“Ready, Mama?” Katie asked, already bundled in her pink winter coat and matching hat.
Imogen took her own coat from the hook, bundling up and tugging a wool beanie down over her chestnut hair, now loose from its ponytail. “Ready,” she said with a smile, taking Katie’s mittened hand in hers and flipping the sign on the door from “Open” to “Closed.”
Outside, a light snow was beginning to fall, and the town was lit up with Christmas decorations. Every year all of the businesses seemed to try to outdo each other from the year before, and the glow from the lights was bright and festive, keeping the smile on Imogen’s lips as she and Katie started to walk toward the park. It was only a few blocks away, and despite her tiredness, Imogen found herself looking forward to the evening’s entertainment.
Vanessa and Jackson might be there, and she could spend some time with her friends. It was good to get out of the house, even when she was exhausted—life couldn’t only be going to work and going home. And Katie was so happy that she knew she’d made the right decision.
They walked hand in hand through the snow, off to celebrate Christmas in the park.
CHAPTER TWO
The sound of children’s laughter echoed through the Fir Tree Grove ice rink as Lincoln Blackwell adjusted the playlist for the third time in an hour. He’d been experimenting with trying to find the perfect mix of Christmas classics and upbeat pop songs that would keep the kids entertained for the reindeer-themed skating day he’d planned, but finding the right balance was proving trickier than he’d thought it would.
“Mr. Lincoln!” A voice called out from across the rink. “Can we have ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ again?”
Lincoln grinned and gave a thumbs up to the group of eight-year-olds who had been requesting the same song every ten minutes for the past hour. Their light-up Rudolph noses bobbed enthusiastically as they skated in wobbly circles, the red glow sending slightly spooky streaks of light across the gleaming ice in the dimmed lighting.
He loved his job. Seeing the thrill on the kids’ faces when they finally figured out how to get their feet under them on skates always gave him joy, and he loved the sense of community and camaraderie that there always seemed to be at the rink. There was always a nostalgia to the aromas of hot chocolate and concession-stand food, even the slightly musty scent of the skaterental stand bringing back memories, and of course—the cold, crisp air of the rink and the slick glide of ice underfoot.
As a kid, it had been hard to pry him out of here. Maybe it was a way of clinging to those days, and he had no idea if it was the best thing, but it made him happy, so he figured that was what mattered. And keeping the old ice rink going definitely mattered to him. Watching the kids bobbing around the rink with their light-up reindeer noses, he really couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
The bell above the rink entrance chimed, and Lincoln looked up from the sound booth to see a familiar figure shepherding two little girls through the door. His heart lifted at the sight of Imogen Sanders—his once-upon-a-time girlfriend and now just friend. They’d parted ways amicably after high school, when he’d left for college and she’d stayed, but he couldn’t say he’d ever completely stopped thinking about her. And, when he’d come back, seeing that she was still in Fir Tree Grove had made him happier than maybe it should have, all things considered.
There was a time when he hadn’t thought he would move back. He’d spent several years in Providence, helping to manage a hockey team post-college, but after a while he’d started to miss Fir Tree Grove. Sometimes he wondered if it was the town itself he’d missed or the people—or maybe it was both. When he’d been a teenager, all he’d wanted to do was get away, but now he was wholly satisfied with small town life.
He looked over at Imogen as he switched the song toRockin’ Around The Christmas Treeas the lights over the arena changed colors. She was helping Katie and another girl he recognized as Emma Patterson out of their winter coats, her chestnut hair escaping from its ponytail as she juggled mittens and scarves. Even from across the rink, he could see the slightly frazzled expression she wore whenever she was trying to manage too many things at once—an expression he remembered wellfrom their high school days when she’d been student council president, editor of the school newspaper, and somehow still managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA.
She was older now, and a different person, but some things stayed the same.
“Lincoln!” Katie’s voice carried across the rink as she spotted him. “Did we miss the light show?”
“It’ll be on in just a few minutes, kiddo,” he called back, already moving toward the skate rental counter. “Let’s get you and Emma fitted with some skates first. You’re not going to miss anything, promise.”
Imogen smiled at him as he went to get the skates, and he felt a small flip in his chest. Her smile had always done that to him, though. Maybe that was another one of those things that just didn’t change, he reflected, as he pulled out the appropriately sized skates. He was lucky that they’d fallen back into such an easy friendship when he’d come back to Fir Tree Grove. Even though they’d parted without any rancor on either side, it would have been easy for them to avoid each other, given that they’d once been in love—or as in love as teenagers could be, he reflected with a chuckle. Still, while he was off in Providence, he’d never met anyone who had given him quite the same feeling that Imogen had when they were seventeen.
Maybe that was just the beauty of first love, a particularly special feeling that couldn’t ever be replicated, innocent and new as it all was.
He was glad they hadn’t avoided each other or made it awkward, or that the years in between hadn’t left Imogen with a different impression of what had happened between them. He genuinely loved being around her, and, if he was being honest with himself, relished any opportunity that he got to cross paths with her.
Which, since Katie loved to skate, was fairly often.
“Hey, stranger,” Imogen said, settling onto the bench beside the counter while the girls excitedly examined their light-up noses. “This looks amazing. Katie’s been talking about reindeer skating for weeks.”
“I have to admit, the noses were Emma’s mom’s idea,” Lincoln said, handing Imogen Katie’s skates. “Although I think the light show is going to be the real hit. I’ve been working on choreographing it to ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’’’
“Choreographing?” Imogen raised an eyebrow, the same expression she’d worn in high school when he’d announced his plan to ask her to junior prom by spelling it out in hockey pucks on the ice. “How is that going?”
Lincoln felt heat creep up his neck. “It’s just some colored lights and music timing. Nothing too elaborate.”
He was pretty proud of it, though. He’d spent a lot of time trying out different combinations of colors and patterns until he’d found something that would create the perfect winter wonderland effect.
“I’m sure it’ll be wonderful,” Imogen said, and the genuine warmth in her voice made him smile. “Much better than hockey pucks.”
Lincoln chuckled, glad that she remembered it too. He’d been so nervous to ask her to prom that year that he’d figured he needed to make some grand gesture. Instead, he’d ended up finding out that she’d been hoping he’d ask, and had turned down two other ‘promposals’ just in case he did.
After that, they’d been boyfriend and girlfriend. The sweetheart couple of Fir Tree Grove High. He’d had plans to try to play hockey professionally, and Imogen had been unsure about leaving their small town. They’d both been smart enough, at least, to know that if he’d stayed because of her or she’d left because of him, it would only have poisoned their relationship—more sensible, he thought, than most teenagers would havebeen. It wouldn’t have lasted, because one would have resented the other. And he didn’t regret it.
He would always have wondered if his dreams of professional hockey would have come true if he hadn’t tried. And if Imogen had left, she wouldn’t have her adorable chocolate shop that she loved so much… and she wouldn’t have Katie.
