“This is great for him,” Jenny said, her eyes on Gael. “He loves interacting with adults, but sometimes people don’t really want to engage with a kid. Your crew is so encouraging.”
“I think they’ve missed being around kids and older people,” Erik said. “I know I did. You don’t even realize it sometimes until you’re back in your everyday life and you see everything that was missing.”
“I never would have thought of that,” Jenny said thoughtfully.
Gael was helping his new friends put the plastic headbands on now, and absolutely cracking up as they all acted silly getting ready for their game.
“What made you decide to come?” Erik heard himself ask softly.
“Gael really wanted to,” she said right away.
He nodded.
“And… I did, too,” she admitted.
He turned to her, wondering what it was he heard in her voice. But her eyes were on the floor and he couldn’t read her expression to know if her eyes were downcast because she was hiding her shame at the lie they were telling, or if it was… something else entirely.
If I didn’t know better, I might think she had feelings for me…
But he did know better. They hadn’t seen each other in years. And even back in college, he’d never asked her out. As far as Jenny was concerned, he was just an old friend. And he wasn’t exactly sweeping her off her feet by asking her to do something that made her feel torn.
“I’m glad you did,” he told her. “And I don’t want you to feel bad about this for one moment. You’re making a lot of people’s holidays a lot brighter. That’s the most important thing here.”
She nodded, glancing up at him so that he could see gratitude in her beautiful brown eyes.
“Now, what were you and Gael planning to do this week?” he asked her.
“We didn’t have a hard and fast plan,” she told him, her eyes lighting up at the change in topic. “But wemade a list of possible things, and then we were going to just play it by ear and do whatever he felt like doing each day.”
“That sounds like a perfect vacation to me,” Erik told her, meaning it. “Can I see your list?”
“Sure,” she told him, digging in her bag and fishing out a little notebook. “Maybe you can give us some advice, or even add to it, since you know the area.”
She found the page she wanted and then handed it over.
He studied her pretty, loopy handwriting, feeling a tug on his heart. He remembered sitting in the library together, him working on his finance degree, Jenny writing out endless notes for her teaching courses. The sound of her pen sliding across the paper was almost mesmerizing as the soft curves and loops slowly covered the page.
Back then, the university had stretched its budget in many ways, including turning the library’s heat down in the evenings. Erik would always be sure to bring an extra hoodie or flannel to share. He loved seeing her gratefully snuggling into his clothing, leaving the lightest scent of her apple shampoo behind to drive him crazy the next time he wore them.
“We weren’t sure how far we are from Amish country,” she said, pointing to a line item that saidAmish country, shoofly pie.
“We’re not far at all,” Erik told her. “But I think themost fun activity the day after Christmas would actually be to stop by Cassidy Farm. That’s a local spot with all kinds of fun things to do, and it’s open to tourists. Most people come before Christmas, so it won’t be too busy tomorrow. And they’ll still have the Christmas displays up. Gael will love it. We can do Amish country later in the week.”
“We?” Jenny asked, a smile on her lips.
“If you two want company, that is,” he said. “I’d love to show you around, and you’ve got a fun list there. But no pressure. I know you might just want family bonding time.”
“Having you along would be great,” she told him, her eyes sparkling. “Thank you.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” he said honestly. “Besides, I can’t have my fiancée wandering all over Tarker County without me.”
She laughed, and the gentle sound lit up his soul. It was like the past and present had come together in some wonderful way, and he found himself thinking about the future.
How can this be wrong, when it feels like home?
But it wasn’t home, not for Jenny and Gael. The holidays would end, and then they would go back to their life in Boston soon enough. Maybe then Erik would stop having these wild feelings for her. Maybe then he could mourn the real relationship he had just ended.
The restof the day at the Center seemed to fly past. Folks from town stopped by here and there, dropping off gifts and food so that the whole place seemed to be in a state of constant celebration.
