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Yet, the way she moved, the way she trapped her lips in her teeth, the way her gloves settled on her skin making me imagine the softness of her hands beneath them, captivated me. Every one of my internal arguments drifted, caught like a leaf in the wind.
The last time she and I had spoken, I hadn’t been on my best behavior. What was she doing here now?
Considering the last thing Junie said to me, Junie didn’t have something to do with this—with Grace waltzing in here—did she? I never should have told Junie that Grace and I heard the stupid radio play.
“Hey, there,” Grace said.
Even the sweet tone of her voice plucked at one of the strings knotting in my chest, threatening to unravel me. I knew I should apologize for practically biting her head off after she’d dropped the box she’d brought. Slipping and falling wasn’t her fault.
I’d just been on edge.
For years.
I grunted and thrusted the pitchfork into the straw again. She was a guest. I could be civil to guests.
But being civil felt like the promise of something more than just cordiality. Why did a smile and a kind word feel like I was letting down the drawbridge guarding my defenses?
“Can I help you with something?” I asked.
She caught her bottom lip in her teeth again. She had a beautiful mouth. With effort, I tore my gaze from it and met her eyes—but that wasn’t much better.
They were piercingly blue, stunning and filled with a twinkle I couldn’t put a name to and that reconnected a dislocated fuse inside of me, making it spark.
“My plans have changed, and it looks like I won’t be able to stay through Christmas after all. I’m headed home tomorrow.”
I shouldn’t care about her plans. I shouldn’t ask more about her.
Why did I want to so badly?
“Yeah?” I said, prodding her since, caveman that I apparently was in this moment, I couldn’t manage much else.
Her fingers laced together. “I know I’m not on your schedule or anything—and I couldn’t find the other driver to ask?—”
Oh, no.
She wasn’t.
“So anyway, it’s just you left here, I guess. Do you mind squeezing in one more ride tonight before I have to leave? With me?”
My pulse picked up speed. Yep. She was.
My expression must have been gruff because she raised her hands and hurried to add. “Notwithme. I meanforme. I mean, you drive the sleigh, and I ride in it. Too. With you.”
She winced.
Meanwhile, my head was spinning. Excuses began filing in one by one. I had too many rides on the docket thanks to these few that Junie just added to my plate. I figured I could fit those in before I packed it in for the day tomorrow morning.
It was almost sundown. That was another problem. Once I was finished here, I’d saddle up Hazelnut and head for home.
Not to mention that the large sleigh wouldn’t work for just the two of us—which meant we’d have to take the smaller one.
The one where I satbesideher as I drove.
That was the biggest motive to say no to this—but for some reason, it also had the most pull over me. Much as I didn’t want to spend that time with her, I also had the gift I’d gotten and an apology to make, and this could be the perfect opportunity.
“What changed?” I found myself asking.
“It’s my mom,” she said with a sigh. “She’s pretty insistent I go home. There’s a guy coming to meet me for Christmas, I guess. And my sister living across the country is coming home last minute. I haven’t met her new baby yet, and this might be the only chance for a while.”
