Page 31 of Defending What is Mine

Chapter Fifteen

Sam:Present—January

As the morning news team gushes and buzzes about how special their cutting-edge storm tracker system is over the competition, I struggle to pay attention to the roll of school closings scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

My mind is firmly on Jack.

Wondering what happened to him last night.

Praying he’s okay.

Worrying if it’s a sign that too much time and too much distance are finally taking their toll on our relationship. And underneath that, this silent strum of something’s wrong. For as much as I try and brush off the feeling, it hums just beneath the surface of my skin, leaving me unsettled and on edge.

“Mommy! There it is. That’s it, that’s my school.”

At least today won’t be a repeat of yesterday, driving myself crazy searching for a distraction from him. “Alright little lady, what do you say to making the best of this snow day, huh? Maybe take a little drive over to the park?”

“Mom?” Vanessa locks her hand on her hip while she gives me her be-serious face.

“What?” I ask in genuine surprise. “You don’t want to go sledding?” I watch in amazement as her expression morphs in time with her thoughts as that little mind works through the different permutations.

She wanders over to the picture window and pulls back the curtain. At first, her eyes are wide with wonder. But then she sees something—I don’t know what—that sets a frown across her sweet face. “Mom, we can’t leave. You can barely see the car under all this snow.”

“Believe it or not sweets, your old mom has cleaned off plenty of cars in her years. I think I can manage.”

Vanessa takes another peek outside then folds her arms over her chest. “Even if you can, the roads look bad, too. I don’t think our car can drive in that.”

“Hmmm.” I go to the window to see for myself. Holy crap. There must be six or seven inches of powdery snow. “You make a good point.”

Vanessa’s head falls. “It’s okay. Maybe we can go this weekend. All the good trails will probably be ruined, but I bet I can find something that’s still kinda fun.”

Oh, how I hate to see disappointment in that girl’s eyes. “Alright,” I say with false positivity in my voice. “Why don’t you find some cartoons you like? And I’ll go see what I can whip up for a special snow-day breakfast.” And casually check to see if your Aunt Mollie can come through for us in a pinch. My car may not make it through the snow, but Hank’s truck sure will.

I swipe my phone off the coffee table on my way to the kitchen.

ME: Hey, what’s your day look like? I have a favor to ask. It’s kind of a big one.

I stand at the refrigerator, blankly staring inside, while what I’m really doing is worrying about Jack and listening for a reply ding from my phone. After a good minute or two of holding the door open and allowing the cold to waft out, I sigh and fall back on a timeless favorite. “How about pancakes? Does that sound good?” I call to Vanessa. Without waiting for a response, I fill my arms with supplies and gently kick the door closed as I focus on not dropping anything before I reach the counter.

“Can we add chocolate chips?” Vanessa asks from the living room.

I smile. “Sure thing.”

“And some banana?”

Well, at least she’ll be a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to ask for it. “Sure.”

Once the banana is peeled and chopped, I scrape the pieces from the cutting board into the bowl, add some chocolate chips (as requested) and try not to break a sweat swooping the wooden spoon back and forth through the mix and around the edges of the bowl to ensure everything is mixed properly.

By the time my phone finally dings with Mollie’s reply, I’m so focused on the damn pancakes that the sound startles me, and I drop the bowl onto the counter, spilling almost a third of the batter. Ugh. I take a breath, quietly curse at life, and groan in frustration as I pour the first batch onto the griddle, then grab my phone to see what Mol has to say.

Mollie: Hey you. Just got a wakeup call that the diner’s closed. So…it looks like somebody just scored a surprise day off.

Mollie: What’s up? Need a sitter or something?

I flip the pancakes and tap out my reply as I stare at the spilled batter, wondering the best way to clean the mess.

Me: Well, not exactly. I was wondering if you might be able to borrow Hank’s truck to come and rescue us.

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