Page 17 of Sweet Surrender

“You don’t know much about life in a small town, do you?” Angela asked her, quirking an eyebrow.

“I guess not,” Becca admitted. “I hope you didn’t hear anything too terrible. I think I annoyed your brother when I called to tell him Cal got a bloody nose.”

“I don’t think so,” Allie said with a funny little grin.

“What’s that smile about?” Angela demanded.

“What smile?” Allie asked lightly, shrugging.

“Is Cal okay?” Becca asked her.

“Absolutely,” Allie said, turning to Becca. “And I don’t think Zane was annoyed, just surprised. Life on the farm is pretty rough and tumble, and the boys are very active. One or the other is always getting banged up a little. It just goes with the territory. So getting a call over a little kickball injury was something new, that’s all.”

“I’m so glad he’s okay,” Becca said, trying not to think too hard about the boys gettingbanged up a littleall the time. She supposed farm life was different from city life.

The three chose their tea bags and Allie poured out steaming water from the kettle into their mugs.

“So, this event we’re practicing for,” Becca asked when they all settled in at one of the little tables. “What’s it like?”

“Oh, it’s the best,” Allie told her. “Everyone in town comes. And the mayor oversees collecting donations for needy families.”

“The night of the event, all the presents are laid out under the big tree,” Angela put in. “And we walk across the park singing before the person named this year’s Christmas Star lights the tree.”

“It’s really beautiful,” Allie said, nodding. “And it feels amazing to be part of it.”

“Some years, you look out and see tears in people’s eyes,” Angela said, nodding in agreement.

“I guess you have challenges in the city too,” Allie said thoughtfully. “Out here, we sometimes have really hard years if the weather doesn’t cooperate. The Christmas events in town are an escape from that, and a big reminder of the community we have here. Folks dig deep to help each other.”

“We do have a lot of people struggling in the city,” Becca said. “And a lot of support too. I guess I never thought about how everyone might have a hard time all at once up here with the farms being so important.”

The other two women nodded with serious expressions.

“Well,” Angela said after a moment. “Let’s think about more cheerful things, like where we want to sneak out for a bite to eat after this.”

Becca shook her head and smiled when she saw Allie was doing the same.

“No way can we go out after this,” Allie laughed. “We have to teach tomorrow, and you have to be in just as early.”

“You two are such party poopers,” Angela teased. “You can’t even come out for a slice of pizza?”

“Not tonight,” Becca said. “I can’t even believe I came to do this after my first day of teaching.”

The thought of all the plans she wanted to write tonight gave her a pang of conscience. She had plenty for the children to do tomorrow, but now that she knew all their reading and math levels, she wanted to make some tweaks. Hopefully there would still be time when she got home.

“We’re so glad you’re here,” Angela told her warmly. “And don’t listen to me. I’m a bad influence.”

“Well, I’m so glad you invited me,” Becca said. “Thank you for helping me feel part of things right away.”

“We’ll knock the flatlander out of her quickly, won’t we?” Angela asked Allie with a big smile.

“Flatlander?” Becca echoed.

“Folks who aren’t from Vermont are called flatlanders,” Angela explained.

“And it’s not very nice,” Allie added. “We probably shouldn’t be throwing that word around.”

“Even if we didn’t use the word, you’d know a flatlander anywhere,” Angela said, shaking her head. “They come up here flashing their money around and expecting things to be done the way they do them in the city.”

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