Page 60 of Please Send Snow
Dylan grins at her, looking pleased as punch.
But Jake is behind us, tapping his foot. And when I turn to see why he’s providing a drum track to our library checkout, his jaw is tight and he looks really impatient.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“Of course,” he tells me without making eye contact.
I can’t begin to imagine why we’re suddenly in such a rush, but we hurry off to the SUV and load in Dylan with his stack of books. He keeps one in his hands andinsists that the other four have to sit on the seat next to him.
As Jake drives, Dylan tells us all about his book. It’s the story of a city rabbit going on the Christmas train to visit his cousin in the countryside. He’s delighted as he talks through the pictures.
And the little stinker is definitely brilliant at memorization. He repeats back half the dialogue in the book verbatim, even though I only read it to him once at the library. If I didn’t know any better I would definitely think he was reading it.
He’s so smart…
“Who’sthat?” Dylan interrupts himself to ask as we pull up to the chalet.
A pair of men in work overalls are coming down the front steps, and there’s a truck in the drive.
“Just a little surprise,” Jake tells us, pulling in quickly and launching himself out of the SUV.
I help Dylan and his library books out, and by the time we approach the house Jake is handing one of the men a wad of bills and the other guy is tipping his hat at us.
“Hello,” Dylan says to them as they pass us on the way to their truck.
“Hey, little buddy,” one of them says as the other chuckles and waves to him.
He does look pretty cute with his stack of books hugged to his chest.
“Here we go,” Jake says, his jaw tight.
So this is what he was tapping his foot about,I realize. Hewanted to get back here to pay those guys for whatever is going on inside.
And whatever this surprise is, Jake is nervous about it. But he shouldn’t be, because Dylan hero-worships him and I’m sure I would love literally anything he chose to do.
I’m definitely not expecting what I see as the door swings open, though.
What was an enormous and practically empty space yesterday has been transformed into a generously furnished and warmly lit home that looks like something out of a Christmas magazine spread.
The modular sofa that was the only large object in the living room has been replaced with a big overstuffed green sofa, a loveseat, and a couple of red velvet armchairs. A gorgeous hand-knotted wool rug in reds and greens pulls the room together and makes it feel warmer. And there are end tables everywhere with small lamps that will be perfect when we want to curl up with a book.
There’s art on the walls now too. I don’t have the eye to tell if they’re prints or originals, but the framed paintings look like all my memories of the Poconos under a blanket of snow. They must have come from a local artist. There’s even a fire dancing behind the fireplace screen. On the stone hearth is a kit of the equipment needed to have fires whenever Jake wants.
And best of all, an absolutely enormous Christmas tree is set against the back wall. It’s not decorated, but someone has left a brand-new wooden A-frame ladder beside it.
It’s beautiful, and there’s something about the whole thing that’s… familiar.
“It’sChristmas in the Mountains,” Dylan says in wonder. “It’sChristmas in the Mountains.”
Suddenly he’s dashing around the room, examining everything, and yelling out what it is.
“The blanket,” he says, patting the red and green plaid throw blanket on the sofa, then blasting over to the armchairs. “The special chairs.”
My jaw drops when I realize that he’s right. Jake has had this whole house outfitted to look exactly like the house from Dylan’s favorite picture-book.
Suddenly I hear my own words from last night:
He loves all the Christmas stuff in the books we’ve been reading. But it’s not like you’re going to furnish a rental just for ambiance.
