Outside, Kevin walked up to the inn. He owed her an apology for running off again. He didn’t know what came over him. Well, yes he did. The whole Oliver thing. It got under his skin, but he’d jumped to conclusions more than once with her already. He should just ask her about it.
As he got closer, he saw the back of Lisa’s head. His mood lifted…and then he saw Oliver sitting awfully close to her on that loveseat by the fire where the stockings were hung. Like a couple. Fine, it was an inn and those were not their stockings, but something about the image gave him pause. Was his gut right? Was there more to Oliver and Lisa than business partners?
There was only one way to find out. He’d ask.
Mustering courage, he opened the front door, and began to step inside. He heard them talking. About Boston. About their savings. About them opening a store together, and about her wanting to still travel.
There was no room for him in her plan.
I’ve been fooling myself. She needed a contractor, and I fulfilled that need. Now she’ll be moving on.
He slowly closed the door and left, feeling more alone than he’d ever felt before. Turning his back on her was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but he had to. He walked back to the truck, barely noticing how frigid the temperatures were tonight. The lanterns along the path back to his truck seemed to mock him as he walked by. How had he been so stupid?
He went back to the store to finish up the work he’d agreed to do. The sooner he got done and made good on his promise to Lisa, the sooner he could leave the town in his rearview mirror.
At Daisy’s, he attacked the last of the list with a vengeance. A few minor repairs, replacing knobs and tightening things up, gave him too much headspace to think. He fired up the floor sander and let the noise of the machine drown out his thoughts about Lisa.
It didn’t take long. He wasn’t going for pristine flooring, but rather just cleaning up the charm of the original one. He swept, vacuumed, and then caught any other dust particles with a cloth dampened with mineral spirits. The finish was the key in these projects. He set up the fans and heaters to help things dry quicker, then put a coat of white paint on the floors, working from the sides in, then down the center aisle out the door. Tomorrow, he’d come back and mark off and paint the black squares like they’d discussed.
The wet sheen made the whole store look new. Lisa had done a great job staging it so far, and she hadn’t rushed through it like he’d worried she would. No job deserved a shortcut. He locked the door and hung the “wet floor” sign on the door handle to keep anyone from trekking across his hard work.
As he turned around, Lisa came walking out of the Kringle Kitchen with a smile. His heart stammered.
“Hey,” she said. “I was just coming over to see if you—”
“I sanded and put the first coat of paint on the floor, needs to dry overnight, so until then there’s nothing more to do.” He focused on the gloves in his hand. Stacking and restacking them. Anything to avoid those beautiful eyes.
“Oh? Well, I thought we were going to do that later, and Oliver and I could’ve helped you.”
The guy’s name made Kevin’s gut ache, even if she was alone right now. “No. Do your thing.” He pasted a smile on his face. As much as his clenched jaw would allow. “How’s Oliver settling in?”
“It’s taking him a minute to get used to a small town, but he’s okay. He’s good. An extra pair of hands never hurts.”
I could do without them. The thought was cut short when Oliver came out of the Kringle Kitchen, holding a cup of coffee. Kevin felt his jaw twitch.
“Hey.” Oliver bounded into the middle of their conversation. “Do they call it the Kringle Kitchen all year round?” Oliver said, making a joke out of it. “Or do they change that during the summer?”
“They put little shorts on the Santa Claus on the sign in summer,” Kevin said. “It’s a bit of a wedding destination.”
“Tourist towns know what they’re doing,” Oliver said.
“Yeah.” Kevin put his gloves on.
Lisa gave a small smile. “Kevin said that since we don’t have access to the store, we should go to the ice-skating pond.”
Kevin shook his head. “I don’t remember saying anything about—”
“There’s an ice-skating pond?” Oliver leaned in with excitement.
“I knew you would like that,” Lisa said.
“Where is it?”
Kevin would be glad to be rid of him. “Just over the bridge.” Off you go.
“What are we doing just standing here? Do they rent skates?”
Kevin nodded. “Yeah.”
“Apparently, yes,” she said. “Meet you there?”
“Oh?” Oliver looked a little confused, but he grabbed his hat and put it on his head. “Okay. See you there.”
Oliver rushed off.
“See you guys,” Kevin said, making a hasty exit.
Lisa caught his arm. “Why don’t you come along?”
Kevin was torn. Why torture himself? She’d be leaving town soon, anyway.
She tossed her head toward the path. “Walk with me.”
He should do what his mind was telling him, which was to beat feet out of there, but his heart was keeping him at her side. “Sure.” His adrenaline danced through his veins. The cold snowy night could’ve been a summer afternoon and he wouldn’t have noticed the difference.
They walked down the street and then over the footbridge, which was teeming in brilliant cool white lights. The skaters looked tiny below.
“This is where I learned to skate,” he told her, thinking back to when his parents brought him down here. As a kid, Mom would walk him here. She’d watch him skate for hours, and never missed a hockey match, either. Those early skating lessons and hours of practice had paid off big time. He wished she could’ve seen it. And he wished she could’ve met Lisa. She would’ve liked Lisa. “It’s a pretty special place.” She was special, too.
“Yeah.”
He stopped at the middle of the bridge, under the tallest point of the beams. “Here’s a good view.” He led her to the handrail.
“Aww.” She took in a deep breath, bouncing with excitement as she leaned over the garland-draped railing with the snow falling around her. Small flakes landed in her hair and on her coat. “Oh gosh. It’s gorgeous.”
A couple dozen people skated the shiny ice, some better than others. Bundled against the chilly temperatures, everyone was bundled from head to toe. The lights on the trees surrounding the frozen rink reflected, giving the view a heavenly glow. He turned to watch Lisa enjoying the scene.
She caught him watching her. “What?”
“It’s just the way you look at this town,” Kevin said. “You see the best of it. It’s nice.”
“Well, Hannah told me people have been skating on this pond for over a hundred years. So, what’s not to love about that, right?”
Love. He put his elbows on the railing, standing so close to her he caught the flowery smell of her shampoo.
Oliver’s voice broke the mood. “Come on down. The ice is warm.” He sped around the ice, clapping his hands and laughing so loudly Kevin heard it all the way up on the bridge. Oliver went swooshing by, then swept wide and pulled into a tight spin, with a fancy twist.
“Oh, yeah. Bronze medal,” Lisa explained.
Figures. An athlete too. “Seems like you two have got it all figured out, huh?”
“We do share a brain,” she joked. “It’s kind of like when you spend that much time with someone, you become a pretty solid team.”
“Must be nice.” Kevin watched Oliver below. “Every job I take, I get this whole new crew of guys. Takes work to catch them up and get them on board with my way of doing things.”
“Yeah, and you have to find a new place to get supplies.”
“Plus, living out of a suitcase,” he said.
“Yep.”
“And laundromats, and staying single the whole time.”
Lisa nodded in agreement. “You know, Oliver and I are both always complaining about being single.”
Kevin brows furrowed. “Wait. What?”
“What?”
“You and Oliver aren’t…” He had to have heard her wrong.
She blinked. “We’re?”
“…a thing?”
Lisa’s face twisted. “No.” Then she busted out laughing. “No.”
“I guess I just thought—”
“No. We’re not a thing. We met in college. We went on one date, but both instantly knew it was not a thing. We’ve been best friends since.”
Relief whooshed through him, and when he looked back down at the rink, Oliver wasn’t his focus, but rather the kids and the couples. Oliver pushed a young boy in a skate trainer. A good sport.
Lisa leaned back. “Look. Oliver and I are best friends, but that’s where it ends.”
His mouth snapped shut, but inside, he was doing a happy dance over the news. In his defense they’d looked pretty cozy together at the inn. Her bright eyes still held his gaze. He swallowed past the knot that just formed in his throat. “Well, I guess instead of jumping to conclusions I should’ve—”
“Gotten the whole story?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Embarrassing.” But the good news lifted the shadows in his heart.
“It is,” she said. “It is embarrassing. For one of us.” Her tone was cocky, but the look in her eye was playful. “And that is why I’m going to save you right now, and ask you to skate.” She let her hand drag across his back as she walked behind him leading the way to the rink.
“I’d love to,” he said, turning to join her.
The pond was quartered off with pines lit up in alternating red, blue, and green with sparkly icy snow mounds around the edges to keep the skaters safely on the thickest ice.
The hot cocoa stand was set up at the left edge. Michelle stood with Hannah next to Joe. They were all bundled in their wool coats, warm scarves, and gloves, ready to help serve. Around the stand, Christmas trees decorated in red and gold balls stood on each side of a table covered in a red tablecloth with candles and brightly decorated Christmas packages in the front. Joe arranged hot chocolates on a tray for the chilly ice skaters.
“Looking good, David,” Joe called as David sped by with Thomas coming up quickly behind him. Thomas threw his arm up in the air and gave Joe a thumbs up.
Hannah leaned in to Michelle. “I’m really glad you and my brother seem to be getting closer.”
“Yeah. We are. And you’re sure?” Michelle lowered her eyes. “I mean it’s not weird or anything for you?”
“Why would it be weird? I’ve never seen you this happy,” Hannah said. “Either of you, in fact.”
Michelle sighed. “I wanted to talk to you about it, but I didn’t want to stir up hurt feelings either. With you and Charlie breaking up, it just seemed like bad timing.”
Hannah put her hands up. “Hey. There are no hard feelings between Charlie and me. I’m grateful for the time we spent together. I’m grateful I got to know someone special who loves the holidays as much as I do. It made for a fun Christmas Festival last year, but it just wasn’t enough to build a whole relationship on. We’re both okay with that. We’ll remain good friends.” Hannah lips pursed. “I did learn a very valuable lesson though.”
“What’s that?”
“I learned you have to be very specific with those snow globe wishes. I got exactly what I asked for. A guy who loved Christmas as much as me, not the man I would spend the rest of my life with.”
“Oh, Hannah.” Michelle hugged her. “I’d really hoped he was the one.”
“I think we both wanted that too. The right one will come along. I’m not worried. We just got swept away a little too fast to notice what was really going on.”
Michelle’s face dropped. “Swept away is exactly how I feel about Thomas.”
“No. That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t get swept away, Michelle. It just means that sometimes you don’t know how long something will last, but you do it anyway because it might.” She took Michelle’s hands. “Don’t you let my experience scare you from a chance with my brother.”
Joy rose inside Michelle.
Thomas and David skated up and came to a stop next in front of the hot cocoa table. “Whew. Hey guys,” Thomas said.
“Michelle, come skate with us,” David said, nearly breathless from the exertion.
“Yeah,” Thomas said. “Come on.”
Michelle looked up at Thomas, who smiled, then over to Hannah, who motioned for her to go for it.
“Oh, go ahead.” Joe encouraged her too. “We’ve got the cocoa covered.”
“Don’t expect any fancy moves out of me,” she warned them. “But I’m gonna do my best.” She came around the table, a little wobbly on her skates.
“We’ve got you,” Thomas promised.
“I’m not really good at this.” She waved her arms as she lost balance, but David took her hand and Thomas skated up on the other side of her and off they went, laughing all the way.
Kevin caught Lisa’s hand in his as they walked down to the shack to rent skates. Once they’d gotten them, they walked over to one of the bright red wooden benches around the edge of the pond. They sat close, lacing their skates.
“You ready for this?” His competitive nature was already wanting to race her.
“Probably not as ready as you are.” She tightened her laces and stood, then they both glided toward the entrance of the rink. A white filmy tent formed a pretty tunnel of lights and the entrance to the ice rink.
They skated out onto the ice hand in hand, which just reassured him more that she and Oliver were just friends. Music piped in from all points around the rink like a concert.
He hadn’t skated in a while, but he had muscle memory from all those years playing hockey, and she was steady on her feet. They skated like a practiced couple nearly half way around the rink, then he tugged on her hand and they spun around without so much as a wobble.
Oliver sped by, continuing to leap and jump and do spins that would probably still earn him a spot on the Olympic figure skating team.
Kevin placed the hand on the small of Lisa’s back, holding her other hand tight in his own. When she looked up into his face, his heart warmed.
Thomas and Michelle skated by. Michelle slipped, and Thomas held onto her, keeping her from falling. Kevin gave him a nod.
“Let’s get some hot cocoa,” Kevin said, steering Lisa behind the stand.
“Sounds good. We can share one.”
He liked the sound of that. Joe extended the tray toward them and Kevin took a white cup with red snowflakes on it, holding the straw out to Lisa first.
She took a sip. “So good. And warm.”
“Are you too cold?”
She slowly lifted her eyes to his. “No. This is perfect.”
His heart turned over as he looked into her eyes.