Winter House - Chapter 1

"Hey, it's Eve. Leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

"Eve! We haven't seen each other in such a long time. I was just wondering if you'd like to stay a couple of weeks here in Montreal with me. Just call me, and we can arrange all the flight tickets and dates. Oh, it's Ivory by the way," Ivory Gold had been calling and leaving messages all morning. She had stayed perched in the brown antique chair dialing numbers and practically talking to machines. She prayed for the next call to be a real life human voice, and not a recorded one.

"Hello?" A male voice asked.

"Daniel? This is Daniel Peters, right?"

There was some silence on the phone for a while, until the other line, who was supposedly Daniel coughed and realized it was Ivory; the girl he had known since middle school!

"Ivory Gold, I can't believe you're calling me - I tried to reach you months ago but I had no idea where you were. Your family wouldn't say and I never got a reply from your e-mail. Wait, what area code is this?" He asked, with no breath between each question.

Ivory smiled, and proceeded to answer him. "Well..." She started to say slowly, "Yes, I'm calling you. The reason why you can't reach me is because I moved. So that explains the address, and phone changes. I don't really use my e-mail, and things get deleted before I can even read them, and the area code is Montreal."

"Oh, okay. So why are you calling me right now, when I'm in the middle of work?" He said blankly.

Ivory covered her mouth and was shocked. She didn't like to disturb others when they were doing something important. "Oh, oh my gosh. This isn't a good time, right? How about I call you later and we'll talk?"

"No, no need to apologize. It isn't that important anyway. I'm just sitting here, munching on a carrot. We don't really get customers in the morning; they all come to eat in the evening, which is a huge pain. Anyway, let's talk," Daniel said, adjusting his white apron. He relaxed in a very tired, slouchy way.

"Okay. So would you like to fly in from Vancouver?"

"Why?"

"I thought, maybe, just maybe we could have a little get-together. I mean, with Eve and Jack too. I've been trying to reach them, though all I've gotten are "leave a message" messages."

"Gee Ivory, I don't know. I mean, it's been eight years," Daniel said. He sounded skeptical to her, but he was really about to tease her. "Maybe you can persuade me to come."

Ivory laughed into the phone, and he chuckled at her amusement. "Persuade you? Please. Well, alright. It's winter so plane tickets are cheaper, but it's also because you're going to somewhere really cold too, oh and it's in the country. I have three guest rooms. Don't worry; they're in natural feminine and masculine pallets. My house is cozy and warm, and would you like to know anything else?"

"Yeah, what about you?" Once again, Ivory was faced with the awkward spot of having to say something related back. There was silence again until he spoke up. "I was just kidding. Of course I'll come. Just tell me when and where, and I'll be there."

Ivory was calm now, and said she'd get back to him when she reached Eve and Jack. She took a break from the phone and went to get a cup of English Breakfast tea. Her tan colored moccasin slippers made small taps on the Victorian Era styled carpet rolled out from the front window to the old oak doors leading to the kitchen. Her whole house was like that - filled with ancient artifacts that no one dared to use as decorations, but that was only because they couldn't style it correctly like Ivory could. Those were the type of people, who used modern styles, and added bright yellows and oranges to their homes complete with neon lights in the restrooms but Ivory, oh, she had a whole different kind of taste in décor. She loved light pastel colors, and old tea sets. You could tell, because her chairs were a rich, light peach color with blue strips running down the back.

She had a tea set on every flat surface, including the mantel on the fire-place and on an old cedar wood desk, sat dozens of hard cover books, with a silver magnifying glass on the center stack. Ivory had designed it this way so that her guests would always have something to do besides look at a blank TV screen. When they took a seat on the sofa, they could just turn around, pick up a book, and amuse themselves until it was time for a welcoming dinner. Books were among her favorite possessions. The walls in her house varied according to the mood and style, but here in the living room, two walls facing each other were painted a dark orchard color, and two were plastered with autumn style wallpaper. Walking into her house made people sigh with relief that they would be feeling a lot like at home.

Ivory fished out the brown tea bag and walked down the cellar to get a jar of strawberry jam for her toast. Just as she had made it half way, she heard the telephone ringing wildly upstairs. Forgetting about the possibility of the tea burning her skin, she bounded up the stairs while spilling her freshly brewed tea on the steps, her robe, and her legs. She swiftly grabbed the phone after the third ring but was only greeted with an advertisement for car insurance.

"Oh, no thank you. I'd rather stay with whom I'm with now for insurance," she started to put the phone away but heard voices telling her not to hang up from the other line. "Jack?" Ivory was furious. She had always been furious whenever he pulled a prank on her.

"Hello handsome!" Said his obnoxious voice.

Ivory pouted and said, "Oh be quiet! Besides, handsome is a term used for men not women, oh wait, maybe you aren't a guy then."

"Okay, okay, I give. Anyway, I got a voice mail saying you wanted us to visit you?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you would like to stay here for the winter break, that is, if your work won't interfere. It's gorgeous here in the winter," Ivory was going to say "her" house was gorgeous, but didn't want to feel too vain.

"Gorgeous eh?" Ivory heard Jack talking in hushed tones to someone else and when she listened closer, she heard the name "Eve".

"Eve's there! Jack, put her on the line. She'll get this more than you." Even though she couldn't see it, Ivory knew Jack was obeying her orders but was also rolling his eyes.

"Ivory! Oh, it's been forever!" Eve's soft voice said. Ivory knew that Eve had the phone between her ear and her shoulder and had folders and papers in her two hands.

"I know! I miss you guys so much," Ivory's softer voice said.

Not getting to the point, the two continued to talk and catch up, until Jack's impatient grunt came into being.

"Of course, it's Jack that's annoyed. Just to satisfy him, when and where?"

"The sooner the better. Just get a ticket here, and I'll pick you, Jack and Daniel up at the airport.

"Daniel?" Eve asked.

"Yes," Ivory replied in the as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

Eve snickered and simply gave in. "Aright then. Well, of course Jack and I are coming. We'll book a flight as soon as we get out of the studio."

"Oh, try to book seats together. I'll get Daniel to contact you so you can plan it all out," Ivory reminded her.
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Hope this makes up for the months of waiting guys ! In chapter two, you'll see how temperamental Ivory really is. And I drew all my inspiration from this very one interior design book. Weird right? But haha, Charlotte Moss is an amazing designer. I really hope some of you guys buy this book ($70.00 US), that's a bit pricy, (NO KIDDING), but I got a look at it from the library (: So you can go do that too.