Merry Mended Hearts (Santa’s Radio Christmas Romance #1)

29. Boone

BOONE

I stood in the inn’s large dining room with a plastic goblet in hand, and took a sip of the sparkling cider being served. I wouldn’t have minded something a little stronger, but this was a family inn—a family night to celebrate the new year.

Each of the three large-screened TVs blasted the ball-drop in New York City. The streets were packed, people were shouting, dancing, celebrating, keeping their attention plastered to the large, glittering ball on its tower.

I stole a glance at my phone. Only minutes to go.

I couldn’t understand the appeal of gathering in Times Square around that many people, but then again, it had taken all of Junie’s powers of coercion to get me here tonight, and we had only a fraction of the people in the dining room than there were in New York.

What could I say? I just didn’t want to be around people, period.

Children—who were up way past their bedtimes, if I had to guess—were either nestled on their mom’s or dad’s laps or running amok all over the dining room, weaving in and out of tables and chairs. Guests sat and chatted in friendly conversation, but I didn’t fail to notice a few check their phones and yawn.

Most of the guests who’d been staying over the Christmas holiday had gone, and I was glad. I could enter the living room much easier without a Christmas tree hoarding the space. Now, it was just a normal room again.

I hardly glanced in the radio’s direction when I entered to check the fires.

Just like I used to.

Junie sequestered herself with Angelica and the other women who worked in the spa, while Mason Devries was situated on the other side of the room. Interesting.

The chef scowled in Junie’s direction. What had happened between them?

The last time I’d checked, Junie had grinned like an idiot at the mere mention of Mason. Now, it was like nothing had happened between them.

Then again, I knew exactly what had happened: Christmas was over. The radio had stopped playing. Which meant their infatuation had ended, just like I suspected it would.

It was a good thing Grace had left. I’d hate for things to have gotten any more awkward between us than they already had.

As if sensing me watching her, Junie peered behind her. I ducked my head, looking at my shoes, but it was too late. She saw me.

Junie muttered something to Angelica and then made her way over to me.

“Happy New Year,” she said.

“Not quite. A few more minutes.”

She sat on the empty chair nearest to me. “You know what New Years means?”

I slid a wry glance to her. “If you’re here to talk tome about resolutions, you can skip the lecture.”

I’d heard it plenty of times from her already.

“Christmas is over,” Junie said with a smile, undeterred.

My brows knitted. “I thought we covered that.”

“You’re still sulking, though.”

I gritted my teeth and fisted my hand on my leg beneath the table. “I am not.”

She bumped my arm. “Come on. You haven’t smiled once tonight. Not even at the little kids. I know you love being around the kids.”

“What’s your point, Junie?”

“I’ve watched you through all the sleigh rides you gave today, and you aren’t even teasing anyone.”

Her words bristled under my skin, but I supposed she was right. Would admitting as much get her to back off? “I haven’t been myself lately.”

“Because you miss Grace.”

I wasn’t doing this. I wasn’t going to talk about Grace. Junie would ask if I’d read the note yet, and I didn’t want to admit that I’d tucked it away in my drawer alongside Amy’s necklace, unopened.

Was Junie going to mention whatever was going on with her and Mason? I’d had enough of that radio and talk of Christmas to last for a lifetime.

Not waiting for midnight, I tipped the sparkling cider back and downed it in one gulp.

“Happy New Year, Junie. Good night.”

* * *

Days passed. Guests came and went, though not as many as we’d had during the holidays. That didn’t bother me, though. This was how things had always gone.

The inn’s traffic would stay slow until Valentine’s Day, when couples liked to come for a mountain getaway. Then they’d trickle down again until summer when the lake thawed. Then the hayrides and camping parties would pick up in the fall.

Inevitably, there were family members who had no interest in camping and would bunk at Harper’s Inn instead. And undoubtedly, the rooms were already booked for next December by now.

I did my best to avoid my cousin at all costs. I spent the majority of my time in the barn, looking after the horses and repairing dents in the sleighs or at my cottage, drowning in as many books as I could read.

I couldn’t help overhearing conversations, though. Junie’s voice as she talked on the phone carried through while I passed with one of her totes of decorations that she’d asked me to retrieve.

“I’ll be holding interviews this weekend,” Junie said as I pushed into the office.

Interviews? What was she talking about? I didn’t ask.

She and Aunt Meg had always handled the inn. That was probably still the case even if Aunt Meg was living in Southern Utah during the cold winter months.

I wasn’t going to intervene.

On my way out of the office, Junie stopped me with a hand on my arm and held her phone aloft. “Hang on a second. Mom, didn’t you want to ask Boone something?”

I faced her, waiting while Junie tapped her screen to put the phone on speaker.

“Boone?” Aunt Meg said through the phone. Her chipper voice wasn’t unlike her daughter’s. I pictured her—she was tall and thin, with freckles and a bit more wrinkles than Junie had.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“You still have all of Grandpa’s books at your place, don’t you?”

I flicked a questioning glance at Junie but she only shrugged, lifting the phone.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ve been making my way through them.”

Grandpa Harper had an old collection of stories written in the early 1900s. The writing took some getting used to and was much slower paced, but I enjoyed the stories and their messages.

“Perfect,” she said. “Junie found one that I’d like you to add out there, if you would please. I think it goes with one of Grandpa’s collections.”

Junie lifted a leatherbound with worn edges from its spot on her desk, waving it and smiling.

“I can do that,” I said as excitement slicked through me. I’d made my way through those old books a few times now. “Having something new to read will be great.”

“How are you doing out there, anyway?” Aunt Meg asked.

Junie tilted the phone toward me, angling her head with curiosity as if she wanted the answer to that as well.

Meddlesome women. I was sure Aunt Meg meant well, and it’d been several weeks since I’d spoken to her at all.

I refused to glance at Junie. “Fine, thanks. I’d better get going.”

“Of course. Good to talk to you.”

It was time to exit stage left before either of them asked any more uncomfortable questions, which I knew if I opened up to Aunt Meg, Junie would jump all over that like a rainbow on oil in sunlight.

I skirted out into the hall and was nearly to the main part of the inn when Junie’s voice caught me.

“If you’re looking for something new to read, I have something in mind,” she taunted to my back.

I slowed. We never talked about books.

“What is it?” I grumbled without looking at her.

“You know what.”

The impact of her hint landed with a crash. I rounded on my cousin, who didn’t seem the least bit perturbed.

“Will you get over it already? Why do you care if I read that note, anyway?”

Junie lifted her chin. “Because Grace asked me to make sure you got it. But I don’t think you get it , Boone.”

She emphasized that last phrase, stirring my agitation all over again.

“Just leave me alone about it, already. Please.”

Junie’s nostrils flared. “Fine. But just know that Grace put that note into my hand herself. She asked me to give it to you. It didn’t magically appear. It wasn’t some fake coincidence. It was from her . The least you can do is read it.”

And without waiting for me to respond, she whirled around and stormed back to her office, closing the door a little too hard.

Whoa.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen Junie this upset. She was always fiery and overly passionate about things, but was something else bothering her to make her keep pushing that note at me?

I made my way outside, through the snow, and to the barn where Hazelnut waited. The horse’s ears pricked in anticipation at my approach, and I rubbed my hand along her gray coat.

“Ready to go home, girl?”

Together, we made the trek through the trees before the sun set. Despite myself, I found that I appreciated the sight of the trees and the landscape around me more than I had in a long time.

I had Grace to thank for that. Grace had found wonder here at every turn.

After arriving and getting Hazelnut situated in my barn, I went into the cottage and started a fire. I reheated some pork chops and green beans that Junie had sent home with me the night before, and then?—

I’ll admit it.

I was sulking.

Drowning in thoughts and Junie’s taunts.

“She’s right,” I said to my fork.

Junie had a point. The least I could do was read Grace’s note.

The truth was, that note had haunted me every single day, and I was in some kind of bizarre war with myself to prove how strong I was by resisting its temptation or something. It was like the equivalent of resisting the urge to violate customer privacy and look up Grace’s information on the reservations she’d booked. Her phone number and address would be readily available to me there.

I hadn’t wanted to seem desperate. I’d ended things so thoroughly with her, there was little chance she'd ever give me a second thought again.

I stalked into my bedroom and delved into my top drawer. Amy’s necklace was coiled there beside my socks and the crumpled note I had yet to unfold. With shaking fingers, I pulled the note out and opened its creases.

My heart pounded at the sight of Grace’s words. They sank into me like a tattoo, painful and unremovable, with more impact than if she’d spoken them to me directly.

She did want me.

She wouldn’t hate me if I showed up in Arizona tomorrow, begging to see her again. And I had an exploding desire to do just that.

Any was unreachable for me now. Nothing could change the fact that she was gone. But Grace was still there.

She’d said as much.

In a flash, I swiped my phone open. I didn’t always get great reception up here, though, which was the case this time.

“Piece of garbage,” I grumbled.

What was the point of having a cell phone if I could never use it?

I considered revving up the snowmobile again, but the January snowfall had finally filled in all the gaping tracks I’d left behind the last time I’d been so foolhardy. Instead, I saddled Hazelnut and rode her back to the inn, knowing full-well it would be dark by the time I got there.

But I wasn’t planning on staying.

I left the horse with Troy in the barn and dashed into the inn. It took all I had not to shout at Junie from the front door the way I’d done when we were kids. Instead, I tipped my head toward the guests who were exploring the living room and turned toward Junie at the reception desk.

She still wore the same pink sweater she’d had on earlier, and she jumped at my entrance.

“Boone! What are you doing here? It’s dark. I thought you’d left.”

I rested both of my hands on the counter.

“Junie, can I borrow your mom’s car?” I couldn’t exactly take Hazelnut into town. There wasn’t horse parking at the airport.

I’d sleep there while waiting for a flight if that was what it took.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Better yet,” I said, thinking it over. Which I probably should have done before now. “I might need you to drop me off. Can you get someone to cover the desk for about an hour while you take me into town?”

I didn’t have anything packed, but I always kept a bag here at the inn in the event of bad weather. Occasionally, I stayed in my old room when snow kept me from heading back home. I could take that.

“What is going on?” she asked again. “I can’t just leave. You know we’ve been short on staff.”

“I know,” I said with regret. “I know, and I’ll make it up to you.”

I should have helped her more. I shouldn’t have been so grumpy and selfish. I had so much to make up for, and I fully intended to. But I had to do something else first.

“Make what up to me? What happened? Are you okay?”

“The sleigh rides Christmas Eve. Not helping you here when you needed it. I’m sorry for shutting myself away for so long, and I have you to thank for shaking me out of my rut.”

Junie’s eyes slitted. “Okay, who are you, and what have you done with my cousin?”

I laughed. It felt so good to release the sound. Laughter came from everywhere inside of me.

And then I bent at the waist, drew in the fullest breath I had in a good long while, and laughed some more. It was magic, pure and simple. So much around me was magic. So much I saw every day and yet never really saw.

I’d been blind for far too long.

“Junie, I’m going to Arizona.”

“You—you’re what? Why?”

I grinned. “I read her note, Junie. And I’m going to her.”

“Boone—wait. You can’t do that.”

“Don’t even think about stopping me. This is all your fault. Yours and that stupid radio’s and Grace’s, too. I can’t keep living the way I have been. I’m not a nice person anymore. I’m constantly grumpy—and those times you’ve called me out on it only made me grumpier because I knew you were right. I haven’t been happy, Junie, but I haven’t allowed myself to be happy. And I think it’s time I did.”

Junie blinked at me as if I were insane.

Maybe I was. But I would fully accept the diagnosis.

Then a smile spread over her lips as well. Redness blotched her cheeks the way it always did, and she laughed, too. Soon, the two of us were a pair of hyenas in the foyer of Harper’s Inn. Laughing.

A woman stepped out of the living room. “Everything okay?” she asked.

“It’s perfect!” Junie threw up her hands.

I pulled her into a hug. I felt lighter than I had in years. That’ll make the flight go by faster, a sarcastic thought added. I’d never been a fan of flying, but I’d do what I had to if it meant fixing what I’d ruined with Grace.

Junie slapped me hard against the chest. “Now that you’ve come to your senses, my dear cousin, you can’t run off to Arizona.”

“I can’t?”

“No,” she said, straightening the collar of my wool-lined coat like a mother attempting to make her son look presentable. “Not without meeting our newest employee first.”

I knew Junie relied on me a lot, but this was taking things a little too far. She wanted me to do what, train whoever this person was?

“Did you hear what I said? You’ve been pushing me to go after Grace for weeks now. I tell you I’m doing that, and you want me to meet your employees? I promise, I’ll come back. I’m not abandoning you here.”

I couldn’t grasp any other reason why she might want me to stick around.

“Will you stop talking?”

Junie yanked my arm, towing me behind her as she led the way to her office. Willing but confused, I allowed it. Rather than entering first, she stepped aside, opened the door, and shoved me through it.

I staggered in, colliding with the brunette standing between the door and the desk. The scent of her shampoo and a floral perfume wafted from her hair.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, placing her hands on my sides.

I grunted, apologizing as I grasped her shoulders, attempting to pry myself away from her. That was all I needed—to bowl the new employee over or worse, break her toe or something because I accidentally stepped on her foot.

“Sorry. Junie’s usually the klutz, not me—oh.”

The concept of a heart stopping wasn’t anything I regularly experienced, but this time, the shock of seeing this woman’s beautiful face gazing up at me was enough to send me into cardiac arrest.

Grace, crashing into her, had the full effect of an electric charge. She was a lit match, igniting me, energizing me with a single glance.

Her long brown hair swept past her shoulders in loose waves, the way she’d worn it the last time she was here. She wore a pink cardigan over a white shirt, and her blue eyes were wide an emotion I couldn’t name.

Fear? Dread? Anticipation?

“Hi, Boone.” She gave me a timid, irresistible smile that I wanted to kiss off her mouth.

My heart struck my ribs like a bucking horse, and I gasped from the effect. I’d forgotten all about Junie for several seconds, but the reason I came in here came back to me in a rush.

My hands were still on her shoulders. Now that I was touching her again, I couldn’t seem to stop.

“Grace? You’re the new employee?”

When? How? And why didn’t Junie say anything?

Actually, I was glad she hadn’t. I would probably not have been ready to hear it.

Grace trapped her bottom lip in her teeth. That single movement absorbed all of my attention. Everything about her captivated me, hooking me, taking me over.

“I really missed this place, so I contacted Junie. She was all for an interview. We discussed it right there, on the phone. The next day, I quit my job and…and that’s it. Here I am.”

“Here you are,” I said, my voice unrecognizably low.

My hands stroked her throat, sliding their way up to cradle her face. Her soft hair stroked my knuckles for the briefest moment, sending a new shiver up my arm.

“Why?” I asked.

A streak of pain flashed over her eyes. She stepped out of my reach. “Why am I here?”

The strength was slowly draining from my body the longer I stood apart from her. I took another step toward her.

Just one. It wasn’t enough. So I took one more, boxing her between me and the bookshelf behind her.

“I mean, you missed the inn?”

A nod.

“And—was the inn the only thing you missed?” I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to get the question out.

She lifted a single shoulder. I could practically feel the seconds skim over me as she shook her head.

I took another step, moving in close enough the energy from her body effervesced, stirring the air between us. I was going to burst with the effort of holding myself back.

“I missed you,” I said.

The worry in her features melted. Whatever reserves she’d been holding onto faded. Her forehead relaxed, her cheeks pulling into a smile, adding light to her eyes.

“I didn’t want to leave in the first place,” she said. This time she took a step. “I left you a note.”

Now we were like dominoes. If one or the other of us would tip, we’d take the other one down, too.

“I got it.”

“You did?” Her forehead puzzled. “And you read it?”

My heart raced, and I lifted my hand to brush my knuckles across her cheek. Her eyelashes fluttered. Her breathing went ragged.

I loved having that effect on her. Maybe because she was having the same effect on me, too.

“Your words struck me right to the heart, Grace. I was just about to board a plane and come to you.”

“Just about?” She sounded confused. “When did you read it? It’s been almost a month.”

I reached a hand behind the back of my head. “It may have taken me a few weeks to give in…”

Her laugh tinkled, and then she was in my arms. I wasn’t sure which of us moved first, but she was there, with me, where she belonged. The embrace wove itself through me as if with invisible thread.

Grace buried her head into my shoulder, and I held her, just held her, stroking her back, feeling the silk of her long hair, absorbing the beating of her heart. Her soft skin against my neck, the feel of her chest moving in time with mine. I wanted to savor every sensation. I never wanted to let her go.

Her hand trailed up my arms to my neck, and her fingers brushed the shaved part of my hair behind my head. It was like a spigot had turned, releasing all the stress I’d been dealing with for weeks. Her touch allowed me to be myself, to be the man I’d been fighting for the last three years.

“I never should have let you go,” I said.

She tilted her head and spoke against my throat. “I interviewed with Junie because I wanted you?—”

I cut her off, smiling. “You wanted me?”

She pulled back, showing me her beautiful smile. “Yeah, that’s about it. I wanted you. I wanted to be as close to you as I could.”

I held her tighter. “Even though Christmas is over?”

Her eyes were a cerulean sea of blue, framed by long lashes. She cast her gaze across my face, from my brow to my eyes, to my mouth, and back again. The hunger to kiss her overwhelmed me, stronger than ever, but I held back, letting her finish.

“Yes,” she said, “and somehow, I’m as crazy for you now as I was back at your cottage.”

“Me, too,” I said.

“That radio may have gotten us together, but I haven’t heard any chimes in the air for a while, have you?”

I swallowed. My hands fisted at her waist. “No, I haven’t.”

“But I can’t stop this otherworldly pull to be wherever you are. Magic got us to notice one another, but it isn’t keeping us together. It’s you.”

I wouldn’t say that. “Me?”

“And me. It’s us. The rest is up to us.”

I pulled her closer. Heat spilled from her body, and I brushed my nose along her jawline. “I’m down if you are.”

She trembled in my arms, her eyelashes fluttering again. Man, I loved having that effect on her.

“I’m all in,” she said. “Or I wouldn’t be here.”

“I’m never letting you go again.” My words were a growl.

Grace’s eyes flicked to my lips. She licked her delectable mouth and then tipped it closer to mine so I felt her breath on my lips as she said, “I think we’re just meant to be together, and Santa knew it.”

“Remind me to thank him sometime,” I said.

And then I was done talking. I wanted—needed—to let her know just how much she meant to me, just how much it meant to have her back at Harper’s Inn, and how this was the only place I wanted her to be.

With me.

Her mouth was soft and yielding. It teased and captured while my hands couldn’t get enough of her. I pulled her tighter against me, my fingers gripping her hips, feeling her slim waist, enveloping her and keeping as her as close as I could. Yet, it wasn’t anywhere near close enough.

I bent just enough for a lower hold on her. Wrapping my arms firmly around her, I lifted her against my body. A little squeak escaped her lips as I held her there long enough to situate her on the desk, pushing Junie’s keyboard aside. Something else clattered to the ground, but I didn’t know what it was.

We could pick it up later.

I stood between her knees, kissing her. Parting her lips with mine. Grace kissed me with abandon, raking her hands through my hair, meeting me with as much fervor as I gave her.

“I’m never letting you go again,” I said, sweeping her hair away from her neck so I could have better access.

She tipped her head upward, allowing me full rein to roam at will.

“You made my heart come back to life,” I said between kisses. “I didn’t know it could, Grace. More than that, I didn’t think I could feel more for someone than I felt for Amy. We married young, but maybe love is like wine and gets better with age.”

She let out little gasp as my mouth trailed up to kiss the corner of hers. Her hand rested on the side of my scruffy jaw. “It’s harder to love when you’ve been wounded from it,” she said. “That’s probably why you’re feeling more.”

I rested my hands on either side of her, pressing my forehead to hers and squeezing my eyes shut. “ You’re why I’m feeling more. I’m sorry I ever let you go.”

“How sorry?” she asked, nibbling her lip and eyeing my mouth once more.

“So sorry,” I said with a breath, placing my mouth on hers. And I’d spend every day I could telling her how much she meant to me.