Sarah Morgan - Snow Crystal Trilogy - Sleigh Bells in the Snow / Suddenly Last Summer / Maybe This Christmas

Kayla drank it cold while reading the notes she’d made. Her hair hung loose over the soft white robe that had been left for her use in the luxurious bathroom and her feet were bare on the wooden floor. It was the way she always started her day. The same routine she followed each day of her life and it felt familiar and yet unfamiliar.

Lifting her head, she realized the unfamiliar was the silence.

She was used to noise. Traffic noise. Street noise. The noise of a million people jostling for space in the same small slice of a city. First London, then New York. Here, there was no traffic, no people and no noise. The trees muffled sound and the snow fell in gentle silence.

Halfway through her third cup of coffee she heard a tap on the door and looked up in dismay, assuming she’d lost track of the time.

It wasn’t Jackson who stood there, but a girl. Dark hair peeped from underneath a fur-lined hood, and she carried a large box in her arms.

Under the padded ski jacket and trousers she was slim and fit and, judging from the way she balanced the box and tapped on the door, she had no trouble walking on ice.

Resenting the disturbance, Kayla put down her mug and walked to the door. She was greeted by a punch of cold air and a friendly smile.

“Hi, you must be Kayla!” Her breath forming clouds in the freezing air, the girl walked in without waiting for an invitation and deposited the box at Kayla’s feet. “I’m Brenna. Jackson asked me to find some gear. I hope something in this box fits.” She narrowed her eyes. “Looking at you I’m guessing it might, although we might not be lucky with the boots. Your feet are smaller than mine.”

Taken aback by the familiarity and unaccustomed to early-morning visitors, Kayla tightened the knot on her robe. “I—Thanks. I’m not dressed because I’m working—” She left the door to the cabin wide-open but the other girl didn’t take the hint.

“Yeah, I saw you pacing and frowning to yourself. You should close that door. You’re letting the heat out.” Brenna pushed the door shut with her foot. “So if you’re pacing, does that mean we should all be worried?”

Kayla glanced from the door to her uninvited visitor and wondered whether anyone at Snow Crystal had heard of personal space. “Why would you be worried?” Clearly the other girl wasn’t worried about interrupting someone who didn’t want to be interrupted.

“Jackson told us all you’re a genius at getting folks through the door and making a business busy.” Brenna unzipped her jacket. “Math has never been my best subject but even I can work out that empty rooms don’t equal profit. I haven’t asked him outright, because he looks as if he has enough on his mind, but it’s obvious to me things are grim. It might be Christmas, but we’ve got plenty of room at the inn right now. We’re pinning our hopes on you.”

Kayla thought about the night before and how badly she’d performed.

“We’ll fill those rooms.” What she had to do was think of this as a business challenge, like any other. What she didn’t need to do was think of the O’Neil family all together in that kitchen. “I was working on that when you arrived.” If she thought the other girl might take a hint, she was disappointed.

Brenna nodded. “So do you want to try this stuff on? I’m assuming Jackson asked me to bring it over because he’s planning on showing you the charms of Snow Crystal.”

“You’ve spoken to Jackson?”

“Caught up with him in the bar last night. Told me you didn’t have the right gear.”

And that, Kayla thought, was an understatement.

Had he told Brenna about her undignified fall? Or, worse, about the meeting?

“Thanks for the clothes.” Pulling her professionalism around her like a cloak she moved toward the door, but instead of following her Brenna walked farther into the room.

“Do I smell coffee?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“Great. You don’t mind if I help myself? Looks like you have plenty and I could do with some help waking up.” Brenna strolled to the kitchen and reached for a mug. “Need a top-up?”

“No, thanks.” She was already on her third cup, the caffeine pushing through her veins and kick-starting her sleep-deprived brain. What she needed was silence. What she didn’t need was to share her space with anyone.

The mornings were her time, before the madness of the day started in earnest.

But it didn’t seem to occur to Brenna that she might be intruding on anything. She walked around the cabin as if she owned it. Unlike Kayla, it didn’t take her five minutes of opening cupboards to find the mugs. She knew exactly where they were kept.

“I love this cabin, don’t you?” Brenna tugged off her gloves and filled the mug to the brim. “It’s my favorite. I could live here. I just love the shelf. The view is so perfect it seems like a total waste to fall asleep.”

“You’ve stayed here?”

“Once or twice. I live in town, but if the weather is bad I sometimes sleep over at the lodge and if Jackson is feeling generous he lets me use one of the cabins. Any excuse to sample Elizabeth’s cooking. Cooking isn’t really my thing. Apart from bacon. I’m good with bacon.” Brenna picked up the mug and nursed it, leaning her hips against the counter. “How was your welcome meal?”

“Welcome meal?” The mention of the night before was enough to make her feel as if she was rolling in snow naked.

“The pot roast. Elizabeth thought it would be the perfect meal to welcome you. She’s been planning it for days.”

“I didn’t stay to eat.” The revelation that the dinner had been especially to welcome her sharpened her guilt. “I had work to do. And I really should get on and do some more.”

“If you worked all last night you deserve a break. And talking of eating—” Brenna glanced around the kitchen. “Do you have any food?”

Kayla stared at her in desperation. “Food?”

“Breakfast?” Brenna lifted her eyebrows. “First meal of the day?”

“Oh—I—No, I don’t eat breakfast. I suppose there might be something in the cupboards, but really I should be getting on and—”

“You don’t eat breakfast?” Brenna sipped her coffee. “That will change when you’ve been here awhile. Breakfast is an important meal in the O’Neil household.”

When she’d been here awhile?

“I’m just here for a few days. Then I’m going back to New York.”

Brenna shuddered. “In that case, all the more reason to make the most of breakfast while you can. You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted Elizabeth’s pancakes with maple syrup. Did you know they make their own maple syrup here? Come back in February and you can see them tapping the trees. They have a working sugarhouse.” She chatted away, open and friendly, apparently oblivious to Kayla’s discomfort.

“I won’t be coming back in February. I’m just here until Christmas.”

“You’ll be back. Everyone who visits Snow Crystal wants to come back. You’ll book a vacation.”

Kayla didn’t point out that if that were the case, Jackson wouldn’t need her help. “I don’t take vacations.” She cast a desperate glance at her laptop. “I should probably get dressed and I expect you’ll have finished your coffee by the time I’m done, so I’ll say goodbye and—”

“I’ll wait while you try it on. If nothing fits, we can sort something else out.”

Realizing that the sooner she did this the sooner she’d be allowed to get back to work, Kayla grabbed the box of clothes and retreated to the bedroom.

Guilt pulled at her.

Elizabeth O’Neil had spent all day in the kitchen preparing a meal to welcome her, and she’d rejected their hospitality and walked out.