Jack nodded at something Mabel said. For the last five minutes, she had been telling him and his brother about the Christmas events the local church was organizing.
“We’ll help with whatever the fundraising team decides to do,” Noah said. “But Jack will only be here for a couple of weeks.”
Mabel smiled. “I’m sure Emma and Kylie will be thankful for any help they can get. Why don’t you come and meet them?”
Jack looked helplessly at his brother.
Noah sent him an amused glance. “I need to rescue Cassie from Granddad. Mabel will look after you.”
As if sensing he was ready to run, Mabel placed her hand under Jack’s elbow. “Of course, I will. What do you like doing when you’re not working, Jack?”
He had no idea why that was important, but maybe Mabel was just being friendly. “I don’t get a lot of time away from work, but I enjoy fishing and riding my mountain bike.”
“There can’t be many biking trails around New York City.”
“You’d be surprised.” Jack stopped to avoid a collision with another guest.
“Have you seen how far we’ve come with the tiny home village?”
“I saw the site when I was here for Noah and Cassie’s engagement party.”
“You won’t recognize it now. Our first tenants have moved in and are making the village their home. It’s wonderful to see what a difference it’s making in people’s lives.” Mabel stopped beside the table where she’d been sitting. “Jack, I’d like to introduce you to Kylie, the best florist in town. And sitting beside her is Emma. Emma owns her own social media business.”
Jack nodded at the two women. They were both blond and pretty but, from the first moment he’d seen her, it was Emma who drew his attention.
If he didn’t know better, he’d swear she was slightly embarrassed. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who was unsure of Mabel’s motives.
He held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you both.” When Emma’s hand touched his, a spark of awareness shot along his arm. He had no idea where that had come from. Dropping his arm to his side, he tried to act as though nothing had happened.
“And this is Molly and Dylan, Emma’s twins,” Mabel continued. “After the summer break, they’re starting first grade.”
Molly looked up at him with eyes that were the same color as her mom’s. “You’re the man who was standing under the tree.”
“That’s right.”
“We’re six. How old are you?”
Emma’s cheeks turned pink. “It’s not polite to ask someone their age.”
“It’s okay,” Jack assured her. “I’m thirty-eight.”
Molly looked as though she was trying to figure out how old that actually was. Dylan whispered something in his sister’s ear and she smiled. “That’s almost as old as Mommy.”
Jack’s eyebrows rose. Emma looked a lot younger than thirty-eight.
Emma placed her hand on her daughter’s curly red hair. “I’m thirty-two. That’s six years younger than Mr. Devlin.”
“That’s our age,” Molly said with a dimpled grin.
Emma cleared her throat and looked at Mabel’s husband. “Jack, have you met Allan?”
“We met a few months ago,” Allan said with a smile. He stood and shook Jack’s hand. “It’s good to see you again. Did you know your brother was getting married today?”
“No, he didn’t say anything.”
“It was a lovely surprise.” Mabel beamed at them. “Why don’t you join us, Jack. Emma and Kylie can tell you about the Christmas program.”
Emma started to say something but stopped when Kylie nudged her arm.
“Only if you’re not busy,” Emma murmured.
Jack couldn’t decide whether she wanted him to stay or if she was giving him a reason to leave.
Mabel pulled out a chair. “You can sit here. Would you like a glass of orange juice or wine?”
“Juice would be great.” He looked at Emma and Kylie, watching for any sign that they were uncomfortable with him being here. Emma’s earlier hesitation hadn’t returned, so he guessed it was okay. “Mabel told me about the Facebook post. You must be feeling a little overwhelmed with the response.”
Emma sat back in her seat, making it easier for him to see Kylie. “Something about the post caught people’s interest.”
“You’re being too modest.” Mabel handed Jack her phone. “The Christmas image Emma chose was wonderful. And the words she used made people think about the importance of family and community. It’s no wonder her social media business is booming.”
If Jack could have chosen a career for Emma, he wouldn’t have thought of the communications industry. She looked nothing like the people he worked with in Manhattan. “How long have you specialized in social media?”
“That’s only one part of what I do. I help people develop their brand and I design websites and find other platforms that can help their business grow.”
“And she’s good at what she does,” Kylie said. “Emma designed a logo for my flower shop and created my e-commerce website. She even showed me how to set up a newsletter and use Instagram and Pinterest. If it weren’t for Emma, I wouldn’t be selling nearly as many flowers.”
“I only showed you the basics,” Emma insisted. “It’s your hard work that’s made your business a success.”
Jack studied the Facebook post Emma had designed. The image was of a snow-covered Christmas scene, complete with lights and a small-town village feel. Above the image were the words, “Make Christmas special for the people you love. Tell us about your dream Christmas event.”
His eyes widened when he saw the number of likes and comments. A lot of people wanted to share their Christmas ideas. “More than four hundred people have left comments.”
“It’s incredible,” Kylie said. “Who would have thought a little town on the shore of Flathead Lake would attract so much attention?”
Jack knew how difficult it was to make any impression on Facebook. “Is there anything I can do to help while I’m here?”
Kylie looked thoughtfully at him. “The first thing we have to do is sort the comments into some kind of order. You could help us do that.”
Emma shook her head. “Jack didn’t come to Sapphire Bay to work. He came to spend time with Noah and Cassie.”
He wouldn’t be spending a lot of time with his brother and sister-in-law for the next few days. “Noah and Cassie aren’t going on their honeymoon until October, but I don’t want to intrude on the first few days of their marriage. I could help you for the rest of the week, then see what Noah and Cassie are doing after that.”
“That sounds awesome,” Kylie said. “You could meet Emma and me in my flower shop tomorrow morning. By that stage, we’ll probably have more Christmas ideas than we know what to do with.”
Given the response so far, Jack could only agree. “Tomorrow sounds great. Is nine o’clock too early?”
“It’s perfect.” Kylie held out her hand. “Welcome to the Christmas Fundraising Committee.”
Jack shook her hand. He wasn’t sure whether a few days’ work made him part of the committee, but he was happy to help.
By the time Emma arrived at the flower shop the next morning, Kylie and Jack had already started grouping the Facebook ideas together on a spreadsheet.
Half an hour later, they’d sorted a quarter of the comments into categories. From what Emma could see, most people wanted events the whole community could enjoy. And at the top of the list was a Santa Claus parade.
But it wasn’t the community events that were making her feel uneasy. It was the personal wishes that were breaking her heart. “I feel bad that we won’t be able to help everyone who asked for something special.”
“Hopefully, other people see the posts and step forward to help.” Kylie wrote down a wish for a new washing machine. “Maybe we could randomly select a few of the personal wishes and try to help those people?”
Jack looked up from scrolling through the comments on his phone. “My company can help with one or two wishes.”
Emma frowned. “By donating some appliances?”
“Something like that. We wouldn’t be the only business that wants to make a difference. What if you reached out to companies who have already helped the church?”
Emma placed her pen on the table. “Kylie and I thought of that, but we don’t want to put the funding for the tiny home village in jeopardy. It doesn’t matter how big an organization is, there’s only so much money to go around.”
“Fair enough.” Jack added another three personal wishes to the spreadsheet. “How much time do you spend at the church?”
“Not as much as I’d like. I help in The Welcome Center two afternoons a week. The Christmas event committee is a little more flexible. I can do most of the work from home.”
Jack looked across at Molly and Dylan. For now, they were drawing pictures on a small table beside Kylie’s workbench. “It can’t be easy juggling two small children with your business and helping the church.”
Emma shrugged. “I’m not the only person who has a busy life. Kylie works long hours in her flower shop, but still manages to help at The Welcome Center. Cassie designs jewelry, Mabel and Allan work long hours in the general store, and Willow travels the country taking photographs—and that’s only a few of the people who volunteer at the church.”
“All of us want to give as much time as we can,” Kylie added. “Most of the people who stay at The Welcome Center have nothing. If it weren’t for the church and all the people who volunteer, I don’t know what would happen to them.”
Emma admired what the volunteers at The Welcome Center were doing. A few weeks after she’d arrived in Sapphire Bay, Pastor John had asked if Molly and Dylan wanted to join the Jumping Jellybeans toddler group. After her twins’ first gymnastics class, she’d stumbled across The Welcome Center.
Anyone who needed a warm, safe place to sleep could stay there. Hot meals, clean showers, and good company made what the volunteers were doing priceless. The church even provided wrap-around services. Whether you needed to find work, a good counselor, or budgeting advice—a volunteer was always available to help people through what could be a bureaucratic nightmare.
Emma loved every minute of her work at the center, even if it did make her life a little hectic.
She printed another sheet of comments from the Facebook page and glanced at Jack. His head was bent over the spreadsheet, adding more ticks to the columns as he went through the printouts.
She smiled as a lock of his brown hair fell over his forehead. If anyone had asked her to imagine what Noah’s brother looked like, she wouldn’t have chosen any of Jack’s features. Apart from both having dark hair and gorgeous brown eyes, they were nothing alike.
Jack was a little shorter than his brother and had a much slimmer build. He had a quirky sense of humor and his easy smile and thoughtful words had already impressed her.
Even though she knew next to nothing about him, Emma wanted to know more. “Noah said you live in Manhattan, Jack. Do you work with your brother?”
“I’ve helped him a few times, but I own my own company. It’s called Lost and Found. We look for people who have gone missing.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Do you work with the police?”
“Sometimes.”
Kylie tapped her pen against her chin. “Are you like the private investigators on the TV?”
Jack smiled. “Probably not. A lot of our work involves searching through databases and electronically tracking a missing person’s movements. It’s not as glamorous or as exciting as the shows I’ve seen on TV.”
“If I was adopted,” Emma asked, “could you help me find my biological family?”
“It would depend on the status of your adoption. If your records are sealed, it would be more difficult. But even with sealed records, there are other ways of searching for birth parents.”
Kylie picked up her cup of coffee. “What if I wanted to find a friend I’d lost contact with? Could you help?”
Jack nodded. “You’d be surprised how often that happens.”
Emma tilted her head to the side. “What made you want to find lost people?”
Jack’s smile disappeared. “When I was nine years old, my parents died. Noah and I went to live with our grandparents. If they hadn’t been alive, I don’t know where we would have gone. When I was older, I realized a lot of people have never met their extended family. That’s why I started my company—to help people reconnect with each other.”
“So they wouldn’t be alone,” Emma murmured.
Jack nodded. His gaze lingered on her face, staring into her eyes as if nothing in the world mattered more than the understanding passing between them.
Emma knew what it felt like to be alone. When she’d arrived in Sapphire Bay, she knew no one. Her parents had told her she was crazy to take two toddlers to a town she’d never seen. But the need to start again, to get away from the life she’d had, was stronger than the stress of starting again.
“What’s the strangest thing you’ve had to do?” Kylie’s voice broke through the heavy silence that had fallen across the workroom.
Jack picked up another sheet of paper. “Last year, someone asked us to find their cat. We eventually found him in the apartment below his owner’s.”
Kylie’s mouth dropped open. “Why would anyone ask you to find their cat? It must have cost a fortune.”
“The cat belonged to a lady who had died. Her husband couldn’t bear to lose his last connection to his wife, so he asked us to find it.” Jack’s mouth tilted into a lopsided smile. “It ended better than we could have imagined. Not only did we find the cat, but the owner became friends with the person who had been looking after it.”
“I like cats,” Dylan said.
Emma looked at her son. He’d moved from beside Molly and was standing beside Jack’s chair.
Jack smiled. “Do you have a cat?”
Dylan shook his head. “Mom said we could go to the animal shelter and find one.”
“That sounds exciting.”
“Molly wants a black kitten, but I want a cat that’s lots of different colors.” Dylan held a piece of paper toward Jack. “I drew a picture for you.”
Emma’s heart lurched. Dylan didn’t usually talk to people he didn’t know. Unlike Molly, he was more comfortable standing in the background, watching what was happening.
Whether Jack sensed Dylan’s shyness, she didn’t know. But the smile on Jack’s face was so gentle that it made her wonder what kind of father he would be. As he studied the crayon drawing, Dylan moved closer, explaining everything about the picture.
“I like your cat’s long, wiggly tail,” Jack said.
“That’s so he can tickle me.”
The smile Dylan sent Jack was open and trusting, and so unlike her son that she knew she had to be careful.
In a week’s time, Jack would be leaving Sapphire Bay. If Dylan was forming an attachment to him, he would miss Jack when he went home. And above everything else, she didn’t want her children to be hurt again.
By Wednesday night, Emma was having a major meltdown. She’d thought asking people what Christmas events they wanted in Sapphire Bay would be easy. And it was, except the response had been overwhelming.
People from as far away as Zurich and Tokyo were telling everyone about their favorite Christmas events. Most of them were so far out of the church’s budget that they couldn’t be considered. But in between the seventy-foot Christmas trees, over-the-top light displays, and fireworks extravaganzas, were the small community events that could be replicated in Sapphire Bay.
All they needed was twice as much money, ten times the number of volunteers, and thousands of people to visit Sapphire Bay.
A knock on the back door brought her to her feet. With a relieved smile, she waved Kylie into the kitchen. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I thought you would be.” Kylie handed her a bag of fudge. “I went shopping at Sweet Treats today. Brooke said you were looking a little stressed when she saw you at The Welcome Center.”
Emma sniffed the chocolatey treat. “It’s been a busy day. We’re up to nine hundred comments on the Facebook post.”
Kylie left her tote bag on the counter. “Why don’t you delete it? We have more than enough ideas to keep us busy for the next ten Christmases.”
“I have, but the original post keeps popping up on people’s Facebook pages.”
“Look at the bright side. Once we have our Christmas program organized, we could let anyone who clicked on the post know what we’re doing. Even if it takes twice as long for the new Facebook post to circulate, the Christmas program will be a huge success.”
Emma opened the bag of fudge. “That’s a great idea, but we have to organize the events first.” She popped a piece of fudge in her mouth and sighed. “I know why I only visit Sweet Treats once a week. This is delicious. Would you like a piece?”
With a grin, Kylie reached into her tote bag. “I’m okay. I ate enough this afternoon to give me a week-long sugar rush.” She placed two more bags of fudge on the counter. “These are for Molly and Dylan. I hope they like raspberry delight and strawberry heaven.”
“They’ll love them. Thank you.” Emma turned on the coffeepot and opened a cupboard. “The twins are fast asleep, so we have the kitchen to ourselves.”
“It sounds as though we’ll need the peace and quiet. What have you been doing?”
“I’ve updated the spreadsheet and gone through Pastor John’s ideas. It looks as though there are four or five events we could organize, but I’d like to hear which ones you prefer.”
“What about Jack? He had some great ideas.”
Emma took two mugs out of the cupboard. “I haven’t seen him since Sunday night. Have you talked to him?”
“No, but Mabel said he came into the general store with his grandfather this afternoon. It must have been hard growing up without his parents.”
“It’s probably still hard not having them around.” Emma couldn’t imagine how difficult his life must have been. From what she knew of his grandfather, Patrick would have been a wonderful father figure, but it wouldn’t have made up for not having his parents with him. “At least Jack has his brother.”
“That’s true.” Kylie frowned at a basket of letters sitting on the kitchen counter. “Do you have a lot of secret admirers you haven’t told me about?”
“That’s the other surprise I was given today.”
“Letters?”
“Not just any letters. They’re from the children at the local school. Their teachers saw the Facebook post and asked their students to write down their ideas.”
Kylie’s eyes widened. “There must be more than a hundred letters in the basket.”
“I know.” Emma hoped she didn’t sound too overwhelmed, because she wasn’t. Not really. What worried her the most was not being able to help everyone—especially the children. “This has become bigger than I thought it would.”
“It’s just as well Pastor John asked us to help. We’ll organize a Christmas program everyone will remember. And if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to make a few Christmas wishes come true, too.”
“I hope so.”
Kylie gave her a hug. “I know so. Come on. The sooner we go through these letters, the sooner we can plan what events we’ll organize. And don’t worry about the amount of work we have to do. Pastor John has a long list of people who are willing to help.”
Emma was glad Kylie was feeling so positive. It was one thing putting together a program. It was an entirely different story making people’s Christmas wishes come true.