A Christmas to Remember (Evergreen Hollow Christmas #3)

Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Once again, Spencer found himself standing in The Mellow Mug in the mid-morning, trying to decide whether or not he should pick something up for Margo as well.

This time, instead of a doctor-patient visit, he was going to a business meeting at The Mistletoe Inn. Margo, Nora, Caroline, and Rhonda were sitting down to discuss the fundraiser, and Margo had called him the day before, telling him they would love to take him up on his offer of help and asking if he would like to join them. He’d said yes, of course, because he had genuinely wanted to help—and now he was staring at a glass case of pastries, wondering if bringing an extra along sent the wrong message, or the right one.

“Something on your mind?” Melanie teased as she walked up to the counter, eyeing where he was staring intently at the options. “You’re having the hardest time picking a pastry that I think I’ve ever seen anyone have.”

“I guess I am, aren’t I?” he asked ruefully, a smile quirking the corner of his mouth, and Melanie laughed.

“Well, what do you normally like?”

“It’s not for me. I was thinking of bringing Margo one,” he said, the admission coming out before he had a chance to think better of it. He thought that maybe he should have kept that to himself the moment he saw Melanie’s eyes light up at that information.

“Oh. Well, in that case…” Melanie bit her lip, grinning. “I happen to know she loves cinnamon. And maple. So these would be perfect.” She pointed at a tray of cinnamon rolls coated in a thick layer of creamy maple frosting. “But she’s also partial to peppermint. So the peppermint chocolate croissants would be a good choice as well.”

“I’ll take two of the maple cinnamon rolls, then,” Spencer said. “Along with my caramel macchiato.”

“I was so happy to hear that Margo finally came back home to visit,” Melanie said as she rang up his purchase, glancing up at him and sliding the container of cinnamon rolls over. “I keep hoping that maybe she’ll find a reason to stay in town. We were good friends in school, you know. I’d love for her to move back for good.”

She didn’t say outright that she thought he might be the reason for Margo to stay, but the insinuation was there. It was there in the mischievous glint in her eyes as she handed him the pastries and the smile on her face as she gave him his coffee, and Spencer found himself momentarily wondering if he was being a bit too transparent when it came to his interest in Margo. It seemed like people were able to see right through him, and he thought maybe that meant Margo could too. If she could, she hadn’t done anything about it yet.

That feeling was only compounded when he arrived at the inn. He knocked on the door and Rhonda let him in, the same knowing look on her face that Melanie had had, as if everyone were sharing an inside joke about him and he was only partially in on it. It made him feel slightly off-kilter, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“Margo’s in the living room,” Rhonda said as if that were the only piece of information that mattered, and then she led the way, letting him follow as they walked into the warm, pine-and-cinnamon-scented space. A fire was crackling, the Christmas tree twinkling, and it was full of a sense of holiday coziness that he was fairly sure was impossible to get anywhere else. The Mistletoe Inn was the center point of everything Christmas in the town, he thought, and he could see why it meant so much to everyone. Why Margo and her sisters had come up with this idea, feeling sure that the community would help.

Margo was sitting in the living room, her leg propped up on an ottoman in its cast. She had a notebook open on her lap, a mug of coffee in front of her, and he was pleased to see a smile wreathe her face when she looked up and saw him.

He was just about to tell Margo he’d brought her breakfast when Nora walked into the room. The minute she caught sight of him, he was absolutely certain that he saw that same knowing look on her face that he’d seen on Melanie and Rhonda.

Nora crossed the room to her mother, linking their arms together as she tugged Rhonda toward the kitchen. “We should leave them alone,” she said in a voice pitched low enough that it sounded as if it were meant to not be heard, but Spencer knew she’d actually meant for him at least to overhear, if not Margo too. It would have been comical if he weren’t so unsure how to handle it all. It was starting to feel as if the whole town was plotting something.

“Do you want a breakfast burrito, Spencer?” Rhonda asked. “I made them fresh this morning.”

One of the pastries in the box was supposed to be his, but he didn’t think he could turn down the allure of Rhonda’s cooking. “That sounds great,” he said. “Thank you.”

“We’ll go get it, then,” Nora chimed in, once again tugging her mother toward the kitchen, and in a matter of minutes Spencer was alone with Margo in the living room.

He gave her a lopsided smile. “I brought you a cinnamon roll,” he said, setting the box down on the table in front of her. “Fresh from The Mellow Mug. Melanie recommended the maple-frosted.”

Margo’s eyes lit up at that. “So coffee and bespoke pastry delivery is something you do for all your patients, then?”

There was a lightly teasing note to her voice that gave him hope. Surely she was seeing the same thing he was, how everyone was behaving around them, but she hadn’t completely clammed up and closed off, and that made him think there might be some possibility that she shared his interest. He sat down next to her with his own cup of coffee, glancing at the notebook in her lap. “Are these the plans for the contest?”

Margo nodded, picking up a fork and taking a bite of the cinnamon roll. “This is so good.” She offered him the fork. “I know my mom is bringing you a burrito, but you should try it.”

Spencer obligingly took a bite. It was delicious, he’d had Melanie’s cinnamon rolls before, but they were always delightfully amazing. Soft and doughy, full of spice mixed with the thick maple sweetness, and always a treat.

“We’ll have you there as first aid,” Margo said, turning the notebook so that he could see the lists she’d made. “Just in case of any injuries, any mishaps. Someone breaking an ornament and cutting a finger or something like that.”

She laughed at the silliness of the idea, but Spencer wasn’t so sure it was completely out of the question. He’d been a doctor long enough to know that accidents could happen anytime, even when you least expected them.

“Outside of that, if you could help us get our hands on some tents that we could use, that would be amazing,” she continued “We’re going to have different stations for everyone participating. Hot apple cider, Christmas cookies, that kind of thing. So we could use some tents for the setup.”

As she was saying it, Rhonda walked in with a breakfast burrito cut in half on a plate, and she set it down in front of Spencer.

“Enjoy!” she said brightly, just before turning around and heading back into the kitchen where Nora hadn’t yet emerged.

The burrito looked delicious. From what Spencer could see, it looked like sausage and cheese, both of which were likely local, along with tomato, avocado, and some kind of sauce. He couldn’t help but feel like Rhonda delivering it neatly cut down the middle was a hint that he wasn’t supposed to miss.

“We should probably talk about the elephant in the room,” Margo said with a small laugh, as if she’d heard what he was thinking. “My family seems to think we’re ‘getting to know each other.’”

She said it in quotes, smirking a little, and he felt a small weight in his chest. She seemed to think the idea was ridiculous, and he was coming to terms with the fact that he didn’t think it was such a ludicrous idea.

“I can see how they got that idea too,” she mused with that same small smile on her lips. “Seeing as how you’ve been going so far above and beyond the normal care of a doctor for his patient. You do seem to be especially invested in my recovery.”

Spencer couldn’t help smiling at that. “I wouldn’t mind ‘getting to know you,’” he said, putting the same teasing emphasis on the words that she had. “Depending on how you feel about it.”

Margo’s teasing smirk faltered a little. “I’m going to be leaving once my leg heals,” she pointed out. “My stay got extended a little, but it doesn’t change anything. I’ll be going back to Jersey once I figure things out—or maybe somewhere else, if I get a job soon enough.”

Again, he felt that small drop, a sense of disappointment that she already had one foot out of the door. But he didn’t see any reason to close off all possibilities, just because she’d made up her mind about that. He’d spent his life being open to possibility, and this seemed like just one more that was worth pursuing, and seeing where it went.

“We could just enjoy each other’s company while you are here,” he suggested. “What’s the harm in that? I think we get along pretty well.” He smiled at her, and to his surprise and pleasure, she smiled back.

Even more surprising was her response a moment later, as she took another bite of the cinnamon roll he’d brought for her.

“You’re right,” she said, picking up her coffee and wrapping her hands around it. “There’s not any harm in just enjoying each other’s company. As long as that’s all it is.”

It felt like a very small victory, one that he was happy to have gotten. And in that moment, he was happy to just be sitting there with her, enjoying her company as she talked about the festival.

The fact that she was enjoying it too only made him that much happier.