Adaline wasn’t sure how she got through the following twenty-four hours. Somehow, she managed to flip off her emotions like a light switch as she finished the wedding cake, helped Maple with last-minute bridal preparations and broke the bad news about the training center to the Comfort Paws girls.
Maple, Jenna and Belle were wonderful about it, of course, which only made Adaline feel worse. No one had expected her to take on the organization’s finances and plan for their expansion all on her own. She’d jumped at the chance to do it, though, because she loved her friends. She believed in Comfort Paws with her whole heart, and most of all, she adored her sweet puppy. She knew what a difference therapy dogs could make in the lives of so many people, and like always, she’d run full steam ahead, convinced she was helping when, in reality, she only messed everything up.
But she put on a brave face and acted like everything was okay. The only time she allowed herself to give in to heartbreak over the way her life had fallen so spectacularly apart was when a waste management company showed up to haul Jace’s trees away. She hadn’t wanted to watch, but she couldn’t look away. With Fuzzy in her arms, she’d pressed her hand against the glass window of Cherry on Top and watched it all from start to finish. It all happened so fast. In less than an hour, the town square looked like it had before Jace and his trees showed up in Bluebonnet. If Adaline hadn’t known better, she might’ve thought the past few weeks never even happened.
But Adaline did know better. And no matter how hard she tried to hide her broken heart, it still showed. The people who knew her best had to see it. She suspected they were giving her grace and waiting for her to bring it up when she was ready, especially when no one uttered a word about the missing trees. She couldn’t say anything yet. Christmas wasn’t about her this year. It was about Maple and Ford. The wedding was only one day away, and Adaline would rather die than take any attention away from their special day.
Ford had other ideas, though. Because the morning before the wedding, he showed up at Cherry on Top bright and early under the guise of wanting pie. It would’ve been believable enough if he’d worked the night shift at the hospital the night before, like he did once a week or so. But he wasn’t wearing scrubs—a dead giveaway.
“Go ahead and ask. I know you want to,” she said as she slid a slice of warm cranberry pie in front of him.
He held Fuzzy in the crook of his elbow as he dug in. “I’m not sure what you mean, but if there’s something you want to talk about with your wise older brother, I’m here for you.”
Great. He was going to make her state the obvious.
“Jace is gone,” she said without meeting Ford’s gaze. Maybe if she stared at the Formica countertop hard enough, she wouldn’t cry. “He’s not coming to the wedding. We broke up. There, now you know everything. And no, I really don’t want to talk about it.”
Ford took another bite and waited quietly for her to cave and say more. This was their usual dynamic. Adaline and her brother had always been like flip sides of the same coin. He was every bit as patient as she was impulsive.
It wasn’t going to work this time, though. She had nothing else to say, period.
She grabbed a dish towel and scrubbed at the counter until the silence became intolerable. Good grief, how were they related? Sometimes it didn’t seem possible they shared a gene pool.
“Ugh. You win.” She threw the towel at him. It hit him in the face, and he didn’t even flinch. Classic Ford. Adaline hated his unflappable nature almost as much as she envied it. “Maybe I do want to talk about it...just a little bit.”
He nodded. “I’m listening.”
Where to start?
She sighed. How about with the truth?
“I’m going to tell you something really shocking, and I need you to keep it to yourself. Under no circumstances can you tell Gram. Promise me,” she said. Sweat was already beading on her forehead.
“Scout’s honor,” Ford said, despite the fact that he’d never been a Boy Scout.
Close enough, though. If Adaline could trust anyone, it was Ford.
“Jace and I weren’t really dating. The whole thing was just pretend,” she blurted and then braced herself for him to be appropriately appalled.
Ford simply shrugged. “I know.”
Adaline narrowed her gaze at her brother while Fuzzy snored on Ford’s lap, oblivious to the drama going on around him. Dogs were so great. Sometimes Adaline wished she was one, but then she remembered that dogs couldn’t bake and she took the wish back.
“What do you mean ‘I know’?” Adaline tossed her arms in the air. “Have you known this whole entire time?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
Would it kill him to elaborate? Adaline didn’t know how Maple put up with him. “How did you know?”
“It was obvious. For starters, Gram told me about the matchmaker thing, and knowing you, you’d do just about anything to get out of that.” Ford polished off his last bite of pie. “Also, you’re a terrible liar.”
Adaline blew out a breath. “Fair. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I figured you had your reasons, and once you set your mind on something, there’s typically no talking you out of it,” Ford said.
Her brother really did know her, didn’t he?
She drummed her fingernails on the countertop. “Do you want more pie?”
“Always.” He nudged his plate toward her and she loaded it up with gigantic slice of eggnog spice pie.
“Thanks. Breakfast of champions.” Ford waggled his eyebrows.
“You’re welcome.” Adaline gnawed on her bottom lip as she contemplated the fact that Ford knew she was faking things with Jace all along. She wanted to curl up in shame. How had she ever thought a pretend Christmas romance was a good idea? “I hate to even ask this, but does everyone know?”
He shook his head. “No, just me.”
She wanted to embrace the flicker of relief that coursed through her, but his answer seemed suspect. “Are you sure? How is that even possible? You just said I’m a terrible liar.”
“It’s possible because the people who care about you want you to be happy. They believed in the fairy tale because they wanted to believe it. And whether or not the relationship was real, the two of you are obviously in love. Everyone can see it.” He arched a brow and pointed at her with his fork. “Can’t you?”
Tears sprang instantly to Adaline’s eyes. She shook her head. “We’re not.”
“Oh, sis,” Ford said with a gentleness she hadn’t heard from him since they were kids. “You’re a terrible liar, remember?”
Maybe she did love Jace, but it clearly wasn’t enough. Something had happened when he’d gone to the senior center to talk to Gus about the photograph. That much was obvious. She didn’t know why he didn’t just tell her what happened so she could help.
He didn’t tell you because you never asked. You closed yourself up like a book, too afraid to know what really happened. Meanwhile, the man you loved was suffering.
Alone.
At Christmas.
He’d been there for her every step of the way, and when it was time for her to do the same, she’d let him down. Was it any wonder he’d wanted to go home?
She grabbed the towel and dabbed at the corners of her eyes. Would there ever come a day when she stopped crying over Jace Martin? “It does matter how we feel. It’s over. I learned my lesson. I got carried away, and everything ended in disaster. Don’t worry—I’ll never make that mistake again.”
“Yes, you will. Because it’s who you are, and you’re perfect just the way God made you.” Ford gave her a crooked smile. “Besides, I love it when you get carried away.”
For one bittersweet moment, Adaline forgot how to breathe. “What did you just say?”
“I said I love it when you get carried away.”
It was the exact same thing Jace had told her in the barn when they’d held hands while the world froze and ice fell around them like diamonds. At first, she’d thought he was teasing her. But then he’d said more, and she knew in her heart that he meant it.
Take a look around. This was all you, Adaline. And no matter what happens after midnight on Christmas Eve, I’ll never forget it.
Could it be true? Could Jace really love her...just the way she was?
“Sis, you’re brave in ways that no one else is. You throw your whole heart into everything and everyone around you. Don’t ever change that—not for anyone. That’s no way to protect yourself from heartache. I know you’re lonely sometimes, but when you find the right person, he won’t run away from those big feelings. He won’t love you in spite of them.” Ford leaned across the counter until her eyes met his. “He’ll love you because of them.”
Adaline swallowed, pulse pounding in her ears. “I think I might’ve already found that person.”
“I think you might be right,” Ford said.
She had...and she’d let him walk away without a fight.
Maybe it wasn’t too late, though. Maybe there was something she could do to dial back the clock and restart their countdown to midnight.
Maybe it was time to let herself get really, really carried away.
Adaline took a deep breath just outside room 212 at the senior center the following morning. So much had happened since the first time she’d knocked on this door. As per usual, it was unadorned compared to the other doors in the extended care unit. Not a wreath or bow in sight. No matter how much headway she and Fuzzy had made with Gus in recent days, he was still the same Gus Martin he’d always been—the grinchiest grinch of them all.
No wonder the man favored green Jell-O.
But that was neither here nor there. Now that Adaline knew why he loathed Christmas the way he did, she understood. But just because she understood his feelings, that didn’t mean the way he’d treated Jace was acceptable. There was no way of knowing exactly what happened, but whatever had transpired had been enough to drive Jace clear out of town and to turn his back on the only family he had left.
That wasn’t Jace. He’d picked up his life, left his Christmas tree farm and moved to Bluebonnet, all because he’d wanted to be at his uncle’s side during his final days. The fact that he wasn’t here anymore was purely Gus’s doing.
And now Adaline was going to fix it, whether Gus the Grinch liked it or not.
Hand poised to knock, she glanced down at Fuzzy standing in perfect heel position beside her in his Comfort Paws vest and wobbly reindeer antlers. It was hard not to think that, in a weird way, they’d come full circle together. “Are you ready for this?”
Fuzzy wagged his feathery tail.
“Good boy,” Adaline said and knocked three times in rapid succession.
This time, no one yelled at her from the other side. Her knock was met with nothing but silence. Adaline grimaced to herself, and an alarming thought struck her.
Gus hadn’t died, had he?
Then a loud snort followed by a rumbling snore sounded from within the room, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Asleep or not, they were going in.
“Hi there, Uncle Gus. Would you like to pet the dog today?” she said brightly as she entered the room. “Just kidding. Today, you don’t have a choice. I have some things to say, and you’re going to listen.”
The snoring stopped abruptly, but Gus’s eyes remained firmly shut. A little too firmly, actually.
No matter. Adaline preferred a silent and docile Gus, even if he was pretending to sleep in an effort to ignore her. Maybe she’d manage to get a word in edgewise this way.
She stood at the foot of the bed and crossed her arms. A little bit of the fight went out of her when she noticed how fragile he looked. He’d lost weight since his early days at the senior center. His hospital gown looked like it might swallow him whole. The chess set he loved so much was collecting dust in the corner of the room. His wispy gray hair, which had looked nice and neat following the haircut Jace gave him, was now matted to the side of his head. Adaline’s fingers itched to reach out and smooth it in place.
She didn’t dare.
“Jace is gone,” she said, and immediately her voice went wobbly. Ugh. She’d been determined not to show any hint of weakness, and already she was screwing this up. She cleared her throat and plowed on. “He went back to Texas Tidings, where I’m assuming he’ll spend Christmas all by himself. Make no mistake, this is entirely your fault.”
She paused in case he wanted to wake up and argue with her. Gus pressed his lips together but kept his eyes clamped shut. Adaline rolled her eyes. This nap was even faker than the start of her Christmas romance had been.
“I’m sorry about Marilyn. I really am. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to lose someone you love like that. When Fuzzy and I started coming around, I’m sure it brought back painful memories for you. I’m sorry for that too.” Fuzzy pressed his warm little body against her leg, and she remembered she wasn’t supposed to be apologizing. She’d come here to take Gus to task. “But that doesn’t excuse your appalling and hurtful behavior. Jace loves you, Gus.”
She let out a laugh as if the old man had responded with a snort of surprise, because if he’d been “awake” that’s exactly what he would’ve done. “Yeah, I know. I don’t understand it either. But he does. He loves you enough to be here for you until the very end, and do you know what you did? You pushed him away and made him suffer the same kind of loss you did when Marilyn died. Only this is even worse, because Marilyn didn’t have a choice. But you did.”
Adaline was starting to pant like Fuzzy. She’d worked herself up into a good and proper rage. She hoped the kitchen at Cherry on Top was fully stocked, because she felt a rage bake coming on.
“Is that really what you want? For Jace to turn out like you did? Because that is precisely what’s going to happen.” Her voice cracked as she thought about Jace’s crushed expression when he’d come to tell her goodbye. He’d even left his beloved trees behind in his haste to get away and shut himself off from the world. “It already has.”
She began to pace at the foot of the bed. There was so much more she could say, but she’d already cut to the heart of the matter. Gus knew what he’d done, anyway. He just needed someone to call him out on it and make him see straight.
Adaline wasn’t finished yet, though. She still had one thing left to tell the cranky old man, and it was the most important thing of all.
“No one can fix this but you.” A tear slipped down her cheek. So much for the promise she’d made herself not to cry. “Believe me. As sure as the Grinch is green, I’d do it myself if I could. But you created this monster. You made Jace believe he was better off alone—unknowable and unlovable, just like you. You made this mess, and now it’s time to fix it. So quit wasting time in this bed and do the right thing before it’s too late.”
Adaline huffed out a breath. She’d done it. There was nothing left to say, so she plucked the rotary telephone from his bedside table and plunked it down on the over-bed tray within easy reach. It was Gus’s turn to do the talking now.
“Merry Christmas,” she whispered and searched Gus’s face for a hint that her words had hit their mark.
Nothing. Not even a flicker of movement on the elderly man’s face.
So Adaline led Fuzzy toward the hallway to begin the rounds of their Christmas Eve visit. The wedding was just hours away. She pulled the door closed behind her, and just before it clicked, she thought she spied Gus’s left eye crack open and his hand twitch toward the phone.
But she couldn’t be sure. She might’ve just been wishing for it so hard that she’d imagined it was real. Like Santa and his flying reindeer. Or that with a little faith and a dash of Christmas spirit, a grinch’s heart could grow three sizes.
Or that a Christmas tree farmer might truly find his way home before the holidays came to a close.