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Dammit,it’s so close.

Being short made everything so freaking hard. Natalie balanced on the tips of her toes, and yet her fingers barely brushed the bottom of the shelf. She huffed out a breath. There wasn’t even a chair to stand on in this ridiculous rental kitchen, and lugging one from the dining room was more hassle than it was worth.

Who put mixing bowls on the top shelf anyway?

Top shelves were made for unnecessary kitchen gadgets like fondue sets and waffle irons. Because climbing around the counters like a monkey shouldn’t be a daily activity.

Even through her frustration, she couldn’t help but smile when her four-year-old daughter’s ringtone blasted from her iPhone. Addy loved to sing “Hit Me Baby One More Time” over and over again. Natalie had done what every good mother should do, which was share her love of nineties music with her daughter. Dance parties to all the hits were their favorite activities. But now the idea made her melancholy, which was ridiculous.

She’d been looking forward to escaping the chaos of single parenthood and enjoying the peace and quiet in the Adirondacks, but after only a couple of hours, the house felt too quiet.

“Hey, sweetie!” She made her voice sound bright as she accepted the video call and her daughter’s excited face appeared.

“Mommy, you answer!” Addy cried, as if Natalie might not pick up. “You not wearing clothes?”

Natalie glanced down at the satin robe she’d slipped on after climbing out of the bath a half hour ago. A wonderful perk of this vacation was that she’d have time for the luxury of daily baths. She missed Addy but needed the reprieve. Addy was an energetic ball of sass, defiance, and stubbornness.

“I have my robe on. The silver one that’s so soft.”

Addy giggled. “That one’s slippery, not soft. I like the fluffy one with snowflakes.” The one Addy loved to steal to use as a blanket.

“Are you having fun with your cousins?”

“Big fun,butTrevor did chase us all over, and we said stop, but he kept going. And Talia felled and knocked into the Christmas tree, and Granny was so mad at us. She didyellat us, and I did cry.”

Natalie needed the week away to recharge, but a dark cloud hung over her relaxation. It was almost Christmas, and her daughter was spending the holiday with her father. Natalie had her for Christmas last year, so it was only fair. And it was good for Addy to spend quality time with her dad’s family. But none of that took away the ache in Natalie’s heart when she thought about waking up without Addy on Christmas morning.

“The rule has always been no running in Granny’s living room, right?”

“Yes,” Addy pouted on the screen. “But she’s still going to let us make cookies tomorrow because Daddy and Aunt Nina promised we’d be better. What you dos today?”

“I stopped at the bookstore and the coffee shop on the way up to the cabin. Did you see the pictures I sent?”

“It look like a fairy tale magical tree house.”

“Yes, it does.” Natalie agreed about the log cabin set in the woods. Between the big walls of windows with breathtaking mountain views and the deck, complete with a hot tub, she felt like she might just be in a fairytale. Especially with all the snow. “Once I got here, I took a bath and read my new book.”

“Boring growed-up stuff.”

She chuckled. The purpose of this week was rediscoveringNatalie. The woman she was outside of her life as Addy’s mom. She planned to spend a good chunk of her time reading a few of her favorite authors’ new rom-coms. Some people liked angsty fiction, but Natalie wanted to laugh. Which was why she planned to catch up on old episodes ofSchitt’s Creektoo. Natalie needed more reasons to laugh.

Addy turned from the screen for a second before spinning back. “Daddy say I have to get ready for bed.”

“Okay, sweetie. I love you.”

“I love you a million hundred thousand.”

She smiled at her daughter when they ended the call and glanced back up to the top shelf, still annoyed that some idiot had put mixing bowls up there. The kitchen was cute—slate floors, stone backsplash, butcher-block counter; it belonged in a cabin in the woods. But it needed a good reorganization.

At five foot three, there was no way she could reach it, and lugging a heavy-ass chair into this tiny kitchen wasn’t plausible, especially barefoot and in nothing but a robe.

She only had one other option.

And for once, she didn’t have to lead by example. The few times she’d climbed on the counters at home, her daughter had been there to scold her in the adorable way only a preschooler can. Greg, Addy’s father, was a by-the-book man, so Addy harped on rules.

She found the playlist she’d created for Addy, and Britney Spears blasted through the air as she hiked herself up onto the butcher-block countertop. She shook her hips to the beat while she reached for the mixing bowl.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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