by Noelle Adams
They sat in silence, picking at the last of the food. Shaking her head to clear it, Ava brought up the subject that had been on her mind. “So you and my brother? How’s that going?”
At first Lacey thought it would be awkward to have this conversation with Ean’s sister, or any family member but as it turned out, it wasn’t that bad.
“In a million years, I never thought Ean would be attracted to me,” she began. “I chalked it all up to me having a childhood crush. When I first saw him at the cottage, he was flat on his back in the snow. I think there were little cartoon birds flying around his head!” She relayed the story of that first night and how awkwardness turned to a renewed friendship and how that turned to something more.
“When I left the ranch, I really thought that I would be okay with just having that brief moment in time with him, but the more I fought it, the worse I felt. Seeing him at your place and then leaving? It was harder than leaving the ranch. And then Thanksgiving?”
“Oh, the sparks were flying on Thanksgiving!” Ava joked. “We all noticed it.”
“You did not! Well, you did, but no one else did.”
“Are you sure?” she teased.
“Seriously? We were that obvious?”
“It really wasn’t until the two of you snuggled up together to watch the movie and you fell asleep on Ean. He was just watching you like he was mesmerized. He was touching your hair, your cheek…it was actually kind of sweet.”
“Well if you thought it was sweet, why did you freak out on us the next morning?” Lacey was prepared for the impending fight.
“I thought you guys were just flirting with one another, I didn’t realize that something had already been going on, and I was a little bit pissed that you kept news like that from me!”
“It’s weird! He’s your brother!”
“And you’re my best friend! We’re supposed to tell each other everything; no secrets.”
“I know you’re right and I’m sorry. I guess, in my defense, I was afraid to talk about it because at the end of the month, Ean’s going back to Boston and I’m staying here. End of story.”
“End of story? Why?”
“Um, he’ll be in Boston and I’ll be in Raleigh? Hundreds of miles between us? Long distance relationships are rarely successful, and I’d rather us end it while we’re still friends then end up resenting one another when the distance becomes a real issue.”
“Wow, insecure much?” Ava asked, rising to pour them each another glass of wine.
“What is that supposed to mean? I’m not insecure.”
“Oh, please! You are the queen of Insecureville! You’re willing to end a relationship that seems to be making both of you nauseatingly happy because of a little geography!”
“It’s not little, Ava, it’s over 700 miles! That’s not a hop-in-the-car for the weekend relationship; it’s a second mortgage in airfare! It’s not seeing one another for weeks on end and coordinating work schedules to get time away. Ean’s the boss, so he can pick up and go almost whenever he wants, but it’s not like that for me and I wouldn’t expect him to be the one to do all of the traveling.”
“So you work something out! You’ve been preaching to me about communication and not letting things go without a fight, and it seems to me that you’re not willing to fight for this relationship with Ean. Maybe you don’t love him.”
“Of course I do! I always have, but…”
“Ah-ha! I knew it!” She did a little victory dance around the table. “I knew I’d get you to admit it!”
Lacey couldn’t help but laugh. She had certainly fallen for that one. “Yes, I love Ean. The thought of this relationship ending is killing me, but I don’t see a solution. He’s not prepared to move back here, and I’m not prepared to move up to Boston.”
“So you’ve talked to him about this.” It wasn’t a question.
“Not exactly,” Lacey responded, not daring to meet Ava’s knowing eyes.
“Lace, you’ve essentially put an expiration date on this relationship without letting Ean know about it. Maybe he is willing to compromise? Maybe he would be open to moving back if you asked him?”
“That’s just it, Ava; I wouldn’t want to ask him to do that. I would hate for him to make such a huge sacrifice for me. What if things don’t work out down the road?”
“And what if this is the best thing that’s ever happened to him? What if his business grows and he gets to marry the love of his life, have you thought of that?” When Lacey didn’t answer, Ava took the last drink of wine and placed the glass down on the table before forcing Lacey to look at her. “I didn’t think so.”
***
The next night, Lacey and Ean were lying in bed, limbs tangled together. She had told him about the night before and the Ava and Mason part of the discussions. “I just wish I knew what she was going to do,” Lacey said.
“If I know my sister, she’s going to wait until the last minute to decide just for the dramatic effect.”
Lacey groaned. “Gosh I hope not. I hate the thought of your parents going through so much to have everything there for the wedding and then have it not happen.”
“Well, to them, it’s just Christmas with an extra celebration thrown in,” he said lightly. “They’ll be a little disappointed, I’m sure, but in the end it will just mean more food and cake to enjoy all the way through to New Year’s.” He kissed Lacey’s head.
“They still have so much to work through. I don’t know how they’ll do it.”
“When you love someone, you do what it takes to make them happy.”
Leaning away from Ean slightly, Lacey looked in to his face. “But it can’t be all one-sided. You make it sound like one person has to give up everything so that the other person can be happy.”
Ean sat up and faced her. “That’s not what I meant. In the case of Mason and Ava, they’ve come to some great compromises. She’ll finish school like she wants, and then she’ll help him with the firm like he wants. He didn’t want to spend a fortune on a tropical vacation but knew that Ava wanted to go someplace warm, so they compromised and are going to Florida. See? They are each giving something in order to make the other happy.”
Lacey eyed him suspiciously. “Okay, I see where you’re going with that, but do you hear the one word that keeps coming up? Compromising. They aren’t in agreement on anything; every decision has required a compromise. Shouldn’t they have enough in common that there wouldn’t have to be so many compromises?”
Now that she kept saying the word ‘compromise’ he realized she had a point.
When Ean didn’t agree or comment, Lacey thought she needed to explain it further. “Take the two of us, for example. When we were up in the mountains, and even since Thanksgiving, we don’t have to negotiate everything. We enjoy the same restaurants, we have similar taste in movies; no one is keeping a score card on who is getting their way more. At least, I’m not. Are you?”
“Hell, no,” he answered sternly. “But you have to remember that we’re still in the early stages of our relationship; who’s to say that it won’t change in time?”
Lacey wanted to argue that they probably weren’t going to get to a point where they could change, but decided to keep that can of worms closed for now. “If you start out with common interests and mutual passions, that won’t change,” she argued lightly. “It’s not like I’m going to wake up one morning and tell you that I don’t ever want to eat Thai food again.” Knowing it was one of her favorite cuisines, it was a safe bet that she was speaking the truth.
“What if you got a bad case of food poisoning? That might put you off of Thai food?” It was a flimsy argument at best.
“You know what I’m saying, Ean,” she chided. “I’m not trying to make light of it, but…”
“I know, I know. I do understand what you’re saying, but ultimately, it’s up to them to decide what they can and can’t live with. What is perfectly acceptable for them may not be for you and that’s okay. Wh
atever they decide, we have to support them in it.”
Lacey wasn’t so sure she would be able to do it, and the look on her face must have conveyed that thought to Ean. “Lacey, you’ve voiced your opinion to Ava until you were blue in the face. You’ve been friends with my sister long enough to know that she never does anything she doesn’t want to. If she decides to marry Mason, there’s a reason for it, and we have to hope that she’ll be happy.”
“And when it falls apart?”
“Boy, I never knew you were such a pessimist,” he teased, leaning over and kissing her on the nose. “Have a little faith, Lacey. Ava’s happily ever after may not be conventional, but if the version she gets makes her happy, then we should be happy for her.”
She supposed Ean’s words made sense. If nothing else, the real life drama of having to deal with their disagreements had finally moved Ava off of the Christmas Cottage story. A quiet chuckle escaped her lips at the thought of it, and Ean reached for her and rolled her on top of him. “Something funny?”
Kissing him soundly before raising her head, she replied, “I’m just thankful that she’s finally given up on the fairytale cottage story. There’s a little less pressure on us to make everything so precise now that she’s calmed down a bit.”
Truth be told, Ean had forgotten about the fact that they still had to make time to go and decorate the darn place. Still, it was a reason to have some alone time with Lacey in the place where it all began and hopefully have it become a place they could look back on and admit that perhaps there is a little magic in the place.
“What has you smiling?” she asked, leaning forward again and placing tiny kisses along his jaw.
Not ready to share it all with her, he merely said, “Just enjoying the view, sweetheart.”
Ten
The wedding was two days away. Lacey was putting finishing touches on the Christmas tree in the cottage while Ean hung the large wreath over the fireplace. Normally, setting up Christmas decorations brought Lacey joy, but in this particular case, she was having trouble finding any.
“Okay, what’s the matter?” Ean asked, stepping down off of the ladder.
“What? Why do you ask?”
“Because that’s like the tenth time you’ve sighed like that. What’s going on?”
Even though they’d had this discussion multiple times over the last several weeks, Lacey was still having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that Ava and Mason were getting married. Mason was barely involved in any of the preparations and although Ava was being more than agreeable, there was just something that wasn’t sitting right with Lacey.
“I’m sorry. I guess I still can’t believe that they’re going through with this.”
“Lace, we’ve been over this. You have to let it go. Everyone is going to be arriving tomorrow. We only have tonight to ourselves, and I don’t want to spend it discussing my sister and Mason. Please.”
He was right. The cottage looked beautiful and they had brought the makings of a wonderful dinner that they were going to share later that night right here in the cottage. Lacey didn’t consider it bad luck to be staying there; after all, if the legend was true, it only applied to those who spent their wedding night there. That certainly did not describe her and Ean.
“Okay, no more talking about Ava and Mason,” she said, “or the huge mistake they’re making,” she added quietly, but Ean shot her a look.
“I heard that.”
Clearing away the last of the decoration boxes, Ean placed them back up in the attic and started a fire for them. While he was doing that, Lacey started their dinner. They worked so well together, and although Ean’s comment from that night weeks ago came to mind about their being in a new relationship, Lacey didn’t really think it applied to them. After all, they’d known each other for practically their entire lives. There wasn’t a whole lot to learn about one another because they were so comfortable around each other already.
“Ean?”
“Hmm…?”
She voiced her theory to him and he seemed to agree. “It makes sense,” he said, making sure that the fire was settled before placing the screen back in front of it. “Although there is a big difference in being friends and being lovers. As your friend, I would want you to be happy, but I wouldn’t feel the overwhelming need to make sure that you’re happy.”
Lacey smiled and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “You have an overwhelming need to make me happy?”
Ean chuckled and kissed her. Then, leading her to the bed, he showed her just how important her happiness was to him.
***
Looking around the cottage, Lacey thought that everything looked perfect. The table was set with candlelight, there was a fire roaring in the fireplace, the Christmas tree lights twinkled, and she was here with the man that she loved. So this is what a fairytale could look like, she thought to herself.
When they were seated, Ean reached across the table and took her hand and looked intently at her; his eyes scanning her face as a slow smile crept across his own. “I need to go back to Boston for a few days next week between Christmas and New Year’s,” he said slowly. “It will be a quick trip and I’ll be back for New Year’s.” He waited to see how she responded to the news.
“Oh.” Her heart actually ached. It was starting already. In her mind, they had another full week before they had to deal with the reality of being apart. She wasn’t ready for it to happen so soon. She cleared her throat as she carefully pulled her hand from his, taking great care in rearranging her place setting before speaking. “What day will you be leaving?”
Ean wasn’t a fool. He knew she was upset and could tell that she was insecure about what this all meant. “I was thinking of leaving the day after Christmas and driving back but…”
“That’s right, you drove down; you have your car here and all that. So it takes, what, two days to drive back? Then you’ll have your meetings or whatever, and then you’ll have to turn around and drive for another two days to be here for New Year’s, only to turn around again and drive home? That seems a little silly, Ean. You don’t have to worry about being here for New Year’s. I mean, I know we had some tentative plans, but you don’t have to…”
He cut her off before she ran out of breath. “Lacey, listen to me. First of all, I had thought about driving back, but then I realized how time consuming it would be, so I was considering flying there and back to save on time. I want to be with you for New Year’s, but I wanted to run something else by you.”
No, it was all too much. Lacey cursed herself for letting herself get caught up in the romanticism of the whole thing; the cottage, the man and, dammit, the fairytale. She knew that there wasn’t going to be a happily ever after for them, but having to sit here and listen to Ean spell it out, the ending of their relationship, well it was too much for her to bear.
“Ean, really, you’re getting all worked up over nothing. We both knew that you had a life up in Boston to get back to; it just so happened that you have to get back to it sooner than we thought. It’s okay; I’m okay. You don’t have to inconvenience yourself on my account.”
“What are you saying, Lace? That you don’t want me to come back?”
Most men would be thankful to have an out, but of course she had to be involved with the one man who needed to drag it out. “I’m saying that I don’t expect you to make such a big production out of coming back only to have to leave again.”
Ean sat quietly for a moment. “What if I didn’t leave again?”
Lacey’s eyes shot to his. “Excuse me?”
“What if when I came back from Boston next week, I wasn’t leaving again? What if I came back here to stay?”
She did not want to misunderstand him; it was important that she not read into this more than it was. “Why? Why would you do that? What about your business?”
“I want to be with you, Lacey. I want to move back here to be with you.”
“I can’t ask you to do
that, Ean,” she said, panic lacing her voice.
“You’re not asking me, it’s my decision.”
“Yes, but one that you’re making based on me.”
He chuckled and grabbed her elusive hand again. “As much as I’d like to say that was true, I can’t. Two months ago, if anyone had asked me, I would have said that my life was fine. But the truth was, I wasn’t very happy. One of the reason’s I came down here to the ranch before going to Raleigh was because I was re-evaluating my life. I was ready for a change, for a new challenge, and as much as I’ve always said that I enjoy being away from my family, I’ve missed them.”
“You can’t just uproot your entire office, though. Can you? I mean, what are you going to do?”
“I’m not uprooting anyone; at least not yet. I’m going back to finally promote one of my V.P.’s to take over operations in the Boston office. I’m finally going to delegate more. I’ll work from here or from Raleigh and get an office set up, and during the transition, I may have to travel a little bit, but in the long run, I’ll be here permanently.” He looked at her expectantly. “Do you think you can live with that? Having me around permanently?”
Tears started to well in her eyes. “Ean, there is nothing I’d like more than having you around permanently, but I would feel so guilty if you were compromising…”
“I never want to hear that word again, Lacey Quinn! I am not compromising anything. This was something that I’d thought about doing, and seeing you, being with you, falling in love with you? That just solidified it for me. This is where I want to be!”
Falling in love with you? Had he really just blurted that out?
“You’re in love with me?” she whispered, so afraid that she’d heard him wrong.
Ean couldn’t help himself; he let out a laugh that was part joy and part relief; he’d wanted to say it out loud for so long. “Yes,” he said, softly, sincerely. “I know it seems crazy; we’ve known each other our whole lives, and then it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, but one look at you, Lacey, was all it took. I love you.”
