Page 3 of Ashes to Ink

He was handsome, that was for sure. And he always had a softsmile for Abby and was really great with Julia whenever they ran into eachother. But that wasn’t often since Julia was usually with the sitter when Abbywas working. Or maybe Abby was just reading into what Adrienne had said becauseshe’d had a little too much caffeine that morning. It was time to switch toherbal tea for the rest of the day if this was how she was going to startthinking.

“You better hurry if you’re going to make your appointment.I’ll be over later with any tea you need. Just call if you want somethingdifferent than the peppermint. Or if Mace or any of the others need anything.”

Adrienne leaned over and hugged Abby hard before taking herchai. “That I can do. It’s just me, Mace, and Ryan over there. It’s Shep’s day off to hang out with the kiddos.”

“I’m glad that you guys are able to work it out with all thekids. Daisy is with Shep as well?”

“Yes. Since we’re able to make our schedules work, we don’thave to get an outside sitter as much.” Adrienne paused. “You know, Julia’salways welcome to come over. I know that you would trade off with us if youcould. You don’t have to pay for a sitter. We Montgomerysmake it work, and you are an honorary Montgomery, after all.” Abby didn’tshake her head or say no. She knew the others were just trying to help, but itwas sometimes hard to willingly accept help when she wanted to stand on her owntwo feet. Plus, Abby didn’t want to have to rely on anyone. Everything couldchange in an instant.

She shook off that thought and tried not to think about whatit meant. She knew she was thinking about Max and the fact that she hadn’treally spoken to his family since the funeral. They hadn’t even met theirgranddaughter. Hadn’t been involved in anything having to do with Julia’s life.But that was okay. Abby would be okay. She had to be okay.

“I will talk to you later. And bring the tea.” Adrienne justrolled her eyes. Probably because Abby hadn’t commented about the daycare, butit didn’t matter.

The Montgomerys would just bringit up again, and Abby would cave—because she would. Julia loved hanging outwith Daisy and Livvy. And since Julia and Livvy were close to the same age, it worked out well. Soon,there would probably be more babies in the Montgomery world. They might nothave room for Julia.

Abby shook that thought out of her head as Adrienne walkedout of the store. And then she went back to work. There were more teas to make,more blends to perfect. And peppermint tea and chocolate to give to her friendslater.

The day went on like normal. People came in for tea, andmore than one for gift baskets and Christmas presents. The holidays werequickly approaching. So fast that Abby was sure she was behind on her shopping.She tried to get some things for the Montgomerys, butmost everything was for Julia. She didn’t want her daughter to assume therewould always be gifts, something material. But she also wanted to spoil herbaby just enough.

Julia deserved to be spoiled.

When Abby went to bring over peppermint tea for both Maceand Adrienne, Ryan was out on a personal call. She hadn’t asked why, and shedidn’t want to explore why her brain immediately went to her wanting to knowmore about the man.

She shouldn’t want to know more about him. He was a friend.Nothing more. And that meant she shouldn’t be thinking about how he looked inhis jeans every day. Or how much she liked the beautiful ink on his arms.

Nope, she wouldn’t be thinking about any of that, thank youvery much.

As the day wore on, the snow started to fall a littlefaster, a little harder. It had even begun to accumulate, which annoyed hersince the forecast hadn’t predicted it. Then again, the meteorologists wererarely right these days.

Abby wasn’t really looking forward to driving in the snow,but she was a native Coloradan, and she was used to it. There was no usecomplaining about the precipitation in Colorado. That was like complaining thatthere were mountains or high altitude.

Weather like this was just something one got used to. Thesnow would probably melt the next day anyway. Even if the sun shone and it wasfrigid outside, the precipitation did its own thing here in Colorado.

As she made her way to the babysitter’s house to pick upJulia, Abby knew that she would eventually have to ask the Montgomerysfor help. She didn’t like how long it took to get to the sitter’s. If Juliastayed with one of the Montgomerys, she wouldactually be closer to Abby throughout the day, and Abby would have an easierand shorter drive home. It just made sense, and it would help out more peopleif she were there to add to the days when someone could watch all of thechildren.

She knew she just had to give up control and say yes.

But as the snow started to come down a little moreearnestly, Abby was afraid she might have a bit of a hard time getting to herdaughter tonight. And when she finally got there, it might be even moredifficult to get them home. Her windshield wipers flew back and forth, thespeed increasing, but so did the quickness of the snowfall.

She cursed herself once again for saying no to the Montgomerys.

When she finally arrived, Julia was hyper but not too muchsince Abby knew the babysitter didn’t give her extra sugar. This was justJulia’s happy, bubbly way. Her daughter was an amazing baby girl—though shewasn’t really a baby anymore, was she?

Julia was perfect in every way. No, Abby wouldn’t tell herthat she was perfect over and over again because that would probably lead to issuesdown the road. But in Abby’s mind, her daughter was perfect.

She had gone through so much in her short life, even beforeshe was born.

She was a survivor. Just like Abby.

Her daughter spread joy to everyone, even if she was alittle shy at times. But she was so graceful, so grateful. She shared her toyswith others, and always had a smile for those who might not want to. If anotherkid was crying or just needed a hug, Julia was right there. Sometimes evenfaster than the adults in the room.

In the car, Julia babbled on about her day, using strings ofwords that wouldn’t really make any sense to anyone but Abby. Because that wasthe role of the mother, to always understand what her baby girl was saying,even if it didn’t make a lick of sense.

Darkness started to fall across Colorado. The fact that itwas December meant that there weren’t many hours of sunlight these days. Thesnow fell harder, the wind getting a little bit brisker. Abby just wanted toget home. She just wanted to be home.

She was just turning onto the next street in her route,knowing she was close to home but not close enough, when her tires slid on theice that she hadn’t seen.

She tried not to panic, tried to remember what she wassupposed to do in this situation. She didn’t twist her wheel hard, but she didtry to turn into the skid. It was no use.