Winter Wishes

by Fern Michaels

  Chapter Nine

  The only place Meredith could find to park in the square was a block away from the Grind.

  She’d lost track of time while she visited with Julia, then Julia had insisted on giving her a container of the stewp and a third of the loaf of bread. Meredith was thinking about having the leftovers for dinner later.

  She hurried to the coffee shop, knowing she was already a few minutes late. The place was crowded, but she spied Noah at a corner table in the back. He stood and watched her wend her way through the café. “Sorry I’m late. I didn’t realize it would be so crowded downtown. I couldn’t find a parking place.” Her words came out in a jumbled rush. As much as she’d been looking forward to this date, she was nervous.

  “It’s okay. I just got here. This was the only empty table, so I thought I’d snag it for us.”

  He helped her with her coat. She draped it over the back of the chair and unwound the scarf from around her neck before she sat.

  Noah looked divine. But then, in Meredith’s opinion, he always did. He wore jeans and a gray V-necked sweater over a white shirt. Preppy casual, she decided. And Noah could pull it off. If he were in New York instead of Kansas, he might be gracing the cover of GQ or doing ads for Armani. Although she’d never seen a photo of him. Maybe he wasn’t photogenic. Maybe he only looked this good in person, and pictures wouldn’t do him justice. She was glad, however, that he wasn’t in New York. That he was right here in Nashville, Kansas, on his first official date with her.

  “Do I have broccoli in my teeth or a zit on my nose?” he asked.

  “No. Of course not.”

  “Well, you’re staring at me as if there’s definitely something of interest above my neck.”

  Meredith blushed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare. That was rude of me. I was thinking—”

  “What?” he asked, intrigued.

  “No. It’s too embarrassing.”

  “Well, now you have to tell me.”

  “Okay. I was thinking that you’re good-looking enough to be a model.”

  Noah looked delighted at her confession. “Really? And you weren’t going to tell me?” He leaned toward her. “You know women aren’t the only people who like to get compliments.”

  “No. I suppose that’s true. But you already know you’re good-looking.”

  “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I’d say I’m average-looking.”

  “Wow. You’re humble, too.”

  “You’re funny.”

  “I don’t mean to be.”

  “I like it.” He stared at her for a minute. “I like you.”

  That information made her positively giddy. “Is that why you kept asking me out for coffee?”

  “Why did you think I was asking you out for coffee?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe you’d already dated every single woman in this town before I showed up, so I was just the next in a long line of females whose hearts you’ve broken.”

  “Not even close,” Noah assured her. “I haven’t dated anyone in . . . months, now that I think about it.”

  “Is that because there are no available single women in Nashville?”

  “Oh, there are. Quite a few actually.”

  “But you’re picky?”

  “I prefer the term ‘selective.’”

  “Well then, I guess I’m flattered to be here with you now.”

  “You should be.”

  Meredith laughed. “I take back my humble remark.”

  They smiled into each other’s eyes. Meredith knew she’d never felt this sense of delight ever before. Certainly not on a first date. Mostly what she felt on first dates was trepidation. She always expected it to go badly. It was always awkward. Maybe that was because of the nerves. And even though she’d been nervous mere minutes ago, now she was enjoying herself. She liked talking to Noah even if their conversations were a little silly sometimes. She sensed that if she wanted to have a serious conversation with him, he’d go there, too. Maybe she wasn’t falling in love with him. But she was definitely falling in like with him.

  “So,” Noah said. “About that coffee . . .”

  “Oh, my goodness! This is your Christmas present, and I completely forgot to ask what you’d like.” Meredith was acting like a ditz, which wasn’t her usual style. Apparently, being with Noah made every thought go out of her head. Focus, she told herself. “What can I get you?”

  “I want one of those fancy coffees. With the whipped cream and the chocolate flavoring in it. A big one.”

  “Big coffee, with chocolate and some whipped cream. Got it. Anything else?”

  “Well, since you’re offering. They’ve got these chocolate-filled croissants here. I wouldn’t mind one of those.”

  Meredith looked at him suspiciously. “Okay, wait. Are you”—she leaned in close to him and glanced both ways before she spoke in a near whisper—“a chocoholic?”

  Noah laughed. “Not yet. But I’m working on it.”

  “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

  She picked up her purse and smiled all the way to the counter. The crowd had thinned out a little, and she didn’t have to wait in the order line very long. She had plenty of time, however, to check out the pastries in the case. She decided she’d try a cinnamon-almond apple blossom. She had no idea what it tasted like, but it looked and sounded yummy. Carbs, carbs, carbs, she thought again. She’d need to go for a very long walk or do some extreme power yoga to burn off the calories she was consuming on just this one date. Because she already knew she was getting a hot chocolate.

  She made it back to the table with the drinks and the pastries on a small tray. Noah helped her unload it, and she took the tray back to the counter.

  “You’re very graceful,” Noah said. He, of course, had been watching her the whole time she’d been away from the table.

  “Well, as a dancer, that is part of the training.”

  “You were a dancer? Out there in Las Vegas?”

  “Uh-huh. For ten years.” She took a sip of her hot chocolate and dabbed her top lip with a napkin just in case there were telltale signs of whipped cream.

  “Did you like it?” Noah asked.

  Meredith cut into her apple blossom. “I guess I did. You know, I never really thought about whether I liked it. I mean, I loved dancing. I took lessons for years, and I thought it would be fun to be in the shows. But after awhile, I guess it’s like every other job. It becomes a way to make money so you can live and pay your bills. And there’s a downside to every job, isn’t there?”

  She took a bite of her pastry, and it melted in her mouth. She didn’t care how many calories it contained. She took another bite.

  “What was the downside for you?” Noah asked.

  Meredith sipped some more of her hot chocolate. “The career of a professional dancer can be pretty short. It’s very hard on the body, for one thing. If you’re injured, you can’t dance. Or I should say, you shouldn’t dance. Because it only aggravates the injury. But a lot of dancers work injured. I tried not to because you can do real permanent damage to yourself.

  “But the wear and tear on your joints and ligaments and muscles adds up. I was in a car accident last year, and that kind of ended my professional dance career.”

  “You were injured?”

  “I was already having problems with my knee. The accident made it worse, and that kind of sealed the deal. On the upside, I got a substantial settlement out of it because the other driver was at fault. I got a new car. I’d finished college, and there was nothing to keep me in Vegas.”

  “So like all retiring dancers, you decided to move to Nashville.” Noah was halfway through his chocolate croissant, but he’d been listening intently.

  “I decided to move somewhere,” Meredith said. “Nashville was just a name on a map. But it seemed like it was as good a place as any other.”

  “No family in Vegas? No boyfriend?”

  “No and no. My parents died when I was a child, and
my grandmother raised me. But then she passed away a few years ago. I have some friends there, but no one I’m particularly close to.”

  “My mom died when I was in college,” Noah said.

  “Were you close?”

  “Yes. My brother had more in common with my dad, I guess. My mom and I were similar in some ways. We got each other, you know? Laughed at the same kind of dumb jokes. She had this way of making a big deal out of everything. But in a good way. Like if I got an A on a spelling test, or if my brother hit a home run in Little League, there’d be some special dessert or our favorite dinner. She was a very positive person.”

  “She celebrated life,” Meredith said, remembering what Julia had shared with her earlier.

  “Exactly,” Noah agreed.

  “She sounds like a wonderful woman.”

  “She was.” He pushed his empty plate away. “You kind of remind me of her,” he said shyly. “I can’t really say why, but you do.”

  “I consider that a great compliment.” Meredith was truly touched. She fell even further in like with Noah.

  By the time they left the Grind, it was getting dark. Noah walked her to her car. “I wanted to ask you something,” he said, as she unlocked her door.

  “What’s that?”

  “Would you want to go to the mall in Greenburg with me tomorrow? It will probably be a madhouse, but I have to do some Christmas shopping and . . . I’m not very good at it.”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes, I’m not very good at Christmas shopping?”

  Laughter bubbled out of Meredith. “There’s no way I could know that. I meant yes, I’d go to the mall with you.”

  “You will?”

  “Sure. Why not? What time?”

  “Around noon? I can pick you up. I know where you live.”

  “I’ll look forward to it.”

  She’d opened the car door, and now it was between them.

  “Okay,” Noah said wistfully. “Thanks for the Christmas gift.”

  “You’re welcome. See you tomorrow.”

  Noah headed toward his car, parked even farther down the street. He’d wanted to kiss Meredith. Even a little peck on the cheek would have been acceptable. But he couldn’t figure out how to do it. He’d waited too long to ask her about going to the mall. She was practically already in her car before he’d said anything.

  As first dates went though, he guessed it had gone pretty well. He knew a few things about Meredith he hadn’t known before. She thought he was good-looking. That was an ego boost right there.

  The fact that she was a professional dancer explained why she was in such good shape. She moved like a dancer, he realized. Her posture was perfect, and she was very graceful.

  She was also alone in the world, it seemed. So it hadn’t mattered where she lived. It could have been Nashville. Or it could have been anywhere else.

  Again he had that sense of their fates colliding. Whether by divine purpose or some random accident. He didn’t really care which it was. He was just glad she’d landed where she had. Literally in his own backyard. Because something else this first date had confirmed—he really, really liked her.

  * * *

  Noah knocked on Meredith’s door the next day just before noon. He’d noticed the extension cord and followed its length to the tree. He had to admit the yard looked a little bare. The shrubbery that had been planted years ago beneath the windows had not been in great shape, so when he’d renovated the house, he’d pulled it all out. It had made it easier to paint the outside, that was for sure. And he figured whoever bought the place would want to make his or her own landscaping choices anyway.

  Meredith opened the door, and he got that little thrill of excitement he always got when he saw her.

  “Come in for a minute, okay? I’m having a bit of a wardrobe malfunction.”

  He stepped inside and immediately felt like he didn’t want to leave. In the short time she’d been there, Meredith had transformed the space into something that was welcoming and looked comfortable. The sectional sofa seemed made for the living room. A flat-screen TV was mounted over the fireplace. An area rug with shades of dark blue and cream pulled the space together.

  “Anything I can help with?” he asked.

  “Would you mind?” She turned her back to him, gathered her hair in one hand, then lifted it away from her shoulders. “This sweater buttons in the back, and I seem to be all thumbs today. I keep getting the buttons in the wrong holes.”

  He saw that she was correct. There were only a few buttons, but they were sadly misaligned from her efforts. He undid them, his fingers itching to touch the creamy skin at the back of her neck. He noticed her hair and wondered if it was as soft and silky as it looked. He hoped he’d have the chance to find out soon.

  He bent his head and patiently slid the delicate pearl buttons into the appropriate holes. She smelled good. Like something edible. Apples or cherries or peaches. Maybe a perfumery somewhere had combined the scents of all three into something enticingly light and fresh that temporarily addled his senses. “There you go,” he said eventually. “You’re all set.”

  She dropped the handful of hair and turned around. “Thanks. I loved this sweater when I bought it, but those buttons were a challenge.”

  “It looks great on you.” It was the color of a tangerine and complemented her beautifully. She also wore dark denim slacks and black boots.

  She picked up her coat. “Ready?”

  “Ready.”

  “So what are we shopping for?” Meredith asked once they were on the road.

  “That’s just it,” Noah said. “I have no idea.”

  “Okay, then. Who are we shopping for?”

  “My dad and my brother. I guess I should get something for Tiffany the Snob, too.”

  “Tiffany the Snob?” Meredith said, and gave him a curious look. “And who, exactly, is Tiffany the Snob?”

  “My brother’s girlfriend. That’s not her name. Well, Tiffany is actually her name. ‘The Snob’ part is just a title I gave her the first time I met her.”

  “Lovely. What did Tiffany do to earn that title?”

  Noah gave her an uneasy glance. “If I tell you, you’re not going to hate me, are you?”

  “Doubtful. But we’ll see how it goes.”

  “The first time I met her was at my dad’s. He’d invited us for a backyard barbecue. Nothing fancy. Hamburgers, hot dogs. Chips. Baked beans. Potato salad. He tries to make a picnic in the backyard like my mom used to. He puts the red-checkered tablecloth on the table. He’s got paper plates and napkins and plastic utensils and cups. A cooler with beer and soda.

  “Tiffany shows up with my brother looking like, I don’t know, a runway model or something close. She’s wearing all white. I guess to her, it was casual clothes, but who wears all white to a barbecue?”

  Noah asked the question as if he truly wanted an answer. He seemed to be so baffled by Tiffany’s wardrobe choice that Meredith felt compelled to say, “Clearly, she was just asking for trouble.”

  “Right? So the very first thing she does is grab a handful of napkins and wipe off the picnic bench where she plans to sit. Like she thinks my dad wouldn’t have thought to wipe everything down when he was setting it up.

  “So nobody says anything. We act like all our guests feel they have to clean the furniture before they take a seat. Dad offers her a cold drink. A beer or a soda, and she says, ‘Oh, I’ll just have a sparkling water if you have it.’”

  “Let me guess,” Meredith said, thoroughly enjoying Noah’s story. “No sparkling water in the cooler?”

  “You guessed it. Dad says he can get her ice water from the kitchen. She says, ‘Oh, I never drink tap water.’ My brother jumps up and offers to run to the corner market for her. She says, ‘Thank you, Hunter,’ and off he goes!” Noah shook his head as if still in shock over his brother’s behavior.

  “He must really like her,” Meredith said.

  “I guess. He’s been seeing h
er for almost a year.”

  “Well, everyone has their idiosyncrasies,” Meredith observed. “I’m sure Tiffany the Snob has some redeeming qualities.”

  “I suppose. We found out after we sat down that she doesn’t eat red meat. Or legumes. Or processed food—”

  “Or, let me guess—potato salad?”

  “I don’t even know why Hunter brought her to the barbecue, to tell you the truth. She sat there with her bottle of water while we all pigged out, because let me tell you, one thing my dad knows is his way around a barbecue grill. He makes the best hamburgers ever.”

  “It sounds like fun,” Meredith said wistfully, suddenly envious of Noah because he had a family. A sibling. She’d always wondered what it would have been like if she’d had a brother or a sister. “So is this something you do with every woman you meet? Give them a title? Did you give me one, for example?”

  Noah gave her a shy smile. “No, I don’t do it with everyone. But I do kind of have one for you.”

  “Oh no,” Meredith said. “I’m not sure I want to hear what it is.”

  “I think of you as Meredith the Entertainer.”

  “Well, that’s certainly better than Meredith the Snob.”

  Noah laughed. “You make me laugh. Plus, you’re a professional dancer. Which falls into the entertainment category, I do believe.”

  “Former professional dancer,” she reminded him.

  “But still entertaining,” Noah assured her.

  Meredith felt a warm glow inside as they approached the mall entrance. People always said a sense of humor was one of the top ten important things they looked for when they were dating. The fact that she apparently had the ability to make Noah laugh without even trying seemed like a good thing.

  The mall parking lot was already crowded with holiday shoppers, but Noah found a space at the end of a row. Recorded Christmas music poured from the speakers at the entrance. Inside were all the usual holiday trappings. Every store window sported lots of red and green and holiday sale signs. Families with children and strollers clogged the aisles, but Meredith didn’t care. Usually she avoided the stores around the holidays. She bought very few gifts since she had no family. Sometimes she’d find small things to give her roommates and a few friends. But everyone she knew was on a fairly tight budget. She counted herself extremely fortunate not to have to worry about the state of her finances any longer.