Page 64 of Breaking the Ice

My mom injects, “It means, what happens if you and Ellie stop seeing each other?”

“Then I’ll have a wheelchair ramp at my house.” He hurries to add, “I could start skateboarding.”

Even though it’s early days, I don’t like that Zach’s thought about the possibility of us breaking up. I suggest, “You can do that even if we keep seeing each other.”

He wraps his arm around me. “That’s the real plan. Now, are you two ladies ready to introduce me to the best fall festival this side of the Mississippi?”

“You know it,” I tell him while opening the door. I stand back while my mom navigates her travel wheelchair through the opening. We got her a second chair until we can get a car big enough to haul the electric one. Zach follows her out, while I stay back and lock up. My mom stops her wheelchair next to the back door of Zach’s SUV, and when I catch up, I help her stand while he puts the travel chair in the trunk.

On the way to the festival, my mom tells Zach, “Maple Fest was Ellie’s favorite event during her youth. I think she liked it more than Christmas.”

“Christmas didn’t come with caramel corn and corn mazes,” I complain.

“It should,” Zach says. “But personally, I’m hoping to find some apple cider donuts covered in cinnamon sugar.”

“Oh, you will,” I assure him. “And pumpkin fritters, and pecan tassies, and whoopie pies …”

I could keep going but Zach interrupts. “Will there be real food or just sweets?”

“They’ll have brats boiled in beer, Italian sausages, pretzels with cheese sauce, potato pancakes …”

“I should have worn bigger pants,” he moans.

“Or we can go back again tomorrow,” I suggest.

Zach pulls into the large field by the farmers’ market that’s being used as a parking lot for Maple Fest. “I’ll drop you off up front before finding a spot. What do you say we meet at the donuts?”

“We’ll wait for you,” I tell him. “It’s super crowded and we might not find each other.”

Zach pulls over to the entrance and quickly brings my mom’s wheelchair around. Once I help transfer her, he leaves to park. “That is one nice man,” my mom tells me. “I mean seriously, I don’t think you could do better.”

A huge smile overtakes my face. “He is pretty terrific. But you know he’ll eventually have to go back to LA, and long distance relationships can be tough.”

“Good thing he invited us to go with him then,” my mom says.

“He invited us to come visit his beach house,” I clarify. “That was not an invitation to move.”

“While you were locking the front door, he told me the beach house was ours for as long as we wanted it. He mentioned that he hoped we’d stay for a long time.”

“Are you seriously telling me that you’d be fine moving to Malibu?” My mother loves Maple Creek.

She shrugs. “Honey, I’m happy being wherever you are. And if you want my opinion, that man is worth following.”

I have no idea how to respond to that, so I say, “I don’t have a job in LA.”

“So, get one.”

“I burn easily,” I remind her.

“Good thing they make a high SPF sunscreen.”

“You would seriously go to Los Angeles on a one-way ticket just so I could be with Zach.”

“Honey,” she tells me. “I’d go to the moon for you.”

My eyes start to fill with tears. When Zach showed up in Maple Falls, I felt like my life was stalled. I was overwhelmed trying to stay on top of my to-do list, which included helping my mom. And now, only a short time later, there are suddenly so many possibilities.

Scanning the crowd inside the entrance my eyes stop on Kiki. I’m about to wave to get her attention when I see who she’s talking to. Dan Roberts. There are definite sparks brewing there that I don’t want to interrupt. If anyone deserves a happy ending, it’s Kiki.

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