant. I always feel a little guilty about spending that much money on a meal. Gerald told me he’d spend ten times that to give me a romantic dinner. Wasn’t that sweet? I swear I love that man even more than I did when we were teenagers. Bethie and Mark spent the night at a fancy hotel in Seattle, and our Colin and Mia went to Herman’s Hamburgers and a movie. She made him Valentine cookies, and he bought her a long-stemmed pink rose. They’re such a cute pair and so enamored of each other. I’m sure it would have pleased Anna no end to see them together. Who knows? Maybe this will turn into a lifelong love like Gerald and I have enjoyed. Dylan has been in Seattle all week. On business, he claimed, but I wonder if there’s a lady over there. I don’t ask anymore. He seems happy as a bachelor so there’s no sense in worrying about him.

Well, dear, there’s not much else going on here to report. I do hope you’re up and around again soon.

Love,

Justine

Chapter Nine

C
ass returned with another pink envelope. “Good luck,” she said, and handed it to Mia.

They left, taking their culinary creation with them. Colin put it in the backseat, leaving Mia to read their next clue. “Okay, what does it say?” he asked as he started the engine.

“‘What’s sweet and flat and round? For your next clue, go where it’s found,’” Mia read. She tapped her chin. “Sweet and flat and round?”

“Elephant ears,” Colin said. “Except you can only get those at the street dance or on the Fourth of July.”

“Sweet and round, sweet and round,” she mused. This wasn’t that hard a clue. Was her brain getting worn out?

“Pancakes,” Colin said suddenly.

“Of course.” It stood to reason that one of their clues would be at Pancake Haus. Mia had worked there part-time when she was in high school, and once she and Colin got together, he’d come in every Saturday for breakfast.

He shook his head. “Trust Gram to send us there.”

Mia blushed.

“Not one of your finer moments,” he teased, making her face burn even hotter.

Her behavior
had
been a little out of character. Okay, a lot. But darn it all, she’d been provoked.

* * *

Mia was now a junior. The ugliness with Adrian Malk was behind her, and she and Colin were an item. The new school year was starting off great. She and Colin went to football games, ate lunch together in the cafeteria and did their homework together. In some ways nothing had changed since they still hung out like they always had. In other ways, everything had changed because now there was also the sweet thrill of holding hands and sharing kisses. Come December there’d be the Christmas Ball, then Colin’s senior prom. The rest of her life was good, too. She liked all her classes at school and she especially enjoyed the self-defense class she was taking through the Icicle Falls Parks and Recreation Department. She was in the high school equivalent of the Garden of Eden.

Then the snake arrived. Emily Green was new to Icicle Falls High. She was cute and dressed like a fashion model. And she was a flirt. Every boy in school was hot for her but who did she set her greedy little eyes on? Colin.

It seemed as if every time Mia turned around, there was Emily, flirting with him—in the lunch line, in the hall between classes, at the football games. Mia found herself wishing that Colin played football instead of baseball. At least he would’ve been out on the field where Emily couldn’t get her hooks into him, instead of sitting in the bleachers. No matter where they sat at the games, she always seemed to find them, plunking her designer-jeans-clad bottom down on his other side and then playing dumb and asking him to explain every play to her.

“Colin, you’re so smart,” she’d coo, and of course he ate it up.

“You know, she’s out to get him,” Bailey Sterling said to Mia when some of the girls gathered in Mia’s room for an impromptu slumber party.

“She’s out to get every boy in town,” Christie Ortega added bitterly. And Christie would know, since her breakup with Eddie Schultz was directly connected to a certain under-the-bleachers tête-à-tête between Emily and Eddie.

Eddie had dumped Christie, and then been seen at Herman’s slurping milk shakes with Emily. It had been short-lived and now Eddie was moping his way down the halls to his classes, and Emily was batting her extended eyelashes at Colin.

“I think she likes taking other girls’ guys,” Bailey said.

“It’s a power trip,” Christie said. “Watch out, Mia, because the cuter the guy...”

She didn’t have to finish the sentence. Colin was one of the cutest guys in school.

“She’d better not come after Colin,” Mia said. Except she already had.

“Or what? You’ll beat her up? Everyone knows you don’t have a mean bone in your body,” Christie said.

“Then we’ll beat her up for you,” Bailey said, which made both girls laugh.

“You might break a nail,” Christie teased.

“I can be tough,” Bailey insisted, and the other two laughed.

“That’s the problem. We’re all too nice,” Christie said with a sigh.

“There’s nothing wrong with being nice,” Mia scolded her. “I believe in the Golden Rule, and I think in the end we all get exactly what we deserve.”

Christie frowned. “I didn’t deserve to get my boyfriend stolen.”

“No. You deserve better than a guy who’ll dump you just because some other girl comes along and flirts with him.”

“And what are you going to do if Colin dumps you?” Christie asked.

“He won’t. We’re like Cathy and Heathcliff in
Wuthering Heights.
”

“And you know how
that
turned out,” Bailey said with a shake of her head. “I never did get that book.”

“It’s about undying love,” Mia explained.

“Yeah, but she married someone else,” Bailey protested.

“Okay, then, we’re like Buttercup and Westley in
The Princess Bride
,” Mia amended. And they were. Colin had proved that when he rescued her from Adrian Malk.

“Or Leonardo and Rosamunde in
Forever Love
,” Christie suggested. “I loved that book,” she said. “But then I love all of Vanessa Valentine’s books. Those heroes never go off and sleep with other women.”

“You don’t really think Emily did it under the bleachers with Eddie, do you?” Bailey asked, wide-eyed. “I mean, I know they were under there for a while but still... It was cold out. And people were all around.”

“There weren’t any people under the bleachers,” Christie said with a scowl. “Anyway, I don’t know and I don’t care. All I’m saying,” she said to Mia, “is you’d better watch your back.”

“I think you need to tell Emily what’s what,” said Bailey. “Be...” She scrunched up her face, looking for the right word.

“Proactive?” Mia guessed.

“Yep, that’s it.”

“I agree with Bailey. We should beat her up. Let’s grab her in the locker room after PE,” Christie said, obviously relishing the thought.

“We’re not going to beat anyone up,” Mia said firmly.

“Well, you should at least threaten her,” Christie advised.

“I don’t need to. I trust Colin.”

“Yeah, well, I trusted Eddie and look where it got me,” Christie said resentfully.

Good point. Mia decided it couldn’t hurt to have a little talk with the newcomer. Maybe they did things differently in Portland where Emily came from, but here in Icicle Falls, girls didn’t poach.

Mia finally worked up the nerve when they were walking out of the locker room after PE. She started out with a diplomatic, “So, how are you liking it here?”

“It’s okay, I guess,” Emily said. “You guys need a mall.”

Everyone was doing fine shopping in the local stores or going to nearby Wenatchee. “We kind of like it the way it is.”

Emily shrugged. “I guess. The boys are cute,” she added, and gave Mia a superior smirk.

“Um, about that. We have sort of an unwritten rule about boys.”

Emily’s only answer was to cock an eyebrow.

“We, um, well, if someone’s with someone, we don’t go after that guy.”

“If someone’s with someone, he doesn’t go after another girl,” Emily shot back with a toss of her blond hair. “And I’m new here, so I don’t know who’s with who.”

“Well, Colin’s with me. Now you know.”

For such a pretty girl, Emily sure had an ugly smile. “Yeah? Then how come he flirts with me?”

Mia blinked. Colin didn’t flirt with her, did he? “I think you’re the one doing all the flirting.”

“Am I? Well, if he’s really into you, you don’t have anything to worry about, do you?” Emily retorted and turned down the hall to go to her next class, leaving Mia standing in the stream of students, gaping after her.

She chewed on Emily’s words for the rest of the school day, barely paying attention in geometry or US history. And the next Friday night at the football game, she watched carefully as Colin explained yet again the concept of first, second, third and fourth downs to Emily. Didn’t they have football in Oregon?

“What’s wrong?” he asked later as they drove to Herman’s for postgame burgers with the gang.

“Nothing.” He shouldn’t have to ask. If he had to ask, she certainly wasn’t going to tell him.

“Well, something’s wrong.”

Okay, she
would
tell him. “Emily. You were flirting with Emily.”

“You’re jealous?”

“No. I don’t think you should pay so much attention to her when you’re with me, that’s all.”

“I wasn’t paying attention. I was just being polite.”

“Do you have to be so polite?”

He grinned. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.”

“Sure you’re not,” he said and tugged on a lock of her hair.

Well, okay, so what if she was? Colin was special and she didn’t want to share.

It seemed as though ever since their talk, Emily was even more determined to steal him, and the Saturday morning she showed up at Pancake Haus for breakfast, Mia was convinced she was stalking him. Colin and Andy Forrester and Billy Williams always came in for breakfast before heading off to their Saturday jobs—Andy to Mountain Escape Books, Bill Will to the nearby guest ranch where he mucked out stalls and took city slickers on trail rides, and Colin to Swede’s garage, where he did oil changes on cars and rang up gas purchases. The three of them always took a booth together, but today here was Emily, squeezed in on the end, right next to Colin. What was she doing here?

“Emily, you’re up early,” she greeted the interloper as she handed out menus.

“The boys told me you guys have really good pancakes,” Emily replied and smiled at Colin.

Mia frowned and Colin looked uncomfortable. Andy and Bill Will just sat there, clueless and grinning.

“So, the usual for you guys?” Mia asked.

“Yep,” Bill Will replied.

“What will you have, Emily?” Mia asked Emily.
A punch in the nose?

“Should I have the pancakes?” Mia asked Colin. What, she couldn’t make up her own mind?

“I don’t know. Get what you like,” he said.

“Get the pancakes,” urged Andy.

“Okay,” she said. “And could you warm the syrup? I like warm syrup on my pancakes.” Then she turned her back on Mia as if she was some lowly serving wench and asked Colin what he was doing after work.

Mia stormed off to the kitchen to put in the order. She served two other tables and wrote up the bill for a third. Finally, she fetched the order for Colin’s table.

“Where’s my warm syrup?” Emily asked.

“It’s coming,” Mia said through gritted teeth.

She snagged a little glass pitcher from another table and gave it a quick zap in the microwave then started to put its metal lid on. Inspiration stopped her. She wouldn’t be needing the lid.

“What took you so long?” Emily said when she returned. “I had to get it just right,” Mia replied. “I hope this is warm enough.” And she tipped the pitcher over Emily’s head.

Emily let out a shriek and jumped from the booth, syrup dripping down her hair.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Mia said as the boys laughed uproariously.

Emily glared at her. “You did that on purpose!”

Well, duh.
“Maybe I did. Just like you’ve been running around stealing other girls’ boyfriends on purpose. I already told you we don’t do that here and if you want to have a single friend in this town, you’d better stop.” Whoa, had she just said all that? And in a public place? She was suddenly aware of several pairs of eyes on her. She wanted to run away.

So did Emily. She burst into tears and rushed from the restaurant.

Oh, boy, here came Dot Morrison, the owner. And she wasn’t smiling. “Mia, can I see you in my office?”

It wasn’t a request. Mia followed her, feeling like a prisoner on the way to her trial. This would be her last day of work, not only here but anywhere. Dot would certainly never give her a reference.
Don’t hire Mia. She assaults customers. Syrup is her weapon of choice, but she’s probably equally good with a snow globe or a can of peas.

They went into the little office off one corner of the kitchen and Dot shut the door. “Sit down,” she said, and pulled a cigarette out of the half-used pack sitting on her desk.

Mia squirmed in her seat while Dot lit her cigarette, inhaled and blew out a cloud of smoke.

“You want to tell me what that was all about?” Dot took another drag on her cigarette and studied Mia through the haze of smoke.

Mia bit her lip.

“Never mind. I can guess. You have a rival.”

“She’s stealing everyone’s boyfriends,” Mia blurted.

“Breaking the girlfriend code.”

She understood. Mia nodded, relieved.

“And your boyfriend was next on the list.”

“I told her we were together.”

“Obviously, she needed to be taught a lesson.”

Exactly. Mia nodded again.

Dot’s eyes narrowed. “But not in my restaurant. There’s another code you may not be aware of, Mia, and that’s the good-employee code.”

Mia’s face burned and she felt sick. Dot was definitely going to fire her.

“You made quite a scene out there.”

Now Mia was close to tears. She hung her head. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Morrison.”

“You should be. Not for teaching that little stinker a lesson, but for wasting quality syrup on her. Don’t you be doing that again. Next time you have a problem, tell me. I’ll take the kid outside and give her what for. But let’s save the syrup for the pancakes. Okay?”

Mia stared at her. “You’re not going to fire me?”

“Only if you pull a stunt like that again.”

Relief washed over Mia. “I won’t. I promise.”

Dot stubbed out her cigarette in an ashtray brimming with butts. “See that you don’t. Now, get out there and keep my customers happy.”

Mia practically bolted for the door.

“And Mia.”

She stopped with her hand on the doorknob and turned.

“Good for you,” Dot said with a wink. “Don’t take any crap from anybody and you’ll be fine. One more thing. You don’t have to worry about Colin. I’ve seen the way that boy looks at you. He’s yours, heart and soul.”

Until Arthur had come along. Then everything had blown up. And she’d let it blow. How stupid they’d both been!