Page 24 of A Winter Wish

The smile Lucy gave back, to accompany her “I’ll be there in a minute” wave, seemed to take a bit too much effort. To be fair, Lexie would have felt the same. That woman managed to make the word “darling” sound like an insult. Not that she could comment on that out loud, given the woman was a client.

“I better go,” Lucy said. “I promised myself I would give everyone a chance and make the most of everything, so…”

“So you’re off to look at candles. Got it.”

Lucy laughed, and Lexie couldn’t help but feel a little proud that she seemed more relaxed than at the start of the conversation.

“You’re a natural!” Mike’s booming voice made her jump and she spun to face him. “Like father like daughter, hey?” It made the breath stick in her throat a little. Because she didn’t know what he’d been like, did she? Had he been the chatty sort? For a moment, she wanted to ask Mike what he meant by that—how, exactly, was she like her father? But she couldn’t bring herself to. She wasn’t sure what the right answer would be. She didn’t want to be like him—didn’t want to be the type of person to leave a family like that, to miss birthdays and break promises. But he was gone now. It hit her occasionally, for the briefest of seconds. He was gone, and she’d never see him again. So did she want a small part of her to be like him? She honestly didn’t know.

Mike saved her from having to think of a response, in any case, by carrying on, talking to those in their group who were nearest. “Now, who wants to have a look at the wish fountain? A wish made during the Fête du Citron”—he put on a cringeworthy French accent to pronounce the festival’s name—“is twice as likely to come true, so they say.”

“You should ask Lexie—she’s big on wishes.”

Lexie glanced at Theo as he came to stand next to her, hands in his jeans pockets, casual as you like. So—he hadn’t forgotten about the wish jar, then.

Instead of ignoring him this time, she cocked her head as she turned to look at him fully. “Sure, I’ve got a few wishes I’d like to make about you right now, in fact.”

He raised one eyebrow. “Spending time wishing about me now, are you?”

“Oh, Theo.” She batted her eyelids. “I don’t think you could handle knowing the things I wish for.”

It got a surprised laugh out of him, one that softened his features, easing out the sometimes harsh lines of his face. Point Lexie?

Mike had walked away toward the wish fountain, taking a few people with him. Lexie headed in the direction of the stalls, taking her time to browse the lemon soaps, before hitting a stall that was all lemon sweets and deciding to buy some for herself.

“Saw you talking to Lucy Caraway.”

Lexie jolted a little as she glanced over her shoulder. She hadn’t realized Theo had followed her, all stealth-like. “Huh?”

“Lucy. The nervous redhead. Thirty-three, first time traveling alone. Usually goes for an all-inclusive beach holiday.”

“You memorize that, did you?”

He just waited.

“Yes, I was talking to her. Are you going to make me feel bad for that now, too?”

“No, I just…” He pulled a hand through his dark hair. “I tried to talk to her a bit yesterday, because I knew from her profile that she’d probably be a bit worried, but she was on edge the whole time. But you had her laughing and looking like she was starting to actually enjoy the holiday.”

Lexie gave Theo a deliberate look. “Well, you do have your whole evil villain face down to a tee. Maybe you should work on that if you want people to relax around you.”

“Oh, I save that face just for you, don’t worry.”

“Flattered, I’m sure.”

Theo huffed out an impatient breath. “I’m trying to give you a compliment here.”

Lexie raised both eyebrows. “Are you?”

She wasn’t sure if he’d heard—he was looking over her shoulder, at where Mike and the others were clustered around the fountain. “Mike’s right, you know. Your dad was good at it too—chatting to people, making them feel welcome right away, like part of the gang. It just came naturally to him, you know?”

Lexie studied the side of his face—his dark eyes had turned unfocused, like he was looking beyond what was in front of him. Or looking back into a memory. It hit her again—the fact that he knew Richard so much better than she did. He’d only known her father for five years, but here he was, making comments about what he was like, when all she had were hazy memories or a sense of anger after more recent encounters. She looked back toward the stalls, not wanting to delve too much deeper into that thought right now.

“Anyway.” Theo’s voice was more businesslike when he spoke again. “It sounded like you know a bit about the festival already. You been before or something?”

“No. I just did my research. You know, shockingly enough, given you seem to think I have the intelligence of an eight-year-old, I actually can look things up online and read them.” She kept her voice wry and light, enough so that he knew she was joking. Mainly joking.

He let out a fake gasp. “No! Not both, surely.”