Black Water Creek by Robert Brumm Page B

probably cooking a meal for two. She continued down the long driveway to the cottage and marveled at how beautiful the snow made everything look. The wet flakes clung to the tree branches and made her feel like she was driving right into a postcard.
    Kelly squeezed Keegan’s foot. “Up and at ‘em, kiddo. We’re home.”
    He woke up, mumbling something about playing in the snow and Kelly told him he’d have to wait until it stopped. A snowsuit was one more thing on her list of things to buy and one more thing she’d left at home when they took off.
    She grabbed the plastic grocery bags from the bed of the truck as quickly as she could. They were already covered in snow and accumulating more every second. She dropped the last bag on the kitchen counter with satisfaction, knowing they didn’t have any reason to venture out in the blizzard again that afternoon.
    Keegan sat on the floor in the middle of the living room with a scowl on his face.
    “What’s the matter, aren’t you excited to sleep in our new house for the first time?”
    “ Nuh-uh.”
    “Why not?” She crouched down and unzipped his jacket.
    “It’s scary. I wanna go back to the big house.”
    “This is our place now, we don’t sleep in the big house anymore. Why do you think it’s scary?”
    Keegan stuck his thumb in his mouth without answering. Kelly was about to tell him not to do it but she decided to let it be, for now. He was just being crabby and she wasn’t in the mood for one of his tantrums.
    She went back to the kitchen to put away the groceries and smiled with a sense of pride as she survey ed her house. Thanks to her check from the diner and her first paycheck from Paul, she was finally able to get some furniture. It was used of course, but that didn’t matter to her. Ed took her to the Goodwill thrift store in Tillman and she was able to afford a sofa, kitchenette set, two dressers, and a coffee table. She didn’t like the idea of sleeping on a used mattress, so for now it would be camping out on the bedroom floor. She was even able to grab a few paintings to hang on the wall. It was sparse, but it was home.
    She put the last of the food in the refrigerator, generously donated by Ed. They had a second fridge in the garage and Sue convinced him they could live without it. They also threw in an old television that lost its place in the Sheridan’s living room when Ed bought a new 42” flat screen a year ago. She couldn’t get any channels on it, but another good score from the thrift shop was a used VCR and a dozen cartoon tapes. They were practically giving them way.
    “Wanna watch one of your shows while I make dinner?” she called over to Keegan. He pick ed his favorite tape, the old Winnie the Pooh movie and slid it into the machine. Kelly smiled at the thought of Keegan probably being the only kid around for miles that’s even seen a VCR, much less knew how to use one. He pressed play and sat down, fixated on the screen thanks to the analog baby sitter she was able to buy for five bucks.
    Kelly heard a car do or slam outside and she looked the window. It was Paul’s Jeep. A second later, he announced himself with a rap on the door.
    “Hey, what are you doing here?” The icy wind blasted through open door. “Come on in.”
    Paul stomped his snow covered shoes on the floor. “Sorry to barge in like this. Did I come at a bad time?”
    “Not at all. We just got back from shopping . What’s up?”
    “I’ve got something for you and I didn’t want to wait.” He pulled a package wrapped in brown shipping paper out of his pocket and handed it to her.
    “What’s this?”
    “Only one way to find out.” Paul grinned.
    Kelly tore the paper to reveal a paperback book, How to Start and Run a Successful Used Book Store.
    “I found it online and had it shipped overnight. Lots of good reviews. Apparently that’s the book on doing it right.”
    She paged through the book. “Uh, thanks. Looks pretty good.”
    “I wanted to