"And then another?" she teased, though there was no malice in her words. Only snarky adoration.
"Whatever," he said, bumping her playfully. "What about you? How was your trip?"
"Fine," I said. "Uneventful."
Juniper nodded and we all perused the menus.
Brunch passed normally, and soon everyone was ready to get down to the town. The drive was scenic. The trees were coated with heavy drifts of snow, weighing them down slightly, though the branches were still holding firm.
I parked on the street as we arrived at the small town of Castbur. This town had been the same since we started coming here when I was a child. All the buildings were short and perfectly side by side. During the holidays, wreaths hung on every utility pole, poinsettia baskets were set out in front of each building, and lights shone atop every building. It created a pretty atmosphere at night. I wondered briefly if Juniper would like it.
"I need to stop at the coffee place first," Rachel proclaimed as we got out of the car. "I require a walking drink."
We all went in, ordering various drinks to carry with us. Juniper opted for a hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick inside and I had my normal coffee with one sugar.
"Why don't we go to that craftsman store down the road?" my mother asked as she sipped her own drink. She was in a fur coat that almost swallowed her whole, and a matching hat.
My father agreed and our party started heading that direction. He used to skip out on most of the trip for work, then even when he was there, he was knee deep in it the whole time so we rarely saw him.
Now he was passing that responsibility to Arthur, the roles were reversed, and my father joined us with Arthur constantly stepping out to check emails or take calls. I never envied the responsibility, but seeing him transform so seamlessly into our father made me a bit sad for him. I would discuss it with him, but the single time I tried, he shut me down quickly. So, everyone just sort of let it happen.
The craftsman store had lots of things from small artists in the area, namely dish sets, jewelry, and handcrafted candles. They always loved to see my family coming, mostly because everyone knew how to spend money.
"This is nice," Juniper said to Rachel, stopping me in my tracks. The store had rows upon rows of ceiling high shelves, and I was on the other side of one, out of their view.
"That is nice," Rachel agreed. They seemed to be looking at candles from the small gaps I could see. "You should get it."
"I don't think so," she said, placing it down. "It's a bit out of budget."
"We could totally get that if you wanted. Trust me, Ellery can afford it. For as little work he does, he gets paid well."
I sniffed at the way Juniper laughed at that. "I appreciate it, but I don't think we're at that stage yet."
"Girl, he bought you the jewelry sets. Trust me, as weird as it is, that's serious in this family."
Juniper didn't say any more, but I partially wished she had. At least it seemed like our ruse was believable.
Once they were far I wrapped around the corner towards where they were stood. I perused the shelve until something caught my eye. It was a turquoise clay jar with a small turtle on top. I remembered what she had told me at the coffee shop and knew this had to be the right one. When I opened the lid it smelled like vanilla and sea salt, nice but not too overpowering.
For some reason, I snuck to the counter and bought it before we continued on.
There were a few more shops we always stopped in before we had lunch, then headed back for the lodge. When we arrived, everyone broke off into their separate groups, leaving Juniper and I to go back to the room.
"That was fun," she said as we rode the elevator up.
"Yes. It seems you and Rachel are really hitting it off."
"She's great," Juniper said.
"Well we have free time until dinner, is there anything you want to do?"
She shrugged. "Not really. Is there anything fun to do?"
"There's a few things. We could—"
I was cut off as the elevator shook slightly then abruptly stopped.
"Huh, that's weird," I said. I tried the button again, but we weren't moving. I clicked it a few more times for good measure before the whole thing suddenly shut off.
