It was a hard week for Juliana and her family. Kyle was there, being supportive the whole way through, as though they had been dating for years. It was amazing how deep his kindness went, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to help them.
The funeral was on Saturday. It rained. No one seemed to mind and as her father was placed in the ground, Juliana felt her spirit lift. He wasn’t in pain anymore. She imagined she could see him standing in the rain, looking as he used to, strong and handsome, smiling at her.
Her mother was silently wrapped up in layers of grief. She cried one minute and ranted the next. As the funeral concluded and they said their final earthly goodbyes, she heard her mother telling everyone she was glad he was somewhere where pain wasn’t even a memory and that she would be fine.
“… just fine … I have my daughters,” she said over and over, as people they had lived their lives with came and squeezed her hands or hugged her. Juliana was amazed she was holding together so well.
Margaret was taking it the worst. She hadn’t stopped crying all week, which surprised Juliana. Margaret had always been the one who got things done. Now she was a mess, when even their mother had dried her eyes, put on her makeup, and stood strong all through the preacher’s words.
As mourners filed passed, Margaret stood next to the coffin. She had picked out a nice one, though Juliana couldn’t see the point. Dad wasn’t there, after all, only what remained of his earthly visit was in there, and soon it wouldn’t be either.
“Peter and I’ll get your mother and the kids in the car,” Kyle said.
Juliana nodded, noticing how even Bryce liked Kyle and went with him with no fuss at all. She stayed and gently placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. The rain was lessening now, only a few drops still taking the leap out of the sky.
“I know I’m being selfish,” Margaret sobbed. “But I want him here.”
She fell to her knees and draped herself over the coffin, her black dress ruined in the mud. She didn’t seem to care.
“I loved him so much,” she said, sniffing. “And you know, I don’t think I ever told him.”
“Sure, you did,” Juliana said softly.
Margaret pulled her lips in a straight line and shook her head. “Nope. It wasn’t like with him and you. You guys were so natural together. You fit like a glove and spoke the same language, you know? I always felt like an outsider. Mom as well. She said you and Dad had something special …” she cried harder then and shook her head. “He just meant so much …”
Juliana sank to her knees and put her arms around her sister and hugged her, rocking her until she stopped crying. By that time, it had completely stopped raining.
“He loved you so much,” Juliana said. “He used to tell me that you were his pillar of strength. He’d say, so long as Margaret was around, none of us needed to worry, because you’d always find a way to make things happen.”
“Ha! I couldn’t find a cure for him,” she said and wiped her nose on her arm. She stopped and stared at her sleeve, a look of disgust mingled with guilt spreading across her face. “Don’t tell my kids I did that.”
“My lips are sealed,” Juliana said. “Anyway, there’s no way your kids would listen to me. They hate me.”
“Nah. Well, Bryce does,” Margaret said and laughed.
She sighed and turned to Juliana. “You’re a great sister.”
“No, but I’d like to have the chance to try to be one,” Juliana said.
They hugged and then let each other go.
Juliana looked around. They were alone by the graveside, but a man stood not far off with a shovel looking meaningfully at them.
“Let’s go, before they accidentally toss us in the grave, too,” Juliana said.
They walked down the little hill from the gravesite to where the car sat waiting for them. As they came close, they could hear raised voices.
“… come to my husband’s funeral!”
“That’s Ma,” Juliana said, and they ran to the car.
Standing in the road, dripping from the recent rain, and looking thunderous, their mother was red faced and yelling. The object of her anger was none other than Mr. Perkins. He was holding a clump of papers in a whitening fist.
“This is an offer to purchase, Mrs. Bailey, and I strongly urge you to sign and take the money! Your husband’s bills won’t pay themselves and this enterprise will pay you handsomely for a piece of land you’re not doing anything with. Now, stop being silly and sign. You can’t stand in the way of progress.”
Their mother narrowed her eyes and chewed her lips. She caught sight of her two daughters, squared her shoulders, and stuck out her chest.
“I can and I will!” she roared. “I don’t want your money. Perhaps the others on the block signed, but that won’t be me. I’m not selling my soul, or the town’s. They’re all good people, so I don’t think they did this on their own. Did you threaten them like you did me? Did you tell them you know people in low places who like to set fires? I’m pretty sure that’s what you told me when you came to my house. And now here you are, with no respect for my husband who has just been laid to rest, and for my family! How dare you!”
“I think you should get out of the way now,” Kyle said, pushing Mr. Perkins gently to the side. “You’ve said your piece, she’s said hers, and there’s nothing more to do here.”
Mr. Perkins sneered. He had the face for it. Juliana walked up to him and, hands on hips, brought her nose to within inches of his. “That is our land. It belongs to our family and we’re opening a diner on it.”
There was quite a crowd. A lot of people knew her dad and were staying for the show.
“You can’t!” Perkins protested.
“I think you’ll find they can,” Margaret said. “So, I guess your big plan is falling through. Shame! Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a lot of planning to do.”
Juliana smiled at him and turned on her heel. Mr. Perkins overbalanced and slipped in the mud, landing on his behind.
“You can’t stop progress forever, you know! One day, we’ll get our mall and more …!” he yelled after them.
As they drove off, Juliana smiled at Kyle and he squeezed her hand. Perhaps being at home with her family was the right way to go. Things were looking up and Snowy Mountain was the place to be, especially since, soon, she would have a diner to run.
NEXT BOOK SAMPLE
Snowy Mountain Colorado, June 1993
Stepping out of the bank, her arm crooked through her mother’s, Juliana smiled. She had a spring in her step and was looking forward to another wonderful Snowy Mountain summer day. A tall oak tree spread its green leaves overhead and birds chirped loudly.
“Well, that went well,” her mother said.
Juliana mushed her lips together and nodded. She hated counting her chickens before the hen had even laid the eggs. However, her mother liked to have a positive outlook, meaning that every little victory was a big deal.
“Don’t you think so?” she said. “He sounded positive when he said they’d be getting in touch with us later.”
“Ma, it’s what he’s supposed to say,” Juliana said as they began to walk down the road to where they had parked their car.
“I know that, but you don’t have to be so negative all the time,” her mother snapped and then sighed. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to snap.”
Juliana nodded. “It’s okay. The bank will review our application for a business loan and let us know.” Then, seeing her mother’s face fall again, Juliana added, “But I’m sure it went well. I can’t see any reason they might deny the loan. I mean, we have my savings in the pot and we have the land already … and that’s a major cost we’ve avoided so …”
They reached her father’s old Toyota. Juliana had taken it over since his passing in April.
“So … it’s all good,” her mother said and sighed, looking over the roof at her. “I’m so nervous. Isn’t that silly?”
“No,” Juliana said, opening the driver’s door and sliding in behind the wheel. “I’m nervous, too. Building a diner from scratch is a bigger job than I thought it would be. So, where to now?”
“The architect. He’s in Aspen Heights,” her mother said, sitting in the passenger seat, consulting a notepad she carried in her handbag.
Dressed in jeans and a summer floral blouse, Emily Bailey didn’t look her sixty years. She was striking, with long silver hair that she always took care to style. Her hands were manicured, her face almost wrinkle free, and her light green eyes sparkled brightly.
Juliana winked at her mom. “We’re going to make this happen together, okay?”
Her mother nodded and squeezed her hand. “Come on, darling, or we’ll be late.” Juliana knew that tone. She’d heard it all her life. If there was one thing above all Emily Bailey hated, it was being late for any appointment.
Pulling out into the minimal traffic in Snowy Mountain, Juliana noted that as the trees and plants had regrown their summer leaves and the days had become hot and humid, so the town had woken up. There were tourists now, walking the streets, taking pictures of Nichol’s General Store and the Lucky Leather Shoe, which both still boasted the same shopfront as when they were first built in the 1880s. Some even stopped to take pictures of the open lot across from Nichol’s; their lot. There wasn’t much there, only the back wall of the Sawdust Inn and an adventurous pine tree reaching for the sky through the tumbled stones.
They passed the tourist center on the corner of Main and Denver Boulevard, where a mother in short pants and a hat was trying to get her three small children to wear their caps. They ran up and down the sidewalk, ignoring her flatly, and Juliana smiled as the scene made her think of her sister Margaret and her two boys, neither of whom ever listened to her.
Driving through Snowy Mountain, up the hills to Aspen Heights where the more expensive properties commanded the best views, Juliana swallowed as a sense of panic gripped her. It had started a week or so ago. One minute she was fine and the next she felt terribly hot inside her skin and she would break out in a sweat. As her hands began to slip on the steering wheel, she tried to slow her breathing. Every time she realized she was putting down roots in Snowy Mountain, something she had promised herself she would never do, this happened.
“Are you all right, dear?” her mother asked. “Your face is all flushed. Do you need some water? I have a bottle here in my bag.” She pulled out a squeeze bottle that had been Juliana’s all through school.
“I’m fine, Ma,” she said. “The humidity is getting to me, is all. I’ve been in Alaska for two years, so this is going to take some getting used to.”
Her mother nodded and put the bottle away.
They pulled up to a massive two-story house on a hill. It had a landscaped garden that slid down the hill in tiers.
“They’ve mixed their succulents and flowers,” her mother noted as she got out of the car and inspected the garden closest to the drive way. “That’s brave.”
Juliana shrugged. She had no idea about plants.
“Emily!”
The front door opened and an older gentleman stepped onto the porch. He smiled at them warmly.
“Emily, it’s so good to see you,” he said as her mother walked along a pathway to the door.
“Arnie,” she said, smiling. They shook hands.
“How are you doing? I’m so sorry about David,” Arnie said as he clasped Emily’s hand in his. Juliana hung back a little, watching this exchange.
Her mother nodded and smiled sadly. “Well, smoking will kill you.”
He nodded and turned to Juliana. “And this must be Juliana. She reminds me of you when we were that young.”
“She’s my youngest,” Emily said, fiddling with Juliana’s long copper hair. She hated that, but tried to smile through it anyway.
Suddenly, Juliana’s hand was grasped and she looked up into warm brown eyes under prodigious eyebrows like two hairy caterpillars. His face was clean shaven and since there wasn’t much hair left on his head, his dome rising out of a ring of gray hair, Juliana thought of him as shiny.
“Arnold Watts,” he said. “But you can call me Arnie. Everyone does.”
He ushered them into his house and down some stairs into his study. It was a room with a sliding door leading out into the garden. On a hot day like this one was, the door was open and a light breeze wafted in.
Once they had sat down and made themselves comfortable in front of his desk Arnie leaned forward and rested his elbows on the dark wood surface.
“Now, following on the conversations we’ve had on the phone, Emily,” he said, “I went ahead and made some inquiries at the council.”
“Good,” Emily said nodding. “And …?”
“And,” Arnie said, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “We have a problem.”
“What do you mean, we have a problem?” Emily asked. “When we spoke, you said there was nothing to this. You said it would be easy. What could possibly have changed?”
“Hang on, Ma,” Juliana said, placing a hand on her one of her mother’s. “Let him speak.”
Her mother turned to her and she could see panic in her eyes. This meant a lot to them both. For Emily, it was keeping her mind off losing her husband. And for Juliana, apart from helping her deal with her grief at losing her father, it was a dream come true.
Arnie sighed. “I don’t think this is insurmountable,” he said. “The issue is that the council feels the open lot is an historical landmark. It is, as you yourself have been saying, a living commemoration of the worst disaster to ever befall Snowy Mountain. That fire in 1926 was horrific. But we only have that space as a memorial.”
“You sound as though you’re siding with them,” Emily said. Her green eyes were hard and piercing.
Arnie sat back in his chair, as though Emily’s gaze hurt. “Of course, I’m not,” he said, holding up his hands. “I’m just telling you what we’re facing. This is going to take some careful planning and creative thought.”
“So, what does the council want?” Juliana asked. “They wouldn’t mention this if they didn’t want something, or they would have considered preserving the site somehow long before now.”
Arnie turned his gaze on her and nodded, a look of surprise on his face. “You have a smart one here, Emily. Yes, they want you to ensure that the new diner commemorates the fire somehow.”
There was a moment of cogitative silence. Juliana’s mind kicked into overdrive. Perhaps this was a sign. Perhaps she was doing the wrong thing settling down. There were still so many things she wanted to do and places she wanted go. Perhaps this was the universe telling her she shouldn’t be doing this.
But things were going so well. She and her mother were speaking and getting along. Sure, it was taking a lot of effort on both their parts, but it was getting easier. And there were other things about being in Snowy Mountain that were great. Kyle Nichols was certainly one of them. The thought of him and his easy smile made Juliana’s heart skip several beats.
This was nonsense. She was doing the right thing by all accounts and she was going to make this work. There had to be a way to make the council happy to approve the plans and it was still early enough in the process, she hoped, to change things up. After all, her mother had only described what they wanted to do to Arnie. This was their first actual meeting. To cry doom and gloom was defeatist and she wouldn’t have put herself through culinary school if she gave up so easily.
Juliana squared her shoulders and said, “So, the council wants us to commemorate the fire? Is that all they have a problem with?”
Arnie nodded. “Since we don’t have any plans actually drawn up yet, yeah. That could change though. I’m just warning you, Emily.”
Emily snorted and folded her arms across her chest. She was not impressed, and it was written all over her.
Juliana chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. “Okay. So, what’s the best way to commemorate the fire of 1926?” She tapped her fingertips together. “Hey, can’t we use that back wall from the Sawdust Inn? It’s still standing.”
Arnie shook his head. “Structurally unsound,” he said. “Although, we could use the stones it’s made of. That’s given me an idea. How about you tell me all the more modern things you’re thinking of adding and we sketch something up and see where we are?”
That sounded much better and after a little coaxing, Emily joined in the conversation. By the time they left over an hour later, Arnie was sketching away happily and Emily was smiling once again.
As they drove down the hill back home, Emily said, “I thought it was all over there for a second. The way Arnie spoke, I thought there was no hope.”
“I know,” Juliana said. “But you see. There might be a way, especially adding the museum wing, as you called it. That was genius.”
“Thanks,” Emily said. “Sometimes your mother has good ideas, too.”
“I know you do,” Juliana said, smiling.
She dropped Emily off at the house full of plans for new sculptures. They were mostly busts in clay and Juliana loved them because her mother made them. Although, if she was honest, if someone else had been the artist, she never would have bought one.
There wasn’t much to do after her meetings, so she headed to Nichol’s to see if she could find Kyle.
As she walked through the door, a familiar voice called out to her.
“And there she is!”
Kyle leaned on the thick wood counter at the door. “How about some sugar, sugar?”
“Did you really just call me sugar?” Juliana demanded playfully as she leaned over the counter towards him.
“Uh huh,” he said.
She smiled and kissed his cheek. His face fell in mock disappointment. “I don’t think I deserve the cheek.”
“Come play hooky with me today and maybe your luck will improve,” Juliana said, cocking her head to one side in a coquettish way.
He sighed. “If only. I got a shipment in and need to go through it. Of course, you can come help me and I’ll pay you for your time.”
“Wow! Sounds great,” Juliana said. She was being mildly sarcastic, although Kyle didn’t seem to notice.
He smiled and lifted the huge slab of wood that was the counter, so she could slip into the back with him and start to check items off on the inventory.
They walked through the back of the store, past Kyle’s office, the staff bathroom, the tiny kitchen, and out to the loading bay. It was nothing more than a back door opening up onto a shaded alleyway. Boxes and crates were stacked like a mini cardboard city and in the middle of it all, clipboard in hand, was Kyle’s sister Cindy.
She looked up as they came out and smiled. “Oh, thank goodness,” she said. “Hey, Jules. Kyle, please can you take over? I really have to go do something in the front of the shop.”
“Sure,” he said. “I conned my girlfriend into helping.” He put on a goofy smile.
Cindy sighed and patted Juliana’s arm in commiseration. “Just remember, you can always dump him if he gets too full of it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Juliana said, taking the clipboard. She could see her afternoon laid out in front of her, and since there was nothing she could do but wait, there were worse places to be. She began to feel her cheeks flush as the panic built inside again at the thought of the diner. At least she would be with Kyle. He always made her feel better.
Swallowing the feelings as best she could, Juliana began to check the shipment. Kyle leaned in close. She sighed and leaned over to kiss his cheek again. He turned his head at the last moment.
The kiss was great and just what she needed. The too-warm feeling in her tummy began to ease and Juliana sank into happiness. Things would be fine.
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