Sisters In Love (Snow Sisters, Book One: Love in Bloom Series)

Chapter Thirteen, Sisters in Love

Chapter Thirteen

By Sunday morning Danica had two new clients and a great idea of where to take Michelle. She threw on her jeans and a white, V-neck, cashmere sweater she’d had for years. She laced up her white Converse sneakers, which she’d purchased ages ago with Kaylie but had never worn. She eyed her Nine West pumps. It was a step, trying to define a line between work and her social life, even if a small one. She’d never wear sneakers to work. She wrapped a royal-blue scarf around her neck and grabbed her father’s old army jacket, which she loved. On her way out the front door, she glanced in the mirror. She turned, inspecting herself from head to toe. She touched her hair, then her hips. Not half bad. There was something to be said about dressing young. For once her hair looked like it belonged on the person wearing it. Danica wondered why she didn’t dress like that more often. A simple scarf and tossing away the pea coat for her father’s jacket gave her a whole different outlook, and she felt it all the way down to her toes as she walked to the car with a new bounce in her step.

Michelle met her in her grandmother’s foyer, wearing all black, straight down to the black Converse. Inside, Danica felt like a kid. She wanted to jump up and hug Michelle, squealing, Look, I’ve got on Converse too! Instead, she said, “Ready to go?”

Michelle surveyed Danica’s outfit and smiled, then nodded.

“I’ll bring her back by three, Nola,” Danica said.

Michelle’s grandmother took Danica’s hand. “Bless you, Danica. You are a gift to her right now.”

“Thank you. She’s as much a gift to me.”

Michelle rolled her eyes and walked out the door.

Danica drove to the Village, someplace she rarely went, although when she’d first moved back to Allure after college, she’d been sure she would spend a lot of time there. She’d imagined romantic strolls and dinners looking out at the mountains. But after she’d moved, real life had taken over, and those fantasies were just hopes that she would not let herself entertain, and she had quickly tucked them away. Until now.

She parked on the street in front of Steam, a little café with a line out the door. All of the Village streets were paved with bricks. Brick and stone town houses served as storefronts and restaurants. Ornate, iron fences and black, iron poles hosting old-fashioned lanterns lined the narrow streets. Danica sat in the driver’s seat and remembered how she’d fallen in love with the Village. The Village had been Kaylie’s hangout when they were growing up. Danica had hung out at the library. It wasn’t until she had graduated from college and moved back home that she’d ventured to the Village again and become infatuated with its unique beauty.

“Are we getting out?” Michelle asked.

Danica grabbed her purse and opened the door. “We sure are.”

They walked up the sidewalk.

“I’ve been here once,” Michelle said.

“Really? Was it long ago?”

“Yeah. With my mom, when I was just a kid. Five, maybe? I don’t remember exactly when, but I remember the bricks and the lights at night.”

“It sounds like a good memory.” Don’t sound like a therapist. “I mean, the lights must have been lovely.”

“Mm-hmm. I think we sat over there.” She pointed to a courtyard. “There were fireworks, but I don’t think it was the Fourth of July.”

“They do fireworks here the second and last Friday of each month during the summers. I don’t know if they did it back then, but maybe it was the same thing.”