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Calen was obviously disappointed as well, and she didn’t have to guess why. Once the undelivered mail was no longer in his possession, then people would stop bugging them about it.

“All right,” she said, “so this will be a party fraught with tension, gossip, and speculation. Oh, and the added bonus of seeing our exes.”

“Don’t forget all the holiday greetings we’ll have to hear,” he added.

“Nope, let’s not forget that. If things get too uncomfortable, just think of my smutty underwear.”

She smiled when that got him to chuckle. Mission accomplished, and she hoped the lighter mood would stay with him throughout the night.

Calen helped her into her coat, and she locked up before they went to his truck. She had a moment of fantasy déjà vu because when they’d been in high school, she’d imagined dates just like this with Calen. Of course, she hadn’t given him any signals that she was open to such dates, and if it hadn’t been for her showing him the letter she’d written all those years ago, this night might not have happened either.

The fantasy continued when the snow began to fall. Big fat flakes that drifted down like little paratroopers. Since the temps were low enough for the snow to stick, the town known for its holiday celebrations might indeed get one of those rare white Christmases.

“Nessa called,” Calen told her as he drove toward the civic center. “She wanted me to make sure you were truly okay with her coming over for Christmas dinner.”

“I am,” she assured him. “Are you?”

“I am,” he verified after a short pause. “I’m still angry at Waylon for not telling me about Nessa. It was a punch in the gut to learn she existed, but it’s not awkward like I thought it would be when I first tried to call her.”

Emmy made a sound of agreement. It hadn’t been awkward for her either. In fact, she was pretty sure Nessa and she could become fast friends.

“Despite everything Nessa’s been through,” Calen went on as he parked by the civic center, “she’s managed to stay positive. Hopeful. I think you and I lost our hopeful outlook when Owen and Sasha were caught cheating.”

She made another sound of agreement, and everything inside her went still when he looked at her. Not with the scorcher heat. No, this was something else, and if she had to put a label on it, Emmy thought it might be . . . peace. Maybe just a little anyway. If so, she was all for it since they hadn’t had a lot of peace over the past year.

“Let’s do this date,” he said, dropping a quick kiss on her mouth. Okay, so the scorcher heat was back, and even stepping out into the cold didn’t lower it.

However, stepping inside did.

That’s because every eye seemingly turned in their direction, and the party chatter stopped. In fact, everything except the music stopped, making the only sound in the grand hall the band’s overly cheery version of “Frosty the Snowman.”

“Clearly, we’ve impressed them with our choice of party attire,” Emmy whispered out of the corner of her mouth as they took off their coats and put them on the table by the door.

Calen laughed, and just like that, the tension eased in her chest. He helped ease it even more when he took her hand and led her into the crowd. They threaded their way to the bar, where he snagged two glasses of champagne.

As usual, the civic center was all decked out for the occasion in a way that only a small town like Christmas Creek could manage. Lots and lots of decorated trees, something that had caused spats over the years as various clubs, committees, and businesses vied to take charge of the decorations. In the end, it was decided that anyone could contribute a tree.

And any- and everyone had.

You couldn’t go more than five feet before encountering one, and they varied from tabletop size all the way to the twelve-footer that the mayor’s office had contributed. The bookstore’s tree was next to the fireplace, and as usual her assistant, Terry, had done an amazing job, decorating it with book ornaments and glittery holly.

There was a strong scent of pine, fir, and spruce. The décor was overwhelming, too, with some of the trees lit and tinseled from top to bottom while others had gone all blue, red, or green. The only space without a tree was the dance floor. The disco ball reigned king there, so obviously someone had managed to get it fixed. She wondered, briefly, if Owen’s butt was still stinging from his injury and then decided he wasn’t worth a single moment of her thoughts.

Little by little the chatter started again. Emmy heard murmurs about Waylon’s secret love child. More muttered remarks about how Calen and she were obviously drowning their misery with a rebound date. Still others gossiped about the letters and packages that were still in limbo.

She did a quick mental count. “Apparently, there’s more talk about us than Nessa and the mail,” Emmy remarked, sipping her champagne.

That caused Calen to smile again. A very short-lived one though, because Gladys quit whispering to her bestie, Junie, and made a beeline toward Calen and her.

The woman was wearing the same green wool dress that she wore most years, and she murmured greetings to them before she leaned in toward Calen. “I just wanted to offer my sympathy on Waylon not telling you about your sister. I didn’t know,” she assured him. “As far as I can tell, nobody in town did. He kept it quite a secret.”

“Yeah, he did,” Calen confirmed. “FYI, Waylon’s secret wasn’t Nessa’s fault. I’m hoping everybody in town will remember that.”

“Oh, folks won’t look down their noses at her, if that’s what you’re worried about. Heck, most of us know her because she shops here a lot. We just didn’t know she was your sister.” She paused. “Junie said she thought you found out about all this in one of the letters Waylon didn’t deliver.”

Calen nodded but didn’t offer any more.

“Uh, Junie said you took the mail to your house,” Gladys went on.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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