“Our mommy doesn’t live here,” Mae said lightly before Ransom could think of what to say. “She runned away.”
“Sheranaway,” Travis corrected her.
“Shedid notrun away,” Ransom said quickly. “She’s living on the west coast now and she stays too busy to visit much.”
“She never visits,” Travis rightly pointed out.
“You’re divorced,”Mae whispered to Ransom, like a scandalized lady at a society tea party spilling gossip.
He glanced up at Hailey, wondering what she was making of all this. He didn’t mind the kids’ honesty. He had never been one to gloss over tough topics, and he wanted them to speak their minds. But this conversation was kind of a lot.
“I wouldlovefor you to say grace,” Hailey said politely to Travis, who positively beamed back at her.
An hour later,the meal was eaten, and Hailey had insisted on drying the dishes while Ransom washed them. Travis wiped down the counters, and Mae loudly sang “The First Noel,” while she pushed all the chairs back to the table.
“Kids,” Ransom said as he handed Hailey the last plate. “Why don’t you go on up and brush your teeth, put on pajamas, and pick out a book for us to read? I’m going to walk Hailey back to the cottage and see if I can figure out why the power’s out.”
“Okay,” Travis said. “It’s all right, Mae, because we can see the cottage from your window, right?”
“Right,” she said, popping her head up from under the table where she had been grabbing a fallen napkin.
“Are you sure?” Hailey asked softly, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear as she looked up at Ransom.
“Of course,” he said, looking away before he gave in to the temptation to slide his own fingers through that golden hair.
They went to the front hall and pulled on coats and scarves before he opened the door and stepped outside. Clouds covered the stars again, and a freezing wind swirled lazy snowflakes in circles before they could drift to the ground.
“Wow,” Hailey said.
“I bet you see plenty of wild weather in New York,” he said.
“It’s not the same,” she said, shaking her head. “It can be beautiful when it snows, especially over Central Park. But the wind comes whipping between the buildings, and there’s always so much light from every direction,and the sounds of cars passing and planes overhead. This is just… peaceful.”
Ransom realized with surprise that he had been waiting for her to say it was lonesome.
Is that because I actually think it’s lonesome?
There was something wistful about the bare meadow sleeping under its blanket of snow with nothing but the hush of the wind for miles. But surely he hadn’t always felt that way. He loved Trinity Falls, heart and soul.
It’s because there are no other grownups in my life right now.
His mother had said some version of that to him every time they spoke lately. At first he’d rolled his eyes inwardly at the idea. Cassie had been a grownup and the damage she’d done to the kids was so awful he couldn’t conceive of making them vulnerable to another rejection by looking for another relationship.
It was perfectly fine that he spent his days talking only to kids and dogs. He’d certainly had worse conversations in his time.
“Anyway,” Hailey said. “Thank you for helping me tonight.”
“Of course,” he told her. “By the way, I was sorry to see BeeBee pass away on the show. I thought there was a lot of potential for her.”
“Thanks,” she said, looking surprised.
“What, you think your hometown fans don’t keep up with you out here in the sticks?” he teased.
She smiled at him, and then shook her head as if to sayClassic Ransom.
“Seriously though,” he said. “I know your charactergot killed off and all, but that was only last night, and you already bought a place down here?”
“Well, I knew that my character was going to die like a month ago,” she explained, frowning. “But they made me sign an NDA, so I couldn’t tell anyone. I had to wait to leave New York until the episode aired.”
