But underneath it all, her heart still felt like a mess. She was beyond happy that the interview had been such a resounding success, but when it came to Lincoln, things were more complicated than ever.
She was left with an aching heart and a tired mind, and all she wanted to do was go home and sleep both off until she knew what to do.
There was no clear answer, and she wasn’t sure if there ever would be one.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Vanessa was on her way back from picking up a few items for The Toy Chest from the Holly and Ivy Market when she saw Lincoln walking down Main Street in the opposite direction, his shoulders hunched against the December chill and his expression more dejected than usual. Vanessa immediately felt a pang in her chest, suspecting that it had something to do with how her and Mabel’s plotting had gone sideways.
She tucked her bag over her shoulder and hurried to catch up with him, calling his name as she did.
“Lincoln! Lincoln, hey!”
He paused, looking at her as they both came to a stop on the sidewalk, and Vanessa could see that he looked tired, as if he hadn’t slept all that well. He gave her a tight smile, and her stomach sank. This definitely had to do with Imogen.
“Hey,” he said with clearly forced cheer. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine, but more importantly, how are you doing?” Vanessa asked, studying his face with concern. “You look like someone stole your last Christmas present.”
Lincoln managed a short laugh. “That’s not too far from how I feel, actually.”
“What’s wrong?” Vanessa asked, hoping maybe it wasn’t Imogen after all, although she didn’t want something else to be bothering her friend either.
Lincoln glanced around at the busy street, clearly reluctant to talk about it. “It’s nothing dramatic. Just… relationship stuff, I suppose.”
“Imogen?” Vanessa guessed. There was no point in beating around the bush.
“Yeah, I guess it isn’t that hard to figure out,” Lincoln said tiredly. “Especially since you and Mabel orchestrated all of it.”
Vanessa scrunched up her nose a bit. “Are you mad at us?”
“No,” he said quietly. “Just bummed that things turned out the way they did. The gift exchange was perfect. The sleigh ride was great, even if I knew it was fishy. We talked about old memories and reminisced and I really thought we’d reconnected. It felt like we were picking up on something unfinished, like there really was something there.”
“That’s good, though!” Vanessa said. “That all sounds great.”
“Yeah, except the part where she’s been avoiding me ever since. She didn’t respond to my text yesterday, didn’t return my phone call, and when I stopped by the shop this morning to check on her, she practically couldn’t wait to get rid of me.”
Vanessa felt her stomach drop. “That doesn’t sound like Imogen at all.”
“No, it doesn’t. It’s pretty obvious that she’s pushing me away because she found out about our friends throwing us together,” he said flatly. “It made her feel differently about it, or regret it, or something, and now she wants space. I guess I can’t blame her.”
“But you didn’t know about the setup either,” Vanessa protested. “You were just as surprised by the sleigh ride as she was.”
“I know that, and you know that, but I’m not sure it matters that much to Imogen,” Lincoln said. “And honestly, I can’t blameher for being upset. Nobody likes feeling manipulated, even with the best intentions.”
Hearing that felt devastating, and Vanessa caught her breath, wishing she could somehow go back and find a way to do it differently. All they’d wanted was to bring their friends together, and it seemed as if it had spectacularly backfired. She and Mabel had tried to make opportunities for Lincoln and Imogen to realize their feelings for each other, but instead they’d apparently made it impossible for either of them to trust those feelings.
She supposed the best thing would probably be to leave it alone, to apologize to Lincoln and let everything go back to the way it had been before for him and Imogen. Eventually the feelings about the setup would wear off, and they’d go back to being friends. But Vanessa couldn’t help but feel that was all wrong.
Henry’s comments about his late wife Daisy came back to her as she stood there in the cold, searching for what to say. How sure he’d been that she was the love of his life, how happy he’d been for the time he’d had with her even if they’d known it wouldn’t be as much as they wanted. How he had no regrets, even if that love had come with difficulty and grief.
She saw that kind of love in Lincoln and Imogen, even if they couldn’t get past the obstacles in their way to see it for themselves. She wanted her best friend to have that kind of love, to experience it fully. And she was determined not to let this mistake get in the way of Lincoln and Imogen’s love story.
She wouldn’t let it end this way.
“Let me handle this,” she said determinedly, looking at Lincoln. “I’ll fix it. Just give me a little time.”
“Vanessa, no,” Lincoln said quickly, clearly recognizing her tone. “I appreciate the thought, but I think you’ve all done enough handling for one situation. Maybe it’s better if I just giveher some space and let her figure out what she wants without any more outside pressure.”
