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Amy handed Ray a steaming cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows as she gathered a blanket around herself and sat down on the porch swing. It was snowing lightly with Christmas lights on throughout the town of Little Bend. She had a slight smile on her face as she gazed out to look beyond her porch. Amy had always loved this time of year when the lights twinkled, the snow fell, and the magic of the season was in the air.
When she called him thirty minutes before, at 11 p.m., he was lying down, watching television in the motel, and worried that she had decided not to bother him tonight. One ring was all it took, from his voice on the line one minute, to sitting with her on the front porch a few minutes later.
“You do realize it’s about thirty degrees tonight,” he said, with a chuckle.
“I know. I just love the Christmas lights though and haven’t had a spare moment to take them all in,” she answered, blowing on the cocoa. “Besides, we have blankets and friendly conversation, so what could be better?”
She wasn’t wrong; he silently admitted. After the long day with the exhausting funeral, greetings, and dinner afterward, he had worried that she wouldn’t be up to seeing him. He was so pleasantly thankful to see her as they sat snuggled up under blankets next to each other, just loving the sights.
“How is your job going?”
“Great. I love it, and while I’m still on second shift, it allows me to volunteer with the Boys and Girls Club and a couple of other organizations dear to me during the day.”
“That is amazing. I know you love working with kids,” she responded, as that was a shared passion for both of them. They had spent numerous hours volunteering in high school, helping tutor younger students. Ray even lifeguarded at a local water park during the summer of his senior year.
“I do enjoy trying to stop the cycle of poverty and impacting the effects of absent parents. I know it’s only a small impact, but every tiny bit helps.”
“I totally get it. Living River is busier than ever, and the nursery has grown into a full-time endeavor for ranch families and kids recovering from trauma. We like to get them into routines while they are undergoing care to help give consistency as kids do so much better when they learn what is expected and stay on schedules.”
“I have heard impressive things about the ranch way over in the county I work in. It seems that Margaret has picked up right where Holmer and Grace left off, making the ranch bigger and better with each passing day.”
“She has, and it is wonderful to go to work with all those amazing people every day. It was the one thing that kept me going through mom’s illness this last year,” she sighed.
“How are you doing? Really?”
“You know I have faith she is in a better place, and I’m glad she is no longer in pain. The issue I’m having has to do with figuring out Ben, always living in fear of when he will turn up next, and what problem he will bring with him. Also, I just don’t know what to do with myself now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I literally put my entire world on hold for the last few years after college. I came home, and between mom and Ben, they needed full-time to care for everything. Aside from work, I don’t recall the last time I did anything for myself.”
“That is a rough way to live. You are a big person to have put your needs on the back burner for this long,” he said gently.
“Not really, it is just what you do for family.”
“Now, what do you want to do?”
“The odd thing is, I love my job at Living River Ranch and this sweet town of Little Bend. I think I would like to travel and maybe somewhere down the road, consider starting a family of my own. My mind just keeps racing every time I even try to think about what the next small step might be.”
“Maybe take one day at a time. Begin with trying something new tomorrow. What is one new thing you might change in your routine?”
“I keep thinking I would like to try the new coffee shop in town. I could grab a cup on the way to work, and some pastries for everyone. I was normally running late after handing mom over to hospice in the mornings.” I was always in a rush to get to work.
“Now, we are talking. Pastries and coffee tomorrow. You rebel, you.”
She punched him in the arm. “You know I missed you,” she said out of the clear blue, catching him off guard.
“I missed you,” he said with a deep sigh. “You know I always thought it would be you and I ending up married having the cliché 2.5 kids in the end.”
“We were sort of tied at the hip back in high school, and I will say I hoped for a long time that would happen,” immediately taking a sip of cocoa and burying her face in the steam, unable to hide her blush from the pale light of the house.
“I think we might work on being friends once again,” he said, testing the water. “I mean I only live an hour and a half from here, so who knows, maybe the change in your routine should include a trip to see me soon.”
“You never know what I might decide to do these days,” Amy said with a grin, as she gazed out in front of her, sipping her cocoa feeling less tense than she had been at the funeral earlier.
He sunk back into himself, feeling nostalgia steal over him as he continued to walk down memory lane.
