New house, new life, new start.
Lucinda Cartwright's life was thrown into chaos after her father and step mother died. She became the sole provider for her younger sister, Mary-Beth in a single moment. Uncertainty cloaked her and she decided that m...
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The early winter morning air was frigid, I pulled my scarf up around my face as I jumped down out of my truck. The snow crunched under my boots as my feet sunk into the four inches of fresh powder that had fallen overnight. The evergreens and spruce trees were decorated with the white, branches hanging heavy and sagging under the weight of it.
I turned around to see my little sister, Mary-Beth snuggling in deeper to the jacket I had bought her before making the drive to our new home. She kept her gaze focused on the world outside of the windshield, barely blinking. She hadn't spoken more than a handful of words the entire drive, most of them 'yes' and 'no'. I didn't blame her for the cold shoulder, we had lost our closeness. The twelve years between us and the fact that I'd barely come home after I left for college had seen to that.
The sudden and tragic death of her mother and our father had forced me into the role of guardian. A role that I was completely unprepared for. I could barely take care of myself and now I was responsible for the life of a teenage girl, who was not only grieving the death of her parents but being forced to leave everything she had grown up with to live with someone she barely knew. Yeah, I didn't blame her one bit for the cold shoulder.
"I'll be right back. Holler if you need something." I waited a moment to see if she would respond but the only inclination I got that she was even listening to me anymore was the slight tightening of her lips. I let out a sigh as I bumped my door closed with my hip, leaving the truck running so I didn't have to heat it up all over again. The old thing was a pain to work with, the only reason I hadn't scraped my savings account dry and bought something better was because it had been my fathers. The only thing I had that belonged to him. He'd given it to me when I turned seventeen, it had been this ugly baby blue color and the gears jammed up when it got too cold. The only thing that had changed was that most of the paint had either rusted or chipped away by this point, but the gears still jammed up. It was irritating but familiar and at this point familiar was comfortable.
I moved up the driveway toward the cabin as quickly as my legs would carry me, wanting to get out of the cold as soon as possible. I could see smoke billowing out of the log made chimney, I took that as a good sign that someone was up this early in the morning. I had made better time on the road than I had expected. I was supposed to pick up the keys for the property I had bought around ten but it was only eight. So I was crossing my fingers that someone would be awake. My feet slipped around on the icy wood planks as came up the steps onto the small wooden porch, I had to reach out with my hand to catch myself on the rail.
"Watch yourself there. I haven't gotten a chance to lay out the salt this morning." A deep timber came from behind me. I jolted forward a bit in surprise, turning my head quickly to see a man with a snow shovel clasped in his hands. He was dressed in a long winter coat, a friendly smile on his bearded face. Beside him stood a lanky boy, longer hair stuffed in under a red beanie. He was probably about ten years old at best. He didn't look very enthused to be up so early and standing outside in the cold. I completely understood that feeling.
