Return To Snowy Creek (4 page)

“Can you two believe we were all in high
school together, just a decade ago?” Susan shook her head. “I’ll be
back in a minute to get your drink order. Just look over the menu
and figure out what you’d like in the meantime.”

Grant laughed out loud. “Oh, man, I am
really feeling like a heel now. How could I not remember you?
Jackie Baldwin.” He shook his head back-and-forth. A wave of heat
traveled across his face. “I am so embarrassed that I didn’t put it
together.”

Jackie picked up the small container of
honey sitting on the table and set it in front of Grant. “Does this
bring back any memories?” She smiled a crooked, sweet smile.

Grant continued to laugh. “Oh that’s right.
I put honey in your hair, too. I felt so bad for doing that to
you.” He leaned back in his chair and threw his hand up on his
chest.

“It was a long time ago,” Jackie said. “We
were kids.”

“How did you ever get your hair clean?”
Grant sat up and moved the honey back over to the side of the
table.

“It wasn’t an easy task.” Jackie ran her
fingers through her hair. “I did smell nice for a few days
afterwards though.”

“You look so different now. Something’s
missing,” Grant said, staring at her.

“For one thing, I don’t have those thick
Coke-bottle glasses anymore. My mom wouldn’t let me have contacts
in high school. Little did she know it would probably have cut down
on half the comments people made.” Jackie pressed her lips together
and nodded her head.

“That’s it. You look completely different
without those glasses. No wonder I couldn’t place you,” Grant
said.

“Ya’ll ready to order?” Susan walked back
over and stood next to the table.

“Want to just split a pizza?” Grant
asked.

“That sounds good. I’ll take the pepperoni
and sausage on my side,” Jackie said, before she paused. “Oh, with
some honey on top.” Jackie cracked a one-sided smile, cute enough
to knock a guy’s socks off.

Grant laughed. He liked that she was easy to
talk to and apparently didn’t hold a grudge.

***

Jackie slid her shoes off and walked across
her living room. She sat down on the couch and leaned into the
cushions. She didn’t realize she would enjoy her evening with Grant
as much as she did. He was so easy to talk to and not a bit
presuming, which she figured most TV personalities would be. He’d
let the students take tons of pictures with him earlier in the day,
and then showed several of the students each and every step of the
woodworking process while building the TV unit, even though it took
extra time.

They stayed at Chad’s Pizzeria until the
doors closed. They talked about high school, what they had been
doing since high school, and about future plans.

Jackie and Grant didn’t lack for
conversation. They continued to talk long after Chad’s closed. If
not for the accumulating snow, they’d probably still be standing
outside enjoying each other’s company.

Jackie could easily fall for Grant. But she
didn’t want to, knowing he wouldn’t be in town more than a few
weeks. She didn’t want to get her heart broken, since he would be
going back to Los Angeles soon. She’d have to guard her heart. She
couldn’t fall in love with a man who wasn’t going to stick around.
Snowy Creek was home and she didn’t want to leave.

Jackie’s phone buzzed and she wondered who
would be texting her at such a late hour. She entered her code to
unlock the phone and a picture of Grant and all the teenagers
popped up on her screen, along with a text.

Look Miss Baldwin! My
Tweet went viral! It’s even on other websites!
She recognized the phone number as belonging to Vanessa, one
of the students in Colin’s shop class. She had been at Jackie’s
client’s house helping on the projects earlier that day. Jackie
assumed Vanessa must have tweeted a picture of Grant helping
them.

Jackie wasn’t too knowledgeable about
Twitter, but she opened her laptop and Googled Grant’s name. Sure
enough, the picture of Grant and the students came up on the
screen. It had already received over two hundred thousand hits.

Jackie clicked on one of the links with the
headline, ‘Grant Williams Helps Teens Learn Woodworking In
30-Minutes Or Less.’

Jackie flopped against the cushions on her
couch. She knew the students would be thrilled to be momentary
super stars, but she sure hoped Grant wouldn’t be upset.

Jackie pulled her truck around the back of
Williams’ hardware store and put it into park. She stepped out and
walked through the back door.

“Hey Jackie, how’re you doin’ today?” Gary
asked, sitting at his desk, most likely working on invoices.

“I’m doing good this morning,” Jackie said.
“I just wondered if you had a chance to get the things on my list
together yet.”

“Sure did. They’re over there in that box on
the floor, by the door.” Jackie turned around to look for the box
just in time to spot Grant coming in the door.

“Hey Grant,” Jackie said, still worried that
he would be upset over the picture the students posted online.

“Hi Jackie,” Grant said. “Do I look any
different today?”

She pressed her eyebrows together and
wondered what he was talking about. “No, I don’t think so.”

“I think I might have gotten more Twitter
mentions this weekend than when I was dating Jennifer!” He laughed
out loud. “Well, if you don’t count all my mom’s tweets.” He smiled
and winked at Jackie.

Relief washed over her. She was so grateful
he wasn’t angry. “I’m glad you’re not upset. Vanessa texted me the
other night at 2 a.m. about her picture going viral. I wasn’t sure
what you’d think.”

“I think it’s pretty endearing that the kids
liked having the help on Friday. We’ll see if we can get even more
hits online today when we finish the project.”

Before Jackie could even smile, Grant lifted
her box of supplies and took it outside to her truck and placed it
in the bed.

“Thanks,” Jackie said, following behind
Grant. When he slid the box into the bed of the truck, she closed
the bumper.

“I’m heading up to finish the project. I’ll
see you and the students up there,” Grant said. He nodded his head
and walked back over to his car.

***

Jackie stared at the completed TV unit. It
was beautiful. The past week had been a wonderful one. Throughout
the week, Grant continued to come back and help the students with
projects around the house. He had the students help at every turn.
They had learned every aspect of building the unit, including
finishing off the project with a few coats of varnish. The unit
looked professional and added so much beauty to the living room.
She knew her clients would be happy about the finished project.

During the week, Jackie tried hard to keep
her feelings for Grant from growing stronger, but it was no use.
Each night, the two finished the evening with dinner. For the first
time, she could see herself with someone for the rest of her life.
Grant showed concern and care for the students all week. Grant
continued to show patience with the students as they slowly learned
the woodworking trade. He also helped on other projects during the
week. She knew it would be hard to see him go back to Los Angeles,
and she feared her heart would be forever torn.

Gary, at the hardware store, seemed more
relaxed and organized since Grant had returned. She knew Gary would
be fine once Grant returned back to Los Angeles, but wondered how
much longer he could run the store as he aged.

Jackie looked over at Grant, cleaning up
after the youth had left for the evening. She grabbed the broom and
walked over to where Grant was finishing up. “You don’t need to
stay and clean up each night.”

“I don’t mind. Those kids are ready to go to
town and goof around. I remember those days well,” Grant said.

“I remember how wild you were,” Jackie said.
She smiled as she swept sawdust into a pile.

Grant grabbed the dustpan and squatted down
on the floor in front of Jackie. “We make a good team, don’t
we?”

“We do. I’ve appreciated every moment that
you’ve spent with the students. They have learned so much this week
from you.” Jackie swept the pile into the dustpan.

Grant stood up and dumped the sawdust into a
trashcan. “I think I have learned more from the kids than they
learned from me. I actually enjoyed coming up here every day.
Including being able to spend time with you.” He stared at Jackie
for a moment and she could feel the warmth traveling up her face.
Grant lifted the trashcan and walked outside to dump the remainder
of the trash in the dumpster.

Jackie followed him to the door to lock up.
When Grant came back, he stopped for a moment. “Do you want to eat
again? I’ve actually made a few decisions in the past couple of
days and I wanted to share them with you.”

“Sure, I’d love to eat with you,” Jackie
said. She was curious what Grant had to share. She knew it was
probably a long shot, but Jackie hoped Grant was going to choose to
stay and run his father’s hardware store.

“I’ll see you down there at Chad’s in about
an hour,” Grant said, as he placed the trash can back inside the
house.

“I’m looking forward to hearing what you’ve
got to tell,” Jackie said, as she closed the door behind them and
locked the deadbolt.

Jackie climbed into her truck and felt a
wave of excitement course through her.

***

Grant pulled into the driveway of his
mother’s home and felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. None of the
lights were on in the house, so it couldn’t be his mother texting.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen.

His director, Tad, had sent
a message.
Hey Grant. We need you here
tomorrow. Can you come home to tape a special?

I’ll get the first flight
out in the morning
, Grant texted back. He
looked through his phone for Jackie’s number and dialed
it.

“Hi Grant,” Jackie said, answering the
phone. “Are you already at the restaurant?”

“No, I going to have to cancel tonight. The
studio just sent me a message. They want me there by tomorrow to
tape a special. Can I get a raincheck on dinner?”

“Of course. Have a safe trip home. The kids
will miss seeing you.”

“I’ll talk to you soon,” Grant said, hanging
up the phone. He was hoping Jackie would be the one that would miss
him.

***

Jackie grabbed a cart at the grocery store
and pushed it down on of the aisles. As she neared the milk aisle,
she spotted Susan. “Hi Susan, how are you doing?”

“Hey Jackie,” Susan said. “Did you see Grant
is back together with that star, Jennifer Tilman?” She lifted the
tabloid out of her cart and showed it to Jackie.

The headlines were in bold, ‘Tilman and
Williams Back Together.’

Jackie felt as though she’d been deflated.
Two weeks had passed since Grant had left, but she held on to the
idea that he’d be back. At least for a short time. But it was
apparent that would never happen. She should have known better.

“She is beautiful, don’t ya think?” Susan
asked, still holding up the tabloid.

“She is. I’m sure they will be happy
together,” Jackie added. “I’ll see you soon. I’ve got some shopping
to do.”

“Come in and get some pizza. I got used to
the two of you coming in and getting something to eat every night,”
Susan said. “Believe it or not, I thought the two of you would end
up together. I really thought you were good together. And the way
that he looked at you, I really thought he loved you. He had me
fooled.”

“I’m sure that’s just for show. He’s been in
Hollywood all this time, after all. What does he want with some
girl from Snowy Creek anyway?” Jackie laughed, but inside her heart
ached. She had apparently been fooled as well.

Jackie pushed her cart toward the back of
the store. She couldn’t regret falling in love with Grant. It was
her fault for believing they could ever be together. He belonged in
Hollywood and she belonged in Snowy Creek. Tears welled up in the
corner of her eyes. She lifted her sleeve and wiped the tears. She
refused to allow them to come and she pushed them back. She had to
forget about him. She had no choice.

***

Grant glanced down at his phone.

You need to call your
me,
a text popped up on his phone from his
mother.
You haven’t had a chance to fill
me in on Jennifer yet
.

The past two weeks had been a whirlwind of
chaos. He hadn’t even had a chance to call his mother with his work
schedule. The studio decided, before cancelling the show, to tape
several more episodes to finish off the season. Grant barely had
time to sleep let alone call his mother. He knew she and Gary would
be happy when he told them that he would be back to run the
hardware store. Grant was ready to be home… for good.

Grant had spent the past two weeks trying to
field questions from the press about Jennifer Tilman and whether or
not they had gotten back together. So far he’d avoided a lot of
calls. He couldn’t stand being hounded. When Jennifer called and
didn’t have a date for a premier, he figured he would just go out
for the night. He had no idea the press would have a field day and
print that the two of them were back together. Grant worried that
Jackie might have seen the tabloids and believed it. He’d tried to
call her several times, but she didn’t answer.

Maybe Jackie wasn’t interested in him
anyway. She was a tough one to read. He’d enjoyed every single
minute he spent with her in Snowy Creek. He hated that he had to
cancel their dinner plans before he was called out unexpectedly.
Grant wanted to tell her how he felt. Tell her he was falling in
love with her.