Page 23 of Surprised By Love

I make my way to the kitchen and find a table with pancakes, syrup, butter and a fresh pot of coffee waiting for me. The aroma definitely sends a signal right down to my stomach and right on cue, it growls.

My daughter laughs. “See Mommy, you are hungry. You couldn’t sleep anymore because you would be too hungry and you would have to come down to eat. So now we can eat and then we can go outside and play in the snow. Okay?” She says, sitting down at the table beside me. I place two pancakes on her plate and spread a little butter on them before adding a small amount of syrup.

Vicki walks in and heads to the cupboard, grabbing two mugs and brings them to the table. Placing one in front of me. She picks up the coffee pot and pours us each a coffee. “Good morning, sleepyhead.” She grins.

“Morning Vic. Why didn’t you wake me up when my alarm didn’t go off?” I ask, cutting Amelia’s pancakes into bite-size pieces.

“I knew you needed the extra sleep, so I snuck in and turned it off. You’ve been working so hard this week and with it snowing, I figured you can stay home with Amelia and have a good old-fashioned snow day.”

I look up at her, an eyebrow raised.

“What? When was the last time you had a fun snow day where you had nothing to do but play in the snow and drink hot chocolate with your daughter?”

I bite my lip, trying to think. “Okay. Yes, it’s been a while,” I say, not sure if we ever had a day like that. Most of the time if it snowed, I had to make sure the driveway and front steps got shovelled, then spent most of the day doing house cleaning and cooking. Derek only shoveled enough to get his car out of the driveway so he could get to work. I had to finish the rest. I remember asking him why we couldn’t hire one of the snow removal companies in town, and he said, “Why waste money when you have time to do it?”

“And don’t worry about the driveway or walkway. The neighbourhood kids come by to shovel. I pay them or give them a hot meal at the diner after they are done.”

I look at her in shock as if she read my mind.

“What? They love the food at the diner and it makes them feel like grown ups coming into the diner and sitting down for a meal on their own.”

“How old are the kids?”

“There are three of them; they’re thirteen.” Vicki takes the syrup, pouring it generously over her pancakes. Taking a bite, she groans. “Dang, these are good.”

I sense Vicki’s eyes on me as I pour a small amount of syrup onto my pancakes.

“Is that all the syrup you use? You used to drench your pancakes with syrup when we were little.”

“Daddy said too much syrup isn’t good for you. You’ll gain weight and it will rot your teeth,” Amelia explains.

I look up to see Vicki cocking a brow. “Really?” Sarcasm flowing thick through the word.

I’m filled with excitement, knowing I don’t have to worry about that anymore. “You’re right.” I tip the syrup further over my pancakes, adding a thick stream to my plate. Looking up, I see Vicki smiling. She winks at me and I take a huge bite, moaning as the delicious syrup coats my tongue.

Amelia and I clean up as Vicki gets ready for work. The diner won’t be busy because of the snow, but Bea and Sloan were there to open it and Vicki always goes in no matter what.

Vicki is still in her room getting ready, so I wipe down the dinette table and load the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. We go upstairs and get ourselves ready to play in the snow. Once we’re ready, Amelia rushes to the side door. I help her with her snow pants and slip on her boots when the doorbell rings.

Vicki opens the door and I look up from my squatted position, into the gorgeous eyes of the man from my fantasies last night.

Josh

When my daughter asked to go to her new best friend’s house so they could build a Snowman, I had no clue we were going to Vicky’s house. I knew the moment we walked towards the house who would be there; the woman I cannot get out of my mind.

What were the chances it was Sam’s daughter Emily was talking about when she said she had made a new friend in school? It was kindergarten. It could have been any of the kids in town.

I’m going to have to find a way to be around Samantha. Not only do I see her every day when I stop at the diner in the morning, now she is the mother of my daughter’s new best friend. Chances are I’m going to be seeing a lot of her.

What am I going to do?

Yes, she is sweet, kind and pretty and there is just something about her that makes me want more, but I can’t. I can’t mess around with someone from town. What if she ended up wanting more and I couldn’t give her that? I wouldn’t want to hurt her.

When Vicki opens the door, the first thing I see is Sam squatted down on the floor tying Amelia’s boots. The way she looks up at me from the floor makes my body react. My heart races and my jeans get a little tighter, imagining her down on the floor in front of me. Yeah, I need to reel it in real quick. I cannot be sporting wood with her sister and our children around.

Sam stands up and smiles at me. “Hi. I didn’t know you were—” and before she can finish the sentence, our daughters run to each other.

“I’m so glad you came,” Amelia says, giving Emily a big hug.

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