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“North Pole, Alaska.” He looked in the direction the guy had gone, but he’d turned the corner by then, so they couldn’t see him from here. “That guy takes his Santa-ing seriously.”
That hadn’t even occurred to her. She’d be embarrassed to say what her first thought had been when she’d seen that location.
“Of course, he’s not the real Santa,” she said, laughing at the screen. Who was she trying to convince—herself or him?
“You can register a phone number in a city you don’t live in,” he said.
She was aware of that. She still couldn’t get past the fact that it actually crossed her mind that he might be Santa Claus. She definitely needed to get more sleep.
“Or maybe he moved to North Pole, Alaska, because he likes playing Santa,” she said. “Let’s go take a look at that mistletoe.”
That last suggestion was her way of changing the subject. Only as they started walking did it hit her that she’d made it sound like she was actually eager to get over to the mistletoe. And maybe, in a way she didn’t even want to admit herself, she was.
10
Seven. That was how many mistletoe bushels were in the walkable area around the town square.
Charity seemed surprised by that. Apparently, Noelle had hung more than she realized. And now they were in his truck on the way to find more.
“I don’t want to keep you out too late,” she said. “My work hours are flexible, but I’m sure you have to leave early.”
She’d climbed into his truck when he said he wanted to see the mistletoe they placed near the diner where all the high school kids hung out. There was also one near the grocery store where the locals shopped when they wanted to stay away from tourists.
“If I were going to take a woman somewhere to get romantic with her, it’d probably be up in the mountains,” Nic said.
Charity smiled, staring out the front windshield as they headed down the main road. “That was my argument. Noelle kept insisting she wants to make sure locals are the ones who see these, whether they’re seniors in high school or seniors getting a Social Security check.”
“This brings back so many memories,” Nic said.
It was a weird thing to say, considering he’d been to this diner as recently as last summer. He had met up with one of his high school buddies. Sometimes, he’d also come over to the diner and grab breakfast while he was in town, sitting at the counter and talking to the owner, Jackie, about old times. But what brought back memories was driving down this road with Charity. Everything felt right, like he was exactly where he needed to be with exactly the right person.
“Yeah, I don’t come to this area of town very often,” she said.
He flipped on his turn signal to enter the diner parking lot. No traffic was on this road right now, so he had the luxury of looking over at her.
“You never go to the diner?” he asked. “What do you do for fun?”
When she didn’t answer right away, he guessed what her response would be. She answered exactly as he expected.
“Work.” She shrugged. “I love what I do.”
She sounded like him, but he had a good reason. He’d been going through a rough time. He worked nonstop because it was all he had right now. He didn’t even have a pet.
Even though he knew he should, he had no interest in getting into the dating scene. Plus, most of the friends he’d made since moving to Lexington had been his ex’s friends. It wasn’t even taking sides—she’d just been the social butterfly between the two of them. When things didn’t work out, he’d been left on his own.
“Noelle and I will probably hang out now that she’s spending the month in town,” Charity said. “We’ll watch cheesy movies and order a pizza. I like spending time with my parents too.”
He turned into the diner parking lot and pulled into a parking space at the very end of the sidewalk, away from the windows and front door. They were parked directly in front of a bushel of mistletoe hanging from an outdoor light.
“I guess if I lived in a big city, I’d be going out every night and living some sort of exciting life,” she said. “Is it weird that it doesn’t interest me?”
He smiled. “Doesn’t really interest me, either, but I hardly live in a big city.”
“That’s what I pictured you doing, though.”
She pictured him living in a big city? Did that mean she’d thought about him enough to imagine what he might be doing now?
When he looked over at her, their eyes met, and he knew he didn’t need mistletoe to kiss her. He definitely didn’t need to stand out in the cold on a sidewalk in front of a closed diner. He could kiss her right here, right now, on the front seat of his truck, just like he’d done years ago when they were dating.
