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“May as well give them something to talk about,” Nic said. “They’ll move on to someone else soon, I’m sure.”
“Especially with all this mistletoe hanging around.”
She gestured toward the front windshield even though there was not a sprig of mistletoe anywhere in sight. If he’d hung some from his rearview mirror, would that give them an excuse to kiss?
She found herself thinking back to the night in front of the diner when he’d kissed her more than once. It had been like old times, sneaking in kisses where they could. Part of her had screamed not to let him into her heart, but she’d kissed him anyway. At the time, she was sure he was leaving town the next morning. May as well have fun while she could.
Then he’d stuck around. And things had gotten really, really complicated.
“So is old man Jasper still running the dinner theater and buffet?” he asked.
“Nope.” She shook her head, glad for something that would get her mind off kissing him. “Lucky and Matt bought it from him. He was going to turn it into one of those…”
She waved her hand in the air in front of her, not sure what to call it. Did anyone know?
“What?” he prompted.
“Performance venue type of things,” she said, still struggling to describe it. “He was going to bring in some country music star from way back in the day to perform.”
He looked over at her. “Would that have been bad?”
“I guess it would have been.” He probably knew why that would be bad without her having to explain it, but she did anyway. “The town protested, saying it would bring the wrong people into town.” She laughed. “You know, those young troublemakers who are all into country music stars who haven’t had a hit since the nineties.”
By then, Nic was laughing too. “I’m going to have to see what kind of music this woman sang.”
“It’s exactly as you’d expect. Completely innocent. Not at all the type of music that would attract any sort of bad activity to town. I think it’s more that people around here don’t like change.”
“Yep.”
That was all he said. And the word seemed to hang in the air between them.
In the silence, Charity reviewed the conversation. Had she just given him another argument for staying far, far away from Misty Mountain? It was full of locals who fought change with everything they had?
She rushed to make up for it. “But the town is changing, whether long-timers like it or not. We have a lot of people our age, moving in and snatching up the cabins before the real estate investors buy them for vacation rentals. They pretty much stay to themselves up there, but they’re smart guys. Probably women too, but I’ve only heard of it being a male thing.”
“It doesn’t sound so bad to me, to be honest.”
Frowning, Charity looked over at him. “What’s that?”
“Moving to a cabin up in the mountains, away from everyone. It’s what I like about working on the farm. If things start getting to me, I just hop in my truck and take off to check out what’s happening with the corn or the squash. I could spend hours walking around on the property. It’s my therapy.”
“But living alone would be a little sad,” she said. “Especially if you’re up there with no one around. You could die and nobody would even know it.”
They were nearing downtown now, which meant the playhouse would be on the left soon. But he slowed just long enough to give her a look. She knew that look.
“That’s kind of morbid, don’t you think?” he asked as he sped up again, shaking his head and chuckling. “I think I’m a few years away from keeling over.”
“I would hope so.”
She didn’t mean that as it came out. She would hope he lived a long, happy life even without her. He got that, right?
He didn’t respond, and within seconds, it was clear his mind was on other things. A long line of vehicles waited to get into the playhouse parking lot, and his gaze scanned the landscape ahead of them.
“I have an idea,” he said. “Trust me?”
Charity nodded, even though his gaze stayed fully focused on the road. Trust him. She trusted him far too much. In fact, she’d trust him with her heart if she knew he wouldn’t break it.
20
