Free Winter’s Awakening by Shelley Shepard Gray Page A

it.
    Feeling somewhat like his father, he glanced at the clock again. Five thirty. The truck should be along momentarily.
    He decided to dust off the back ledge and straighten the area where baskets and wooden toys were. A group of children had come in an hour before and had not been shy about playing with the wooden trains and stable animals.
    He’d just picked up a pair of delicately carved sheep when the bell rang.
    “I was wonderin’ if ya were gonna be able to get here today, Ben…”
    But it wasn’t Ben who greeted him with a smile. No, it was his neighbor. Lilly.
    “Hi. I, um, I’m not Ben.”
    No, she surely wasn’t. “I’m expecting a delivery truck,” he explained, not certain if his statement was much of an explanation at all.
    “Oh, it’s here, too.” She gestured over her shoulder. “He pulled up just as Charlie was parking.”
    The door flew open again, spraying the display of baskets with a dusting of snow. And in walked Ben, his solid muscular arms loaded down with supplies as usual. “Joshua! Good evening! I’ve got a full load of milk, butter, and cream for you today. There’re boxes in the back of books and leather goods, too.”
    “I’ll pull on my gloves and help you.” Belatedly, Joshua looked Lilly’s way. “Unless there’s something you were needin’ first?”
    Looking bemused, she shook her head. “No. I mean, I have time. Charlie’s on his way in, too.”
    “All right, then.”
    Sure enough, in came Charlie just as Joshua slipped on his gloves and followed Ben outside. “Do you need any help with that?” Charlie asked.
    “No. It’s my job, not yours. You go on in out from the cold.”
    After Charlie disappeared through the door with another clink of bells, Joshua clambered inside the truck’s spacious bed and pulled out a wooden crate.
    Its weight momentarily took his breath away before he steadied himself. “I always forget how heavy these trays of milk are,” he grumbled to Ben as he followed Ben’s footsteps on the snowy walkway.
    “Don’t worry, you’ll be remembering soon enough,” the burly thirty-year-old said with a grin.
    Five turns later, Joshua was signing the receipt and waving Ben on his way.
    He slipped in the back door and hastily went to the wash room and wiped off his brow. Even in the snowy weather, he’d managed to work up a sweat.
    After that, he looked for Lilly and Charlie, and found them next to the baked goods. “Are you needin’ some bread or rolls?”
    Lilly nodded. “We do. And some fresh cheese and yogurt too, if you have it.”
    Charlie stood to one side while Joshua retrieved the items for her. “Anything else?”
    “No, this is it.” Looking at her brother, she nibbled on her bottom lip a bit uncertainly. “We’ve got to get on home. The streets are really getting bad. Since the storm came up so quickly, I don’t know if the salt trucks have been out yet.”
    “I best be letting ya get on your way, then.” Carefully, he punched in each item on the cash register. “Eighteen dollars and seventy-six cents.”
    She handed him a twenty. “When will you leave?”
    “Soon. You two are my last customers.”
    When Charlie joined them at the counter he whistledlow. “I’ve never seen your store so quiet. Where’s everyone else?”
    “The snow scared the rest of the customers away, I’m thinking.”
    Lilly waved a hand. “Your family, too?”
    “I sent my daed and sister on home. The roads were getting icy. I didn’t want to worry about Jim slipping.”
    Charlie tilted his head. “Jim?”
    “He’s our—”
    “Horse,” Lilly finished with a smile. “I met him the day Mom sent over that cake.”
    Joshua handed Lilly her sack. “Well, here’s your things. Thank you for comin’ in.”
    “Thank you.” Turning to her brother, Lilly wrapped her gray wool muffler around her neck. “Charlie? You ready?”
    “Yeah, sure.” Charlie pushed off from the wall, then took the sack from Lilly. “Hey, Josh, if your horse