Fireplace Scones

”There are no alligators, no hurricanes, no giant spiders. There are no alligators, no hurricanes, no giant spiders,” Lindsay repeated to herself as she shoveled the heavy snow off the walk way. “It’s worth it, my face hurts but it’s so worth it,” she said a loud to no one as she tried to convince herself this weather was not that bad. She hurried over to the porch and left the shovel there and quickly got inside. Her glasses fogged up, she felt around for the door knob and locked it behind her. Lindsay would not have to go out there for a while now. Her face felt stiff and cold as she took off her coat and boots, she unraveled her scarf and dropped everything on the floor. She finally removed her glasses and wiped them from the fog that covered her glasses to see her daughter Ivy on the kitchen floor playing with their miniature daschund named Shoe. She could not believe how much her daughter had grown, Ivy was now ten years old. Lindsay still couldn’t believe she raised her daughter on her own when she was fifteen. Now, Lindsay was running her own travel agency and it was going well. She never thought it would be possible, but here she was affording her own home sending her child to one of the best private schools in the state.

“What’s up mum?” Asked Ivy.

“Nothing, I was thinking that maybe we can sit by the fire and maybe drink some hot chocolate,” Lindsay replied trying to focus on the present moment. She pulled herself out of the past and headed into the kitchen. Ivy came up to her mom and she was starting to scrunch her face like she hated the idea, but then Ivy’s face relaxed and she said: “we haven’t done that in a while, I think that’s nice.”

Lindsay relaxed and she started to heat up the milk on the stove. Ivy grabbed the flour from the bottom cabinet and they made hot chocolate together and they baked scones. Ivy kept turning on the oven light to see when they were done. Once they were baked Lindsay poured the hot chocolate and together they sat down in front of the fireplace. It was times like this where she missed her late husband. She could picture him grabbing the acoustic guitar that was now in the case laying untouched and covered by dust. He would strum a few chords and finally he would start to play some songs and he would quietly hum while Ivy would sing off key in her high pitched child voice. Their world changed once they got the phone call from their oncologist. It started to become about his chemo and diet and Ivy was still two at the time. Lindsay would be driving Ivy to her parents and then taking her husband to chemo appointments and follow up. Then, he just didn’t wake up one day. Now, it’s been years later but she remembers it like yesterday. Kyle would be so proud of the woman that Ivy was quickly becoming. Lindsay smiled at her daughter as Ivy took a huge bite of her scone. It was nice to be close the fire and to drink hot chocolate with her daughter. She was so happy that these moments still happened with her and she didn’t want to go to her room and watch one of her shows. Ivy gave her mom a big smile.

“Can we turn on some music?” Ivy asked.

“Sure,” Lindsay got up and pushed play on the Bluetooth speaker and Frank Sinatra came on.