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The sound of someone calling their names caught their attention, and they both turned to see Shelley beaming at them as she walked their way. She was in a dress cut much like Mindy’s, and a man that he hadn’t met yet was walking beside her. Noah racked his brain, trying his best to remember what Mindy had said the man’s name was.
He’d heard them talk about Shelley’s husband quite a few times. Mark? Mike? Matt? And just like that, it clicked. Matthew!
It was just in time too, as the other pair reached them, and Matthew extended his hand.
“You must be Noah,” he said, shaking Noah’s hand firmly.
“I am, indeed. And you must be Matthew. I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m glad we can finally meet.”
Mindy and Shelley were standing off to the side, heads bowed together as they spoke quickly with one another before Mindy turned and gave him an apologetic smile.
“I’m sorry,” she said, giving his arm a quick squeeze. “But Valerie needs us while she’s getting ready. Do you think you’ll be all right if I disappear for a bit?”
“I’ll be fine. Go take care of your friend,” Noah assured her.
Mindy gave him a grateful smile before she and Shelley turned and disappeared farther in the house.
Matthew and Noah chatted for a few minutes, finding common ground in the fact that Matthew was a real estate agent in Snowy Pine Ridge. After a bit of real estate shop talk, Matthew was called away to help with something wedding related, and just like that, Noah was left alone inside a house filled with people that he hardly knew.
Blowing out a breath and hoping that the townspeople had mostly gotten over their early dislike of him, Noah began walking through the hallway toward the ballroom. The chairs that they’d set out two nights ago sat in rows ahead of a giant, evergreen arch before the mantelpiece. The warm lighting of the room caused the silver, gold, and red baubles to glisten as he walked past them. And he had to admit that it was the perfect setup for a Christmas wedding.
Although some people eyed him with a bit of suspicion, most of them nodded and gave him friendly waves as he made his way through the crowd, and he spotted a bar that had been set up in the far corner of the massive room and made his way over to it.
The bartender greeted him the moment he walked up, and he ordered a bourbon, neat. It didn’t take long before the drink was in his hand, and he swirled the amber liquid in the glass, turning to face the crowd around him.
More people arrived, all of them funneling into the main room as they waited for the wedding to begin. He looked around him, wondering if there was a corner that he could escape to while he waited for Mindy to return, one that would allow him to fade into the background and not feel like the crowd was pressing in on him.
Spotting a gap in the people, Noah made his way toward it. Leaning his back against the wall, he sipped his drink, trying not to feel like an outsider. He could tell the people of Snowy Pine Ridge still didn’t totally trust him—at least, not the ones who didn’t know him—and he couldn’t entirely blame them.
The very first impression that anyone had had of him was him pitching an idea that would change their entire town. Which was something he had been entirely convinced of when he’d first arrived but was now something he wasn’t so sure of.
“Not a fan of crowds?”
A voice broke through his thoughts, and he glanced to one side to find Rudolph standing next to him. The old man had been in and out of St. Nick’s Place to help decorate over the last week and a half, and he and Noah had interacted a handful of times.
He found that he liked the old man’s gruff personality, and the way that he always told the truth, even when it might not be what everyone wanted to hear.
“Not really,” Noah answered honestly, shaking his head as he gave the old man a wry smile. “Plus, I think pretty much everyone in town is still wary around me.”
“Can’t really blame ’em though, can you?” Rudolph asked, giving him a pointed look, and Noah shrugged his confirmation. “Where’s Mindy?”
“She and some of her friends are in the back helping Valerie get ready.”
At the mention of the movie star’s name, something in the old man’s expression shifted. His eyes went softer, and some of the hardness in his lined face ebbed away.
“I’m glad they’re back there with her,” he said, and Noah could hear the wistfulness in the old man’s voice.
“Mindy seems to have carved out a good group of friends for herself,” he said. “And I know it means a lot to her to be involved in Valerie’s big day.”
“Means a lot to all of us.” The other man harrumphed, a small smile tugging up the corner of his lips. “Want some advice from an old grump of a man?”
He turned to look at Noah, who wasn’t entirely sure what to say. Rudolph ended up taking his silence as confirmation that it was okay to move forward, and he began speaking again a moment later.
“Don’t let this time get away from you,” Rudolph said, and Noah couldn’t help but notice that his voice cracked a little as he spoke. “Don’t let your own fear make you close yourself off from the things you want. And especially don’t let it close you off from love. Because one day you’ll blink, and it’ll all be gone. You’ll be in your seventies, alone, and with no idea how you got there.”
Noah watched the old man’s face, noting the heaviness in his expression and the regret that lingered in the depths of his eyes. He nodded, not sure what to say but feeling the impact of Rudolph’s statement nonetheless.
Rudolph gave a satisfied grunt, and the two of them fell into silence, gazing out at the crowd together.
