by Olivia Miles
Kara felt her heart begin to flutter, and a ripple of excitement danced through her stomach. She suddenly felt nervous, like she couldn’t go over to him, couldn’t tap him on the shoulder, watch as he turned to give her one of those broad grins, and feel the surge of hope swell within her.
The man was leaving town in a matter of days. She needed to put her feelings in check and remember that, or else… But the thought of not enjoying this time, not acting on the feelings that were making her think a little less than clearly, not enjoying the magic that only Christmas could bring, well… that was darn near impossible.
“Are you going to go over and say hello?” Molly pressed.
“Oh… I don’t want to come on too strong.” Kara took a sip of her cocoa, feeling it warm her blood, even though she was already so stifled and overheated in her down parka and wool hat that she had a sudden desire to strip down to her cashmere sweater, or maybe sit down in the snow… The man was under her skin. Making her pulse race. Her palms sweat. Her mind run with fantasies of another taste of those lips.
It was exciting. But it was also a little scary. She’d never felt this way before. Would she ever again, once he was gone?
“Well, you don’t need to worry about that. Here he comes.” Molly tossed her a wink and, before Kara could protest, turned on her heel and walked off, waving to Jane and Anna Madison, who had just arrived with their fiancés.
Fiancés. Everyone was engaged now. Everyone except her.
She eyed Nate steadily as he walked over to her, his grin mischievous, his gaze a little jaded. No doubt all this country flair was far from his idea of fun, especially given the theme. What made her think he had any long-term plans for Briar Creek? Or her for that matter?
She probably would have been better off listening to her mother. Letting one of the eligible bachelors in town take her on a date. But then, those guys didn’t make her insides go all mushy or her knees go all weak or make her smile herself to sleep with the possibility of tomorrow.
Wow. She had it bad.
“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show up,” Nate said conspiratorially, coming to stand close to her.
Kara felt a bubble of satisfaction swell in her belly. “I’ve been walking around with my sister,” she said.
“Ah, yes, I met her at the party. At least I think I did.” He frowned a bit. “There were a lot of new faces that night, and it was a bit of a blur.”
As much as she wanted to be alone with Nate, she knew now wasn’t the time. Everyone in town was gathered on the square, and besides, she couldn’t resist the opportunity to show him off. Just a little.
“Come on,” she said, slipping her arm through his. “I’ll introduce you properly. But first you need a proper tour of the festival.” She grinned up at him as she walked in the direction opposite her friends and family, taking him on the long path through the various stalls offering everything from hand-knitted stockings to beautiful glass ornaments. The wind was picking up, but between the heat lamps and the comfort of Nate’s body so close to hers, she didn’t even seem to care. She buried her chin a little deeper in her scarf as they rounded a bend to stop for hot cider.
Kara accepted the steaming cup from Nate with a smile and leaned back against a tree trunk to watch a sledding race in the distance.
“Do you ever enter?” Nate asked, his voice low and deep in her ear, causing her to shiver into her coat.
Kara took a sip of her drink. “I did when I was a kid, but my brother always beat me.”
Nate grinned, but there was a shadow in his gaze she couldn’t quite decipher. “Something tells me you gave it your all, though.”
“Of course.” Kara gave him a strange look. “Is there any other way?”
“There isn’t,” Nate said, his jaw pulsing as he brought the paper cup to his mouth. His eyes shifted from hers to the hill again, just in time for the next race to start.
“I was just thinking…” He stopped talking, and Kara turned to look up at him, frowning when he lapsed into silence.
“Just thinking?” she pressed, feeling herself tense.
He looked down at her, his gaze soft again in a way that made her insides go all warm and mushy. She could have kissed him right here and now, leaning against the bark of an old maple tree, in front of half the town. Instead she blinked, straightened up, told herself to stop thinking like a teenager for five minutes.
“I was just thinking it’s sort of a shame two people can’t win the Holiday House contest,” he said a little hopefully.
Her grin was wry. “Kathleen Madison is going to win that contest. Not that I won’t give it my best shot and all, and not that I don’t really want to win, but if I were you, I’d prepare your aunt for a disappointment. She can be…”
He raised an eyebrow so dramatically, she burst out laughing. “Oh, I know how she can be. And believe me, I’m scared of what will happen if she doesn’t win the prize.” He pulled in a breath and looked down at his cup. “Anyway, enough talk of this contest.”
Kara knew she couldn’t keep him to herself all day, and with a bit of a sigh, she led him over to where her friends were gathered near the line for the snowman-building contest—a tradition in their group since they were kids. Luke and Grace always gave it their all, but she knew that Jane, Henry, and little Sophie were determined to win this year.
“I see Anna has persuaded you to enter this year,” she said to her cousin Mark.
“Hey, I wasn’t about to let my brother beat me,” Mark said, giving his brother, Brett, a long look.
Brett smiled knowingly and put his arm around Ivy’s shoulder, pulling her close. “With this one on my team, I don’t see any way we can lose.” He looked down fondly at Ivy’s face and gave her a single kiss.
Kara felt Nate looking at her and realized with a jolt that he was waiting to be introduced. “Everyone, this is Maggie Griffin’s nephew, Nate. Some of you probably met him at Mark’s house.”
The Madison sisters looked him up and down with unabashed interest before shifting their wide-eyed gazes to Kara. Kara felt her cheeks flush from the weight of their scrutiny, and she swallowed hard, wondering what they thought, what Nate thought, and what was really going on between them.
“Are you two entering the snowman-building contest?” Sophie asked, coming forward. Her knitted hat was lopsided, covering one of her eyes, and Kara laughed as she bent down to straighten it on the little girl’s head.
Nate shrugged, checked with her. “I’m game if you are. What do you say?”
“Whoopee!” Sophie cried before Kara had a chance to reply. “Now Kara doesn’t have to enter alone again like last year.” Her look of joy was promptly replaced with bewilderment as she remembered Molly. “But who will you enter with?”
“Oh, I can’t enter. I have to help my mom with something at the dance studio for a little bit. Nutcracker emergency,” Molly groaned by explanation, quickly taking over while Kara all but melted with embarrassment. She stole a glance at Nate, but other than the mirth in his eyes, he showed no reaction to the six-year-old’s summary of Kara’s lackluster dating life.
“Just so you know,” she whispered, “I might have entered alone last year, but I did come in third place.”
“Oh, I have no doubt in your abilities,” Nate replied evenly as he set his hand on the small of her back and led her onto the patch of snow reserved for the contest.
“Do we have a particular theme in mind?” Kara asked, eyeing the timer. She knew from past experience they had half an hour, and noticing that other teams had already worked out their strategy and were beginning construction, she was eager to get started.
“Now you sound like my aunt.” Nate snorted. He bent down and began packing the snow into a ball. “Let’s figure it out as we go along.”
Kara followed his lead, but she watched him quizzically. “Somehow I never took you for the laid-back type.”
“You can’t plan creativity. Takes all the fun out of things.�
�
Kara patted the large ball they had quickly formed into place. “Fair enough.” She waited until they were finished with the middle layer to broach the topic again. “You like working with your hands; I can tell.”
“It’s therapeutic,” Nate agreed. “You should know.”
“Oh, I do,” Kara remarked. “I’m lucky to love what I do.”
A line formed between Nate’s brow, but he just lifted the snowball into place and motioned her closer. “Come on, last one. Let’s show them all what we can do.”
“Oh.” Kara looked over at Jane, Henry, and Sophie, who were hard at work on a rather sad-looking snowman, given that Sophie was doing most of the work, laughing in delight through most of it. “We don’t really need to win; it’s just for fun.”
Nate stopped rolling. “That’s no fun at all. What’s the point?”
“The experience,” Kara said, feeling uneasy. “It’s something to do. Something… festive.”
“So is sitting around drinking eggnog. Why bother entering the contest if you aren’t going to give it your all?”
Kara held back as Nate set the snowman’s head on top of the two larger balls and began carving what he said would be a top hat made of snow. It was an original idea, and one Kara was impressed by as she watched him work, but she couldn’t stop glancing at Jane and her daughter, thinking of how much it would mean for Sophie to take home that blue ribbon and how terrible she would feel to rob a child of that experience.
“I just think… it might mean more to other people…” She gave a pointed glance in Sophie’s direction, but Nate just shifted his gaze, looked at her, and shrugged.
“She has two adults helping. No doubt they’re in it to win it. What’s wrong with a little healthy competition?”
“But it’s a child,” Kara replied, feeling her temper rise.
“But then why bother entering?” Nate retorted. Though his tone was good-natured and his grin was friendly, there was something in his eyes that told her he wasn’t going to come around to her view on this.
Kara shifted on her feet, uncomfortable with the shift in their exchange. She’d thought it would be fun, maybe even a little romantic to build a snowman together, laugh at their efforts. But Nate was a fighter. He put his all into everything. Even a silly contest.
Her gut churned when she thought of the Holiday House contest. Entrants made a big effort, but if Nate was this determined, there really might not be a chance for her at all.
“Look,” Nate said, softening his tone. “I don’t need to do the top hat. It was just an idea, and I thought it might give us an edge. But you make a point.” He glanced around at the other entrants. “Let’s just shoot for second place.”
Kara nodded, but her heart felt heavy as they finished the contest. Even though they toned down their efforts, there was no denying they’d made the best snowman of the group, even though Jane and Henry had stepped in and helped Sophie out quite a bit. Ivy and Brett’s was given a hat made from flowers and a beautiful scarf from pine garland, while Grace—usually a competitor—was too busy laughing with Luke to try so hard this year.
And Anna and Mark’s… well, they should probably stick with cooking.
“What the heck happened?” Brett laughed, coming over to pick up the broken branch that was supposed to be their snowman’s arm.
Mark raised an eyebrow at his brother, unimpressed. “Snow was never my medium.”
“We make a pretty good team,” Nate whispered in Kara’s ear as he came to stand close to her.
Team. That they did, Kara thought, looking at their perfectly symmetrical snowman, the classic, jolly expression it wore. Nate was a good person to have on your team, but when it came to being a competitor, she wasn’t so sure.
Sophie’s royal princess snowgirl (a yearly tradition that she never seemed to tire of) was awarded first place, and sure enough, Kara and Nate’s was given a second-place finish.
“What do you say we have some mulled wine to celebrate?” Nate asked, grinning down at her as the group dispersed.
Kara shoved her hands in her pockets and watched her feet sink deeper into the snow with each step. A part of her wanted to say yes, of course, that she couldn’t think of a more perfect way to spend the rest of the day. She hesitated, thinking of the kiss, of how his mouth had felt on hers, and a tingle ripped down her spine at the thought of his arms around her again. Their time together was fleeting; she should be making the most of it. Or maybe she should be making the most of her opportunity to secure a better future for herself and her bakery. After all, in a week Nate would be gone, but life would continue on.
She looked up at his eyes, feeling torn. Kathleen Madison might win the contest every year, but from what she’d seen and heard today, Nate wasn’t going to make it easy for her. Or for Kara.
“I should probably get back to the bakery,” Kara said wearily, pulling in a long breath. There, it was out. She’d made her choice.
“But I thought you were closed for the day?”
Kara chewed on her lip, watching her feet leave imprints in the snow, a trail right beside Nate’s own footprints. Still, she stayed firm, thinking of January, of the unknown, of how much she wanted to do right by her father and all he’d ever done for her. She owed him that much, no matter how easy it would have been to procrastinate, to spend the day with Nate… “I am, but I still have a lot of custom orders to take care of. Christmas week and all, and tomorrow night’s The Nutcracker.”
“Oh, yes. The Nutcracker. I’ll see you there, then? If not before?” She knew he was referring to the cookies for high tea, but the quirk of his mouth suggested something more.
Kara nodded mutely, taking another step away from him. She needed air. She needed to clear her head. She needed to stop looking into those warm, deep eyes long enough to remember what was at stake and what she stood to lose. Her heart. And so much more.
CHAPTER 17
Nate heard the shuffle of his aunt’s footsteps outside his door, only this time he didn’t need to hurry up and put on a robe. He’d been up for over an hour, since before the light had peeked over the Green Mountains, when his aunt was no doubt busy warming her peppermint scones and grinding coffee. He’d finally charged his phone, only to listen to it ping from daybreak on. Work emails had begun to pile up, and if he didn’t start clearing out his inbox, he’d be in for a mess next week.
Next week. Briar Creek felt like a different world than the life he lived in Boston. A more idyllic, peaceful, even happier life.
He brushed that thought away as he clicked on the next email, skimming it while mentally composing his reply. No doubt he’d be saying the same thing if he’d joined his parents on their cruise. He’d taken a break from his responsibilities. It couldn’t last forever.
Even if a little part of him sort of wished it could.
This time his aunt knocked before trying the knob. “Are you decent?” she called out.
“And if I wasn’t?” He couldn’t hide the amusement in his expression when his aunt’s head poked around the frame and gave him a mock menacing stare.
“Oh, what am I going to do without you? You’ve certainly brightened my Christmas, Nate. I hope you’re having a bit of fun on your stay.” She closed the door behind herself and settled in at the empty armchair opposite his own.
Nate closed his laptop and set it on the end table. “I have had fun. I can see why you love this town so much.”
Maggie’s face lit up. “Can you? Oh, Nate, I was hoping you would feel this way!”
Taken aback by the joy in her reaction, Nate frowned. “I think I’ll plan another visit for the summer,” he said, hoping that would curb the guilt he felt for not having visited sooner. “And who knows, maybe next Christmas we’ll all come. Me and my parents. I think they’d like that a lot,” he added pensively. His dad always got a little quiet around Christmas, even now, and he struggled with his emotions when Nate gave them gifts—always one special thing, never so much that
it looked like charity. But his mother… Nate knew that his mother had always loved Christmas. Always tried to make it special, even when it wasn’t. It meant so much to her…
He thought of Kara, of how her eyes danced and then welled when she spoke of Christmases past. Bittersweet, he thought, wondering if he’d ever be able to get to the same place with the holiday.
“Next summer. I see.” His aunt nodded slowly and stared at her hands in her lap. “Here I thought…”
Nate leaned forward. “Thought what?”
His aunt brushed a hand through the air, but she wouldn’t meet his eye. “It’s nothing. You’ll visit in the summer. I’d like that.”
Something was wrong, and Nate wasn’t going to back down until she told him what. “Aunt Maggie. I can tell that something’s wrong. What is it?”
“It’s silly,” she said, twisting the wedding ring she still wore.
“Try me,” he said gently.
“Yesterday at the festival, you were asking about the contest and why it meant so much. You know how much this inn means to me.”
“It’s your legacy,” he commented.
Her green eyes were clear when they lifted to his. “Exactly. And who do I have to leave it to?”
Nate squared his jaw, considering her words and hating the truth he heard in them. She’d never had children. He was her only nephew.
“Wait. Were you—”
“I just thought, if you helped with the contest, if you really got into the spirit of things, and if you saw what a wonderful place Briar Creek was, that you might…” She gave a watery smile. “I can’t run this place forever. And I can’t bear to give it up.”
“Oh, Aunt Maggie.” Nate sighed.
“I told you I was being silly.” She leaned over and patted him on the cheek. “You sure did give an old lady a Christmas to remember. And we did have fun with the contest, didn’t we?”
