by Bria Quinlan
She gave him a look and he realized he was bouncing on his toes.
“Man, you really love parades."
“Are there people who don't?"
"Yes. All over the world. And even most people just like parades. Not like this. I mean people like parades, but I don't think I’ve ever seen anyone over the age of six love a parade like you do.”
"I take it it's not a big deal here then?”
"Oh no. It's a big deal. It's huge actually.” She gave a smile that told him she was half informing, half humoring him. "And yes, there is a Santa Claus.”
Spence all but pumped his fist in the air.
“I knew it. So when does this Christmas parade with Santa happen?"
"A bit after dinner. We try to keep it early enough for the little kids to enjoy it but late enough that the lights on the sleigh and other floats can really be seen."
She started laughing before he opened his mouth and he had a feeling that his face was saying everything he wanted to say already.
"There's a sleigh? Like, a real sleigh?"
"Kind of. There is a wooden sleigh built over an old motorized frame. It's been around since the 40s. Some really famous wood artist made it, but you have to ask Cam about that. He’s the expert."
Spence tried to ratchet his excitement down because it was just a sleigh and he didn't want to look like a thirty-year-old idiot.
Well, more than he had for the last couple of days.
She went back to the kitchen and he could hear her putting the last of her tools away as he took the drawer out and counted it down to fifty dollars as she instructed.
Lyra came back out and swept a look over the room. "I feel like there should be more to do. At least we know you're worth more than two teenage girls, that's for sure."
"Glad to hear I'm worth anything in your eyes at this point.”
"Let's just say, it's still touch and go.”
Spence puttered around while she finished all her end of the day stuff.
Maybe he could get her to go to the parade with him.
She said she never got to go, so maybe she’d appreciate the invite. But maybe she'd like to spend it with her friends. Or she was sick of him. She was probably sick of him before she even met him. Maybe she just didn't want to share the parade with him.
Look at what happened when she shared her lighthouse. Locked in the jail.
But, he wouldn’t know if he didn’t try, and this girl was worth stepping out on that ledge for.
"Hey—"
"Do you want to go to the parade with me tonight?” Lyra asked before he could finish his question.
"Oh." She’d beaten him to it and now he couldn’t get his mind to catch back up.
Maybe she just wanted to keep working on his tour of the town. He’d missed the opportunity to show her he wanted to take her to the parade. Not just hanging out.
Was he being an idiot? He didn't think so. He was falling for this girl faster than he was falling for the town. And that was saying something.
"I mean,” she hurried on, “you don't have to. No pressure. I mean…"
"No, it’s not that.” He crossed the room and took both her hands, needing to touch her so she could feel how much he wanted to be near her, to spend time with her. “I was about to ask you and you beat me to it. I would love to go to the parade. And I would especially love to go with you."
He rocked back on his heels, feeling especially proud of himself as that little blush that raced across her freckle-covered nose came out.
“Great.” Lyra smiled up at him and the room froze in time. It could be winter outside for all he knew at this point. “Really, that sounds great.“
They made arrangements, agreeing when he should come by and pick her up. And he felt like he was seventeen all over again. Like any moment it could all fall apart or her parents would bust in and say, absolutely not, this boy is trouble.
Instead, he waited as she locked up and watched her stride around to the stairs that went up the side of the building to her little apartment above the bakery.
He couldn't help but wonder what it was like to always smell all her great concoctions, or if she was immune to it.
He didn't think you'd ever become immune to anything that had to do with her.
21
She should change. She should absolutely change. She'd been wearing these clothes all day.
But what if Spence read more into her changing then she meant it to be?
Of course, she didn't know what she meant it to be, so there was that.
She got in the shower and washed the day off—a combination of sugar and sweat that always seemed to take an extra rinse to get rid of—thinking about how it had started as such a mess and turned out so great. Even having been shorthanded, leaving her with Spence there all day, turned out to be a big silver lining.
And now she got to go to the parade.
Usually she kept the shop open because there were always people who avoided the crowd, getting some much needed alone time, or who read while sipping tea and eating snacks.
And, since that was her gig, she was typically thankful. But just for once it was nice to get to go enjoy herself and not worry about making sure others were happy.
She was standing in front of her closet, contemplating which dress stated most clearly “I'm not expecting this to be a date, but I hope it is, but don't read into the fact that I hope it is” when there was a knock on the door.
She glanced at her clock with a bit of panic before realizing it was nearly three hours before Spence was supposed to come by to pick her up.
Pulling on her light summer bathrobe, she strode to the foyer to deal with whoever was there to ruin her chill time.
"Open up. It's us." Skye’s voice came through the door, apparently annoyed it wasn't open yet.
It's not like she didn't have a key. Or that the door was even locked.
"Come on in,” Lyra shouted as she turned back into her room. “I'm getting ready."
She was getting ready several hours early, but who could blame her? She hadn’t been on a date since—
Well, years. Not since she studied in Paris probably.
Occasionally, one of the guests would ask her out. But none that appealed to her enough to deal with the discomfort of dating someone in town just for a few days.
She paused in brushing her hair as she realized that that is exactly what she was doing.
Spence could be gone any second, but she was glad she was going out with him tonight.
"Wash the fairy dust off?” Vivian glanced around her very girly bathroom.
Lyra was unashamed of the lotions and hair clips and lip glosses that cluttered the counter. Everyone embraced their femininity differently.
That didn't mean she didn't know what was coming next.
"I don't even know what to do with half the stuff in your bathroom." Vivian laughed at her own self-mockery.
"And I would never fill out a denim skirt and top like you do. We’re like the three muses. We hit every facet." She winked at Vivian in the mirror as she finished brushing out her hair, wishing not for the first time it had some curl.
"Why aren't you ready?" Skye stood, leaning against the door frame. "I thought you’d meet us downstairs."
"And sure I would. If I knew you were coming over and wanted me to meet you."
She went back into her bedroom and circled around the bed to what was a surprisingly large walk-in closet. The idea of going to the parade had her wanting to step out of her typical summer dresses routine.
She grabbed a pair of linen shorts and a shell top and threw them on while listening to the girls bicker over lip gloss colors neither of them would ever wear. Checking herself in the mirror, she grabbed a sweater because the evening air was definitely going to get cooler.
"What was I supposed to be downstairs waiting for you for?" Lyra grabbed her little bag and pulled on a pair of Keds.
"Noah is having us over for a barbecue. I thi
nk he's trying to keep an eye on Spence and at the same time keeping him as amused as possible." Skye laughed at the idea, glad that didn't fall on her shoulders. “I'm also glad I didn't have to arrest him. Thanks for that."
"Day isn't over yet," Vivian added in.
"So we're all going to the barbecue and then the parade?"
Lyra tried to hide her disappointment, not to mention her annoyance, that her four friends had decided to crash her maybe-date.
"Wow."
“What?” she asked as both her friends cracked up.
"Let's just say, I'm never taking you to Vegas." Vivian turned them all toward the door, hustling them like a mother hen with her little chicks. "Don't worry, we won't crash your date."
"Unless we have to," Skye added with her typical balance of overbearing responsibility and dry humor.
Instead of walking down to Noah’s, they took Skye’s jeep. She was always on call as the deputy sheriff during Christmas weekends, so wheels were a must.
It was dawning on Lyra just how much all of them put into the celebrations. Not that she was complaining, but she had never had anything she would rather do before.
They pulled up to Noah's and onto the gravel second driveway of his cottage. From the back of the house, they heard music and the deep rumble of male laughter.
Lyra was suddenly nervous. Not only was she going to have to deal with figuring out the situation between her and Spence, but she was going to have to do it with an audience.
An audience who believed in active participation.
A hand came down on her shoulder as she stood in the kitchen putting away the practice custards she'd messed up the decorations on earlier that morning. Her friends wouldn't care what they looked like, only that they tasted good.
"Don't worry." Vivian gave her a reassuring smile while Skye marched to the back of the house. "I know I'm not the one to give the best romantic advice. Obviously that part of my life is on hold since I messed it up—“
"I don't think you could call getting pregnant as a teenager messing up your full romantic life." Lyra shook her head with a laugh.
Vivian never saw herself the way everyone else did. She was absolutely amazing and one of Lyra’s heroes. Her mom did her best, but Vivian? Vivian did it all. Lyra was amazed at how awesome a mom she was.
"My point is, you do what's right for you. No matter what, you have us, and Starlight Harbor, and your bakery, and your family, and a boatload of other things I could keep listing. Taking the risk on one more thing is scary, and it might hurt, so I'm not going to downplay that. I respect you too much to blow daisies. I'm just saying your safety net will catch you if for some reason you fall.”
Lyra felt her eyes tear up. Vivian wasn't one to share emotions very often, so when she did you had to listen because she was always speaking about nine levels deeper than most people even bothered to dig. Lyra reached out her hand. "I have the best friends in the world. "
“Darn straight you do." Vivian gave it a squeeze as she smiled and pushed Lyra toward the door. “Now go see what else you might have."
22
“So, man. You and Lyra?” Cam asked the question as he cut up potatoes at the kitchen counter and tossed them in a pot.
Spence had never watched anyone make potato salad from scratch, and here was Cam, doing it practically with his eyes shut.
He needed to up every game he had.
“Yeah?” Spence asked, because he didn’t want to answer any questions he wasn’t explicitly asked.
Cam grinned at Spence as he finished the potatoes and fished a colander of the cabinet.
“I haven't exactly run the idea of me and Lyra by Lyra. But trust me, Cam, as soon as I do, I'll stop everything and call you."
Cam laughed, pointing the knife he was way too familiar with because of his day job at Spence and grinned. "I like you. Noah, he's afraid to like you. But I like you. Don't screw this up."
Spence hadn't even realized there was anything to screw up until a couple hours ago. It felt like this whole town moved on a different time frame. Like Brigadoon, or something.
"Not screwing it up is only step one. I don't live here. I don't have a job here." Spence ran a hand through his hair, giving a slight tug before letting go. "In a few days, I might not have a job at all. "
"What about that magazine thing you run online that nearly destroyed Lyra?"
“I’m never going to live that down." Spence glanced out the window, letting his gaze travel over the last two rows of cottages and out to sea. "The truth is, I'm trying to sell it. Which is why I came here to begin with. To straighten this out to make sure I didn't lose my opportunity to dump that thing and make some much needed income off it."
Cam nodded. "Not like we didn't guess it was something like that.” He turned to lean his hip against the counter, crossing his arms across his chest. "I assume it's not still like that?"
Spence shook his head. It was so far from like that now he didn't even know how he'd been standing in that spot just a couple days ago.
"Good." Cam seemed appeased by his simple answer. "That's all I really need to know. I leave that gossip crap to Jamie. He loves that stuff. Knows as much as Miss Angie about what goes on in this town.”
Spence was about to ask about the older lady when the front door banged open.
"We're here,” Skye announced as she strode into the room. "Lyra brought some custard thing. She says it looks like junk but tastes amazing."
Cam leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, which had her swatting at him with a bright grin.
“Lyra doesn't lie about desserts. I'll eat it if I have to do it blindfolded." Cam turned as the other two came in and gave a curt nod "Vivian."
Spence glance between the two of them, a little surprised at the tension since he'd never seen them together before.
Huh.
But his focus was dragged to Lyra, as if no one else in the room mattered one whit.
“Hey.”
She gave him a shy smile that melted his heart even more. “Hey.”
“Okay, enough with the googly eyes. Where’s Noah?" Vivian glanced around as if his presence suddenly made itself known.
"Back deck, putting the steaks on." Spence frowned as Lyra gave him a small smile while Vivian herded her out.
He watched Cam watch Vivian with her long stride out of the kitchen and down the hall. He shook his head before he went back to his potato salad.
Looks like Spence wasn't the only one with a complicated situation.
He also wasn't about a wee bit of payback.
"So, Vivian, huh?"
What he expected was a little light banter. Instead, he was taken by surprise when Cam braced his hands against the counter and dropped his head down in such a defeated stance Spence almost wasn't sure if he should hug him or call for help.
The moment was over before he could make a decision.
Cam straightened and turned back to look him in the eye. "It's not like that. And I guess maybe it never was."
He picked up a couple bowls and headed toward the back deck, obviously putting an end to the conversation.
Spence was going to have to remember no matter how welcome they made him feel, he was still an outsider and had to be more careful where he stepped. Especially those he was coming to care for as friends.
23
Lyra was surprised how well Spence fit in with her group.
She probably shouldn't have been. But it was just such a happy coincidence he got along with them that she didn't want to question.
The group hung out and ate and chatted and laughed. The sun dropped lower over the forest and mountains to the west, leaving its sunset trail of light to glimmer on the ocean before it disappeared. The food was great and the company better.
But the whole time Lyra was just waiting so she and Spence could head down to the parade.
A girl didn't put on her best maybe-date clothes to hang out with her friends.
When it was fina
lly late enough for them to head out, Lyra pushed away from the table and stood.
"We have to get going. We don't want to be late and not have a spot on the green."
She glanced down at Spence, hoping he would take the cue. The smart man was already stacking dishes to carry into Noah's on their way through.
"Great." Skye stood and grabbed a stack of trash as she did. "You guys can ride up with me. I have to be on call."
Lyra gave her friend a long stare, unsure if she was joking or really just that oblivious.
With Skye, it could easily be either one.
“Actually, Skye,” Jamie jumped in. “I’ve been having some problems down on the water. Do you have a second?”
She glanced around as if unsure what she should do.
“It’s okay.” Lyra gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s a nice night for a walk and Spence still hasn’t seen the whole town.”
“Oh. As long as it’s okay.” Skye was never sure what to do in social situations, so Lyra gave her a reassuring smile and all but pushed Spence through the door back.
Outside, they both glanced around as if surprised to finally find themselves alone.
“Dinner was nice.”
“Really?” Lyra asked. Had he enjoyed himself or was he just being polite?
“Yeah. I like your friends. I appreciate how much they’ve done to make me feel comfortable.”
That was exactly the right thing to say, she decided as she reached out and took his hand.
They walked up the hill to the green hand-in-hand, Lyra pointing out different things from her childhood. Skye’s family home, the boy who took her to prom's house, the time she tried to rebel and went with Vivian to TP a certain guy’s house.
Spence was fascinated by it all. It was like the entire world he’d been looking for his whole life was in a few square miles and he just now found it.
As they got up to the green, he was shocked to see the roads blocked off and the sidewalks packed.
"I hope we didn't wait too long. I don't want you to miss anything," he said, even though he was the guest.
"Don't worry. It's taken care of.” She winked as she pulled him forward through the crowd and across the street, waving at the cop who rolled his eyes as Lyra carried on jaywalking when they were directed to walk around.
