Holiday Magic (Second Chance) by Susanne Matthews Page B

flight of stairs that led to the first floor was the door leading out to the ground level patio under the deck. Mark unlocked it and saw that it opened into a semi-enclosed storage area that had been filled with wood. He quickly closed and locked the door to shut out the cold.
    They worked side by side to empty the van, leaving everything in the mud room for the time being. Georgia grabbed the bags of groceries, climbed the stairs to the main floor, and opened the door. Mark followed with the sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows, and then went out to park the van and start the generator. Georgia carried the two bags of groceries over to the kitchen counter and turned around to admire the décor.
    The chalet was rustic, but the simplicity of it appealed to her artistic nature. On the main floor, there was a kitchen separated from the dining-living room by a breakfast bar. Floor to ceiling windows on either side of the fieldstone fireplace faced the mountain, although with the heavy snow, all that could be seen was a swirling white wall. The fireplace’s firebox had been made more efficient with the insertion of a woodstove and blower, and would no doubt provide enough heat to warm the small house nicely. A forty inch, flat screen television, with a built-in Blu-ray player, was attached to the stone above the firebox. There was a large selection of Blu-ray disks and DVDs on a bookshelf under the loft balcony. She had noticed a dish on the roof, but in this weather, reception was doubtful. There was a modern washroom with a shower and tub next to the kitchen.
    The back half of the chalet held the loft. The staircase from down below continued up to a balcony, which overlooked the windows and fireplace below. The loft was divided into three rooms, two bedrooms with a bathroom between them. The bedrooms, one with a queen-size bed and the other with a smaller double bed were open to the balcony allowing the heat from below to warm them. A large ceiling fan hung from the pointed ceiling, and could be used to draw the warm air upstairs.
    Georgia carried her case and the sleeping bags upstairs, dropping one on the double bed in one room and taking the other and her case into the other room. She was glad she had thought to bring her slippers to wear, since the floors were ice-cold, and because of the snow, she had left her boots in the mudroom. She went back downstairs for the pillows and blankets Mark had thrown in, as well as the duffel bag he’d packed for himself. She put two blankets and a pillow in each room, and took the duffel bag into the room she’d assigned to Mark. It was cold in the loft, but she was certain it would be warmer by the time they went to bed; at least, she hoped it would be.
    She walked over to the fieldstone fireplace and was glad to see the large wood box beside it was full of logs. She opened the glass-fronted woodstove doors, and saw that a fire had been readied. She checked to make sure the damper was open, and using one of the long matches in the container on the mantel, she lit the paper and was pleased when the wood caught instantly.
    The fire began to warm the room immediately. She imagined snuggling with Mark on the butter-soft leather sofa and gave her head a shake. Don’t go there, she ordered herself, but she had to admit that the chalet was romantic and would have been the ideal place for a honeymoon.
    Mark came up the stairs. “I’ve put the tree on the front deck. We can bring it in through the sliding doors as soon as you decide where you want it. Once it’s in the tree stand, we can give it time to thaw before we add the decorations.”
    He walked over to the tap and turned it on. It made a few strange gurgling sounds and sputtered before the water poured out of it.
    “ I turned up the hot water tank. There were other instructions nailed to the wall in the garage,” he said, removing his coat and gloves. “Charlie mentioned that we probably shouldn’t drink the water unless we boil