Page 2 of Wood You Knot

It wasn’t much, but I hoped it would tide my daughter’s curiosity over the matter. Daphne fell silent, staring out at the passing scenery sombrely.

We passed the sign that read Welcome to Hartwood Creek, and I let my GPS guide me to the downtown core.Eyeing the beautiful green and white gazebo in the centre of Hartley Park where a musician—a young guitarist—stood playing and singing into a microphone, I smiled. He didn’t have much of an audience, but those that were passing by stopped to listen.

It had been several years since I’d made the trip out to visit Auntie Em and Uncle Ed. As a child and a young teen, I’d spend weeks every summer in this charming, historic town, located on the southern tip of Lake Hartwood, to spend time with my cousins and give my mother a “break.”

Funny, those were my fondest memories of growing up—escaping the indifference of my mother.

I was able to score a parking spot out front of the hardware store and peered up at the old brick building. Alcott Hardware had been in my uncle’s family since the early days of Hartwood Creek, passed down from generation to generation. My cousins were all married or busy with their careers now, and none of them were interested in taking over the hardware store. Neither was I, really, but I’d happily accepted the position to get the hell out of Dodge.

I’d made it clear to Uncle Ed and Auntie Em that I had no desire to take over the business either. I just needed a job. They both seemed okay with that and were happy to employ me as a cashier.

“Please get out on the sidewalk side,” I instructed, and Daphne rolled her eyes in response, sliding across the seat to do as I asked. Not that the streets were overly busy—and as a bonus, the hardware store was sandwiched between the police station and a bistro, making it one of the safest places in town, but one could never be too careful.

I got out of the car, too, stretching the kinks out of my back. As I did so, my aunt and uncle walked out of the hardware store. Aunt Emelia’s curly brunette hair was peppered with more gray, and her laugh lines were more pronounced, but I instantly felt at home when she embraced me.

“Sage! It’s been way too long,” Auntie Em said, squeezing me tight.I closed my eyes, trying to will away the tears that welled at her maternal touch.

Auntie Em was the polar opposite of my shallow, self-centred mother, who didn’t seem to have a maternal bone in her body and never had. From her dark hair to her positive, nurturing nature, Emelia was the mother I often wished mine could be.

Auntie Em hadn’t tried to convince me to settle for less than my worth, and she’d given me an opportunity for a new beginning.

Moving on to Daphne, Auntie Em hugged her. “Ooh! The last time I saw you, you were in diapers,” she crooned, and Daphne looked at me pleadingly.

Uncle Ed caught her distress, and chuckling, moved forward to put his hands on Auntie Em’s shoulders. He had also aged over the years, his face more wrinkled and weathered. His light brown hair was longer than I remembered and graying along with the scruff on his chin. “Now, Em, let them have some breathin’ room. How was the drive, girls?”

“Long,” Daphne complained, peering around them to the hardware store. “Is that the store Mommy’s going to work at?”

“Sure is. And those windows right there—that’s your new apartment,” Uncle Ed said, pointing to the windows above. “Parking is around back for customers and residents, but you’re fine there for now,” Uncle Ed said this second bit to me, and I nodded.

“Wanna go check it out, Squirt?” I ruffled Daphne’s hair. Despite her efforts, the smile Daphne tried to hold back burst through. Uncle Ed flipped the sign to “closed” and locked the hardware store up.

“We’ll give you the grand tour,” Auntie Em said, her eyes shining with excitement. I followed my aunt and uncle to the door to the right of the hardware store.

Uncle Ed typed in a code to unlock the door. “The code is easy to remember; it’s 0-0-0-0,” he told us with a bemused grin.“Never got around to changing it, and Mrs. Durand wouldn’t be able to remember now if we did.”

“Who’s Mrs. Durand?” Daphne asked, peering up at her great-uncle.

“She lives in the apartment beside you. Elderly lady, she mostly keeps to herself,” he replied, answering her question with a smile my daughter couldn’t help but return.

We stepped into a narrow foyer with a set of stairs and a hallway that led to another door at the back of the building. “That’s the door you’ll use when you park in the parking lot. The same code that opens the front will open the back,” Uncle Ed explained.

He led us up the stairs to the second level, where a secondary door opened to a long corridor. Uncle Ed walked down the hall until he reached the second door, apartment 2B. He unlocked it, then held it open for us to walk through.

The apartment opened into a beautiful open-concept kitchen and living room area with high ceilings and exposed brick. It was way nicer than any place I had ever rented on my own.To my left, I could make out a hallway that probably led to the bedrooms and bathroom—Daphne immediately ran down it to investigate.

“Wow,” I exhaled, my eyes widening as I took in every detail with astonishment. I walked into the apartment, instantly feeling at home. The open-concept kitchen was divided by an island. The refrigerator, stove, and a long counter were on the interior wall, with pine cabinets above and below.

The double kitchen sink on the island overlooked the living room, so if I was washing dishes, I wouldn’t be staring at a wall, but rather at the living room and the two large windows.

Strolling over to the windows, I peered outside at the view of Hartley Park and beyond that—Lake Hartwood.

Everything was within walking distance, which meant I’d save a ton on gas when we were out exploring the town.

I turned around to face my aunt and uncle. “This is perfect, thank you so much. How much is the rent?”

Uncle Ed and Auntie Em glanced at each other, wordlessly communicating with a single look. “Six hundred dollars, all-inclusive,” Uncle Ed replied.

“That seems extremely low.” I frowned, glancing around. The apartment was dated and the appliances on the older side, but surely a two-bedroom apartment in the downtown core of a touristy historical town would be a little more? One as beautiful as this one should be well outside my budget.

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