Sierra Hearts (Part One) (3 page)

“But…” Jenn started to say.

“Nonsense. Go ahead and get dressed and then come
down for some breakfast. I’m making eggs.” With that, her mom did a
quick turn and went back out the door. She didn’t even bother
closing the door. Mama MacKenzie did not take no for an answer. It
was her way or the highway. Ever since Jenn was little her mother
would firmly make decisions that the whole house would have to
agree to—whether they wanted to or not.

Jenn sighed. Maybe her mom was right. Sitting up
here moping wasn’t a good idea anyway. The thought of Danny
Williams smiling flicked into her mind, but she shook it away. She
had yet to see him again, but ever since their encounter in the
hallway, she was secretly counting the days until they saw each
other again. He had said he was looking forward to seeing her again
after all, right? That meant he wanted to see her, right? And, boy,
did she want to lay her eyes on him again. Jenn felt a rushing
sensation of blood to her cheeks. Was she seriously blushing just
thinking about Danny? She brushed the though aside and set her mind
on the task of getting dressed, trying hard not to let the idea of
Danny Williams sneak in on the edges of her consciousness.

Jenn took off her sleeping outfit and put on her
knee high socks, making sure the elastic reached up as far as it
could. She had a feeling it was going to be that kind of a day.
Settling on the rest of her outfit was easy—whatever was warm. Jenn
laughed on the inside for a moment thinking about what Dominique
would say about seeing Jenn in full winter gear.

In her mind, she could hear Dominique say in her
French accent,
That knit cap is cute. I’m not a huge fan of that
scarf. Burn that sweater and let us never speak of it
again.

Jenn loosely gripped the bannister of the staircase
on her way down the steps. Even before she got to the kitchen she
could smell her mom’s cooking and the faint, almost a whisper,
sound of the burner going. It smelled like childhood. It smelled
like home. Jenn smiled, a deluge of memories of walking down the
staircase and into the kitchen not unlike this morning coming back
to her all at once. She couldn’t help herself. There were parts of
coming home that would cheer her up despite how hard she tried to
not let it.

“Sleeping Beauty has arisen!” Her dad bellowed
before letting out a belly laugh as he did so, playfully teasing
her. He smiled at her, knowing that such a tease wouldn’t hurt her
feelings.

“Good morning, Father, and what news of the world
today?” She said in a mocking tone back to him. He hated being
called Father about as much as she hated being called Sleeping
Beauty.

“Storm’s coming. Gonna be a big one,” he said before
taking a sip of coffee. “Feel like being useful today?” he asked
grinning, teasing again.

“Yes, she does,” her mother said, drawing out the
words, still at the stove scrambling eggs. Rose MacKenzie tilted
her head down, eyes glaring at Jenn, full angry mama bear mode.

“What do you need help with, Dad?” Jenn said,
anxious to avoid the mama bear.

“Could use your help delivering some groceries,” he
started. Sometimes, especially over the colder months, Mick would
offer grocery delivery to people who had problems getting to the
store with so much snow on the ground. This wasn’t for the lazy,
though. Mick wouldn’t risk driving on icy roads or trudge through
waist deep snow for someone who would just be sprawled out on the
couch and couldn’t be bothered to get to the store. Growing up,
Jenn never remembered someone who would get their groceries
delivered unless they really needed it. Usually the recipients were
elderly or didn’t have a functioning car. Sometimes it was because
one parent was arrested or in jail. Sometimes it was because both
parents were. Whatever the reason, Jenn knew that if someone got
their groceries delivered, that someone couldn’t get to the store.
Period. Something on the spectrum of unfortunate to tragic was
going on in that person’s life, and the General Store was going to
take their groceries to them. With a storm coming, it made sense
that there would be grocery deliveries to make.

“OK,” Jenn said. Jenn glided over to the coffee pot,
its aroma intoxicating at this hour. Jenn, still a little groggy,
could smell the scent that hinted at happiness, zeal, and gusto,
and promised to take away all the drowsiness in one’s spirit.

Caffeine
, Jenn thought. She imagined the
words sounding like a zombie from a cheesy horror movie saying
brains
.

Pouring herself a cup, she then sat down at the
kitchen table where her dad was already seated. Mama bear was done
with the eggs and scooping them out on to three plates, along with
toast and orange slices. No bacon, Jenn noticed. Mick MacKenzie
must still be dealing with his high cholesterol.

The three of them ate in a comfortable silence. Once
they were done, Mick cleared the table and did the dishes while
Rose sipped at her own cup of coffee. At the sink, Mick turned to
face Jenn and her mom.

“I need you to take a box of stuff out to the
Williamses,” he said before turning on the tap to rinse off the
plates.

Jenn almost choked on her own tongue.

Danny
.

He would be there. Or would he? Had he moved out of
the family home on to someplace else? His father had died years
ago, leaving Mrs. Williams to raise Danny and younger Jack on her
own. Jenn remembered something about how Mrs. Williams didn’t stick
around for winters anymore. She would go visit Jack and stay with
him. Jenn couldn’t remember where Jack lived. Who else would be
around to accept the delivery of groceries then?

Just the thought of seeing Danny sent shivers up and
down Jenn’s spine. But at the same time, as much as she was itching
to see him again, Jenn couldn’t help but think something was off.
Didn’t he just take a box of groceries home a few days ago? How
much food could he have gone through?

Jenn’s dad was saying something, but she couldn’t
process the words. Her heart was still fluttering at the prospect
of seeing him.

“Did you hear me?” her dad asked.

“Huh?” Jenn said blankly.

Her dad let out an exaggerated sigh and followed by
a big grin.

“I said, ‘It isn’t a lot of stuff.’ You won’t need
the car. I’ve got to take the car out to the Harriss place anyway.
You can walk to the Williamses.”

“OK,” Jenn said, still slightly distracted. She took
a sip of her coffee, which at this point was going cool.

“A walk would be good for you. It’ll get you out and
around, out of the house,” Rose was saying.

Translation: you are doing this. No arguments,
missy.

“OK,” Jenn said.

Her dad was done washing dishes now and had set them
out to dry.

“Whenever you’re ready,” he said “I’ve got the box
already packed and ready to go. It isn’t heavy at all. You should
be able to carry it without a problem.”

Jenn took one final sip of her now cold coffee. The
grogginess of sleep now gone thanks to a helpful does of
caffeine.

“Let me just hop in the shower really quick,” Jenn
said, her eyes directly on her dad and completely avoiding her
mother’s gaze. She wouldn’t have a chance to convince her mother to
agree to let her at least clean herself up a bit, but she could
always count on her dad to give his daughter a break if she needed
it.

“Sure, OK,” he said. Jenn stood up and made her way
to the bathroom—not even bothering to look at the frown on her
mother’s face caused by this latest example of Jenn
procrastinating.

Once in the bathroom, Jenn turned on the shower and
let the water heat up. She stood in front of the mirror and took a
good look at herself. Her hair was a mess. While certainly not
ugly, her features were plain, and she didn’t have the traditional
beauty that Dominique had. Taking of her layers of clothes, Jenn
looked at her body and decided she could stand to lose a little
weight, too. Thank goodness for bulky winter jackets otherwise she
wouldn’t be able to hide some of her extra pounds that never
managed to go away no matter what she did. She had always been
pale, but her time in Bear Lake mostly indoors away from the sun
drained whatever color she had from her time at the beach in LA.
Steam was now coming from the shower and Jenn stepped in, letting
the warm water cascade all over her. She felt it on her neck first,
then down her spine and back, trickling down her to her legs. It
was a welcome feeling. It felt good to shake off the cold of winter
for at least a little while. Lifting her head underneath the
showerhead, she closed her eyes and tried to let her mind go blank.
She tried not to think about Max, to not let the thoughts of the
asshole ruin her otherwise pleasant shower. She tried to imagine
someone else. Someone who was not Max. Someone who might be in the
shower with her and let the warm water run down
his
neck,
his
spine, and
his
legs before moving his powerful
hands to hold her close to him—so close that even the steam
couldn’t pass between them.

Jenn opened her eyes, pretending that the name
Danny
was not currently echoing somewhere inside of her.

She toweled herself off in front of the mirror. She
took another look at herself. Perhaps she had been too harsh
before. Yes, she wasn’t drop dead gorgeous like Dominique. But, if
she took the time to make sure she styled her hair just so, and did
eventually lose some of that weight maybe… Maybe what exactly?
Maybe she didn’t have to be such a plain Jane after all. She
pictured herself in a black full-length dress. No, better yet,
red
. She imagined walking confidently up to Danny. Leaning
in. Looking so good that he wouldn’t be able to look away. His
whole attention on her and nobody else. He would try to kiss her,
but she would gently put her hand on his chest and whisper into his
ear,
Not here
.

Feeling a little more confident, Jenn decided to
pass on putting on jeans and decided to put on some form fitting
leggings. She put on a dark green sweater, figuring the bulk of the
sweater would hide the parts of her torso she wasn’t happy
about.

“Ready,” Jenn said, grinning when she reached the
bottom step.

She stood up to follow her father out of the
kitchen. Mick had been standing in roughly the same spot in the
when Jenn had headed up to the kitchen. He placed his mug on the
counter and made his way through the hallway to the door that led
to the General Store.

“Alrighty. Let’s go.”

He held the door open for Jenn to walk through. On
the other side, Jenn saw the box on the bar. It was already
packed.

Might as well
, she thought.

Snow was coming down quickly as Jenn made her way to
the Williamses’ house. It wasn’t a far walk. Jenn walked slowly,
careful not to slip on the quickly freezing road beneath her feet.
The last thing she wanted to do was slip on to hardened
asphalt.

She could barely see the house when she got to it
because of the snowfall. She could see the rough outlines of the
roof, now draped in white, as well as the steps leading up to the
front door covered in snow so they looked like a thick white
carpet. The house sat on a steep incline with one of the local
mountains behind it. It made for great sledding for local kids.
Jenn made her way up to the door and knocked. An electric pulse
shot through from her ears to her toes. She hoped Danny opened the
door. Then, she also hoped he didn’t open the door.

Jenn thought of the word
nervous
.

The door opened. It was Danny, after all. Jenn
immediately felt heat radiate over her cheeks. She couldn’t stop
herself from blushing.

“Well, hello,” Danny said with a genuine smile
revealing his teeth. He held the door open wide and held out his
arm in an old fashioned way to signal for Jenn to enter.

“Come on in,” he said, his warm voice melting away
the chill. Jenn followed his lead inside, stomping her feet to
remove the snow from her boots on the matt just inside the doorway.
She realized she hadn’t said anything yet.

“I’ve got the groceries,” she blurted out and held
up the box, instantly regretting it.

Danny chuckled. “And here I was, thinking this was a
social visit. But no, all business,” he said with a laugh. Danny
reached out to take the box from her. He was wearing a dark green
shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows revealing powerful
looking forearms. Jenn followed the arms as they took the box and
placed them on the floor out of range of any snow that might have
fallen on the ground from Jenn’s entrance.

Jenn wasn’t sure what to do next. Should she say
something? Should she leave? She was surprised how much being in
the same room with him was paralyzing her and how anxious she was
feeling.

“Snow’s really coming down out there,” Danny said.
“Can I get you something? Coffee or hot cocoa? Come on, have a seat
by the fire and take off some of those layers.”

Jenn could see an outstretched muscular arm signal
to the couch in front of it.

“I’m going to make some tea, would you like some?”
Danny asked as he headed to where the kitchen was.

“Tea would be lovely,” Jenn said, conscious of the
fact that she was now removing her heavy snow jacket. She could
feel herself removing her scarf and knit cap, but it was as if
someone else was doing it and she were merely along for the ride.
She hesitated about taking her boots off. Taking her boots off
meant she would be staying for longer than a few minutes. She could
hear Danny make his way to the kitchen, and, once there, turn on
the sink to fill the kettle. Something about it seemed so natural,
as if men everywhere should always have been offering to make tea
for her. So she took her boots off.