Winter Woods

Chapter 1-2

Bishop’s was locally owned, like most of the businesses in the downtown shopping area, and she’d known the family that ran the place her entire life. Growing up in Charles Town, Olivia knew just about everyone. Now, however, it seemed like half of the people she passed on the sidewalk were strangers, and Olivia wondered how many of them were here for the ambiance. It really was a quaint, cozy little downtown.

The bell chimed over the door as she pushed her way in out of the crisp December air. It was busy, but not as crowded as she’d feared. She glanced around and saw that both of the booths in the back on the side she preferred were occupied already, one with a pair of older gentlemen who appeared to be sipping coffee and shooting the breeze, the other with a young couple and their two children, one of which looked—and sounded—as if she was ready for bed.

Luckily, another booth was empty on the other side of the restaurant, and even though it wasn’t her preferred quiet corner, it would do.

“Hey, Olivia!” Valerie, a waitress and one of her friends from high school, shouted from behind the counter. “Have a seat, and I’ll be right with you, hon!”

Olivia smiled and gave her a little wave before she made her way down the aisle, trying to keep her head down as she went, hoping not to be recognized.

“There she is!” a familiar voice shouted. “Hello, Olivia!”

She looked up to see one of the women from her parents’ life group at church smiling at her. She couldn’t quite remember her name, but she stopped and smiled. “Good afternoon. How are you?”

“I’m just wonderful,” that woman with bright orangey-red hair replied with a big grin. “I was just telling my friend from out of state here about how we even have a local celebrity in Charles Town now.”

The other woman, who looked a bit more reserved, smiled behind her large rimmed glasses. “It’s lovely to meet you, Miss Kensington. I really enjoyed Love in the Wind.”

“Thank you,” Olivia said with a polite nod. “Please, it’s Olivia.”

“Now when are we going to get that sequel?” the church lady chuckled. “I’ve just got to know what happens next.”

“Soon,” Olivia promised. Tapping her purse, she added, “I’m actually working on it right now.”

“Oh, how lovely!” she replied. “I just cannot wait. I keep telling your mother—we go to church together,” she said to the other woman who nodded like she’d already heard that once or twice, “if Margot doesn’t choose Elliott, I just don’t know what I’ll do!”

“Elliott? Really?” the other woman asked, and as they began a very familiar conversation, Olivia quietly dismissed herself and made her way to the booth, scooting all the way over to the window and hunkering down a bit in hopes that no one else would notice her.

Once she was fairly certain the women had moved on to another topic, she pulled out her laptop and gingerly set it on the Formica tabletop. The diner had the feel of a ‘50s café that had been remodeled sometime around the ‘80s, the only true charm being the tables Mr. Bishop had decided to keep. Olivia used to love to trace her finger around the boomerang-shaped pattern as she waited for her cheese fries.

Opening her laptop, she pulled up the first few chapters of the novel and stared at the blank screen again. There was definitely noise here, but it was slightly different, more like white noise created by the low drone from all the different patrons. She’d written parts of her first novel in the booth on the other side of the restaurant, the one where the two old men seemed to be gathering their belongings, and she thought she might run over to it as soon as they left in an attempt to jumpstart her brain. But that would mean passing back by the church lady, and she wasn’t sure she could take the chance.

She did have an idea of what might happen next, though, and she thought if she could just get out one good sentence, maybe the words would start to flow. Fingertips poised on the keys, she determined precisely what to write next.

“Sorry ‘bout the wait, hon,” Valerie said, dropping a napkin and a glass of water on the table near her laptop. “We are just so busy these days.”

Olivia sighed and tried not to let her disappointment at being interrupted show in her face as she turned to look at Valerie. It wasn’t her fault she’d interjected just when Olivia was about to write her first sentence of the day. “No problem,” she said. “Can I just get a medium cheese fry? And water’s fine.”

“You sure?” Valerie asked, not even bothering to write that down on the pad she had poised at the ready.

“Yeah, Mom’s making stew. I just needed… a change of scenery.”

“Must be hard to work with all those folks in your house. But it’s Saturday.”

“I know,” Olivia said, running a hand through her hair. “I don’t normally write on the weekends, but I’m falling so far behind.”

Valerie scrunched her lips to one side of her pretty face. “I thought I saw your sister last night after the parade and again this morning at the library. You weren’t with her.”

Olivia shook her head. “I’m being an awful hostess.”

Valerie took a look around, as if she was checking to see if other customers needed anything, and then slid into the booth across from Olivia. “Is everything okay, hon?”

Closing the laptop so that she could see her friend’s face, Olivia shrugged. “I don’t know, Val. It seems like everyone has an opinion about what should happen next—except for me. I mean, I am pretty sure I know how this book will end, it’s just the getting there that’s taking forever.”

“Can you skip ahead and write the ending and then come back?” Valerie offered.

“I wish.” Olivia reached over and picked up the straw Valerie had set beside her water and began to take the paper off of it. She remembered shooting such wrappers across booths at this very friend innumerable times in high school, but she didn’t do that now. “Some people write that way. I’m not one of them.”

Valerie nodded in understanding. “I don’t know how you’re going to get anything done over the holidays. It’s five days until Christmas.”

“Don’t remind me,” Olivia said, crumpling the paper and plopping the straw into the glass.

“Well, aren’t your parents going to Cabo for the New Year? Can you wait until then?”

Her sister had bought her parents’ a vacation package as a Christmas-s***h-retirement present for her dad, and Olivia wasn’t surprised that Valerie had heard. Her mother was so excited, she’d been telling everyone. “Yes, but Brett and his girlfriend will be at my house until they go back to school—which isn’t until after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. And I’m pretty sure Fiona and the kids are staying until after New Year’s, too.”

Valerie’s bottom lip protruded, as if she were a sad puppy. “Sorry.”

“I’ve thought about going away for a week or two,” Olivia admitted, “to the mountains—where I can get some peace and quiet. I even almost called to make a reservation last week. But… I’m afraid my family will think I’m so rude if I do that.”

The waitress seemed deep in thought for a moment. “Would that allow you to spend more time with your family now? Would they accept that trade-off?”

“What do you mean?” Olivia asked, taking a sip of her water.

“What if you told your family you were going to stay in a cabin after Christmas so that you could meet your deadline, but you wouldn’t write another word until you leave? They might accept that compromise if they know that they’ll have your undivided attention for the next few days, while all the holiday happenings are going on. You definitely don’t want to miss the Christmas Festival if you’ve already missed the parade.”

Olivia carefully considered her friend’s advice. Those were the two main events everyone in Charles Town always turned out for, and even though Olivia wasn’t quite the Christmas fanatic her mother was, she couldn’t imagine missing the festival. It had been hard enough to sit at home last night knowing her sister and nieces were out watching the floats and cheering for Santa. She had tried to convince herself that the parade was for little kids and she wasn’t missing anything, but when she’d struggled to write even a couple dozen words the entire time they were gone, it had hurt her heart.

“Hey, let me go get those cheese fries going, and I’ll come back and check on you,” Valerie said, tapping the table as she got up.

“Thanks, Val,” Olivia said, still deep in thought. She knew Valerie was right; time with her family during the holidays was not something she could ever get back. Ruby and Paisley wouldn’t be little forever. Who knows what might happen when her brother got married. Maybe he’d move away and never come home at all.

Her mind made up, Olivia flipped her laptop open again and turned her Wi-Fi back on, waiting for it to connect to the hotspot she had on her phone. She took another sip of her water, and once she was back online, she opened the tab she’d bookmarked last week. “Minter’s Cabins,” she mumbled under her breath. She flipped to the screen that showed availability, praying that the cabin her father used to take the whole family to after Christmas each year was still available.

She typed in December 26 as the day she wanted to arrive and crossed her fingers. It took a moment for the site to load, and she impatiently tapped her fingers on the Formica. She had so many fond memories of Winter Woods, as she used to call it when she was a little girl, thinking Joe Minter, the man who owned the place, was named Joe Winter. It just made sense in her little girl mind, since they only went there when it was cold and snowy. There were several cabins, but the one they’d stayed at was near the stream that flowed through the property and it had a big porch that looked out over the water. She’d loved to sit there with her dad and look up at the stars, listening to the water rush by.

Eventually, she was able to see that, unfortunately, the cabin she wanted was already occupied. “Darn it,” Olivia mumbled. She thought about giving up, taking it as a sign she just needed to stay home and force her way through the next fifteen to twenty chapters of her novel. But then, what Valerie had said about giving time to her family now so she could focus on her writing later made so much sense. Olivia checked to see if there were any other cabins available, and was happily surprised to see the one just behind her preferred cabin wasn’t booked. It was much smaller than the one she’d had in mind, but then, maybe that was a good thing. There wouldn’t be room for anyone to come and stay with her or take her mind off writing. With a small sigh of relief and the first genuine smile she’d worn in days, Olivia pulled out her credit card and started filling out the information. Surely, she’d find her solace, and her muse, in Winter Woods.