Snowed In Read Free

until I picked which room I wanted.
    13
    Most of our stuff was being shipped here. Until it arrived, I had only the essentials of my life.
    The doorbell rang, and through the etched glass on the front door, I saw the shadowy outline of two people. I wasn’t certain I should open the door. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t know them. And what was the crime rate here? Would anyone even hear us scream?
    Mom’s hurried footsteps echoed between the walls as she rushed from the kitchen. Having removed her parka, she rounded the corner into the hallway. She was wearing a mint green sweater that matched her eyes—and mine. My grandma always told me how much I looked like Mom when she was younger. It gave me hope that I’d look like her when I was older. She was pretty.
    Another reason I didn’t understand Dad wanting to marry someone else.
    “Open the door, Ashleigh.” But she rushed past me and did what she’d ordered me to do. It was part of her AD (After Divorce) personality. She wanted to control everything.
    A girl about my age and a woman a bit older than Mom stood on the porch, their breath coming out in white wisps, their cheeks and noses red from the cold.
    “Hello!” the woman exclaimed before Mom 14
    could say anything. “I’m Laura Evans and this is my daughter, Nathalie. We saw you arrive earlier and wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood.”
    “Come in,” Mom said, and then introduced us.
    “I brought you some warm spice cake,” Mrs.
    Evans said.
    “How sweet,” Mom replied. “Would you and Natalie—”
    “Not Natalie,” Mrs. Evans said. “Na th alie. I didn’t know whether to name her after my older brother, Nathan, or my younger brother, Leland, and so I combined the two and made up a name.”
    “How original,” Mom said.
    Nathalie and I looked at each other, and clearly neither of us could believe the inane conversation our moms were having. I felt an instant connection with her—and also a sense of relief. Knowing so few kids lived on the island had caused me some apprehension about moving. What if I didn’t meet anyone I liked? Would I live here without any dates or friends?
    Nathalie pushed back the hood of her coat, revealing red hair pulled into a ponytail. If she lived in Texas, she’d have a lot more freckles. Her nose turned up on the end. She was a little taller than I was and quite pretty.
    Mom took their coats, which left me feeling a 15
    little ridiculous—I was still bundled up. So I took off mine and helped Mom hang everything in the hall closet.
    “Ashleigh, why don’t you and Nathalie get settled into the parlor, while Mrs. Evans and I make some tea to go with this wonderful-smelling spice cake?” Mom suggested, before leading Mrs. Evans away.
    I looked at Nathalie. She didn’t even look cold.
    I had a feeling that I did. I still couldn’t feel my nose.
    “You know, if you spray Static Guard on your brush and run it through your hair, it’ll make it stop flying around like that,” she said, twirling her finger near her hair like she was trying to say I was crazy.
    “Thanks for the tip. I have a lot to learn about living in the cold.”
    “So, where are you guys from?”
    “Texas.”
    “You don’t sound like a cowgirl.”
    “I’m not. I’m a city girl.”
    “Why did you and your mom move here then?” she asked.
    “Mom was looking for something different.” She laughed. “Well, I’m sure you’re going to 16
    find it here. Isn’t Texas all desert and tumble-weeds?”
    Now it was my turn to laugh. “No. Not all of it.
    We have woods, mountains, hills, lakes, rivers.
    You name it, we pretty much have it.”
    “Not according to the movies. You know, they made a movie here once,” she said.
    “Really?”
    “Yeah. They used the ritzy hotel that’s up on the hill, just up the road. Women aren’t even allowed on the grounds after five o’clock if they’re not wearing a dress.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    She shook her head. “No. Mom says they’re