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Lucy had a shower, got dressed and packed her bag. She went into the kitchen and found Chip with his hand in the tin of gingerbread she’d made the previous day.
“Caught me.” He chuckled. “I just can’t resist this stuff.”
“I’ll make you a batch of your very own if you’ll drive me back to the B&B right now.”
Chip frowned. “You and Caleb fighting or something?”
“Not at all. I just need to get back for the generator repair guy. I already told Caleb.” Lucy slipped the lie into the middle of the sentence and hoped Chip wouldn’t notice. “I’ll call if I need to come back.”
“Okay, then.” Chip nodded. “I’ll just get my keys.”
Ten minutes later they were exiting the ranch at the county gate, and she was trying not to cry, which was stupid because she’d been given everything she’d ever dreamed about. Caleb was going back to Seattle with his relationship with his father on a way better footing, and his business was about to expand, and probably make him filthy rich. If anyone had asked her what she wanted for him for Christmas, then all the items on her list had been checked off.
“What time is the guy coming to do the repair?” Chip asked. “If it won’t take long, I could hang around town and take you back out to the ranch.”
“I have no idea,” Lucy said quickly. This was why she tried not to lie. Everything got way too complicated. “That’s very kind of you, but it could be hours.”
“Okey dokey, then.” He whistled a tune as they turned onto the county road, which was in a much better state than it had been the day before. Lucy kept up a bright stream of chatter as they made their way into town. Chip was easy company and he seemed to have accepted her choice to leave without too many questions.
He pulled up in the driveway of the B&B and smiled at Lucy. “Home sweet home!”
She looked out at the white painted Victorian with its wide porch and stained-glass panels in the front door and nodded, her throat tight. Even if times were hard, she’d keep going to save her grandmother’s legacy and make new memories for herself.
“Thank you, Chip.” She got out of the truck while he retrieved her bag from the back seat. “I’ll get baking those cookies as soon as the generator is back on.”
“No worries.” Chip winked at her. “Now, hurry on back. Caleb will be missing you.”
She managed to keep smiling as she disabled the alarm and let herself back into the house. To her relief, the secondary generator was doing its job as the freezers were still working, the kitchen light was on, and the woodstove was throwing out heat. Lucy set the kettle on the range and sat at the table as her thoughts went in circles. Had she made the correct decision to leave? If Caleb had come right out and asked her to move to Seattle with him, what would she have done? She loved him. She always had, and the thought of being with him was precious.
She hoped he wouldn’t ask her to make that choice, and leaving before he did still made sense. They’d both gained something from their time together and she wished him nothing but the best. She plugged her phone into the charger and turned it off just in case he tried to call her. She had plenty of extra sweaters in her closet, so she wouldn’t be cold. Right now, she just wanted to curl up, maybe cry a little, and then take a long nap. Everything would look better after that . . . it always did.
* * *
Caleb looked up as Chip’s truck rolled to a stop in front of the barn and the man himself got out.
“Where’ve you been?”
Chip raised an eyebrow. “Just dropping Miss Lucy back at the B&B to wait for the repair guy.”
“What?”
“She said she’d told you.”
“That the guy had rescheduled?”
“Nope, that she was leaving.” Chip scratched his head. “Oh, good lord. Don’t tell me you didn’t know.”
“I—” Caleb got out his phone. There was nothing from Lucy to confirm what Chip had just said, which meant she’d left him. His heart sank to his boots. “Dammit!”
“Something wrong, young fella?”
“Yeah, but it’s all my fault.” Inwardly Caleb berated himself as he typed a message to Lucy. By raising the question of moving back to Seattle, he’d scared her enough to make her run. “Are you fighting with Miss Lucy?”
“Nope, I just put my big foot in my mouth as usual,” Caleb said grimly. “She got the wrong idea about something I said.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time an Erickson’s done that.” Chip nodded. “I mean, look at your father.”
“What have I done?” Isaiah came out of the barn and stared at them both. “Why are you standing around like you’re at a church meeting in the snow when there’s a perfectly good, warm house right there?”
