Sleigh Bell Dreams (Mistletoe Meadows Sweet Christmas #1)

Chapter 28

“That doesn’t look too bad,” Wilson said as he stared up at the enormous tree they had just put up in the town square.

“Actually, I think it looks pretty good,” Judd said, standing back with his friend and looking at it.

He had just been standing looking at a tree with Wilson’s sister a few hours ago.

He thought the tree that Terry and he had decorated was better, but he knew his opinion was biased.

This one was done pretty well, but without the icicles. They wouldn’t last outside anyway. It was just lights and bulbs. It hadn’t taken long at all.

Although, knowing about Wilson’s past made him see Wilson in a slightly different light. It’s funny that they had worked together for so long and Wilson had never mentioned it, and he spent one night with Terry, and he knew everything. Maybe not everything. But a lot.

And that kiss.

It had been amazing to him, such a huge, life-changing thing, but she had run.

It made him feel like he was a terrible kisser, which could absolutely be true.

Or maybe he just screwed something else up and didn’t even realize it. It wasn’t like he had done this a lot. In fact, he’d deliberately chosen not to do it a lot, because he didn’t want to kiss someone that he wasn’t planning on getting married to. It was too much like kissing another man’s wife. Because eventually, she would be married to someone else, not him. He wouldn’t want to see her on someone else’s arm, knowing that he had kissed her. The thought made him slightly sick, mostly because he thought that God would not be pleased with actions like that.

Regardless, it might have come back to bite him, since obviously his kissing wasn’t on Terry’s list of things to enjoy.

“Hello? Judd?” Wilson slapped his shoulder and started walking away.

“Sorry.” He figured that Wilson had said something to him, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

“Didn’t you hear me?” Wilson said as they walked along, with Judd realizing that there was a glow in the eastern sky.

“No, sorry. I was thinking.”

“Don’t get all sentimental about Christmas on me, Secret Saint.” He laughed, and Judd smiled, but he didn’t feel a whole lot like laughing.

What was he going to do now? He didn’t think he was going to be able to just pretend that nothing happened tonight when she came home.

“I’ll try not to,” he said,

“Hurry home. You don’t want anyone to see us.”

Wilson got in his truck and drove away quickly, while Judd hurried down the sidewalk. Still wondering what he should do. Should he try to ignore it? Try to confront her with questions? What was he going to say, “Am I a terrible kisser? Is that why you ran?”

He didn’t think he could utter those words, but he really did want to know. He was almost positive being a terrible kisser wasn’t going to make her hate him. Maybe he’d rather he didn’t know.

He didn’t usually get this wrapped and twisted up with things, but it was Terry, and he had some pretty strong feelings for her. She was...pretty much perfect.

He didn’t mean that literally. He knew she wasn’t perfect. He knew she had faults and flaws and things that would probably drive him crazy, but they seemed to get along so well together, and he enjoyed her company, felt an attraction to her, but more than that, admired her love of God and family and her desire to serve and be a blessing.

He was still thinking about it when he reached his house and stepped inside.

He was so deep in thought that he had gone up two steps before he looked and realized that Terry stood at the top.

He ran through his mind, trying to figure out what he could say if she asked where he was. Which she was almost certainly going to do. She had one hand on her hip.

She was dressed like she was ready to go to the practice, but she didn’t typically leave until a good bit later. In fact, he’d never run into her this early. It was only seven o’clock. Usually by eight, she was downstairs in the kitchen. They often drank coffee together, but they didn’t talk a whole lot in the morning. She didn’t seem to be a morning person. And he didn’t care. He didn’t talk a whole lot anytime, except with her.

“Good morning,” he said, his voice measured and soft.

“Morning,” she said, sounding very much like a queen talking to her subject. Only her voice was soft too. She had one eyebrow cocked, and her head tilted. “Where have you been?”

She asked like she deserved to know the answer, and he supposed maybe she did, since he had just kissed her last night.

Although, if he was thinking really hard about it, she was the one who kissed him. At least, she started it, although when he said that, he felt like he was about two years old and tattling to the teacher.

What was he going to say? The truth? She might hate him. He could ruin everything that he and Wilson had done if he told her where he really was. She might post it all over social media. He didn’t think that she was like that, but he knew that sometimes when a woman got angry, she got a little unreasonable.

At least, going by his mom and the other women that he’d known growing up. He didn’t think that Terry would be like that, but a lot of people didn’t think his mom was like that either. They had a rude awakening.

“I was out,” he said carefully, climbing up the stairs. He figured that if she let him touch her, maybe he could tell her the truth. Maybe that meant that everything was going to be okay. That she wasn’t going to be mad at him or hate him. Or whatever else.

Her lips tightened a bit, and he figured that that probably wasn’t the answer that she wanted. Could he tell her the truth? Should he keep quiet? It would help if he knew what was going on in her head with what happened last night.

“About last night,” he began, but she cut him off.

“I have someone waiting for me at the clinic.” Her eyes darted away, and she wouldn’t look at him as she moved forward, waiting for him to move so she could go downstairs.

Tempted to stand there, to force her to talk to him about it and at least let him know if she didn’t like him and was upset that it had happened, or... He wasn’t even sure what other option there could be. Maybe he should just stop trying. He kissed her, she’d run away, now she didn’t want to talk to him. He supposed he should just take a hint.

He nodded, moving ahead and shifting so she could go through.

But then he remembered that the parade was that evening.

“I just want to remind you that I’ll leave supper on the stove. I have to have time to get the horses hitched up and at the starting point,” he said, knowing that they were scheduled to ride together with Belle and Bob hitched to the wagon.

“Thank you. I told you I’m closing the clinic early, and I should be at the parade well before it starts.” She paused on the step while she spoke, then he noticed her hand tightened on the railing before she continued down the stairs, grabbing her coat and hurrying outside.

Well, whatever she was feeling, she wasn’t going to ditch him at the parade. Or at least she wasn’t planning on it now, although whether that was how it ended up or not, he didn’t know.