10

A coastal Christmas around the southern parts of Sunset Cove always looked a good bit different from, say, a Christmas up north, but late December had ushered in a heat wave and was making the traditional celebrations look even more different than usual. With humid temperatures lingering close to uncomfortable, not even the ugly Christmas sweaters were taken out of the attic to wear. Or if they were, it was only for a short stint at a holiday party that was holding one of those ugly sweater contests.

Always the optimist, Opal didn’t let the tropical atmosphere put a damper on her festivities. The cheery redhead smoothed the skirt of her green-and-gold sundress, loving how the jingle bells she’d sewn along the hem jingled their sweet tune every time she moved. The red sash around her waist had a few as well.

“You look like Malibu Barbie, Christmas edition,” Kane teased, snickering at his own joke as he climbed into the passenger seat of Opal’s van.

“Why, thank you, Bubba. And you look like a college kid in serious need of doing some laundry in those holey shorts and ragged T-shirt.” She smiled with narrowed eyes before climbing in the driver’s seat. His shirt was red and the shorts an Army green. Both paired in a Christmas theme with his Santa hat, so he was one to talk. “You’ll be over teasing me once you see my gift for you.” She put the van into gear and headed away from her parents’ estate.

“You didn’t have to get me anything.” Kane twisted slightly in his seat and set down several canvas bags filled with Christmas dinner leftovers behind them. “We got enough food to last weeks.”

“That’s what I love most about Mom’s inability to cook in small portions.” Opal took a left at the end of the driveway and turned up a station playing nothing but Christmas carols. Then she bumped up the air-conditioning to combat the eighty-degree temps heating the interior of the van to stifling.

“How’s the store doing now that you’re back up and running?” Kane asked as he adjusted the vents to get more cool air flowing in his direction.

Opal glanced at him, amused with how the air vent had his coppery curls dancing along the edge of the Santa hat. “It’s been so busy, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get caught up on the custom pieces, but no complaints on that.”

“I’m home for another week. I can help out some.”

The van tires began vibrating the familiar sound they made when crossing the old drawbridge. Opal looked out and found a few boats twinkling in the early night. Some were even decorated with Christmas lights. Smiling, she turned her attention back to the road. “Tucker Bradford is going to start helping me deliver furniture after school, starting in about two weeks, so I’d appreciate you giving me a hand while you’re home.”

“You talking about August’s brother?”

“Yeah. He’s a year behind you in school.” Opal turned onto Front Street, slowing the van so they could take in the Christmas lights sparkling from the palmetto trees and beach houses.

“But I thought Momma said you had a hippie astrologist helping you.” Kane cranked his window down and let the ocean breeze move through the van as they approached the old pavilion that was closed for winter.

Opal shut the radio off so they could get the full effect of the holiday scene before them. “Linc is neither a hippie nor an astrologist . . . Well, he may be part hippie, but that stubborn man won’t ever admit to it.” She pulled the van to a stop in front of the Ferris wheel, where colorful lights raced around the circle with the music chasing it. “I just love this place.”

“Yeah. I’m glad the owners figured out a way to let us enjoy it in the off-season.”

And did they ever. The entire park was lit up and the lights were synced to several vibrant songs, making them dance between the hours of seven and midnight throughout the months of November and December.

“So what does that guy do to help you out if he’s not delivering furniture?” Kane questioned. His eyes were pinned on the lights flickering to the jovial beat of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” that made the carousel look like it was moving while standing still.

“Linc helped me get the store put back together after the storm. And now he’s been helping me catch up on the custom orders. He’s quite handy.”

“He’s not an astrologist?” Kane turned to face his sister.

Opal leaned forward in her seat to peer around him. “No. Linc was just messin’ when he told Momma and Daddy that, and I kinda think it’s fun to not correct their misconception. He actually has a master’s in architectural engineering.”

“No way. Why’s he working for you then?” Kane’s brows pinched.

Opal reached over and playfully popped his arm. “You’re a Nosy Nelly tonight. And what’s so wrong with him working for me?”

“Just trying to make sense of why the guy is hanging around . . .” Kane’s eyes widened. “He your boyfriend?”

Opal snickered. “Not hardly. He’s a Marine, but an injury caused him to have to retire. Now he’s trying to figure out a new path.” Opal shrugged. “I don’t mind him dawdling around the store until he forms a plan.”

“What if you’re his plan?” Kane made a kissy-face and waggled his eyebrows in true little brother fashion, earning him a shove.

“You’ll be set straight after y’all meet. Trust me, the man doesn’t really care for me.”

Kane looked like he wanted to ask more but let it go and turned his attention back to the dancing lights for a spell.

After a couple more songs, Opal put the van into gear and went a few more avenues over to where her store sat on the corner.

The light coming from the back of the building instantly caught her attention. “Humph.”

“You leave a light on by accident?”

Opal leaned up and peered out of the windshield but found no vehicle in sight. “No. We’ve been closed the entire week for Christmas, and I drove by a few times. Surely I would have noticed before now.”

They both quietly climbed out of the van and began casing the building like they were the robbers instead of whoever it was inside making a bunch of racket.

“Oh, wow. The back porch is gone,” Kane whispered as they crept around the side of the building.

“We closed it in and made it into a workroom,” Opal whispered back while trying to peep in the window, which was impossible since the antique plantation shutters they’d installed on the interior were closed as usual. A shadow moved from behind them.

“Let’s go in like gangbusters,” Kane whisper-yelled as if psyching himself up to do just that.

“Let’s not and say we did,” Opal retorted, stepping up to the back door and knocking.

“Knocking? Are you serious right now? It’s your store!” Kane grabbed a rake that was propped by the door and held it up like a baseball bat. “Eek!” he screeched like a little girl when the door flung open to reveal a giant, causing the rake to scrape against the metal awning over their heads. As the rake flayed around, it snagged a string of Christmas lights in the tongs and shorted them out.

Opal rolled her lips in to contain the laugh before pulling on a warm smile. “Merry Christmas,” she offered in her singsong voice as her brother wrestled with the lights from beside her. She hoped he wouldn’t electrocute himself in the process.

The giant’s eyes did a quick sweep of her outfit, sending one eyebrow arching up, before looking over at her sidekick wielding the garden tool. “Put that down before you hurt yourself,” Lincoln ordered before stepping back inside.

The first thing Opal noticed was the cane was absent and the limp more prominent. “How’d you get here, Linc?” she asked while following close behind him. She already knew how he got in, being as that she’d given him a key a few weeks back. He was only supposed to help her three days a week but showed up most every day to at least putter around some. Sundays were really the only day they spent apart, and she tried remedying that to no avail, but she was hopeful he’d come around to attending church with her eventually.

His broad shoulders shrugged. “I rode my bike.”

“You have a bike?”

“As of this week I do. My therapist said it’s good exercise at that last appointment, remember?”

“I’m pretty sure he said stationary,” Opal countered.

“You go with the dude to his appointments?” Kane chimed in, reminding Opal of his presence.

She looked back just before he closed the door and noticed the rake swaying in the breeze where it remained snagged in the lights. “Linc is my friend, so yes.”

“She goes because she’s nosy,” Lincoln supplied.

“Only because you’re a fibber.” She glared at Lincoln as he turned around.

“You must be Bubba.” Linc jerked a chin in Kane’s direction.

Kane grinned while straightening his red Santa hat that jingled from his effort. “Yeah, did my good looks give me away?”

“The way you wrestled with those poor unsuspecting lights looked like something your sister may have taught you.” Lincoln’s lip twitched as he shook his head. “How does a straitlaced senator end up with two silly elves as offspring?”

Opal pranced in a circle, causing her own bells to jingle. “You like our outfits. Don’t deny it.”

“This coming from a hippie astrologist?” Kane taunted back as he glanced at Lincoln’s bare feet peeping out from the fraying hem of his jeans.

“Something like that,” Lincoln agreed.

Opal couldn’t contain the giggle any longer at the silliness of the conversation. “Linc, what are you doing here?” She looked around and noticed a drop cloth covering a mountain of something in the corner of the room. “What’s underneath that?”

Lincoln rubbed the side of his bearded face with his palm. “Just something I’ve wanted to work on . . .” He stood in front of the concealed project as if to hide it.

“Okay,” Opal simply said, letting him have his secret for the time being. From the narrowed look, Lincoln was skeptical nonetheless. “I wanted to give Bubba his Christmas present,” she told him, then moved her focus over to Kane. “Lincoln helped me design it.”

Without prompting, Lincoln led them into the main showroom, flipping on lights as he went. Near the back of the store sat the draft table with a huge red bow dressing it.

“Aww, man, this thing is sweet.” Kane rushed over and ran his hand over the smooth surface. “I’ve never seen so many different rulers in all my life.”

“Took us an entire weekend to gather them from all over the state,” Lincoln mumbled and crossed his arms, but Opal could tell he was proud of the finished project. She was pretty sure he had enjoyed their adventurous weekend of junking too, but she kept that to herself.

“Lincoln helped me fit them all together to form the top, and then he suggested we cover them with acrylic glass so you’ll have a smooth surface to work on.”

Lincoln demonstrated how to angle the top while Opal set a pencil on the ledge they had fashioned from a yardstick.

Kane studied the table with a wide grin. “I love it. Thanks, y’all.” He bent to check out the legs, which were made from metal tubing and dressed with large L-shaped metal rulers.

“This was all your sister,” Lincoln said, quickly giving Opal all the credit as he always did with each of their projects.

“Nonsense. You redesigned the entire thing after I shared my plans for it.” Opal rolled her eyes.

“Just tweaked it a little.” He shrugged.

Opal caught a subtle hint of his citrusy cologne and realized she’d stepped closer at the same time Lincoln did, like some kind of gravitational pull, and from the amused clearing of Kane’s throat, her brother had noticed too. Not giving him a chance to call her out on it, Opal stepped back over to the table. “Let’s load it up.”

Lincoln limped over to grab his shoes, but Opal halted him. “No worries. Bubba and I can manage it. Just get the front door for us, please.”

Once they had it loaded and Kane was piled back into the passenger seat, Opal feigned the excuse of needing to grab an invoice. She hurried inside just as Lincoln was about to pull the cloth off the mountain. As soon as he spotted her, he stopped.

“You want a ride home?” she asked, looking for a reason to spend some more time with him.

“Nah. I have some more work to do.”

“You sure?”

He nodded with a closed-off demeanor. One that was a clear indicator for Opal to leave it be. Reluctantly she did.

After the draft table was unloaded at Kane’s condo, Opal divvied out the plastic containers of food.

“Man, there’s enough to feed an army,” Kane mumbled before popping open the lid of a container filled with cookies.

“True,” Opal agreed while snagging a gingerbread man and biting his head off. She knew for a fact there was enough to feed at least one soldier. “Okay, Bubba, I’m heading out.”

“Thanks again for my drafting table. That thing is killer.” Kane wrapped her in a bear hug before going back to the cookies.

She was out the door and heading back to the store in record time. Sure enough, the light was still on when she arrived. After grabbing up a few of the canvas bags of food, she let herself in this time without knocking.

Lincoln sat on the floor in front of the furniture piece and was applying an antiquing glaze. He glanced up and actually blushed.

“That’s the neatest thing,” Opal whispered as she set the bags down and walked over to the chair/table combo.

“You think so?” Lincoln wiped a rag over the table leg, removing most of the brown glaze to reveal an aged-teal hue underneath. “I, umm . . . I used the broken tables and chairs from the storm.”

“So there’s more than just this one?”

Lincoln tipped his head over to the cloth covering other pieces, so she stepped over to it and pulled the cloth off. Underneath two more chair/table combos sat complete. One with a weathered-cream finish. The other with an aged-peach hue.

She heard him grunt and then shuffle about but kept her sights set on the furniture. It was only when his breath touched her exposed neck that she realized he’d moved to stand behind her.

“It seemed wasteful to not salvage them somehow. And I thought you could put these in the front yard for customers or whoever to use. I’ve already sealed these two and will do the other once the glaze is cured. That should protect them from the weather.”

Opal tried to disguise the shiver his warm breath elicited by reaching out to run her fingers along the textured top. “They sort of remind me of school desks.” She glanced up and over her shoulder and smiled. “I love them. They’ll be perfect in the garden.”

“It’s not much but . . . merry Christmas,” Lincoln murmured, surprising her by brushing a hand down her shoulder and continuing until his long, warm fingers were entwined with hers.

His thumb swept over the back of her hand, and it was so gentle and tender that tears pooled in her eyes. Hundreds of words rushed through her thoughts to share with him, but sometimes no words are needed and this was one of those times, so she held them all in and just experienced the unexpected moment with this withdrawn man showing her an intimate side for the very first time. It was merely holding hands, yet it was such an extravagant gift coming from Lincoln Cole.

It was over well before she was ready when he slowly released her hand. Opal turned and met his brown eyes. They reflected a warmth and, dare she say, love that she knew was shining from her green ones. Again, she kept those words to herself and said, “Thank you, Linc. It means a lot.”

He cleared his throat and looked over her shoulder. “Glad you like them.”

“I love them!” She grinned and placed a palm to her chest, her heart pounding against it. “Man after my own heart, taking broken things and refurbishing them into something new.”

“I just don’t like things being broken.” It was a weighty statement delivered with a strained voice and sounded like he was talking about more than just furniture. He met her eyes briefly before dropping them to his bare feet.

Opal looked there as well, loving this little quirk about him. He wore flip-flops or worn Converse sneakers mostly, but any time they were alone, he’d shed them and walk around barefoot like the country boy he was. He shifted his weight off the bad leg, catching her attention. Knowing he needed to get off his feet, she pointed over to the bags of food. “I brought us some food. Momma cooked it all, so it’s safe to eat. You think we can try these two out?”

Lincoln’s answer came in the form of him pulling the chair/tables out and placing them side by side. Opal didn’t know if that was so he could sit beside her or to keep her from looking at him head-on. Either way, she happily set out the leftovers and was over the moon when he led them in grace without her prompting him first.

By the time they got to the dessert container, Opal couldn’t stand it any longer. Between bites of a chocolate layer cake, she blurted, “Why didn’t you go home for Christmas?”

Lincoln paused in his chewing and fixed his eyes down on the fork in his hand. “I don’t rightly know if I’d have been welcome.”

Opal scoffed. “They’re your family. Of course you’d be welcome.” She smiled with tease, but when he didn’t return it, her lips sloped into a confused frown. “Why wouldn’t you be welcomed home?”

Lincoln pushed a piece of pie crust around the container, studying it with a pinched expression. When he remained silent, Opal reached over and tucked the thick locks of hair behind his ear so she could see him. At her touch, his gaze connected with hers. The first glance was sharp with the edges of his eyes crinkling, but as she moved her palm to the side of his face, they softened.

It lasted for only a handful of seconds before Lincoln’s shoulders stiffened. As a flush crept over his face, he said resolutely, “It’s none of your concern.”

She watched him mush the crust into nothing but crumbs as she spoke. “When my friend spends Christmas alone because his family wouldn’t want him around, I find that concerning. If I’d known —”

“You’d what?” His eyes darted back to hers as he tossed the fork into the container. They were glassy now.

“I would have invited you to spend it with my family at least. And at most, I’d have driven down to Beaufort and had a heart-to-heart with your family on how they’re treating you.”

“I deserve to spend it alone. Trust me.”

The hoarseness of his voice made Opal’s chest hurt. Oh, how she wished he would just open up to her. “If you’d explain —”

“No. Now drop it.” The giant seemed to deflate into a defeated, feeble man as he scrubbed his hands down his face. He rose to his feet and went over to the coatrack, grabbing the plaid button-down and shrugging it on over his T-shirt while sliding his feet into his flip-flops.

“I don’t like leaving things broken any more than you do.” Her words had him glancing up. “I don’t know what you broke with your family, but hiding out in Sunset Cove isn’t the way to fix it.” Opal stood and walked the few steps over to the old hutch they used for storage. She reached into one of the drawers, plucked out a broken clamshell, and handed it to him. “I wish for your relationship with your family to be mended.”

Lincoln studied the shell in his palm for a moment before slipping it into his shirt pocket but said nothing in response.

Opal knew her small window to speak candidly with him had closed, so she moved back over to the chair/tables and began collecting the mostly empty containers. She didn’t expect anything but a door closing to signal his departure, yet she was disappointed all the same when he did exactly as she had predicted.

“Stubborn man,” she muttered to the empty room.

As she gathered her belongings and locked up, Opal knew that something was simmering just below the surface with that man. How long would it be before he erupted? And would it be safe to be around when he did?