Page 47 of The Forever Christmas Tree

“Yeah. I think so.” He glanced at her. “Was bitterness your issue, too?”

“A little. More hurt than bitter, I think. So, yeah, the air is cleared in that regard.”

“So, we’re good?” he asked, reaching out to flick a snowflake off her nose. Or maybe he just wanted to flick at her, a playful jab, to show they were good, now.

She, on the other hand, couldn’t stop staring at the ones caught in those sinfully long black lashes of his.

He knew, or he used to know, how much she admired and envied his lashes. In fact, he’d used them to his advantage on occasion, lowering them to half mast, ever so slowly, then back up, high. Now, noticing her regard, he blinked rapidly to get rid of the flakes. Nothing flirtatious or enticing there!

Still, she was entranced. That was her only excuse for revealing, “Do you know what JAM suggested I should do to attain closure? Screw your brains out, except he was a little more explicit.”

Ethan did one of those slow blinks, then let out a choked laugh. “I didn’t know that was on the table.”

“It’s not,” she said.

But she was wishing it was. Oh, yes, she was.

Chapter 12

He was thinking about screwing, but it wasn’t a hardware issue . . .

The next day, on Friday morning, only four days till Christmas, another emergency meeting of the town council was called, and Ethan couldn’t duck this one.

“Either show up, or I’ll have your mutt arrested and quarantined by Bill for the holidays,” Doreen threatened.

Bill Henderson was the sheriff/police chief/dog catcher for Bell Cove and vicinity, and he also happened to be Doreen’s son-in-law.

“On what grounds?”

“Trespass. Stalking. Humping a poodle. You name it.”

Doreen wasn’t usually so crude. Maybe he should nominate her for the grinch contest, or threaten to. On the other hand, if I alienate her, she would probably cast more votes my way. Damn! I’m becoming just as monkey-ass crazy as the rest of this town. Being nice when I don’t want to just to avoid winning some damn contest.

“Have the Levys complained again?” he asked, more politely than he was thinking.

“The Levys are always complaining.”

“What’s the big deal? Harv’s been snipped.”

“Yeah, but just because a dog’s been neutered doesn’t mean it isn’t inclined to make the moves, like it used to. Do I need to explain that to you?”

This was not a conversation he wanted or needed to have with Doreen. “This is blackmail.”

“So sue me.”

Be nice, Ethan. Be nice. That’s my new mantra. He gritted his teeth and said nothing, which meant he was going to the meeting. Which would be a useless effort, if Doreen only knew. Ethan couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything. Wendy’s words kept lurking in the back of his brain:

Screw my brains out? For closure?

Oh, boy!

When he got to the town hall at nine o’clock, all the bells were ringing at once. A miracle of the bells, you could say. Or else, Frank Watson, the tuner over at Bell Forge, might have been cajoled to work on them, again.

All the other members of the council were present when he sat down at the conference table. He wondered what threats Doreen had used on the others. In front of each chair was a folder, and, inside, yep, an agenda. And a Revised Calendar of Events for Bell Cove Christmas, 2018.

He rolled his eyes. In the past, they hadn’t needed any frickin’ printed schedule to announce the same old/same old events. Christmas Bazaar at Our Lady by the Sea. Festival of Food at St. Andrew’s. The children’s bell choirs performing at both events. The Bell Ball. The Christmas Eve Candlelight Bell Walk throughout town, complete with folks in period Edwardian costumes, caroling and ringing handbells. That was followed by Midnight Mass with full vocal and bell choirs. Christmas Day services at St. Andrew’s, featuring the children’s bell choir. Often people attended events at both churches, regardless of their religious preferences.

But now . . . Oh, Lord! There were all kinds of new activities planned.