Hung By the Fire (Evergreen Lake: Under the Mistletoe)

Chapter 10

ten

BETHANY

I’d been canvassing the growing crowds for the past thirty minutes to see if Cole had decided to bring Joy. I told myself it was only because I knew even a baby as young as Joy would love the colors and noise and excitement of the night. I also told myself it had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with wanting to spend a little more time with Cole. A smile curled my lips when I finally spotted them. Aunt Nadine saw them at the same time.

“Why don’t you take a break for a few minutes,” she said as she nodded in their direction.

“It’s okay. I’m sure he’ll bring Joy over at some point.”

My aunt rolled her eyes, and I had to wonder if I wasn’t doing as good a job hiding my interest as well as I thought. I was about to say more when I spotted Bernice, Sheila, and Mildred approaching Cole like a heat-seeking missile nearing a target.

“Go.” Urgency coated my aunt’s voice as she spotted them too.

I didn’t have to be told twice. I ditched my aunt and high-tailed it across the festival grounds. It was stupid, and I was likely making a huge mistake, but there it was. I’d walked out of his house this morning, feeling like I didn’t want to actually leave. Since then, I’d been counting the hours until I thought, I hoped, he would show up tonight.

Unfortunately, as I tried to make my way across the field, I got caught up by people I’d met in the store the past few days. With each encounter, each halted step, I witnessed the three chattering away and Cole looking decidedly unsure.

It was adorable.

And I had to put an end to it.

Finally, I managed to near them, calling out as I approached, “Ladies, so good to see you again. You know, I think I overheard someone asking about you as I was coming over. Something about needing your advice.”

I couldn’t even pay attention to what they were saying as they said their goodbyes and went off in search of someone who likely didn’t exist. The sight of Cole, completely out of his element, had me enthralled and more than a bit smitten.

“What the fuck just happened?”

I bit my lip, but try as I might there was no way to keep the laughter contained. “Bernice, Mildred, and Sheila happened. Joy and I met them yesterday at the nursery and they are…well, they’re something.”

“I think one of them hit on me. Maybe all of them.” Cole shook his head and continued to stare off in the direction they went.

“They obviously have good taste then.”

With that, he turned back my way, the left corner of his mouth kicking up in a sexy smirk. “Do they now?”

“They do.” I wasn’t about to get into some flirtation with him in the middle of Evergreen Lake’s Holiday Festival. Word would shoot through the town like wildfire, and I didn’t think he’d appreciate it. Instead, I leaned over, undoing the buckles of Joy’s carrier and picked her up. “How’s my cupcake? I missed you this afternoon.”

Joy gurgled and flailed her hands around, managing to smack me in the face with her teething ring. I went to wipe the drool away and was stopped.

“Here, let me.”

Cole brushed a cloth down my cheek, the move gentle and totally innocent, yet it somehow still set my body on fire. It hadn’t even been a week, and I was quickly realizing that most of what he did elicited the same reaction.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

The noise around us faded to nothing. In that moment, Cole, Joy, and I were cocooned in our own little world. The babbling of a happy baby and two people drawn to each other from the moment we met.

Getting jostled from behind put an end to that bubble. It did more than shake my actual body. It shook my senses too. I wasn’t here for this. I was here to help my aunt and now to watch Joy, not get drawn into the undeniably sexy orbit of Joy’s parent.

Cole was the first to break our silence. “C’mon. Let’s go get you back to Mrs. M, and then Joy and I will find a place to watch the tree lighting.”

I should feel relieved he was trying to draw that line in the sand. The line we both agreed upon. The line that would make this simply a friendship and work transaction.

The line I wanted to cross more and more every day.

So how I found myself standing in front of Cole as he held Joy, waiting for the lighting, I’ll never know.

Actually, that’s not true. My aunt. That’s how.

“I can’t believe she shooed me away,” I huffed out.

Cole chuckled, the sound deep and rough, as if he didn’t use it all that often. “Why are you surprised?”

“Because I’m here to help her, not to enjoy myself.” Truth be told, I thought if I could lose myself in the work, whether it be the nursery or helping with Joy, I could almost forget the fact that I was back in Evergreen Lake. The past few days had been so busy I still hadn’t had time to really think about the past. I didn’t want to get hung up on the sorrow, so I tried to push it all away. At least for the time being.

“Being with us is enjoyable?”

The man was trying to kill me.

“Well, being with Joy is.” I leaned closer and tickled her tummy, or at least what I could considering the number of layers Cole had bundled her in.

“You wound me, whiskey girl.”

I grinned, loving the byplay even though not an hour ago I swore off flirting with the man. Except he made it incredibly hard to hold myself to that promise. With each look, each use of the nickname, each touch, I lost track of what I promised myself.

“I doubt that.”

Cole opened his mouth to speak, but the emcee took the stage to start the tree lighting ceremony, cutting him off. I stood next to them, watching as Cole swayed to the Christmas carols playing in the background and pointed out all the lights on the booths to Joy. Once the tree was lit, her eyes opened wide as if amazed by all the color. Then she turned her little head to Cole and her eyes stayed the same way. This man was as amazing to her as all the lights and sounds of the festival. He may not want it, may not even realize it, but it was clear.

Just like that, memories assailed me. Standing with my parents as we waited in almost the same spot, lost in the wonder of the holidays. Dad would hold me in his arms, making sure I could see what was going on, and I’d look at him with the same expression Joy wore. One of love and adoration.

I never questioned my dad’s love, but this was one of the reasons I’d never come back here. It was all so vivid. So real in a place that he loved. I could keep these emotions, the ones that brought as much joy as pain, hidden. I could focus on missing him and remember good times, but they were all abstract. Because, once we’d left our old house, I’d never been anywhere we’d been as a family again.

Until now.

Until Evergreen Lake.

I thought I pushed down the tears, but I must not have.

“What’s wrong?” Cole whispered as he stood in front of me, boxing me in away from the crowds. He swiped under my eyes, catching the drops on his thumb. Even Joy reached out, trying to mimic the move and that caused another tear to fall off my lashes. “What can I do? Do you need to leave? Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” The answer could have applied to any or all his questions. “I don’t think I was expecting the lighting to hit me as hard as it did. I was remembering my dad.” I couldn’t say more in the moment, the emotions closing up my throat.

“You don’t have to say anything.” The festivities were starting to break up and people began moving around again. “Let’s get back to your aunt.”

Cole pulled me close to his side as we cut back across the grounds to my aunt’s booth. Through multiple layers of clothing, somehow I still felt his heat, felt the strength he exuded and I wasn’t even embarrassed that I leaned into it. We walked over in silence, giving me time to mostly pull myself together.

“Cole,” I said when we were steps away from the booth, “don’t say anything to my aunt.”

“About what?” He glanced down genuinely perplexed.

“About me crying. I think it would upset her.” Whether by silent agreement or not, my aunt and I hadn’t discussed my dad at all yet. I knew she wanted to, knew it meant a lot to her to talk about him. It was something we did whenever she came to Edisonville, but it felt different here. Too many memories.

Too many ghosts.

“Whatever you need from me, whiskey girl.” I heard the words, and a part of my brain wanted desperately to interpret them differently. “I’m not the best listener there is, but if you want an ear, I’ve got two.” A little babble came from Joy, who was quickly losing the fight against sleep. “Apparently, she will also listen, though that may be worse than me.” He glanced down at her, her eyes drifting closed, as a smile tilted his lips. “Then again, maybe not. She’s probably a hundred times smarter than me already.”

“Stop that,” I groused at him. “Stop insulting yourself.”

Cole looked up, pinning me in his gaze. “What if I deserve it?”

“You don’t.” I’d never been more sure of anything in my life. “I don’t like it when you do that.”

He nodded and reached out, brushing a stray hair back behind my ear. His skin was cold, as he’d decided to forgo gloves, but it still burned against my cheek. “I don’t want you not to like something I do.”

“So promise me,” my words came out barely above a whisper, but I was safe in the knowledge he could hear me.

“I’ve had a lot of practice doing it.” His words were solemn, and I was about ready to harass him. “But I promise I’ll try. It’s about all I can do.”

“That works.”

I didn’t bother to analyze why it was so important to me, why the view this man had of himself hit me so hard, so I just went with it.

Maybe at some point I’d figure it out.