Judy had been rightabout the bourbon. Unfortunately, it didn’t help me sleep better. It did taste good after my stew though.
I made an extra large batch and packed some away in the freezer and a few for the next few days for myself. The snow left me feeling hemmed in, especially since I kept staring at my damn cursor on my laptop.
I went back to researching about the kids who had gone missing on Providence Lake. Thankfully all my library credentials got me into the digital archives. Unfortunately some of the newspapers were still on microfiche, so I’d have to go into town if I wanted to read the original newspaper articles.
It probably wouldn’t help.
The details were slim, but I didn’t know what else to do to spark something for this book. I knew there was something there, I just had to find the nugget if my stupid brain would work.
The morning came with blue skies, glaring sun, and a mountain of snow. Deciding a bit of manual labor might helpclear my head, I shoveled off the porch and made my way down the driveway.
Dylan and his brother had been through with the snowplow, but they’d been too busy to do our individual driveways. Eighteen inches had turned into two feet on the overnight. When I finished making a walkway, I trudged over to Phoebe’s place and started on her winding stone steps.
When I was halfway to her front porch she opened her door. “What are you doing?”
“What’s it look like?” I huffed and threw a shovelful of snow onto the hill.
“I can take care of my own stairs.”
“Yeah, well, I wanted the exercise.”
She stood in the doorway wearing purple snow pants with a ridiculous hot pink sweater. Her hair was in those messy twists that made her look far too young for me.
“I’m helping.” She opened the door wider and Mouse shot out like a cannon, coming right for me.
“That’s not helping,” I said and braced for impact.
I went down with the dog on top of me as we landed in all the snow I’d painstakingly shoveled.Her delighted laugh was followed by the muffled swish of her snow pants, then she landed on top of me too.
I grunted. “Definitely not helping.”
She rolled off me and into the fluffy snow then scissored her arms and legs making a snow angel. Mouse wiggled next to her making his own version. She looked over at me. “C’mon. You too.”
“I am not making a snow angel.”
“For me. Please?”
“I have a walkway to find.”
“You can find it afterward.” Snow dotted her face, flushing her cheeks a ruddy pink.
“Fine.” I dropped next to her and felt ridiculous as I swiped my arms and legs through the packed snow.
Her laughter turned into a squeal as Mouse trampled over both of us to land in between us. It was so absurd, I couldn’t help but laugh. I glanced over at her and the joy that shimmered off her punched me in the chest.
She rolled onto her side and reached over to brush the snow out of my beard. “How long have you been out here?”
“I don’t know. A few hours.”
“Well, then I guess that deserves a pizza. I made some dough last night. Come inside and I’ll feed you.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“I do. Don’t worry, I won’t read anything into it. It’s just lunch.”
I huffed out a breath. “Phoebe.”
“What? It’s okay to just be friends, right?” She shook snow out of her hair.
