The Cottage on Juniper Ridge

When she got halfway there, she stopped in midstride. What was she doing? Why was she running like a gerbil on a wheel? She didn’t want to go back to work. She wasn’t going to go back to work.

She whipped out her cell phone and called her supervisor. “Patty, I’ll be at home for the rest of the day.”

“Are you okay?” Patty asked, concern in her voice.

She was probably just concerned about whether Jen had found a caterer for the office party yet.

“I’m sick. It must’ve been something I had at lunch,” Jen improvised. No lie, really. She’d had something at lunch that made her sick—a conversation about her life. She needed a break and she needed it right now.

“Okay, well, feel better soon,” Patty said. “Let us know if you’re not going to make it in tomorrow.”

The only way Jen was going to feel better was if she got a new life. She went home, flipped on her faux fireplace and settled under a blanket on the couch with the book her sister had given her, starting with page one. Again.

When was the last time you enjoyed your life?

“My honeymoon,” Jen muttered. No, wait. She’d enjoyed her life since then. She’d enjoyed it...the first week after she bought the condo, when she was spending money she didn’t have to furnish the place. The fun had lasted until she saw the credit card bill.

If it’s been a while, then chances are you’re due for a change.

Well, there was an understatement. Jen read on, learning about the author’s big life change, how she’d lost her second husband and had to start over. Left to figure out her finances and the rest of her life, Muriel Sterling had sold her big house that she owed a fortune on and rented a friend’s cottage.

It wasn’t easy letting go of that house. It represented so much—the new life I’d begun with my second husband, security, happiness. But I quickly learned that two stories of wood and stone don’t make a life. And owing money on that place certainly didn’t make me secure. What I needed was freedom, not merely from debt but from the past and from my unrealistic expectations. I needed to be free to start again.

Free to start again, huh? Jen read on.

And so I ask you now, do you need to start over? The only way to do that is to get free.

Get free? She’d just bought this place. But did she own it or did it own her?

She shut the book and looked around her living room. Her couch was white leather and had a matching beaded chair. Her Beckworth coffee table, handcrafted from exotic demolition hardwoods, was her pride and joy. It hadn’t been cheap but she loved it. Her decorations were from Crate and Barrel. They hadn’t been cheap, either, and she had the high credit card balance to prove it. She really liked this living room. She especially liked the fireplace. Her parents’ house didn’t have one and she’d always been taken with the romantic image of reading by a cozy fire on a cold day. And even though the fire going right now was electric, it was still pretty, and it gave her living room the perfect finishing touch. Except she rarely had a chance to enjoy it.

She really liked her bedroom, too, which she’d dolled up with a vintage brass bed, a pink comforter and a spectacular multicolored gypsy chandelier. It should have been a retreat, a place for sweet dreams, but often she tossed and turned on that vintage bed, thinking about everything she had to do.

The kitchen was another work of art and she enjoyed looking at its sleek granite countertops. But she hardly ever cooked in there.

She gazed out the window at the Seattle skyline. Buildings everywhere and gray skies.

“What am I doing here?” she asked herself.

* * *

Toni was up to her eyebrows in gift bags and wrapping paper when her sister called. “Hey, I was beginning to think you’d run away,” Toni said. “I haven’t heard from you since we had lunch.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“What a surprise.”

“What are you doing this weekend?” Jen asked, ignoring her sarcasm.

“With ten days to go until Christmas? Shopping.” Most of her shopping had been done by November, but she still had a few last-minute things to purchase.

“Want to go shopping in Icicle Falls?”

“What?”

“I want to check out Icicle Falls. We can go up Friday and spend the night. Come back late Saturday.”

Toni wasn’t spontaneous. She was a planner, and she had her weekend all planned. She was going to the gym on Friday, then out to dinner that night with her husband. Wayne was a programmer and sometimes it seemed he was married to his computer instead of her. But come Friday, they were going to have a romantic night out whether he wanted to or not. She’d already told him to program that into his computer. Then Saturday she’d finish up her shopping.

“I can’t go until after Christmas.”

“Come on. Please? My treat.”

“You can’t afford to treat.”

“Okay, we can go halfsies, then we can both afford it.”

Toni propped the phone between her shoulder and her ear and set to work, using a pair of scissors to curl the ribbon on the package she’d finished wrapping. “Why are you suddenly in such a tear to go to Icicle Falls?”

“Because I think I might want to move there.”

Toni dropped the scissors. “What? What are you talking about? You just bought a condo!”

“I know. And now it’s on the market. My Realtor is holding an open house this weekend.”

All right. Spontaneous was one thing, but this was crazy. “You can’t put your place up for sale just like that,” Toni protested.

“Yes, I can,” Jen said, her tone of voice deceptively sane.

“No. You can’t. You don’t have any equity built up. You won’t make a cent.”

“I don’t need to make anything. I need to get free of my debt. Never mind the cheese, let me out of the trap.”

Toni frowned. That didn’t sound like something her sister would say. “What’s this all about, anyway?” And then she remembered. The book. She groaned. “Oh, no. Don’t tell me.”

“Don’t tell you what?”

“You read the book I gave you.”

“Isn’t that why you gave it to me? And yes, I did, and it made perfect sense.”

“That was to help you prioritize your life, learn how to be less busy.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing,” Jen said. “I’m shedding all the things that have been complicating my life and holding me down.”

“I didn’t give you that book so you could go off half-cocked, sell your place and move to the mountains.” She’d only wanted her little sister to learn to say no, to manage her time better. She should’ve known this would happen. This was such a Jen thing to do.

“I don’t know if I’m going to move to the mountains yet. I’m taking this slowly, checking it out.”

“Slowly? You read a book and two weeks later your place is up for sale!”

“Okay, fine. If you don’t want to go...”

“Oh, no. You’re not going up there without me,” Toni said firmly. Who knew what her sister would do if left to her own devices? “I’ll pick you up Friday at eleven, after I’m done at the gym.” The romantic Friday night dinner with her husband would have to wait. Right now she had to keep her sister from simplifying her life with a new complication.

And so that Friday afternoon the sisters were on their way to the quaint Washington town of Icicle Falls. Nestled in the Cascades, it was the ideal place...to visit.

“Why up here in the mountains? Why Icicle Falls?” Toni demanded.

“That’s where Muriel Sterling lives.”

“Muriel Sterling?”

“You know, the woman who wrote Simplicity. I read it in her bio on the back of the book.” Jen frowned. “Sometimes I wonder if you even read that book.”

Of course she’d read it. That was why she’d given it to her sister. Now Toni wished she’d never heard of it.

“So, on a whim you decided you want to live there?”

“I’ve been looking it up on the internet,” Jen said. “Did you know the town sponsors a yearly chocolate festival?”

“Well, there’s a reason to move.”

Jen matched her sarcasm with a grin. “I thought so.”

“This is nuts,” Toni said, frowning at her sister.

“Hey, watch the road.”

“Don’t worry. I can drive in the snow. And the Outback has all-wheel drive and snow tires. We’re fine.” She shook her head. “But listen to you. We’re on the highway and the snow’s hardly sticking and you’re already nervous. You hate driving in this stuff, so you’re moving to the mountains? That doesn’t make sense.”

“I hate driving in the snow in Seattle, which is all hills,” Jen corrected.

“This, in case you didn’t notice, isn’t a hill. It’s a mountain.”

“It’s a highway and you just assured me we’re safe.”

Toni sighed. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Aiding and abetting her sister in her insanity—what was she thinking? I must be crazy, too.

But once they hit the town she could understand why her sister had wanted to come here.

“Look how cute this is,” Jen said, gazing out the window at the Bavarian architecture of the shops as they drove down Center Street.

The downtown was cute, Toni had to admit, and especially with everything all decorated for the holidays. The old-fashioned streetlamps were bedecked with fat, red bows and greenery, the trees were strung with lights waiting to bloom come evening. The town was surrounded by glorious mountain peaks frosted with snow. So were the rooftops here in town. It all made Toni think of gingerbread houses.

“Let’s check in and then come back and shop,” Jen suggested.

That sounded fine to Toni and they drove to the Icicle Creek Lodge.

“Oh, my,” Jen breathed as they pulled up in front of the rustic, old place.

It looked the way a mountain lodge should—large, rough-timbered and accented with stone. The sweeping lawn was thick with snow. A trio of children, probably staying there, was busy taking advantage of the white stuff and building a snowman. Inside, the lobby was done up to the nines for the holidays with greens and ribbon and little twinkle lights everywhere. And in the center of the lobby sat an old-fashioned sleigh, piled with presents. Somewhere, someone was roasting nuts and the aroma filled the place.

Toni could envision bringing her family up here for a holiday vacation. Jordan would love this.

Well, maybe. Jordan would have loved it a couple of years ago. These days she didn’t enjoy doing much of anything with her family. Dad was mean, Mom didn’t understand and Jeffrey was stupid and a pest. Sigh.

Their room was all charm—wood paneling, two double beds with white down comforters, a view out the window that took Toni’s breath away. It would be so easy to fall under the spell of this place.

Jen joined her at the window. “Gorgeous, isn’t it?”

Oh, no. Jen couldn’t afford to fall. “Great place to vacation,” Toni said, hoping her sister would get the message.

“It might be a good place to live.”

Living here would feel like stepping inside a storybook. But her sister had some real-life issues to deal with. “You have a place in Seattle you haven’t sold.”

Jen frowned. “You don’t have to remind me.”

“Yeah, I do.” Someone had to keep Jen in line. Toni felt a sudden respect for Jiminy Cricket. Keeping someone out of trouble who was always bent on diving in nose-first was not a simple task. “I don’t want to see you put the cart before the horse.”

“I’m just looking. Remember? Come on, let’s go check out some of the shops.”

Jen had been right about the shops. The first one they walked into sold imported lace goods and teapots, and within ten minutes Toni had purchased a lace tablecloth for their grandmother. And a holiday table runner from Germany for herself.

That was only the beginning of the shopping spree. After that she went on to buy novelty hats for both her kids in the hat shop, several ornaments for the tree in a shop that specialized in all things Christmas and a box of chocolates from Sweet Dreams, the town’s chocolate company.

Jen purchased some, too. “For later tonight,” she said. She gave Toni’s arm a sisterly hug. “Isn’t this fun? Aren’t you glad you came?”

“I am,” Toni admitted. Who didn’t enjoy girl time and shopping? And everyone here was so darned friendly. Even she was beginning to harbor dreams of moving to Icicle Falls, ogling the beautiful scenery and stuffing her face with chocolate. “But remember, I have to be back by six tomorrow evening,” she told both her sister and herself. “Wayne and I have reservations for seven.” She was still determined to get in that dinner with her husband. They were going to be romantic if it killed them.

“Hey,” Jen said, stopping in front of Mountain Meadows Real Estate. She studied the pictures of homes for sale displayed on the window and her eager smile fell away. “Prices up here aren’t cheap, are they?”

“Looks like real estate has held its value,” Toni said. Another plus for residents of the town, but Jen couldn’t afford those prices. “Of course, these are houses. Condos might be less.” What was she saying?

“Good point. Let’s go in and find out what’s available,” Jen said, starting for the door.

Toni held her back. “Come on, Jen-Jen, let’s just have fun this weekend and leave it at that. You really shouldn’t even be looking until your place is sold.”

“It can’t hurt to look,” Jen insisted, and went in.

“Yeah, it could,” Toni muttered, and followed her inside.

Once in the office, the woman on duty was happy to show Jen what they had in her price range...which wasn’t much.

“None of those condos were as nice as what I have in Seattle,” Jen said as they left the office.

“Then maybe you should stay put.”

Jen frowned. “I really want to change my life.”

“That’s all well and good, but what would you live on if you moved up here? You work in Seattle. Remember?”

“I saw help-wanted signs in a couple of windows. I could find a job in town.”

“Oh, yeah. You’d make a lot of money working in some shop,” Toni scoffed.

“You don’t need a lot of money to live simply,” Jen told her. “That’s what Muriel Sterling says.”

“Muriel Sterling has never gone shopping with you.”

Jen didn’t answer. Instead, she pulled her cell phone from her coat pocket and began to surf the internet.

“Great,” Toni muttered, “I feel like I’m back home with my daughter, being ignored. What are you doing now?”

“I just had a thought.”

“What kind of thought?” What was Jen up to?

“Maybe I could rent something.”

“You don’t want to have nothing to show for your money but rent receipts,” Toni protested.

“Not down the road. But for right now, it might be nice to rent. No responsibility. If there’s a problem, the landlord fixes it.”

Toni shook her head. “I think you’re nuts.”

Jen held her phone out. There on the screen was the picture of a cottage with wisteria climbing up the front porch railing and along the roof. “That’s cute. And look at the price.”

“For that price there must be something wrong with it.”

“Well, I’m going to call and ask about it.”

From a nice condo to a teensy house in the mountains—her sister really had lost her marbles. “I wish I’d never given you that book,” Toni said.

Jen ignored her. “Hi, I’m calling about your ad on Homelist. Is that house still for rent? Great. I’d like to see it. Tomorrow morning? Yes, I can do that. Ten? Perfect.” Jen ended the call and smiled as if she’d accomplished something important. “We’re all set. The owner will meet us there.”

“Just remember. You’re only looking,” Toni cautioned.

“Of course,” Jen agreed.

The next morning when they pulled up to the place, Jen quickly slid from looking down that slippery slope into lusting. “Oh, it’s adorable!”

Yes, Toni had to concede, with its white shutters and little front porch it was darling. Camped out at the end of a long scenic road, it sat on a large lot surrounded by pine and various fir trees and came complete with a snow-capped roof. Some kind of tree, possibly a fruit tree, occupied a corner of the lot. But the place was tinier than Jen’s condo.

“It’s not very big,” Toni pointed out.

“There’s only me. I don’t need a big place,” Jen said, and climbed out of the SUV.

She’s going to do something crazy, Toni thought. Was it too late to demand that Jen hand over her checkbook?

A big black truck drove up and parked in front of them and out of it stepped a six-foot hunk of dark-haired gorgeous. Toni forgot about getting her sister’s checkbook. For a moment she even forgot she had a husband and a romantic dinner waiting for her in Seattle. By the time she remembered, Jen and the hunk had shaken hands and were halfway up the walk.

“Jen, wait,” she called, and hurried after them. But she knew she was too late.

Chapter Four

Never be afraid to start again.

—Muriel Sterling, author of Simplicity

Garrett Armstrong was the owner of this cottage. That meant he’d be Jen’s landlord? She’d take it. No wedding ring on his left hand. She’d take him, too.

Don’t be in a rush, she warned herself. She’d been there, done that. Serge had been a big, hormone-fueled mistake and she didn’t need that kind of heartbreak again. One romantic misstep equaled a starter marriage, but two equaled no brains. She was going to be smart the next time around and pick a man who had his act together. No more falling for a pretty face.

But, oh, what a pretty face this guy had—dark eyes, square manly chin, big shoulders.

You’re here for the house. Oh, yeah. That.

“Where are you from?” he asked as they walked up the little path to the cabin.

“Seattle.”

“Where people have neighbors,” Toni added, an oh-so-unsubtle reminder that Jen was a city girl.

“I’m sure there are neighbors here somewhere,” Jen said.

“There are,” Garrett assured her. “They’re half a mile down the road.”

“Well, that’ll be handy if you want to borrow a cup of sugar,” Toni said with a sneer.

“So I’ll stock up on sugar.” Jen sent her a look that said, “Shut up already.”

She shut up, but scowled in disapproval.

“Anyway, this is only a few minutes from town,” Jen mumbled.

“You’re moving over here for...?” he asked.

A chance for my eggs to meet a nice sperm. “I’m simplifying my life,” Jen said.

He nodded. “Always a good idea.”

“Right now she’s just looking around, getting ideas,” put in Toni, and it was all Jen could do not to kick her.

Garrett the Gorgeous frowned.

Jen could hardly blame him. No doubt he had better things to do than waste his time with someone who wasn’t really interested in renting his place. Was there someone in his life he was doing those better things with? Not that she was rushing into anything. She was just wondering. And wondering wasn’t rushing.

“I’m definitely interested in renting up here,” she said, sending her sister’s mouth slipping even farther down at the corners. “Do you have cable? Wi-Fi?”

“Just got it,” he said.

“That’s great.” Jen wanted to live simply, not primitively.

Then they went inside and she came to a complete, startled stop.

“Oh,” Toni said faintly from behind her.

Oh, didn’t begin to cover it. The cottage’s inside definitely didn’t match its cute exterior. It was one level and that consisted of a great room (well, sort of great) that included a kitchen, a dining area with a rickety wooden table and four equally rickety chairs and living room furniture that no self-respecting thrift store would accept. A tiny hallway scooted past the kitchen, probably leading to the bedrooms and bathroom. The place smelled musty and Jen wrinkled her nose.

Garrett must have noticed because he said, “It’s been closed up for a while. All it needs is a good fire in the woodstove.”

The woodstove was a bonus, she had to admit. Once she imported her furniture and hung some nice curtains at the windows, the living area would look totally different. She moved toward the kitchen, half the size of the one she had at the condo. The cabinets were old and battered, but they could have a second life if she painted them white.

Nothing would make those mustard-yellow Formica counters anything but disgusting, though. Jen pushed away the image of her spiffy granite counters in the condo. Instead, she pictured herself setting out freshly baked bread, making this kitchen homey with a mason jar full of wildflowers on the counter. There was enough room there to work. She could master the art of making pies, can fruit.

Speaking of fruit... “What kind of tree is that in the front yard?” she asked.

“Apple.”

“Home-canned applesauce,” she said dreamily.

He seemed impressed. “You know how to can?”

“I’m going to learn.”

Toni was standing by the window now. “Is it my imagination or is the floor slanting over here?”

“The foundation settled,” Garrett explained.

“I’ll bet that’s what they said about the leaning tower of Pisa,” Toni muttered.

Jen started down the hall. “So, two bedrooms, right?”

“That’s right,” he said.

“One for me and one for guests. You and Wayne and the kids can come visit,” she said to Toni, who was falling in behind them.

“It might get a little crowded with four of us in one bed.”

“The sofa’s a sleeper,” said Jen’s would-be landlord.

“Mmm,” Toni responded diplomatically.

Jen knew what she was thinking. The ratty, old brown couch would have to be fumigated before she’d let her children sleep on it.

They stopped at the first bedroom, furnished with twin beds covered in ancient brown bedspreads with big orange flowers that must’ve been hanging out in there since the seventies. “I suppose this is the guest room,” Toni said, her tone of voice speaking volumes.

“It’s not bad,” Jen insisted.

“The other bedroom is here,” Garrett said, leading the way to the next room. He was beautiful to follow, broad-shouldered and tall with a stare-worthy butt.

He opened the door and Jen peeked into the room and got a pleasant surprise. Lace curtains hung at the windows. Yes, they needed washing, but they were pretty, nonetheless. There, in the middle of the room, sat a double bed with a carved headboard and a beautiful quilt, done in shades of pink. Matching oak nightstands flanked it. Against another wall stood an antique oak dresser complete with beveled mirror.

“This is so sweet,” she said.

“The bedroom set was my grandmother’s,” Garrett told her.

“Did she make the quilt?”

“As a matter of fact, she did.”

“Is she still alive?”

He shook his head. “No. But my other grandmother is. She lives here in Icicle Falls.”

“It’s important to be close to family.” Toni gave Jen a meaningful look.

“This isn’t that far from Seattle,” Jen said.

“But it’ll feel like it is if you get snowed in,” Toni retorted.

“Most of us manage to get around okay in the snow,” Garrett said.

Jen thought about how poorly she drove in the stuff. Only the year before she’d slid backward down Eleventh Avenue in Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill neighborhood after a rare snowfall. She’d been afraid to venture out in her car ever since. But it was all level around here. Surely she could handle that. Anyway, they seemed to keep the roads clear.

“This is charming,” she said, glancing around the room, which was paneled with cedar. Two pictures of flowers hung on the wall. Everything about the room said family and love. If she moved into this cottage, she was sure she’d be embraced by the warm memories haunting it. “In fact, this whole place has potential. I’ll take it.”

Her sister stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. “What she means,” Toni began.

“Is that I’ll take it,” Jen said firmly, pulling out her checkbook.

He nodded. “I’ll have to do a routine credit check.”