[HP] Born to be a pair

Chapter 18

When Renee came out of Brockenhurst train station with her suitcase, the sky was getting darker. Pale light enveloped the winter landscape, and soft snowflakes were still falling.

The snow was so heavy that all buses to the town of Lyndhurst were suspended.It also points to something, a terrible thing—that Renee must travel alone through the snow and snow to her home deep in the woods next to the town.

"Honey, come here to escape the wind and snow!"

There was an enthusiastic greeting in the wind, Renee struggled to wrap her coat tightly and turned her head, and saw a plump woman with dark skin and a purple velvet hat pushing open the old window sash and waving to her.

The small bar with warm light in front of me is the only shop that is still open next to the station.

Renee had no choice but to reach into the inside of her coat with one hand, calmly clutch her wand and walk into the old pub called "The Heart of the Forest".

The interior of the bar is very narrow, and you can see the end at a glance, but it is very warmly decorated-perhaps because of Christmas.

Red satin, green holly branches and yellow ribbons decorate the New Year atmosphere of this small bar.

There are a few people sitting sporadically around the round table, and what kind of person can get drunk at noon?

Anyway, they heard the sound of the wooden door hitting the bell, and when they looked up, they saw Renee, who was tightly wrapped up, entering the door.The men boo and chuckle at each other, like the audience when the lights go out before the feature film starts.

"Are you traveling during the Christmas holidays?"

The previous woman greeted her warmly and invited her to sit near the bar.

"Let's warm up with a glass of wine first, I have a car in my store, and I can take you to the hotel in town!"

"Thank you...but I need to take the bus, do you know when the route to Lyndhurst will reopen?"

Renee took off her hood, revealing her young, pale face, which made the woman's pouring hand pause for a moment.

She glanced at Renee, still smiling, but replaced the spirits in her hand with soda for mixing, and poured a small glass for Renee.

"There is no hot drink in the store." She said regretfully, "At least wait until the wind and snow stop, but no one knows when the damn weather will calm down,"

"Miss Waddington! Another kirsch!"

While Renee was contemplating, someone called the woman surnamed Waddington away. She took away the tray, put some dark brown wine bottles on it, and said kindly to Renee.

"Little girl, if you want to call someone, use the one at the door—but remember, you have to pick up the receiver before inserting coins, don't blame me for not reminding you."

After thanking her, Renee finally decided to make a phone call. Even though she was very reluctant, she still touched the public phone with her hesitant fingers when she saw the snow and wind outside the window.

"Beep...beep...beep..."

No one answered the phone at home, she frowned and counted the days before suddenly realizing it, and then dialed another number.

"Du...beep...Hello, manager's office."

"Hi, hello. I'm Renee Hawke, daughter of Greg Hawke—"

Click, as another gust of wind blew past, the line was forced to be interrupted.Renee's call for help was also blocked. She opened her mouth and stared blankly at the scratched clapboard, losing her mind for a moment.

"jingle--"

The door was pushed open again, hitting the golden bell next to it, making a crisp sound.A middle-aged man with a burly figure and gray hair came in. He brushed away the snow on his body while walking inside, looking very familiar with this place.

"De Lisa! Give me a glass of tequila!" He said loudly, as if he wanted to knock the roof off, "This damn weather... It was still sunny when I went out in the morning. I just came from the department store. When the company came out, it started to blow a blizzard!"

The voice sounded familiar, but Renee couldn't remember it for a while, until Ms. Waddington chatted with the man in a reproachful tone, and she vaguely remembered something.

"One drink only, Gideon," Ms Waddington said. "I don't want to get a call tomorrow from the rescue team saying you've been blown over on the drive home."

Then, she raised the wine bottle in her hand to pour wine for Gideon, she caught a glimpse of Renee in the corner from the corner of her eye, and couldn't help but her eyes lit up: "Oh! By the way, Gideon!

This little girl is going to Lyndhurst too!Do you know her?Can I give her a ride? "

The man named Gideon took off his thick woolen scarf, squinted his eyes and looked at Renee who came out of the shadows. As his eyes opened wider, the smile on Renee's face became brighter. .

"Mr. Penrose!"

"Renee?!"

Gideon Penrose is the person Renee is most grateful to. When she was most short of money, he took in the thin Renee to work in the ice cream shop.

At first it was just wiping down the machines and cleaning, but when he discovered Renee's amazing control, he put her directly in the important position of making ice cream.

——It was really important to her as a child, and the hopes of all the children who came to buy ice cream were in her hands, so Renee also gained a lot of superficial friendships.

"What amazing news!" exclaimed Mr. Penrose. "You have come home for Christmas. Greg was saying the other day that you would still be staying at school for the holidays!"

"Oh—yes, I made a temporary decision."

Renee couldn't help but twitched her lips. She seldom went home for Christmas in the past. If it wasn't for that diary, she wouldn't have signed the detention list.

"Great!" Mr. Penrose drank the water in his glass suddenly, his cheeks flushed immediately, "Greg will be very happy-hey, Teresa! Why did you pour me soda?"

"You have to pick up other people, so I won't give you spirits." Ms. Waddington giggled and took away the wine glass on the bar counter, "I treat you with these two glasses of soda, go home quickly Bar."

With Mr. Penrose's pickup truck, Renee was finally able to go home smoothly. She put her suitcase in the loading compartment and found many colorful Christmas decorations.

The vehicle was driving in the thick snow, thanks to Mr. Penrose who put anti-skid chains on the tires, which made the driving process difficult and smooth.

"You don't go home for Christmas, and Greg often goes to the church in town." He put on sunglasses to prevent being dazzled by the glowing snow while driving, "Well, this year you come back for the holidays, he must be special Happy."

Renee wasn't sure if that was true. From what she knew of her father, he should be very happy that she could stay at school for the holidays every year, because it would save a lot of holiday expenses.

"Will you come to help after you come back from summer vacation?" Mr. Penrose asked. "To be honest, since you are back from Christmas vacation-you don't know, I redecorated the store last year."

In fact, she knew, after all, she also worked in the ice cream shop during the summer vacation after the fifth grade.

"You know, I used to close the doors in the winter, and it was a waste to think about it now. So I redecorated the store and sold hot cocoa and simple bread in winter, and coffee."

"That's very nice, Mr. Penrose. I think you'd all like a cup of coffee and a piece of bread and butter on a cold afternoon."

"Well, of course... Renee, I think... it's a hard thing to talk about, and hey - well - it's Christmas break and both Joan and Rosanna have to go home and make early scones and Christmas decorations, if you If you have time, can you—can you come to the store and help?"

Renee was stunned. She immediately turned her head to look at Mr. Penrose who was concentrating on driving, and couldn't help pressing the flat wallet in his pocket.

"I know you must have come back to enjoy the holiday with Greg, I'm too presumptuous to ask... But as long as you make it to Christmas Eve, I will close the store at [-] pm on Christmas Eve and take a two-week holiday ——I will pay you according to the salary during the holidays, you only need to make coffee for the guests, make cocoa milk and register the cashier, and Willy will be responsible for making the bread.”

Willie is Mr. Penrose's only son. He didn't go to college, so he stayed at home to help the shop.During the summer vacation, Willie and Renee were often on duty together.

But the news is simply fantastic!Renee wasn't making much pocket money this term, and had to buy Christmas presents for her friends and Neville.

Especially the travel expenses for the trip home exceeded her budget. She thought that she would have to ask her father for money again this time.

"I'd love to, Mr. Penrose!" She nodded happily.

The sky outside the car window had quietly cleared up at some point, and the sun was streaming on the bright white snow, just like her clearing heart at this time.

The compact pickup turned into a forest covered with silver frost along a rough path.

The lake house was right in the middle of the forest, in the middle of nowhere, and about a mile from the remotest homes on the edge of the village.

So when Mr. Penrose drove the car crookedly and parked by the lake, Renee's neck and waist were already aching.

"You should have called Greg in advance." Mr. Penrose frowned and looked at the lonely hut made of logs and stone bricks. It was cold and lonely, without any color that symbolized Christmas.

"Department stores are closed tomorrow, where are you going to buy decorations and food?"

"It's okay." Renee let go of her seat belt as usual, and jumped out of the co-pilot.

"Don't worry about food, there is a storage room at home, we can also go to the grocery store to buy some canned food, or set a trap in the forest - there should be small animals that come out for food.

As for the decorations..."

"For decoration, you can take these!"

Mr. Penrose's voice came from the rear compartment. He held the overstuffed cardboard box and handed it to Renee with a happy smile.

"I bought a lot, here are ribbons, stars and lights, and a few dolls, you can use them to decorate your home, Christmas can't be without these!"

"What? No, no need..." Renee was stuffed in surprise. Just when she was about to refuse, she didn't expect that Mr. Penrose had already put her suitcase down, and immediately jumped into the car and fled. forest.

"Don't forget to come to the store at one o'clock tomorrow afternoon to report—"

After a short silence and dumbfounded, Renee had no choice but to carry the cardboard box and drag the suitcase back into the house.

Only her father's fur slippers were placed in the narrow porch. She had to bend down and look around in the depths of the shoe cabinet to find her own plush indoor shoes.

A few palm-sized spiders were woken up by her, and crawled out of the dark shoe cabinet unhappily. Renee swept them all out of the house—they never paid rent anyway.

Putting the suitcase back into the room, she began to pick out all the decorations in the carton. Sure enough, there were ribbons, ribbons and sequin balls, as well as golden stars adorning the Christmas tree, a few strings of crystal-like light strips, used to dress up A living room is more than enough.

It's a pity that they don't have a Christmas tree at home.

Renee sighed helplessly, but it didn't matter, it was pretty good to be able to spend a deserted Christmas that was completely different from school.

There was the sound of the car rolling on the snow outside the door again, and her father's customary horn before parking. Renee knew that it was Greg Hawke, and her father had come home.

The author has something to say:

I don't know if uu like Renee's childhood town and stories!

感谢在2021-10-0522:03:14~2021-10-0714:48:19期间为我投出霸王票或灌溉营养液的小天使哦~

Thanks to the little angel of irrigation nutrient solution: 10 bottles of turquoise;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!