Jack drove her to the bar. Rather than parking in the back as usual, he pulled through two feet of snow to take a narrow space in the front and left the truck running. Preacher, all bundled up, was shoveling off the stairs and a path to the street.

As Jack carried her past, Preacher said, “Help yourself in the kitchen, Becca. I’m going to be tied up awhile.”

“Thanks,” she said with a laugh.

When Jack put her down right inside the door, she found an unexpected flurry of activity there. There were canned goods, bags of nonperishables and miscellanea lined up on the bar and on tables. Mel and Paige stood behind the bar, sorting and creating piles. Their four kids were coloring at a table in front of the fire. Jack went immediately to a stack of unconstructed boxes and began to fold them into shape and tape them.

“Hi,” Becca said to the women. “Getting those Christmas boxes ready?”

“We have to try to get them all delivered right away,” Paige said. “We have more weather on the way.”

“It would be awful if people didn’t get them before Christmas,” Becca said.

“It would be awful if they didn’t get them,” Mel said. “Some of these people need them. They might be hungry even as we speak, and if they’re also snowed in, have no way to get food. If we wait even a day and can’t get down some of those back country roads…” She shuddered. “One of the local farmers is plowing a lane out to Cameron’s house. He’s got the Hummer—our ambulance. He has to be able to get to town to the clinic. It’s heart-attack season, not to mention slips on ice, broken bones, strained muscles, cars sliding off roads, et cetera.”

“Heart-attack season?” Becca asked.

“First dramatic snowfall of the year,” Mel said while making groupings of foods for care boxes. “Shoveling and heart attacks. All the warnings in the world just don’t seem to help. During an ice storm a couple of years ago, we had a school bus go off the road. Jack and some of the guys rappeled down the hill to them. First responders had to carry the kids up one at a time. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt, but it could’ve been disastrous. Three years ago, we had a teenager lost and half the town went in search. Oh, Jack!” she said, turning her attention to her husband. “Paul Haggerty called—he’s plowing the stretch from 36 into town so if we have to get to the hospital, we can. And once he has access, he’ll bring some heavy equipment into town along with the construction company’s fuel truck.”

“Good. We could get gas out at Buck Anderson’s ranch—he keeps a good supply for his equipment—but getting there could be a problem.”

Becca felt a sudden surge of panic. “Is there any way to check and be sure Denny got out to the farm all right?”

“I’m sure he did or Jillian would have called asking after him,” Mel said. “But go in the kitchen and use the phone. Her number will be in the listing by the phone. Matlock. Jillian Matlock. And then get yourself something to eat—I bet you haven’t had breakfast.”

Becca worked those crutches very quickly.

“Yes,” Jillian said. “Denny and Colin are out clearing, plowing and removing snow from the roofs of the greenhouses. Most of it melted from smudge pots warming the inside, but sometime in the night, the snow and cold overwhelmed us and covered our paths to the greenhouses. How are things in town?”

“Very active,” she said. “Everyone seems to be very busy.”

Jillian laughed into the phone. “Yes, when Mother Nature pulls one of her tricks, the town rallies to make sure everyone has what they need. In big cities, you have whole agencies on the job, but out here, the wait could be a little too long. And there’s no agency to dig out my greenhouses or make paths to them for the gardenmobile! Luke and his helper, Art, are coming out to help as soon as the road to his house and cabin is cleared. He’s got a plow attachment for his truck. Slow going, but effective.”

“So you guys are okay out there?”

“Oh, yes,” Jillian said. “I have a major snowball fight scheduled for later today. Hey, Denny tells me you guys are heading south to begin whole new lives together. I hate to lose him, but congratulations, Becca! Even though you’re taking my best guy away from me, I wish you endless happiness.”

“Thanks,” she said somewhat meekly. She was taking the favorite son away. She felt kind of bad about that.

“I’ll get him out of here as quickly as possible so you can gather up your stuff and be ready to get on the road before this storm gets any worse. At least once you get off the mountain, you won’t have any more trouble. Just maybe a lot of rain….”

Except that the little truck is buried, she thought.

“Be sure you get that last ounce of help out of him,” Becca said.

Jillian laughed. “You’re a sport. Just so you know, I made Denny promise that you guys would be up for a visit. Many visits!”

“Sure we will. Tell Denny to drive back here real careful!”

“Oh, he’ll be careful,” Jillian said. “There’s no other option.”

Back in the bar, the television mounted high in the corner was turned on to the weather station and the volume was up. The blast of snow had hit the northwest, and the worst was in the mountains. The Sierras were socked in. South of town was rain and the inevitable flooding and mud, all the way to Southern California.

Becca heard a banging sound and looked out one of the bar windows. Preacher’s truck was backed up to the wood pile and, with Jack’s help, they were filling the back of the truck with split logs.

“What are they doing?” she asked the women.

“They’ll take firewood with them wherever they go today. The people around here have good survival instincts, but Jack likes to make sure they have wood on hand in case the heater fails or they run out of propane.”

Becca leaned heavily on her crutches, her bad leg lifted. This was driving her crazy! She wanted to be a part of this. “I want to help,” she said. “Tell me what I can do.”

Paige and Mel both stopped what they were doing and looked at her. “Well,” Mel finally said. “I guess you could color with the kids…”

“I’d be happy to, but they don’t need me. You need me. There must be something I can do.”

There was a moment of silent indecision between the women. “Do you cook?” Paige asked.

“A little bit, I guess.”

“Any favorite dishes you like to make? Can you follow a recipe? We’re not going to have a crowd tonight, but whoever is here is going to have to eat.”

“We might have to stay in town tonight,” Mel said. “I don’t want to risk not being able to get to the clinic. I’ve got a couple of women in advanced pregnancy.” She laughed suddenly. “And nine months from tonight, I’m going to have plenty ready to pop. People can only think of so many ways to entertain themselves during a snowstorm.”

“I can get food together,” Becca said. “I can help in the kitchen.”

“Good,” Paige said. “Because John isn’t going to have a lot of time to cook if he’s delivering food and firewood. And I have to get these care boxes fixed up before I can get in there. Let me get you set up.”

Becca found thawed ground beef in the refrigerator. She boiled potatoes and shredded cheddar for her favorite potato casserole. She found Preacher’s recipe for meat loaf—simple enough. There were frozen and canned vegetables from the local farmers and gardens. She found green beans and thought, if needed, she could throw together a green-bean casserole. Paige promised to help her with desserts after she finished with the care boxes.

Becca began to realize there were a number of things she could have provided—spaghetti and meatballs, homemade mac and cheese, lasagna, stroganoff and noodles…

Every time she heard an increase in noise, talking or laughter in the bar, she pushed open the door to see who had arrived. Ellie and Noah Kincaid came to help; Jo and Nick Fitch arrived. Next, she found Paul Haggerty in the bar, cheeks and nose pink and a big smile on his face, brushing snow off his hands and shoulders. “You’re plowed through to 36,” he announced. “Gimme some hot coffee and I’ll clear the rest of this street for you.”

A while later, she stuck her head into the bar to see a few men she didn’t know laughing and warming up with coffee before getting back out into the weather. Then Jack and Preacher were there, carrying care boxes out to the truck. At almost noon, Denny arrived. He came right in the kitchen, all grins, and swept her up in his cold arms, burying his icy nose in her neck, causing her to eeek! loudly while he laughed.

He set her free. “I’m going to start digging out the car and put chains on the tires. We’re going to have to try to get out of here, get south today. There’s more weather due tonight and if we don’t go now—”

“I can’t,” she said instantly. “I’m busy. If I don’t cook for these people, who knows if they’ll have time to get a meal together!”

“They’ll be fine, honey. Wrap it up and I’ll get you down to the apartment to pack up.”

The phone rang and she automatically reached for it. “I think I have to take a chance on the weather,” she said. Then into the phone, she said, “Jack’s.”

“Hey, Becca, it’s Jack. Get Mel to the phone, will you, sweetheart?”

“Sure, hang on.” She crutched over to the swinging door. “Mel? Jack’s on the phone. He needs you.”

She gave her attention back to Denny. “We might not get on the road exactly when we planned, but it doesn’t matter as long as we get on the road eventually. Right? What if there’s another heavy snowfall and Jillian needs you?”

“I’ve got her squared away. She’s called in her troops to stand by if she needs them. Think about this, Becca, because you said you wanted to be home before Christmas. Christmas Eve is Friday.”

“I bought a couple of presents before Thanksgiving, but other than those, I don’t have a thing,” she said, thinking aloud. “I don’t have anything for you and I’d like it to be a special Christmas.”

He grinned. “You think it won’t be? You don’t need to put a bow on it, baby.”

And then she heard Mel say, “Oh, for Pete’s sake, they should know better than to worry about money when something like this happens! I’ll get right out there.” There was a pause. “No, I’m not waiting for you to come and get me. Cameron and I will come together in the Hummer. Paige will mind the kids. Tell them to get the heat turned up, get the worst one in the steam and I’ll be right there.”

Mel hung up and looked at Denny and Becca. “I’m on my way out to the Thicksons’. They have sick kids with coughs, sore throats and fevers. I hope they didn’t let it go too long.”

“I’m going with you,” Becca said. “That’s little Megan’s house.”

“You can’t, Becca,” Denny said. “You’re on crutches. If there’s a problem, like if Mel got stuck in the snow or something, you’d be a liability.”

“He’s probably right, Becca,” Mel said while she dialed. She spoke quickly to Cameron Michaels, instructing him to pull the Hummer up to the bar so they could go to the Thicksons’ together.

“Then you take me,” she said to Denny. “I need to go. I can’t leave without telling Megan goodbye, anyway. Please?”

“We should get on the road…” he said again.

Becca went to the pantry and pulled out cans of chicken soup. The supply must be something that Preacher kept on hand for the kids. She put six cans on the work island, then transferred them into a bag. She pushed the bag toward Denny. “We’ll get on the road in plenty of time. First things first. We have things to do.”