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Sprinkle All The Way (Evergreen Lake: Under the Mistletoe) Chapter 13 43%
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Chapter 13

thirteen

VIOLET

“Change of plans,” I say in lieu of a greeting when Noah opens the door the next morning.

“I get to stay home?” he groans, pulling the toothbrush out of his mouth. I try to avoid staring at the tight T-shirt and how it hugs his arms and chest in the perfect way.

He wasn’t very happy with me when I told him we were going to the festival again today. The tree lighting last night was a good start, but one trip to the festival isn’t going to change the town’s mind about him.

“Nope. We have to take Ava to see Santa,” I inform him.

“What?” He glares at me, the divot between his eyebrows as deep as ever.

“Hi,” Ava jumps out from where she was hiding behind me.

“Holy shit,” he practically screeches, jumping back several feet.

“Auntie, he said a bad word.” Ava latches onto my arm, pointing to Noah.

“Noah didn’t mean it. Did he?”

“I mean what do you expect when—” I glare at him and widen my eyes before he sighs. “No, I didn’t. ”

“Perfect, now finish getting ready and let’s go.” I wave my hand at him.

“Didn’t she see Santa yesterday?” he questions with a raise of his eyebrow.

“I need to go every day or he might forget who I am,” Ava explains. “There are a lot of kids in the world. Plus, I remembered something else I want.”

“Where’s your mom?” He squats so he’s eye level with her.

“Checking peoples eyes so they finally realize they need glasses,” she quips.

He only laughs at her bluntness, standing and heading into his apartment to get ready.

I bend and fix Ava’s jacket, which has become unzipped since sitting still isn’t in her vocabulary. “You were in the other room when your mom said that.”

Ava shrugs. “I have good ears.”

“I guess so.” I shake my head at her, noting I should watch what I say around her.

The walk to the festival is filled with Ava asking Noah questions about himself like I’m not even there. She runs through all of the favorites first, with some answers surprising me, like how his favorite animal is a red panda. After she’s satisfied with his answers she moves on to asking what he does. He tells her all about the shop, and he promises her one free cookie a month, and two on her birthday.

The festival isn’t as full during the day as it was last night, but there are more kids running around today. The smell of peppermint and chocolate are in the air and it’s perfectly Christmas.

“Lovebug, do you want to sit on Noah’s shoulders?” I ask, stopping us at a nearby bench.

“What? Isn’t she too big for that?” He groans looking at Ava, who is smiling ear to ear .

“I am not! My daddy does it all the time.” She crosses her arms, hopping up on the bench.

“She’s light, you’ll be fine,” I tell him. “The town seeing you with a kid will automatically get you points. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.” Having him hold onto Ava will also keep my hands off him.

I wonder if he noticed how I kept grabbing his hand last night, like he was my own personal magnet. But he didn’t pull away once, comfort flowing easily between us. It wasn’t strange to fall into those familiar touches again. It was almost like we never lost touch.

I’m starting to realize whenever I would hang out with him in high school we would always find ways to touch each other. It was always friendly touches and teasing hits, never leading to anything more. The more comfortable we got with each other, the more frequent those touches got. Like when we would watch movies or TV shows on my laptop. Our legs were always touching in at least one spot while the laptop rested on his lap and my head on his shoulder as we squeezed together on the twin bed.

I’ve been so lost in the memory of him I missed Noah putting Ava on his shoulders. His hat is now askew as my niece adjusts herself. His eyes scream “get me out of here” and I can’t help the laugh that escapes from my lips.

“What?” He groans, securing her legs by placing his arm over his chest.

“Your hat is crooked. Let me fix it,” I say, stepping closer and adjusting it so it sits evenly across his forehead, his green eyes shining bright from the reflection of the snow.

“I can see so much more from up here,” Ava cheers, bouncing and causing him to sigh while making sure she doesn’t fall off. “You’re taller than my daddy.”

“Can you see Santa from here?” I ask her .

“Almost.” She squints, like it will help her find him. “Let’s go!”

“Yes, ma’am,” he huffs, rolling his eyes and heading off in the direction she points him.

It doesn’t take us long to find Santa, and along the way Ava keeps talking about how she feels like a giant. Noah finally seems all warmed up to her, and I realize my idea of putting her on his shoulders was a bad idea. Seeing him effortlessly banter with her is starting to give me baby fever when we’re not even together.

With Greg, I never imagined him as a dad. There were a few times I pictured what our kids would look like, but I was never excited about it. That probably should have been a red flag, but I ignored it like all the other ones. Meanwhile, Noah is easy to see as a dad. I thought seeing him bake was hot, but seeing him interact with Ava is much hotter. But then again, everything he does is hot.

Noah plucks Ava off his shoulders once it’s our turn. Santa instantly remembers who she is, greeting her by name, and her eyes light up. She spends a few minutes telling him more things she wants. Noah steps closer to me while we wait by the side, grabbing my hand and sending shivers down my spine. I try not to react, instead focusing on what Ava is listing off. Maybe I could get her one of those things since I still need a gift for her.

When Ava hops off Santa’s lap and comes skipping over, Noah drops my hand. I sigh at the loss of his touch, even if it was through our gloves. The brief moment of disappointment is replaced by happiness when Ava steps between us, grabbing both of our hands to walk through the festival.

She leads us to her parents’ stand with the Emerson’s Eyes blue and white logo large above their heads. Iris is in the middle of an eye exam with an older man, while Jacob is at the front and waves at us. Ava is quick to drop our hands and run around to hug her dad. He props her up on the edge of the table in their stand, her legs swinging over the edge, and pours her a hot chocolate from the small drink dispenser they are using so people have a warm drink after their eye exam. Noah doesn’t waste time taking my hand in his as we approach and I might need to talk to my sister about this as soon as I can.

“Thanks so much for taking her to see Santa again,” Jacob says once we’re close enough.

“Of course, how are the eye exams going?” I ask, nodding toward Iris.

“Pretty good, we’ve already gotten two new patients. Probably three after she finishes here.” He pauses, directing his attention to Noah. “Do you need a free eye exam? You get a free hot chocolate,” he says, tapping the top of the drink dispenser.

“Oh, I don’t know. I can see pretty well,” he stumbles through the sentence like he wasn’t ready to speak.

“Come on, give Iris something to do.” I nudge his shoulder.

“Fine,” he grumbles, stepping around the side and into the stand as Iris finishes and sends the older man to Jacob.

“Are you braving the exam?” Iris smiles when she sees him coming her way.

“Looks like I am.” He glares at me as Iris takes him to her exam area.

Once Jacob has the older man scheduled for a full appointment he wastes no time leaning toward me, whispering, “What’s going on there?”

“What do you mean?” I lean in and whisper.

“With N-o-a-h,” Jacob spells out Noah’s name, but I’m pretty sure Ava can spell and is already acting like she isn’t listening to us.

“Nothing, I’m helping him with his shop and gaining favor with the town,” I tell him. Jacob didn’t meet Iris until after I had left Evergreen Lake, so he never got the chance to see Noah and I together.

“Seems like something is going on.” His eyebrows wrinkle together right under his hat. “He looks at you the way I’ve been told I look at Iris.”

“Like what?” I ask, aware of exactly what he’s going to say because I’ve been the one to call him out before.

“Like you’re his whole world.” Jacob isn’t whispering anymore as my cheeks flush.

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