Page 28 of Christmas By The Book

“For what, Seth?” she asked, incredulous.

I hesitated. I could have told her, and maybe it would have made more sense to just come out and let her know what I was planning, but I didn’t want to get her hopes up if this wasn’t something I was going to be able to pull off.

“You’ll see when you get there,” I replied. “Just trust me on this.”

She hesitated for a moment, but then, much to my relief, gave my hand a squeeze in return. “Okay,” she murmured. “I trust you.”

“Good,” I replied, breathing a sigh of relief. I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to pull this thing together on such short notice, but I could do it, I was sure I could. I had pulled together more difficult events in less time. Well, probably. I just needed to call the restaurant and then get on to her laptop and fire off a few announcements on her social media, and all of this would come together.

“Let’s get the tables in,” I told her. “Before it gets too cold tonight.”

“They said the blizzard isn’t going to hit ‘til late this evening,” she replied. “But I don’t think it matters. Nobody’s coming by the store, anyway.”

I gritted my teeth as I held back on the urge to say something to her, to assure her that everything was going to be okay, that she just needed to have a little faith, and we would get all of this under control. I knew why she had a hard time trusting that it could work that way, but I was going to show her that there was still hope—and that this community could still come around her and support her the way she needed them to.

Even if it might not be in the way she expected.

Chapter Sixteen

Jorja

––––––––

I CHECKED MY WATCH. It was nearly seven, which was when Seth had told me to come meet him at the restaurant.

I still had no idea what we were going to be doing there. He hadn’t told me what to expect when I arrived, and I didn’t have a single guess as to what it might have been. He’d told me to trust him, and, after everything that had gone down, I doubted he would have blamed me for having trouble putting my faith in anyone else. But, if it was going to be anyone, it would be him.

Of course it would be.

I was perched on the chair in the living room, staring out at the first few drifts of snow floating down from the sky. I knew it was going to come in heavy tonight, but right now, it almost seemed peaceful. Beside me, the Christmas tree that the two of us had put up together was standing tall, the star he’d placed on top gleaming in the light. I could still remember the look on his face when he had put it there, that sweet smile, the way the silver glittered in his eyes, like the tinsel draped around the branches.

I still didn’t know why he seemed so determined to help me. I couldn’t figure it out. Sure, he had said at first that it was about keeping the store open, but now? I got the feeling it was more personal than that. I got the feeling that this was about me, not just the Bookshelf, and whatever he had planned this evening was an extension of his dedication to finally paying off the taxes I needed to.

I didn’t think I would have made it this far if it hadn’t been for him. I would never have been able to stand up at the city council meeting and ask them to give me the permit, that much, I knew for sure. But when he was there beside me, his hand squeezing mine tight, I felt as though I could have taken on anything in the world.

And maybe that was what I needed right now. The promise that, no matter what, I had someone by my side who was going to be there for me, someone who was going to do everything they could to look out for me. I didn’t know what I had done to deserve someone like that in my life, but maybe my grandmother had been right when she had told me that Christmas was a time for miracles.

I dropped a kiss on Mia’s head, and then made my way to the door, pulling on my coat as I headed toward the Italian restaurant where we’d had our first date. It was a little chilly, but I didn’t mind the cold. As I got closer, though, I realized with a sharp jolt of surprise that I wasn’t the only person headed to the restaurant this evening—no, there was a line of people, wrapping around the corner, lined up outside the entrance.

“What the...?” I muttered to myself. I knew the garlic knots were good, but a line this long? I had never seen it before.

And, as I joined the back of the line and got a better look at the people in it, I realized something—they were all women. All of them. Most of them I recognized, but some of them I didn’t. They must have come from out of town! What the heck could have been going on in there that was so exciting?

“You’re Jorja, right?” A voice cut through the noise around me. I turned, to find a woman who I was pretty sure I recognized as the owner of the restaurant standing behind me.

“Yeah, I am.”

She jerked her head toward the store. “You come with me,” she told me. “He’s waiting inside for you.”

Seth, she had to be talking about Seth, didn’t she? I just didn’t understand why so many people would have been lining up outside of the restaurant to what—meet him? As far as I knew, he was just an event planner, and, even though this town did tend to show a little too much interest when new people arrived, there was no way they would have gone to these lengths to meet him.

But, when I stepped into the restaurant, my jaw dropped.

Seth was posing next to Ally, an older woman who was a regular visitor the bookstore. She usually picked up a stack of romance novels, and, though I didn’t read them, I was glad for her custom. She was holding one of the books as she grinned down the lens of a camera held by one of the waiters who worked at the restaurant, and, once the photo was taken, she handed Seth something.

She brushed past the waiting line and grinned when she caught my eye.

“Can you believe it?” she remarked, pointing to the front cover of the book she was holding.