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“We need a truck,” Matt said. “What do you drive?”
The question threw Nic off. He’d been watching people come and go from the coffee shop in a futile effort to distract his mind from memories of Charity.
Nic pointed to the left with the hand holding the coffee cup. “That truck over there.”
Matt looked in that direction. “That’s perfect.”
“Perfect?”
“Perfect for pulling one of the floats.” Matt kind of had a wince on his face as he turned back to Nic. “We’re short one truck. I saw you and I remembered the big rig you always drove around.”
His buddies always gave him a hard time about his love for gigantic trucks. His ex-wife had hated it. She was petite and struggled to step up into it and out of it when they had their occasional date nights.
“I don’t mean to put you on the spot, man,” Matt said. “And I wouldn’t if we weren’t in a pinch.”
“No problem,” Nic said. “I’d be happy to help.”
The relief in Matt’s eyes told Nic the guy was no doubt under a lot of pressure. Why he’d chosen to run for mayor was beyond Nic. It seemed like a lot of thankless job.
But he actually found himself looking forward to the parade as he headed back to his parents’ house—everyone had turned down his offer to bring back coffee—and counted down the minutes until he needed to be at the high school. He took an extra hour or so to drive to the nearest carwash, which was past the outlet mall, and cleaned his truck inside and out before coming back to shower and get ready.
Yes, he definitely put way more preparation into this than he should.
By the time he arrived at the parking lot, Nic’s heart was threatening to hammer out of his chest. There was no denying this was all about Charity Ardmore, and that was exactly who was standing in the parking lot when he pulled in. She had a clipboard pressed to her chest and was talking to a group of kids with instruments.
The parking lot was packed with floats, and most had trucks parked in front of them. He had no idea where to go, so he pulled into an empty parking space and got out to ask.
“Over there is—”
Charity stopped, mid-sentence, when she saw Nic approaching. Whatever she’d been saying escaped him. All he heard was the hammering of his heart as memories of that kiss flooded his brain.
She tilted her head slightly. “Nic?”
The kids she’d been speaking to formed their own circle, shutting her out of it. They seemed to be happy to have been set free from the conversation—whatever it had been.
“I’m here to help,” he said, hoping his voice sounded more casual than it felt.
“Help with what?” she asked, like she wasn’t standing in front of at least a dozen Christmas-decorated trailers.
He gestured. “Your parade. You need a truck, right?”
Those beautiful brown eyes widened, and he wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her again. That would be highly inappropriate, even if they weren’t surrounded by people.
So instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and looked around. “I didn’t know where to park, but I figured you’d tell me where to go.”
Her eyes narrowed then. She seemed to be studying him, probably wondering how he’d possibly known they needed a truck. Maybe even wondering why she couldn’t seem to get away from him when she’d gone a full eight years without seeing him.
“I ran into Matt this morning,” he said, deliberately choosing to leave out where he’d seen the guy. “He mentioned needing some help here.” He gestured toward the floats. “I guess I have the perfect truck for pulling something.”
Was it his imagination, or did her shoulders seem to slump a little, the tension releasing? He’d solved a big problem for her. He was her hero.
He was surprised at how good that felt. Even if it wasn’t true.
“My Santa’s a no-show.” She scanned the parking lot. “So, I was thinking about killing that float altogether. There’s nothing to pull it, no one to play Santa…”
Now Nic was the one who was relieved. If he was pulling the float, he couldn’t be the one in the Santa suit on top of it, right? This woman just might’ve been able to talk him into playing Santa if not for the truck. Nothing against playing Santa, but he wanted to look good for his ex, and parading around town in a Santa suit—literally—wasn’t the way to do that.
“You know…”
