Mistletoe and Memories (Evergreen Hollow Christmas #4)

Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

By nine in the morning on Saturday, Margo had already been out and about for almost three hours, scoping out the best spots to try and get photos of snowy owls.

She felt happier and more invigorated than she had in a long time. Purposeful.

It had been a long time since she’d woken up early on a weekend morning for an assignment, but she’d gotten up that morning with the same feeling of purpose that she used to have when she’d wake up early in a foreign country, ready to go scope out the area she’d been assigned to.

Getting up without hitting her snooze button, she’d gone downstairs to the still-silent kitchen in the inn, poured herself a thermos of heavily doctored coffee with pumpkin creamer, and snagged a maple cinnamon muffin out of the basket where Rhonda had left them out for guests. And then she’d ventured out in the fresh snow, eager to look for the best places to get photos.

It made her feel like her old self again. And it made her wonder what other ways she could manage that once this article was finished. Sabrina had been enthused about the snowy owl idea. And she had told Margo that if she had any other ideas for new ways to add to The Gazette ’s offerings, that she definitely wanted to hear them.

Which left Margo wondering—what could she add to the newspaper that would make her continue feeling excited about her job?

This had made her feel more like herself, but it had also reminded her what she had been missing for the last year. It reminded her how she’d felt all of the time before, and in some ways, that was worse. Now she missed that sense of excitement, of purpose, even more. She didn’t want to go back to feeling stagnant.

It was a problem that she couldn’t figure out a solution for. Right now, she decided as she lifted her camera and snapped another photo, she needed to not think about it. She needed to just enjoy the moment, and worry about what she would do next when the time came.

She had planned to go into The Gazette that afternoon to work on layouts for the photos. Originally, she’d thought she would go straight from her walk to the office, but by the time she finished the hike, she was starving again. The one muffin hadn’t lasted long, and she knew Rhonda had been planning to make another batch of pumpkin cream cheese muffins once she woke up.

She decided to stop back by the inn before she went to work. She could use a second breakfast, and she wanted to show her mother a few of the photos that she’d taken. She was more excited about them than anything she’d gotten pictures of in a long time.

To her surprise, as she rounded the corner to head up the driveway, she saw Spencer’s car parked next to her father’s truck and her mother’s little sedan. She picked up her pace, thinking he might have shown up to surprise her. She’d told him she would be taking pictures that morning and then going into the office for a few hours, but she hadn’t told him exactly when. Or her mother might have conned him into coming over for breakfast.

Rhonda loved all her sons-in-law, especially considering the fact that she hadn’t had any boys of her own, and Spencer had automatically been adopted as one, even though he and Margo weren’t married yet.

Yet .

She frowned, thinking of how automatically she’d thought of it that way. Was that what she wanted? Before coming home, marriage had been the furthest thing from her mind. Even a serious boyfriend had felt like a big leap, considering how often she was away from home.

A lot had changed in the last year, and she wondered if she was really ready for that to change, as well. But if Spencer asked?—

They hadn’t talked about it though. And she was in no rush. There really wasn’t even any reason to be thinking about it.

She hurried up the steps and into the inn, stopping abruptly when she saw Spencer sitting on the chair next to her father’s recliner, talking to him quietly. They both looked up at the sound of Margo’s footsteps, and Spencer stood up immediately. She could feel her face going pale as she looked between the two of them, and she set her camera down, yanking off her beanie and mittens.

“What’s happened?” she asked, and Spencer started to speak, but Donovan interrupted him.

“Just a little scare. Asked Spencer to come over since I figured it was better safe than sorry, and I didn’t want to interrupt your mother or Caroline. They’re in there baking, and I didn’t want to say anything.”

“You didn’t want to—” Margo stared at him. “Dad?—”

“It’s okay.”

Spencer crossed the room quickly to where she was standing, one hand on the small of her back as he steered her out of the living room and back into the entryway, near the check-in desk.

“It’s nothing to be worried about, I promise,” he told her. “He was feeling a little light-headed and short of breath after going out to check on the animals this morning, and called me. I said I was in the neighborhood and didn’t mind stopping by. I’m just going to adjust his medicine a little.” Spencer rubbed his hand in a circle on her back. “I promise, things like this happen. New medications need to be tweaked to get things right. He’s going to be okay. Hey, don’t cry.”

Margo’s eyes filled with tears despite herself. “I should have been home so much sooner,” she whispered despondently, all her earlier thoughts that morning about missing travel dissipating instantly. “This whole thing has just made me think that so much of my career before this was a mistake. I should have spent more time here with my parents instead of gallivanting all over the world. And now I’m finally home, and Dad’s sick?—”

A frown crossed Spencer’s face, and he let out a sigh, his expression severely conflicted. Margo looked at him confusedly. “What? What’s wrong?”

“I just…” He rubbed a hand over his mouth. “We’ve talked about this before, sweetheart. All that traveling helped make you who you are. It sculpted your whole career. You wouldn’t be you without it, and wouldn’t have the skills as a journalist that you have now, any more than I would be the doctor that I am without the years that I worked at a big city hospital.” Spencer shook his head. “And if you hadn’t done all that traveling, you would have always wondered about it. You’d be restless and dissatisfied, and you would feel like you’d missed out on something. Instead, you have all those amazing experiences to look back on, and tons of memories. You’re who you are because of it.”

He was right, and she knew it. It was nothing that she hadn’t thought of before herself, every time those feelings came up.

She would be a different person, if not for all of her travels. And she would have always wondered. She couldn’t even imagine what she would have done instead, all of those years, living in Evergreen Hollow instead of being out traveling. She would have probably ended up at The Gazette anyway, and the thought of only ever having done that felt so foreign that she knew it was impossible.

Besides, she knew what Spencer hadn’t said too—that there was no point in continuously looking back. None of it could be changed, and he was right that it shouldn’t be. Telling herself that she shouldn’t have lived the life she’d already lived would only make her feel worse for no reason.

Margo bit her lip, nodding. “Thank you,” she said softly, letting out a breath. “I needed that reassurance. A lot, actually. I might need it again,” she added, managing a small smile.

“Anytime,” Spencer promised her. “And I think I have just the thing to make you feel a bit better.”

“Oh?” Margo raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“We’ve both been so busy that we haven’t gone on a proper date in a while,” he pointed out. “What do you think about dinner on Wednesday? We could go to Burlington, there’s a restaurant there I’ve been wanting to try.”

A smile spread across Margo’s face, and her pulse kicked up a notch with excitement. It did feel like forever since they’d been out on a real date, instead of a quick lunch eaten in her office or takeout at his place while they watched a movie.

They’d both been busy, and they’d kept talking about planning a night out, and then pushing it off again and again. She liked the idea of a night out, and one away from Evergreen Hollow too. Rockridge and Marie’s were great, but she could only go to the same two restaurants so many times before she wanted a change. After years of constantly eating at different places, she craved new spots to go out to.

She loved that Spencer knew her well enough to know that. And that he thought about it. She knew that was exactly why he’d picked Burlington, instead of just going to Marie’s for a nice night out.

“I would love that,” she said, and Spencer smiled as well.

“It’s a date, then.” He leaned in, giving her a firm kiss. “And you should dress up,” he added with a wink. “I want the evening to be a real treat. A special night out.”

“I have just the thing,” Margo said, giving him another quick kiss. “I can’t wait.”

She felt her spirits lift, as she watched him head back to the living room to finish discussing things with Donovan. She hurried to go grab her planned muffin, once again in a good mood and ready to head to The Gazette for a few hours.

Spencer had said her father was fine, and now they had a special date planned for Wednesday. The next week was looking up, and it hadn’t even started yet.

Everything was going to be all right.