“Right, because I have so much going on,” Jolene said in a voice thick with so much sarcasm she feared she sounded pathetic. “I mean, I do stuff occasionally. I’m not like a shut-in or anything.”
Luke laughed. “Didn’t figure you were.” He leaned forward to rest his coffee mug on a square tile coaster on the table in front of them. “Tomorrow then? You’ll take me on a hunt for the perfect tree?”
“Absolutely, although I can’t promise perfection. Merrylark is known for a lot, but our Christmas tree offerings leave much to be desired. You’ll be able to take your pick, but you won’t have a lot to pick from.”
“I’m sure whatever we find will be just fine,” Luke said through a smile that made Jolene’s cheeks flush. “If it’s even one-tenth as nice as yours, it’ll be the finest Christmas tree I’ve ever owned.”
For a girl who loved Christmas more than any other day of the year, that was the best compliment Jolene could ever receive.
4
Luke
“THAT’LL BE three-hundred fifty.”
“Dollars?” Luke’s jaw came unhinged.
“Yesiree.” The tow truck driver didn’t look up from the metal clipboard in his thick hands. He had grease in the creases of his knuckles, like he’d dipped his hands in black ink. The driver continued scratching a pen across the paper clipped to the surface and it reminded Luke of the time he was pulled over last year and the cop wrote up his traffic ticket, never making eye contact as he jotted down his fine.
“As in three-hundred and fifty U.S. dollars?” Luke asked again, just to verify.
“Yes.” The man’s posture didn’t change but his eyes angled up and met Luke’s in an intense, intimidating stare that caused Luke’s Adam’s apple to bob with a tight swallow. “U.S. dollars.”
Luke wasn’t a cheap guy, but he wasn’t loaded either, and the type of money the hauler demanded wasn’t something he readily had on hand to blow. He’d have to work a few more odd jobs once he returned home to make up for the unexpected cost of pulling Bessie up the mountain.
“You take credit card?”
“Sir, I’ll take just about anything short of your firstborn if it’ll get you stop with the questions. I’ve got two other vehicles stranded on the mountainside and I’m the only tow truck in town. In a hundred-mile radius, to be exact. Time is money and you’re currently wasting mine.”
Luke took the hint and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. Two of the cards in his billfold had expired last month and the third was creeping perilously close to its limit. He didn’t have any other options. Luke flicked the plastic card toward the driver and felt his lungs squeeze with a suspended breath while he watched the man swipe it through the card reader plugged into his cell phone.
“Just need your signature here.”
The driver flashed the face of the device Luke’s way. A sigh of relief slipped through Luke’s lips, thankful that particular card hadn’t been declined. “Thanks again for bringing her up the hill. I’m not sure what the issue is but I bet I can get her running again in—”
“Aren’t we all done here?” The man was already backing away. If it had been a phone conversation rather than a face-to-face interaction, Luke would’ve been hung up on by now. “I really gotta get going.”
“Yes. Right. I appreciate the haul. Hopefully I won’t need another one.”
“Hopefully not,” the driver said with the widest, rolling eyes Luke had ever witnessed on a grown man. He thought he should congratulate him on successfully keeping his eyeballs in his head after that exaggerated gesture. It was downright impressive.
In any other scenario, Luke would’ve been offended. He considered himself to be a nice guy and people generally liked him. He wasn’t the sort to experience road rage. He returned books to the library on time, sometimes even early. He held doors open and put the toilet seat down and threw away expired milk rather than leave it in the refrigerator after its date had passed. He was courteous. Some would label him kind.
But there were always people in life who just didn’t like you, no matter how decent you were.
His ex-fiancé was one of those.
It hadn’t always been that way between them. After all, Kiara had gladly accepted the flawless carat on her left ring finger this time last year. There was no hesitation in the “yes” she shouted the moment he’d dropped down onto one knee, his proposal speech not yet even underway.
But somewhere along the line she stopped liking him. Stopped loving him. Or rather, she didn’t like him quite as much as she liked her job as a CPA and the opportunities she saw for herself there. Unfortunately, when it came to love, second place was still the loser’s position.
Luke promised himself he wouldn’t allow this honeymoon week to hold his joy captive, though. Sure, it wasn’t the trip he’d originally had in mind, but he wasn’t going to let the painful memories turn this into a week full of painful “what ifs.” He’d made a deliberate choice to keep that from happening.
Maybe that’s why he’d been so quick to ask Jolene for a little help. The moment he set foot into her lovely home, he felt the one thing that had been sucked out of his life when Kiara called it quits on their future.
Joy.
Jolene’s place was overflowing with it. Some might have been manufactured, what with the nostalgia that inherently went along with Christmas décor, but Luke felt it still, and that was more than he’d felt in a long, long while.
Jolene seemed like a nice woman, too. From their limited interaction, she didn’t come across as a person who kept much to herself. She seemed sincere and vulnerable in a way that Luke hadn’t expected from a perfect stranger. Kiara had never been that way. She’d always selected her words carefully, no differently from the way she’d selected their China pattern and bed sheet thread count for their wedding registry. Everything was planned out methodically and with purpose.
In the beginning, Luke liked that about Kiara the most. She was stable and consistent. Until she wasn’t. Until she’d done the most inconsistent thing imaginable. Until she’d told him she was taking a promotion in New York City and she called off their winter wedding.
Luke threw open the hood to his truck and hit his hand against the vehicle. It would’ve been one thing if Kiara had chosen someone else. That, he might’ve been able to handle. But to lose to a career and the lure of the big city made what they had feel so insignificant and small. It would take a discipline Luke didn’t know if he could muster to keep these sad thoughts from his mind this week. Distraction would be the key. What better way to distract himself than with a little holiday cheer?
THE SUN HAD already set by the time Luke walked over to Jolene’s place. Along with the dropping sun, the temperature followed suit and brought a bite to the air that reddened Luke’s cheeks and made his nose tingle as though he was about to sneeze. He brought his hands to his mouth and cupped them there to let out a hot breath at the same moment Jolene opened her front door.
The smile she wore made his cheeks feel as red as they likely looked.
“Luke!” Even though he was certain they’d planned on this particular time to meet, she still appeared surprised to see him standing on her stoop. Or maybe it was excitement he detected in her voice. Luke had a hard time deciphering, but the hug she threw around his neck led him to believe it was a little of both. “I am so ready for this! I’ve been thinking about it all day! Can’t wait!”
He couldn’t get over how cute Jolene was, how she clasped her hands together by her chest like she was about to burst. It was the first time he’d thought this about another woman and not felt guilty for it. He hadn’t noticed anyone other than Kiara for so long. Even after the split, his heart wasn’t able to let go of the dreams they’d made together. But slowly, plan by plan, he’d pulled down every expectation like they were pieces of brick in a house built of their future. It was completely demolished now, but the hopes of a rebuild didn’t feel so farfetched when he thought about spending time
with a woman like Jolene.
Luke snapped from his thoughts and shook his head.
“Oh.” Jolene took a step back, misreading his gesture. “We’re not going anymore?”
“No, no. We’re definitely going. Sorry. Mind wandered a bit there.”
Her face, which had temporary drained of all emotion, regained its merry composure. “Oh, good! Not that it’s like I didn’t have anything else to think about today, but this definitely occupied most of my thoughts. There’s nothing better than picking out a tree! Randy said they got in a brand new shipment from Oregon just this afternoon, so you’ll have lots to choose from. It’ll be great!”
“In that case, I’m glad I’ll have someone to help in the decision making process,” Luke admitted. Conversation was so effortless between the two that it felt like they’d known each other much longer than twenty-four short hours. “Shoot,” he said, suddenly realizing his predicament. “I completely forgot—Bessie’s shot. I don’t actually have a vehicle to put a tree in. How will this work?”
“Bessie?” Jolene’s head cocked in a tilt. “Your car has a name? Why am I not surprised by that?”
“What? Does that reveal some sort of deep, hidden mystery about me?”
“Not necessarily. It’s just all the guys I’ve known who name their cars tend to be a little compulsive about their vehicles. Like they’d do anything for them.”
“As in drop $350 just to have her towed ten miles?”
Jolene’s mouth thinned into a line. “Oh no. Please tell me you didn’t let Hank swindle you out of that much money.”
“If by Hank you’re referring to a middle-aged, gruff ogre of a man, I’m afraid I’ve been swindled.”
“Ogre!” Jolene shrieked a laugh and then socked Luke in the shoulder which took him by so much surprise he had to widen his stance and plant his feet to keep from falling over. For a little thing, Jolene packed an impressive punch. “Hilarious! Ogre is such an accurate description. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to my cousin and see if I can get some of that back for you. He’s not as cantankerous as he looks.”
“Your cousin?” Luke gaped. “Please don’t tell me I just called your cousin an ogre.”
“No, no, he’s definitely ogre-ish. Plus, I just called him cantankerous, which isn’t any nicer,” Jolene said. “And I use the term cousin loosely. We’re like fourth-cousins twice removed or something along those lines. Years ago his wife, Tilly, did a bunch of genealogy work and I somehow showed up as a twig on a branch of their tree. It’s more of a joke than an actual relationship status, but Hank is devout when it comes to his family, so if I need a favor, I’ll get it. That’s the way it works with him.”
“I’d hate for you to waste a favor for me.”
“It’s no waste at all.”
Luke tried not to read into her comment, but it made him smile all the same.
“And about the truck,” Jolene continued on beat, “we won’t need one. Randy can deliver your tree. They have lots of guys that help work the lot. We’re good to go.”
“This town really is out of a fairytale.”
“Hardly, but we do look out for one another and maybe that’s something that only exists in fairytales anymore.” Jolene side-stepped around Luke and skipped down the path toward her car parked in the gravel driveway: a green hatchback with California plates. She clicked her key fob to unlock the doors. At the sound of the beep, a massive dog came barreling around the back corner of Jolene’s house and jumped into the last row of the vehicle just as Jolene opened the door to allow him in. “This is Ace,” she said, shutting the door behind the animal. “So tell me a little about where you come from? Small town or big?”
“Not really a town at all.” Luke took his place in the passenger’s seat and pulled the belt across his body. He could feel the hot breath of the mutt on his ear and shrugged up his shoulders to block it.
“Ace!” Jolene shoved at the furry animal, ordering him to the back of the car with her elbow. “Leave Luke alone. He doesn’t need your slobber all over that nice coat of his,” she said as she smiled Luke’s direction. “Go ahead. Tell me what home is to you.”
“Well, my family runs a mustang rescue on about a hundred and fifty acres down in the valley. We have to drive pretty far to get to the city and that’s where we do the bulk of our shopping and things like that. There’s a little strip along the highway that I suppose could have a small town feel to it, but it’s nothing like this place. No real charm to be heard of, just a gas station and convenience store. Feed store. Stuff like that.”
“So you are a cowboy. I thought I was getting that vibe from you.”
“S’pose so, but mostly by osmosis. Our ranch goes back to my great-great grandpa. It’s all I’ve ever really known, so it’s sorta what I’ve become.”
Just like the night before, Luke found himself sliding easily into laid back conversation with Jolene and he hardly noticed the time passing as they drove the forest hemmed roads toward town and Glenn Street. Ace kept mostly to himself in the back, but his breathing was warm and loud and fogged up the windshield like a sauna that made it difficult to see out. To Luke, Ace seemed like a happy-go-lucky kind of dog which felt like the perfect match for Jolene. He wouldn’t have expected anything different from her pet.
“So, what brought a cowboy like you to a place like Merrylark?” Jolene asked after a few moments of quiet that Luke had filled by silently admiring the scenery as it rushed past. That postcard description Roger had used wasn’t an exaggeration at all. This place boasted of a beauty that was such a juxtaposition to the dirt landscape Luke was accustomed to seeing day in and day out from the seat of a saddle.
“What brought me here? A girl.”
Jolene’s face paled. She looked like she was about to ask for clarification, but that didn’t come and instead she kept quiet while she pulled into an open parking spot along a quaint shop-lined street. Glenn Street, Luke gathered. Lampposts were wrapped in leafy garland, storefronts were painted with cheerful holiday scenes, and Salvation Army bells chimed in the distance as the soundtrack of the season. It was already Christmas in Merrylark, and it was stunning.
“We’re here.” Jolene unclicked her seatbelt. “Just a block up on the corner.”
Luke was grateful she let his cryptic comment be. He wasn’t ready to talk. Maybe Jolene sensed that, or maybe she was offering him the privacy she would have desired if the tables of conversation had been turned. Whatever the reason, Luke liked her all the more for it, and he’d already found himself liking her more than he dared to admit.
5
Jolene
RANDY PIPER’S TREE selection was right on the money. Within five minutes, Luke chose a nice Douglas Fir just a foot taller than his six-foot-two frame. He graciously declined the free flocking that Randy threw in as a welcoming gesture to the town’s newest occupant, stating that he didn’t want to make a mess of the rental house.
After the tree had been picked and scheduled for delivery to the lake house the following morning, Jolene, Luke and Ace explored the small downtown, walking up the street one way and down it on the other side. There wasn’t much to show off, but Jolene took pride in each store she knew the exact history and owners of. If Luke hadn’t cared to hear the details, he didn’t let it be known. He would smile in all the right places, laugh where appropriate, and exchange pleasantries with the many people Jolene was certain he’d forget the names of by the next day.
Even though she loved it here, over the years, the thought of leaving Merrylark had been a very real one for Jolene. She would mull it over each summer when the housing market was at its fullest, when she could get the most money for her place had she decided to sell. She’d map out a life that didn’t involve the lake or the memories she couldn’t escape while still residing within its zip code. But a life anywhere else, even removed from the daily remembrance of past pain, felt unexpectedly more painful. Unbearable. Unrealistic.
Life involved pain, that was the n
itty-gritty truth of it. And sometimes being surrounded by those who knew the details of your pain—who witnessed and lived it out right alongside you—eased it, if only a little. Starting over in a new place where she’d have to explain herself and her situation wasn’t at all appealing. Though she’d gotten good at the one paragraph summary of her life, it wasn’t one she favored retelling.
“So,” Luke said as they neared the end of the block. Jolene’s parked car was just on the other side. Several shops had closed down for the night, their lights blinking out and OPEN signs now flipped to read CLOSED. “Want to grab coffee or a drink before we head back?”
“Would you believe the one thing we don’t have here is a proper coffee shop? My friend, Cat, has her truck, but most days she’s traveling out of town or working other venues with it. There’s Sal’s Diner and you can get a cup of coffee there, but that’s not their specialty and the atmosphere isn’t exactly what I’d call a relaxing one. We’ve got a little bit of everything, but a coffee house isn’t on the list.”
“No coffee shop?” Luke looked almost offended. “How is that even possible?”
Jolene shrugged. Her hands were deep in her coat pockets and she buried her chin in the red wool scarf tugged around her neck. It was cold—getting colder by the minute—and the idea of curling up with a warm drink and good conversation felt like just the right prescription for a frigid night like this one. “Gosh, I honestly don’t know. In some ways I think we’re lucky we haven’t succumbed to the whole commercialized shop on every corner bit, but I agree, it would be nice to have a quaint little place to get a decent cup and hang out for a bit. The town could use that, no question. I could use that.”
“So why haven’t you opened it yet?” Luke playfully jabbed his elbow into her side.
A Lake House Holiday: A Small-Town Christmas Romance Novel Page 3
