Somehow, that thought deflated some of the joy inhis chest, even when Jenny squeezed his hand and Gael gave him a quick hug.
Before he had time to think about it, they were heading out the door, and Erik was suddenly hit with that melancholyChristmas-is-overfeeling he remembered from childhood.
“Who’s ready forDie Hard?” he called out, summoning a cheer he didn’t feel.
Everyone headed for the common room. But Fallon held back.
“You don’t like it when they leave,” he observed, a note of empathy in his voice as he wrapped an arm around Erik’s shoulder. “But you’ll be married soon, buddy, and then you’ll never have to say goodbye. Won’t that be great?”
That really would be great.
If only it could also be true.
6
JENNY
Jenny drove slowly back to the inn with Gael in the seat beside her, his eyes on the snowflakes zipping past the window.
The car she was renting from Trudy was a simple sedan and she wasn’t sure how it would handle if she had to stop quickly in the falling snow.
It was good to be focused on her driving so she couldn’t overthink that kiss. But it was hard not to. It was so…
“That was amazing,” Gael said suddenly.
“What?” she asked, afraid he was picking up on her thoughts somehow.
“Today,” Gael told her. “It was really nice.”
“Oh, yeah. Itwasa really nice day,” Jenny agreed, smiling as she thought back to his endless games withthe vets, the good food he had eaten, and the comfortable way he had dozed off among his new friends.
Of course that’s what he would be most focused on. Stuff like kissing wasn’t important to a nine-year-old.
“Definitely,” Gael said. “And you and Erik did a good job with that kiss at the end. This is going to work.”
He looked so pleased that she had to laugh.
“You really like doing this, don’t you?” she asked.
“Of course. Didn’t you hear everyone cheering?” he asked. “Don’tyoulike doing it?”
She winced inwardly. The thing of it was, shedidlike doing it. In fact, she liked it far too much to be faking it. And it had nothing to do with people cheering. She had longed for Erik Anderson to kiss her all through college. And now that it had finally happened, she only wanted more.
“I’m glad everyone is happy,” she said carefully, leaving out that she hoped she didn’t wind up breaking her own heart with this little game.
“They’re fun,” Gael said dreamily, his eyes on the snowy countryside out the window again. “They remind me of the uncles.”
“What uncles?” Jenny asked, frowning. Gael had no other family, at least that was what she had been told. If there were uncles, she should have been taking him to see them regularly. It wasn’t right for him to fall out of touch with any precious family that he had left.
“Notmyuncles,” he said, putting her worries to rest. “My friend, Lucas, he has all these uncles and cousins. When I went over to his house, they were just like that, giving him treats and teasing him and acting silly and all. It was nice.”
“Oh,” Jenny said. “That does sound nice.”
“Yeah,” Gael said, nodding. “It was. Maybe we can go back to the Center another day.”
“Definitely,” she told him, her heart warming. “We’ll bring more treats and games later this week. Maybe Erik can tell us when the most people will be there.”
“They don’t live there?” Gael asked, looking puzzled.
