A Hero’s Christmas Hope: Holidays in Heart Falls: Book 3

Home > Romance > A Hero’s Christmas Hope: Holidays in Heart Falls: Book 3 > Page 9
A Hero’s Christmas Hope: Holidays in Heart Falls: Book 3 Page 9

by Arend, Vivian


  It was a far happier leaving than expected.

  Madison waited until they were back on the main road before she started talking. “Your parents are wonderful. Your mom’s cooking is fantastic, and they seem to be really happy in their home. And your Dad looks like he’s doing okay.”

  “He is. He just needs to monitor things.” Ryan started mentally going through the rest of the evening, which wouldn’t officially start until they showed up at Rough Cut.

  “You okay to do some brainstorming while we drive?” Madison asked.

  “Sure. About what?”

  Of course, she started with the bomb. “What was that about? Talia not wanting a birthday party? Her birthday is on Christmas Day. When do you usually celebrate?”

  “She gets a birthday cake on the twenty-fifth, but we usually have a party the week before, depending on when school is out for the holiday break.” Ryan shrugged. “I really have no idea what’s going on. Last week she was making noises about wanting a sleepover, so this idea of no party? We’ll figure that out when she’s home on Sunday.”

  “Just remember I’m available to help with whatever,” Madison said. She changed topics completely. “I have an idea for your fundraiser.”

  Ryan blinked. “Okay.”

  “It also means that Talia and her friends will get to do their dance recital.” Madison twisted to face him, adjusting the seat belt so that it would still work. “I talked to Charity, and that part is just fine.”

  Ryan shook his head slightly. “You still have only one speed, don’t you? Full-out engaged.”

  “Yep,” Madison agreed. “Do you know The Nutcracker?”

  For a second, he was lost until he realized she was talking about the ballet. He made a face. “Not personally.”

  “Perfect. Now, you know how at some country fairs, you pay money to try and drop people into the dunk tank?”

  What was she up to? “Yes, but it’s currently December in Alberta. I don’t think hypothermia is a good thing to play with.”

  “It’s the other part I’m thinking about. The bit where people are willing to pay money to watch somebody do something uncomfortable. In this case, I’m not talking about getting dumped into water but having to go up on a stage.”

  “Go on.” Because even if it came to nothing, watching Madison’s brain at work was a beautiful thing.

  She leaned against the dashboard and grinned before sitting back. “Okay, so I can’t take full credit for this, because one of my brothers was involved in a wacky Nutcracker performance years ago, and I thought it was pretty smart.”

  “I don’t know the story of the Nutcracker,” Ryan warned her.

  “That’s good. Because this is going to be nothing like the usual version,” she said with a laugh. “The idea is we have an outline of a story, and different people perform each scene. Which means zero group practices and a very simple performance day. I’ll explain the logistics later, but what we need to do is come up with a variation on The Nutcracker that’s going to work for your community.”

  “I thought The Nutcracker was very traditional.”

  Madison shrugged. “For some people, sure. For us, we should do what’s going to work best. Which means we come up with some great scenes that you would absolutely put down money to get one of your friends to star in. For example, how much would you pay to see Brad Ford pretend to be a daisy blowing in the breeze?”

  A snort escaped before Ryan could stop it. “Dear God. Where do I sign up to put my twenty bucks?”

  Madison rubbed her hands together. “See? Now you’re getting the swing of it. Let me worry about the details, but let’s brainstorm for a minute.”

  “For your nontraditional Nutcracker story?”

  “Definitely. Here’s a very, very basic outline that I want to mess up—and there are a million variations on this plot already. This is just the one I think will work the best for us.”

  He didn’t say anything while she went through a list that included magical dolls, a Nutcracker, and toy soldiers, but when she mentioned a Mouse King, he finally had something to suggest. “If you want this to be properly local, it’s not a mouse as the villain, it’s a rat.”

  Her smile bloomed. “You’re right. There are no rats in Alberta.”

  “And if anyone is going to fight a Rat King, it should be the rat patrol.”

  Madison pulled a notebook out of somewhere and was eagerly taking down notes. “Keep going. After they defeat the Rat King, the soldier turns into a handsome prince and takes them to the land of sweets. That’s where the girls will be dancing.”

  “The rat patrol wouldn’t go to the land of sweets,” Ryan said with a laugh. “They’d probably go to a magical barn.”

  She whooped and wrote it down. “Perfect. Which means instead of having dancing candies, we’re going to have dancing barn animals.”

  “Dear God, my friends are going to kill us. This is amazing,” Ryan said happily.

  “You don’t have to sound so delighted,” Madison said, but she was laughing as well.

  “Trust me, this is a good thing,” Ryan assured her.

  “Tell me.” Her tone was a lot more serious for a moment. “Do you think your friends would be willing? Not just to put up money, but to actually perform if somebody ponies up the money under their name?”

  Ryan thought about it for a moment and nodded briskly. “I think most of them will push to the front of the line to volunteer.”

  She looked delighted. “Then I will get things together, and we can start with a volunteer sign-up list tomorrow during the Christmas hamper event.”

  He reached across and grabbed her hand, squeezing tight. “You come up with this stuff all the time and make it look so easy. But I’m really glad you’ve put your creative energy toward something that’s going to make a difference in my hometown. Thank you.”

  She looked surprised for a moment. “Of course. You’re welcome.”

  The last part of the trip passed quickly as Madison continued to toss out ideas, Ryan responding. By the time they pulled into the parking lot outside Rough Cut, Madison was putting the finishing touches on her first draft for the performance.

  In the parking lot before they headed inside, Ryan was astonished when Madison cut him off. She wrapped her arms around him, smiling up at him with delight written all over her face. “I had so much fun. Thank you.”

  She hugged him, a huge squeeze of her arms around his torso, her face pressed against his chest.

  Ryan held on and soaked it in. “I had fun, too.”

  He had, and it was the truth, but there was another truth rising. As his nose brushed strands of her hair, the scent of her shampoo and unique fragrance from her skin stirred something inside. There were layers between them—so many layers, because it was a cold December day, which meant clothes and coats and scarves.

  He shouldn’t be so utterly aware of her as a woman.

  In his arms. Soft yet strong.

  She gave a final squeeze before easing back and kissing him. A firm press of her lips against his cheek before she released him completely and headed to the door.

  Oblivious to the fact she’d just detonated a bomb somewhere in his core.

  Somehow Ryan made his feet move. Stumbled after her without falling over, because his body didn’t seem to be functioning properly. His cheek tingled, and his legs were unsteady—

  Other parts of his anatomy had reacted as well, and that just wasn’t right. The cold day, all the clothing, all the rest of it. It was like two snowmen making contact, and yet…

  Ryan took a deep breath, and the cutting edge of winter chill raced down his throat and into his lungs, harsh enough to make him cough. Make him tense up from physical pain instead of the sensual arousal of his body.

  No. They’d just spent an hour and a half talking about dancing cows, for fuck’s sake. He was not going to let this inexplicably erratic lust that kept striking out of the blue ruin their relationship.

  Ryan foll
owed Madison into the bar, making himself as cold inside as possible. Best friends. They were best friends. Period.

  His body ached, and his brain offered up a hundred different excuses why getting involved was actually a good idea.

  Good thing he had a job to do.

  9

  Things turned around pretty quickly once Ryan threw himself wholeheartedly into pub work as a distraction. It helped that Madison got hauled off by Grace to assist behind the bar as the evening turned into one of their busiest in recent history.

  After staying up until two a.m., both he and Madison slept in late on Saturday morning.

  Ryan managed to wake up before her, which was a good thing on many fronts. First, it let him go for a run and get some stretching in, which always helped him find a peaceful center. The attraction he felt made all kinds of sense. Madison was a beautiful woman, and now that he’d started to think about dating, it was only logical that his long-denied sexual urges would start to rise to the surface.

  Knowing the sparks when he looked at her were natural meant he could give the urges a nod yet keep his damn hands to himself.

  The more important thing he needed to do before Madison woke up was find a way to stash the ugly holiday sweater where she would find it. Because it had been a few days since she’d ensnared him, she should no longer be as cautious. He could hardly wait for it to be her turn to have to wear it out in public.

  He was back on the floor of the living room, leaning over his outstretched leg when she shuffled into the room. Neon-green socks on her feet this time, Madison yawned and stretched. Her sweatshirt rode up, revealing a line of bare stomach, and a hard thump registered somewhere near his groin.

  Ignoring the hormones racing through him, Ryan grinned. “You were a lot more tired than I expected.”

  She checked the coffee machine. “I haven’t been on a late-night routine for a while. Is this ready to turn on?”

  “Yep. Just hit start.” He pondered her comment for a moment. “How have you been working at the bar without staying up late?”

  Madison twisted and leaned back on the counter as the coffee machine began making bubbling noises beside her. She yawned again, arching her back, and her sweatshirt stretched across her breasts. “I haven’t actually worked at the bar since September.”

  Okay.

  Ryan got to his feet and approached Madison, ignoring the urge to examine every inch of her. If he’d finally managed to get her to start talking, he was going to roll with it. “Maddy. Without breaking your NDA, can you tell me a little more? Are you okay? How on earth could you not have worked since September and still be financially fine?”

  The scent of coffee drifted on the air. A fan buzzed somewhere in the back rooms of his house, but it was the slow intake of breath and the even slower exhale that he heard in minute detail. It was her nibbling on her bottom lip as she fought to figure out what to share.

  Screw this. Ryan tugged her into his arms and held her close. Her body was tight for a moment, shoulders rigid, spine straight. He rubbed a hand up and down her back and made shushing noises until she relaxed just the slightest bit, leaning against him harder and taking a deep breath. He spoke quietly, as reassuringly as he could. “I’m not trying to make things more stressful. Just tell me this. Whatever the hell is going on, is it a good thing?”

  She buried her face against his neck, humming as if happy. “It’s good. Really, don’t worry about me. That damn NDA.”

  They just stood there, holding each other, until the coffee gurgled its final offering into the pot.

  Ryan was pleased that it was all about comfort right then. Nothing sexual distracted him from being able to give a moment of support to his good friend.

  Madison patted his shoulder then pushed him back a bit. “As soon as I can tell you, I will. I swear.”

  “I’m glad. Because I want to know,” Ryan said.

  Mischief in her eyes, Madison tilted her head toward the cupboard. “You get the cups. I’ll get the cream.”

  He opened the cabinet door to discover a new set of misshapen coffee mugs. A herd of zombie snowmen, partially melted and with terrible expressions on their faces. “Maddy.”

  “Merry Christmas,” she said with a grin, tugging open the fridge without looking. A second later she let out a shriek. “Ryan Xavier Zhao.”

  He couldn’t keep a straight face. Not when she reached in and pulled out the sweater. He’d strategically rolled it up so the Christmas decoration with the reindeer sticking out its tongue was front and center. “Merry Christmas,” he repeated back to her.

  They stood there with their wacky holiday items in their hands, grinning at each other, and Ryan couldn’t have been happier.

  Except, he corrected himself, when she walked out of her guest room hours later, prepared to head to the Christmas hamper event, wearing the sweater.

  “Payback is so sweet,” he informed her.

  She’d braided her hair so that pigtails fell on either side of her head, and she wore a jaunty Santa hat. The faintest hint of a bright-yellow T-shirt showed under the gaudy cardigan, and instead of her jeans, she wore stretchy yoga pants that fit her very nicely.

  Very nicely.

  Ryan deliberately focused on the bright-yellow socks that matched the T-shirt. “If you fall headfirst into a snowbank, we’ll be able to find you.”

  “Only if I kick off my boots,” Madison said with a laugh. “Come on. I’m ready to make my fashion debut.”

  Grace was already at the bar, and so was Rose. The two of them were busy assembling boxes and taping the bottoms firmly in position.

  Ryan took Madison’s coat and went to hang it up with his own. “Let me know what I need to get ready,” he said to Rose as he passed.

  “Everything’s lined up, you just need to put the boxes we prepped the other day on the tables according to the labels,” Rose told him.

  He had just grabbed the first box when he spotted Madison. She’d paused beside the ladies and was holding out a hand to Rose.

  “Hi. We haven’t officially met yet, although I did see you at the coffee shop yesterday. I’m Madison.”

  “Nice to meet you. Rose Fields.”

  “Sorry,” Ryan said as he hurried back. “I keep forgetting you don’t know everybody,” he said to Madison.

  “By the end of the night, everybody will know her,” Grace muttered. She used a finger to circle as she pointed at Madison. “That’s the kind of outfit that gets people talking.”

  Madison laughed as she twirled in a circle. “It’s an old tradition that I decided to re-inflict on Ryan. But as you see, what goes around, comes around.”

  Rose was eyeing him with the oddest expression on her face.

  They’d held most of their meetings over the past years at Buns and Roses, and he’d always found her to be both quiet and efficient. He enjoyed working with her on the community hamper projects. She was a little too quiet in some ways, though. Too much like him in that they could drift off into their own thoughts.

  “I remember somebody else wearing hideous sweaters last year,” Rose said suddenly. “And I seem to remember that it was Ryan’s fault.”

  “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” he offered before pointing to the corner. “Oh, look, boxes for me to tote.”

  The women all laughed as he moved off with a grin.

  Madison fit in comfortably with any group. It was clear not only as she chipped in and helped him finish prepping the room but as people arrived, voices rising and mixing with the Christmas music he’d put on in the background. Madison greeted people, explained the routine for loading hampers. Explained the ugly sweater a dozen times with amazing good humour.

  Someone had brought Christmas cookies, and someone else had apple cider, and soon the entire place smelled like Christmas.

  Brooke and Mack arrived. Ryan came forward to greet his friends. “I wondered if you’d gotten an emergency callout.”

  Mack shook his head. “Not me. Br
ooke had another tow truck job at the last minute.”

  “Nothing serious,” Brooke assured Ryan as she pushed off her heavy winter coat and turned to face him.

  Ryan got a glimpse of what she was wearing and coughed.

  He glanced at Mack to discover his friend had removed his outerwear and now stood next to Brooke, arm around her so it was impossible to miss how glaringly hideous their outfits were.

  Mack grinned. “Nothing to say?”

  “You guys are hysterical,” Ryan said dryly.

  Brooke gestured to the lights poking out of her sweater, obviously proud as she then pushed a button along the hemline and the LEDs started flashing merrily. “Well, last year you insisted we were supposed to dress up in our finest festive wear. You didn’t announce a change of dress code, so, voila.”

  Her sweater was a Christmas tree, fully decorated, including the lights that were leaving bright spots on his retinas. Mack’s sweater was slightly tamer, with small boxes tied to the surface everywhere.

  “This is awesome.” Madison said, stepping up behind Ryan to stare happily at Brooke and Mack. She bumped her hip against Ryan’s. “You have very cool friends.”

  Brooke shook her head in amazement as she realized Madison was now wearing the sweater Ryan had worn at the fire hall. She looked up at Madison. “Does this mean he hid the sweater and you found it?”

  “Get used to seeing this thing,” Madison warned happily. “We have not yet concluded the challenge.”

  Mack frowned for a moment. “Does this mean we might end up seeing Ryan wearing it in the middle of summer? Because I’m not sure I’m okay with that.”

  Ryan shook his head. “Rules of the challenge say December only. I tried to convince her we should stop as of Christmas Day, but Madison mentioned something about Ukrainian Christmas, and it was easier to compromise and say nothing outside December.”

  “Good to know.” Brooke gave Mack a final squeeze then stepped aside, moving toward Madison. “Let’s get started so you and I can resume chatting. We have to be done before six o’clock. Is that right?”

 

‹ Prev