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Sighing, she set her coffee cup on the ground. Then she walked over, stood beneath the mistletoe, and rose as high as she could, demonstrating that even the tips of her fingers didn’t reach. It probably had a little to do with the platform that had been built beneath Louis Ames’s feet. But the height was what made it so easy for everyone to step below the hand of the statue and get their kissing photos.
“I need someone slightly taller to reach up and pull it down,” Charity lowered off tiptoe and stared at him.
She needed his help…or a stepstool. The former was easier to get right now.
“People seemed to be enjoying themselves over here.” Nic gestured toward the crowd. “They might even want to come back when the ceremony is over. It became a sort of photo booth. You know, like the kind they have at weddings. They set something up, and everyone has fun snapping pictures and sharing them on social media.”
“I get it.” She nodded. “It’s good publicity. That’s why I urged Charity to put it there. I knew it would help promote our town, and the more people who visit, the better things are for my interior design business.”
She was still standing under the mistletoe, and Nic was struck with the sudden urge to walk toward her and kiss her. No, that wouldn’t be a good idea. Not at all. No matter how much this magnetic force seemed to be pulling him in that direction.
He took a couple of steps toward her and looked up. “You know, that’s one thing we never did. Three Christmases as a couple, and…”
He pointed up. He’d lowered his gaze back to her face, so he was looking right at her. He swore she was blushing.
“Illegal,” she blurted.
That took him by surprise. He blinked several times in rapid succession, then looked up at the mistletoe again. He was trying with all his might to piece together what part of this was illegal.
“Kissing under the mistletoe is illegal now?” he finally asked. If so, they’d passed some strange laws since he’d been gone. “There’s no law against it where I live. Not that I know of, anyway.”
Not that he kissed people under mistletoe all the time. That might be how it came across, though. He bit his tongue. He should just stop talking.
“Defacing this structure,” Charity said. “Apparently, the police chief is here somewhere. They think he might be cracking down on the mistletoe that’s all over town.”
Thatwouldbe a crime in a town this size. “I don’t think anybody’s going to jail over this.” He gestured toward the mistletoe again.
“That’s not the point.” She looked up. “I’ve done everything I can to make this the best tree lighting Misty Mountain has ever seen. The illegal mistletoe will tarnish all the hard work we’ve done. Especially if people start posting about it on social media.”
A bunch of people were going to post about it on social media, judging by the photo-taking he’d seen. But he couldn’t imagine anyone would hold that against the town, her, or her best friend.
“You’ve changed,” he said.
What was he doing? He needed to just grab that mistletoe, hand it to her, and get out of here. Then he’d spend the rest of the weekend holed up in his parents’ house to avoid running into her again before he left.
But it was too late to rush off. Her expression had changed.
“Of course, I’ve changed.” She crossed her arms over her chest and met his stare, unflinching. “I was a kid.”
“You were eighteen.”
“And now I’m twenty-six. There’s a big difference. I’ve lived a lot of life since the last time you saw me.”
What did that mean? Maybe she was married. If so, wouldn’t somebody have mentioned it to him?
Probably not. He still stayed in touch with some of his high school buddies, but none of them lived here anymore. Like him, as soon as they graduated, they left town for college and never looked back.
He checked out her left ring finger where it rested against her right upper arm. It was completely bare. But she’d definitely had some relationships during that time.
Jealousy surged at the thought. He had no right to be jealous, though. He’d been married, after all. Besides, it wasn’t like he expected her to put her love life on hold after their high school romance came to an abrupt end.
“I get it,” he said. “But I’m talking about the fear.” He took another step closer to her. “You always lived life on the edge. You went first when we did that zip line, remember?”
She stared at him, her expression completely unreadable. At one time, he’d been able to read her like a book. Something had changed. She didn’t wear her heart on her sleeve anymore.
“I’m still adventurous,” she said. “I just have a business to run, and I take it very seriously.”
Another step. He was too close to her now. He expected her to back up, but she didn’t. She seemed frozen to the spot.
