Page 6 of Cowboy’s Christmas Baker

“If you made the list, what would that mean for the town?” he asked.

“That’s the wild part,” Mallory said. “The new highway is finally coming in—the crews cleared out trees and did the grading over the spring and summer. So if Trinity Falls gets that kind of attention now, it could mean a lot of new people moving to town, since the commute to Philly will be a lot faster, Wilmington too.”

“Is that something you want?” Harrison asked.

“That’s tricky,” Mallory said, frowning. “I know it would help our small businesses if we had more customers—that’s why a lot of the shop owners are excited. But…”

He waited, wondering if she was going to say what he was thinking.

“Is it wrong not to want the place to change too much?” she asked softly. “I love Trinity Falls just the way it is.”

“Nothing gold can stay,” Harrison quoted without thinking.

“Robert Frost,” Mallory said, smiling.

He sent her quotes like that all the time, and she always seemed impressed online. But now that they were together in person, he felt kind of embarrassed about it.

“A dairy farmer shouldn’t be quoting poetry,” he said gruffly, feeling like a fool.

“Not at all,” she replied. “The farmers in town are some of the biggest readers I know, especially in the off-season.”

“The produce guys get their winters off, huh?” Harrison offered, chuckling.

“I guess it’s not so easy with livestock,” Mallory said with an apologetic smile. “You have early mornings and late nights too.”

He remembered the night he’d missed their usual after-dinner chat because one of the cows at the old place was having a difficult labor. They’d messaged well past midnight about it afterward. He’d been so tired that he’d let his guard down even more than usual that night.

I can’t believe this is actually Mallory.

It was such a strange feeling to be here in person. It was like he was meeting her for the first time, but she probably knew him better than anyone else.

“No days off,” Harrison agreed, nodding. “But it’s good work. I like it.”

She nodded and they walked on.

“The town looks good,” he said after a moment. “There are a lot of shops that weren’t here before.”

“The vibe never really changes though,” Mallory said with a faint smile as her eyes caressed the old Tudor-style storefronts. “And we’ve still got our candy-cane decorations. Did they have those when you were a kid?”

“Yeah,” Harrison said, a smile trying to tug up the corners of his mouth. “They had them hanging from the lampposts every year. Oh, look at that, the dollhouse is still in the window.”

He paused in front of the real estate office, time tumbling away around him as he admired the beautiful Victorian dollhouse decked out in its Christmas finery on a bed of cotton snow. He and his brothers used to stand at this window, noses pressed to the glass to look for the little Santa figure that always mysteriously appeared in the chimney.

He glanced over at Katie, but she simply stood on the sidewalk waiting. Even the beautiful dollhouse didn’t capture her imagination.

His heart ached at the sight of her blank expression.

“Yes,” Mallory said with a smile. “They still decorate it for the holidays, just like always.”

“We loved it when we were kids,” Harrison said. “They used to put Santa in the chimney on Christmas Eve.”

“They still do,” Mallory said, her eyes lighting up.

A lady came to the door and pushed it open, giving Mallory a smile and Harrison a slow once-over.

“Hey there,” she said. “How’s it going, Mallory? Who’s your friend?”

He tried not to grimace. Women were constantly looking at him that way, like he was tall and rugged for show, good for eye candy and nothing else.