She sighed at the comfort, and right before drifting off into that deep, blissful sleep, she swore that a callused hand cupped her cheek, there only for a moment before it was gone.
Chapter Three
The sound of clanging pots and pans jerked Regina awake, forcefully enough that she tumbled to the floor, something binding her legs and keeping her from catching herself. White tulle obscured her vision, along with a few dark curls, and as the scent of coffee invaded her senses, yesterday came screeching back to her. Standing at the front of the church, Steve telling her he couldn’t marry her, driving for hours, a bar and grill with friendly people, drinking way too much, and a very sexy cop.
“You okay?”
The deep voice washed over her, waking up every single cell in her body. She glanced up, wishing she were less of a hot mess and then deciding that ship had sailed last night when she asked if he was going to arrest her.
She attempted to stand but found her legs still inexorably bound, so she flipped the veil off her face—she couldn’t believe she still had it on—and then tugged at the multiple layers of her gown, trying to free herself. “Things are a tad fuzzy. Are we at … your place?” A sober Regina would’ve never agreed to go home with a man she didn’t know, no matter what the circumstances.
“My place.” A blond woman stepped into view and gave a little wave with the spatula in her hand, and Regina experienced an insane moment of jealousy. Of course, he had a gorgeous girlfriend. “I’m Callie—his sister.”
“Oh. Oh.” Crap, had she accidentally revealed her relief? It didn’t mean he didn’t have a girlfriend, and since she was merely driving through town, that didn’t matter anyway. “But you don’t live together?” A weird question, but her brain wasn’t at the top of its game.
“I have a place of my own not far from here,” the sheriff said, his eyebrows knitted together, acknowledging the weirdness of the question.
“So you stayed to watch over me?” A swirl of warmth went through her. For such a gruff guy, that was surprisingly considerate. She had on a dark brown coat with a badge emblem too—his coat. “Because you were worried about me?”
His expression made it clear that not only was she miles from the truth, he definitely thought she was a crazy person. Considering her current situation, she wasn’t sure she could contest that assessment.
Her stomach dropped as dawning hit. “Because you were worried I might be a psycho, and you didn’t want to leave me alone with your sister.” She finally managed to get her skirt untwisted enough to push to her feet.
“You were drinking in a bar while wearing a wedding dress,” he said, and his sister smacked his arm and whispered for him to “Be nice, Emmett.”
Emmett. That name fit him, although since he’d introduced himself as Sheriff Haywood, clearly Regina didn’t get to use it.
“It’s okay. He did a nice thing bringing me here instead of making me sleep it off in jail. Can’t ask for much more than that. And my name’s Regina, by the way.” She reached up, removed her veil, and tossed it on top of her purse, which had been placed on the coffee table, and not by her. At least, she didn’t remember doing it. “Obviously, yesterday was a rough day. I’m sorry if I caused any inconvenience. I’ll, um, find my car and then make a plan to get out of your hair.”
“We’ll get to that after breakfast,” the sheriff said. “How do you like your coffee?”
“Caffeinated.”
He cracked a smile—an actual, full smile with a hint of teeth. And as she walked toward the steaming mug he offered, it felt like maybe one day she could look back at this whole ordeal and there’d be more than just bad memories in the mix.
Emmett glanced across the cruiser at Regina, who was now wearing a pair of his sister’s too-short jeans along with a fuzzy sweater that made him want to pet it and see how soft it was. The thought of her leaving bothered him for some reason, even though the woman had only brought about a lot of complications.
Regina made a wistful noise as she peered out the window. “Look how cute this place is with all the garland, ribbon, and ‘Season’s Greetings’ flags. You’ve got the whole town decorated, and I bet there was a tree lighting ceremony and everything.”
“It’s tonight, actually. It always causes a big ol’ fuss too. Every year I nearly have to break apart fights over who gets to flip the switch to light the tree.”
She laughed. “Okay, Grinch, I hear you loud and clear. You think the town celebrations are silly.”
He sighed. “Not all of them. People here just take every little event so seriously, and someone always gets offended, and guess who they come running to?”
“The obvious answer says you, although I’m not sure why. If I wanted to rant, I’d choose a more sympathetic ear.”
“And how do you know I’m not sympathetic?” he asked, trying not to be offended and experiencing a pinch of it anyway.
“I never said you weren’t. In fact, between the help you gave me and offered to Gabe last night, I know you are. But sympathetic acts and a sympathetic ear are two different things, and I bet you cut rants short by telling people things like ‘suck it up.’ Possibly even suggest they’re complaining about First World problems.”
“I would never use that phrasing, even if it fits.”
She grinned like she’d caught him red-handed, and her smile hit him right in the chest. He’d already figured out plenty about her too. For example, she seemed like the type to expect a lot, which led to constant disappointments. Emmett had dated a woman with the same personality, and he and his small town had fallen short. Still, he felt bad Regina had been left at the altar, and clearly that guy should’ve had the guts to tell her before she’d gotten all dressed up in that beautiful gown. On account of that, he’d help her to her car and then wish her good-bye and get to work—he was already an hour behind schedule thanks to last night’s shenanigans.
“That’s my car,” she said, her entire body tensing, and he frowned as he looked it over. The snow had dusted it, but with the sun moving higher in the sky, most of it had melted, revealing decorations that declared her “Just married!!!” Someone had really gone overboard on those exclamation points.
“Why don’t I drop you off at the Cozy Cottage—I’ve got some business to settle there anyway—and then you can get your car later. It’s only a couple of blocks to walk it, or you can ask most anyone to give you a ride.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “So I can’t give away rides to strangers, but I can accept them?”
“I can vouch for the people at the Cozy Cottage, along with the folks who run the convenience store and the diner, as well as Grumpy, who you met last night even if you don’t remember.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “It’s the gray-haired quilting ladies you have to be careful of. One minute you’re walking by, the next they’re trying to teach you to sew.”
Her laugh filled the air, lifting the mood in the cruiser and causing a sensation in his gut that he hadn’t felt in a long time.
“What do you say? Will you let me take you to the B and B?”
“Sure,” she said. “Let me just grab my suitcase.”
He pulled next to her car, and when she ducked inside, he sent a group text to the guys who’d been so sympathetic to her plight last night. He told them to make sure that, by this afternoon, her car no longer showed any sign of her failed nuptials. He figured with the help of Fern—mad at him or not—he could at least convince Regina to stay for long enough that she didn’t have to drive around with the reminder of her failed wedding trailing after her.
The conversation died when Regina and Emmett stepped into the Cozy Cottage, all eyes moving to them. Emmett had insisted on carrying her suitcase inside, and he moved it in front of him, almost like a shield, setting Regina’s nerves on high alert. What kind of place was she walking into?
“Are you our bride?” a woman with a knotted gray bun on the top of her head asked, and Regina glanced down to make sure she had, in fact, c
hanged out of her wedding dress.
“This is her?” another woman inquired, taking a step toward Regina, and then several others were closing in.
Regina clamped her hand on to the sheriff’s rather firm arm without thinking, and when she peered up into his brown eyes, her heart skipped a beat, making it that much harder to convince herself to let go. “These are the people you vouch for, right?”
The corner of his mouth twisted up a fraction, but it was like he refused to let himself actually smile because that was as far as he let it go. “You’ll be perfectly safe. Now, whether or not you’ll ever get a moment’s peace again …? That’s another story.” He gave her an encouraging nod and turned to the woman with the bun, calling her Fern and asking if she had an open room for Regina.
“Of course! I mean, it’d be easier if someone made the plumber fix our burst pipe yesterday, but since I went and got the parts myself—in a snowstorm, no less—I should have that issue fixed soon.” Fern tapped away at the keyboard of her computer. “In the meantime, I do have one last open room, although it’s one of the smaller ones.”
“That’s fine,” Regina said.
The woman peeked over the top of her computer screen. “And how long are you planning on staying?”
“Um, for the first time in my life, I don’t really have a set plan.”
“That’s okay, dear. How long were you going to be on your honeymoon?”
Regina automatically flinched, and one of the other women scolded Fern and then took Regina’s hand and patted it like they were old friends.
Which made her even more hesitant to let go of the sheriff’s arm. He glanced down at her hand, and his throat worked a swallow, and she probably shouldn’t be noticing that.
She dropped her hand, wrapping her arm around her middle instead. Because she loved her finance-director job and felt the company could hardly run without her, taking time off was difficult and her workaholic sensibilities kicked in. “Um, two weeks, which seemed like an extravagant amount of time to me, but I never take time off.” Just another reason my fiancé decided to get out while he could.
Ex-fiancé.
The woman holding her hand squeezed it. “Everyone needs time off, and I say you take that time to relax and just work on you, honey.” A lightbulb went off, lighting her eyes. “You should spend it here with us.”
“Oh yes,” and a few other enthusiastic responses went through the group. “There’s nothing like Christmas in Friendship.”
“We’ve got enough things going on to keep your mind nice and occupied,” Fern said.
“I know that I’ll be nice and occupied with the events,” Sheriff Haywood added. “The town makes sure of it.”
Fern clucked her tongue. “Ignore him. He’s a stick in the mud about Christmas.”
“Funny,” Regina said, getting swept up in the teasing. “I just accused him of being the Grinch, and would you believe he tried to deny it?”
The ladies laughed, and she glanced at him, hoping it was okay she’d said that. He shook his head but there was that almost-smile; if she’d known she’d only get the with-teeth smile at his sister’s house, she would’ve taken an extra second or two to appreciate it.
“And you have to stay for the big Christmas party. There’s a dance and everything,” the woman still holding her hand said. Evidently, she wasn’t planning on letting go, which meant Regina might no longer have a choice in the matter. The woman’s gaze lifted over the top of Regina’s head. “Shouldn’t she stay for the dance, Sheriff?”
Regina glanced at him again. She couldn’t seem to help herself, and now that she’d gotten used to so many people she didn’t know crowding her space and asking about her personal affairs, she found herself swept up in the sense of camaraderie.
The sheriff’s eyes locked on to hers, mischief dancing in their depths. “Pretty sure it’s illegal not to go to the Christmas party ’round these parts, and I already gave you one free pass on being arrested, so …”
She tilted her head, giving him her best haughty expression. “So you’re saying, if I don’t stay for the festivities and go to the dance, I’ll be spending my vacation in jail?”
“Afraid so. I don’t make the laws, I just enforce them.”
“When he feels like it,” Fern said, and his scowl returned.
“No, you just want to be an exception to the rule,” he shot back.
The B&B owner made an offended noise before turning back to Regina, who’d always thought these kinds of towns only existed in fiction. She liked how involved they already were in what happened to her, even if she also worried it was a bad idea. She was in a fragile state as it was, and getting attached to people only to leave? Well, after the one person she’d planned to spend her life with walked away without a second thought, attachment issues were sure to follow. She’d do some research so she could find out what to expect and how long it might take to get over.
Still, two weeks in a cute little town that celebrated Christmas on such a grand scale sounded like just the vacation she needed. “Okay, book the two weeks. But if I need to leave early …?”
“We can work with whatever you need, dear,” Fern said.
“Thank you. I appreciate that.” As Regina dug out her credit card to finish booking the room, a lightness filled her. Her parents always vacationed in exotic locations for the holidays—this year it was Italy—and while she had friends and distant relatives, she didn’t have anyone she felt she could burden for Christmas now that she was a gloomy party of one. And she certainly didn’t want to go back to her place. That would only accentuate her loneliness.
“I can call in Aaron to take your bag if you—”
“I’ll take it,” the sheriff said, and the women exchanged curious glances. It would seem he didn’t offer to tote suitcases around very often.
Admittedly, it made her feel sorta special, even though her heart was far too beat up to go getting any ideas about the surprisingly cute law enforcer and resident grinch.
He walked her down the hall, and when she unlocked the door, he rolled the suitcase across the threshold but remained on the other side. “Just wanted to make sure that you felt safe here, and that you didn’t feel too pressured into agreeing to stay, even though you wanted to escape.”
“Are you saying you’d break me out if needed?”
He leaned a hip against the doorjamb, and the way he filled the doorway made it clear he was every inch a man who could handle himself, just as he’d claimed to be. “Guess I’m not as hardcore at enforcing the town’s Christmas Party Decree as I pretended while we had an audience.”
She smiled at him. “I feel safe and happy, and I think staying here for a couple of weeks is just what the doctor ordered.” She leaned on the interior side of the doorjamb, her hip a few inches from his. It struck her how tall he was, something she noticed as a tall woman who often looked eye-level with men. “Thank you for all your help, Sheriff Haywood. This morning and last night.”
“It’s Emmett,” he said, dipping his head a few inches, and they were close enough that she could feel the heat of his body coming off him. Then she was recalling how firm his biceps had felt underneath her palm.
Her heart went to fluttering in her chest since it was worse at listening to reason than her brain was. “Thank you, Emmett.”
Chapter Four
Thanks to the group of women who frequented the main room of the Cozy Cottage to drink coffee and tea and gossip, Regina had ended up with a coat, gloves, and a scarf that was long enough to mummify her entire body. She wound another loop around her neck so she wouldn’t step on the end and trip and fall—no need to embarrass herself every day she was in town.
People milled about the park, chatting and enjoying hot chocolate and apple cider as they waited for the tree lighting ceremony. Regina accepted a cup of cocoa, holding it in her hands and sighing at the added warmth. It was significantly colder here than it was in Maryland. Her gaze skimmed the area, and while she
told herself she was merely observing the cheerful gathering, her heart skipped extra quickly, hoping to find and observe the sheriff.
Emmett. He said to call him Emmett.
And I need to find him and say thank you, so it’s okay to be looking for him.
After lunch at the Wallflower Diner, she’d fortified her nerves the best she could to face her decorated car. But it was cleared of the streamers, cans, and that mocking “Just Married!!!” scrawl. She suspected he’d noticed how much it’d bothered her.
As Regina moved closer to the action, several people introduced themselves. Word had obviously gotten around about who she was and why she was there, but everyone was so kind, and even better, nice enough not to mention how much of a mess she’d been last night.
The crowd gathered closer to the stage as the mayor welcomed everyone to their annual tree lighting ceremony. Regina tipped onto her toes, still searching for a dirty blond head of hair.
“You’re not making a play to be the one to flip the switch, are you?” a deep voice said near her ear, and butterflies erupted in her stomach. She turned to the very guy she’d been looking for.
“I feel it’s only fair, what with me having been part of the town for almost a whole day. Plus, don’t tell the cops, but my goal is to get arrested by Christmas.” She pretended she’d only now noticed his clothing and the big shiny badge on the coat she’d had wrapped around her last night. “Oh, this is awkward.”
His lips quivered but not enough to count as a smile. He lifted one of her colorful scarf coils. “Let me guess. Marge got a hold of you?”
“She let me borrow it. In fact, I don’t have a stitch of clothing on that’s mine. Save the underwear.” Her cheeks blazed, embarrassment doing a far better job than the layers at keeping her toasty. “I mean … You know what I mean.”
It was as if someone had pressed the pause button on him. He didn’t move, didn’t seem to blink or even breathe.
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