Noelle looked away and cleared her throat. “I think we’ve done all we can for tonight. Where should we put these boxes so we can get at them again?”
“There’s an unused Sunday School room down the hall. That should work.”
“That sounds like a good place,” she agreed. “I’ll repack everything and you can put them away.”
He smiled, knowing she was purposely letting him do the heavy work, as he would have insisted anyway. Maybe they weren’t so hopeless after all.
“Are you coming to the youth group meeting tomorrow night?”
“Yes. I’m trying to talk Deirdre and Drake into coming.”
“That would be nice. I think it would be good for them.”
****
Noelle was successful in bringing the two teens the next night, but only because she told them Kendra and Ryan could go to Wednesday night Kid’s Church. They were on babysitting duty again. “You’re parents work an awful lot of hours, don’t they?” she asked Deirdre.
The girl blushed and stammered, “I—I guess they do. It’s all right w-with us though.”
Drake glared at Noelle.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to imply any criticism,” she hastily apologized.
It was board games night for the youth group. At first Drake and Deirdre hung back and were reluctant to join in. Noelle saw Nick say something to a small group of kids, and they immediately came over and invited twins to join in their game. They went reluctantly, but before long they began to have fun. By the time the game boards were put away, Deirdre was chatting and laughing with a couple of other girls. Drake was sitting with a group of guys. He wasn’t exactly joining in the conversation, but he was listening and had lost his habitual scowl.
The meeting ended with a few songs and a prayer. Nick made an announcement about Christmas caroling, and Noelle remembered how much he’d always enjoyed that event. Then it was time for snacks. As the teenagers milled around the snack table, Nick came to stand by her. “It was a good idea to invite them.”
“Thanks. I think they take a lot of responsibility in their family. I’m glad to see them having fun.”
“Drake seems like a good kid.”
“He is, but he seems angry a lot of the time. Maybe that’s just teen angst.”
“Maybe. I’ve been thinking of hiring someone to help me out on the farm. Do you think he’d be interested?”
“Sure. You should ask him,”
As everyone was preparing to leave, Nick approached Drake about a job. He gratefully accepted, and they agreed to meet and discuss the details after school the next day.
Deirdre looked at Noelle, her eyes shining. “Thank you so much Noelle. I know Drake would never have gotten this job without you.”
“I’m sure Nick would have hired him without my recommendation.”
“Maybe, but we wouldn’t have met Nick if it weren’t for you. And we wouldn’t have come tonight if you hadn’t invited us.”
“I’m glad you came. It looked like you made some friends.”
Deirdre shrugged. “M-maybe. We had fun anyway.”
“Come again, any time,” Noelle urged.
Nick And Noelle
Chapter Four
On the Monday of Thanksgiving week, Uncle Larry hung up the kitchen phone and turned to Nick, who was washing the dishes. “That was Gladys Granton.”
“Oh, what did she want?”
“She invited us to Thanksgiving dinner. I said yes. It’s bound to be better than ours.”
“What, you don’t like the way I prepare frozen pizza anymore?” Nick chuckled.
“No offense Nick, but between the two of us, we’d burn water. I’d rather go to Gladys’s house.”
Nick shrugged. “Sounds fine to me. Who else will be there?”
“Noelle, of course. Jake and his family can’t make it, but Natalie and her family will be there.”
Nick would have preferred Noelle’s brother over her sister, Natalie. She was a bit of a busybody. Still, Larry was right, it was better than anything they’d make for Thanksgiving. Nick loved his uncle, and appreciated all that Larry had done for him, but one thing he hadn’t been able to do, was teach Nick any of the domestic arts. The farm house hadn’t had anything remotely reminiscent of a feminine touch since his mom had passed away.
Larry was being unnaturally silent. Nick glanced at him as he rinsed plates. He seemed lost in thought. This was definitely uncharted territory for Larry. “What’s up,” He asked his uncle.
“Gladys is a bit upset about Noelle.”
Nick set down the pan he was about to scrub. “Oh, what’s Noelle doing?”
“It seems she’s putting in a lot of hours at that new store of hers. Plus, she’s still fussing over her mom like she’s been since the heart attack. Gladys says Noelle is exhausted.”
Nick remembered her insistence that everything in the store had to be perfect. He shook his head. The woman was crazy. She was going to hurt herself and that would hurt Gladys. Someone had to show her that. He decided he was going to be the one to do it. Who else was there? Gladys certainly wouldn’t.
Deciding not to put it off, he stopped at the store first thing the next morning. He noted briefly that grey clouds were building in the sky. It looked like the first snow of the season wasn’t far away.
The door was unlocked, so he walked right in. Noelle was standing with her back to him. When she heard the door close she whirled around, her blue eyes wide.
“What is it?” he asked.
She pointed to the floor where the porcelain angel Kendra had admired lay in pieces.
“So? We’ll get a broom and sweep it up.”
“No, Nick. You don’t understand. When I got here this morning the door was unlocked. The angel was like this when I came in. Someone was in the store last night.”
“You mean someone broke in?”
She nodded. As the idea sunk in, Nick’s gut twisted with emotion. He was angry that anyone would do this, relieved that Noelle hadn’t been there when it happened, and worried for her future safety. But stronger than all these emotions was the need to take care of her, to protect her.
“I’m calling the police,” he said.
“No, it’s my store. I’ll do it.”
“You’ve had a shock. Let me call the police while you sit down.”
“If you think I’m going to faint or something, forget about it, Nick. I’m calling the police.” With that, she flipped open her cell phone and began pressing buttons.
“You have the number memorized?” he asked.
“No, but I have it in my contacts.”
While she placed the call, Nick began to prowl around the store, looking for other signs of a break-in.
Noelle looked up from her phone. “Don’t touch anything,” she called to him.
“I know.” Did she think he was stupid? Anyone who’d ever watched a television crime drama knew better than to touch anything at a crime scene. Nick shoved his hands into his pockets anyway. He felt useless, and that made him even surlier.
****
Noelle eyed Nick as she waited for her call to go through and noted the tense set of his shoulders and the dark look on his face. She had a feeling he was going to be a problem, but she felt equally strongly that it would be futile to try to get him to leave.
Her hunch was right. He was a pain during the police interview. He tried to answer every question for her, until the officer, who seemed to think Nick was her boyfriend, asked him to stop.
By the time the police left, she had had just about enough. She stood by the door that the police officer had just left by, waiting to usher him out. “Thank you for your concern Nick,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm. “But there’s nothing else you can do here. Go home.”
“Me? Go home?” He looked incredulous.
“That’s what I said.”
“A break in is a traumatic event. You’re the one who should go home. You should take it easy today.”<
br />
That did it. The break in had scared her, more than she cared to admit, but being treated like a helpless bubble brain only made it worse. The fragile control she’d been holding onto shattered. “I’m not some swooning Gothic heroine,” she screamed. “I am a fully capable adult, and this is my business. I’m going to do my work for the day. Something another business owner in this room might want to consider.”
“I would, but someone has to keep an eye on you,” he yelled back at her, leaning down until he was almost nose to nose with her. “You’re worrying your mother to death.”
Surprised, she took a step back. “What? Who told you that? I’m still taking care of her. I make her supper every night. I do all the shopping and cleaning.”
“Plus you work these insane hours. She’s worried you’re going to exhaust yourself.”
“If my mother is worried, then she should talk to me about it.”
“I bet she has, but you didn’t listen. You’re so wrapped up in this place.”
“I just want it to be a success.”
“No, you want it to be ‘perfect.’ I’ve got news for you. Nothing is perfect.”
Noelle knew she was losing it. Tears prickled her eyes, and she blinked them back. “No, but everyone expects it to be. If it isn’t, they’ll say I’m spoiled and lazy. People will think I’m a rich girl playing store. I want to be taken seriously.” Her hand flew to her mouth, too late to stop the words.
Nick looked at her strangely. She knew he was putting two and two together in his head, and would figure out this was what she’d been talking about other night at the church. She took a few steps away from him and stood looking down at the shattered angel, not wanting to see his face when he realized.
“Is that what you think?” he asked incredulously.
“No, but everyone else does. I have a good family, I have money, I have opportunities. ‘To those whom much is given, much is expected.’”
He grabbed her shoulders and turned her, forcing her to look at him. “Does that mean no one ever expected much of me?”
“Whatever you did, people praised you. If you got an A it was because you worked hard and overcame obstacles. If I got one, it was no big deal. Everyone thought that’s what I should be getting in the first place. You see, no matter what I do, I can’t beat you.”
“I never knew you felt that way,” he said quietly, dropping his hands to his sides and stepping away.
She took in several big gulps of air. She was a mess, and she knew it. She hated Nick seeing her like this. “Nick, I want you to go. I’m saying things I shouldn’t be saying. Please go now.”
He stood eyeing her with uncertainty. She realized his sense of honor demanded that he make sure she was all right before he left. “I don’t need you. I’ll be all right by myself.” Her words almost choked her.
“If you’re sure,” he said, his voice carefully unemotional, but he didn’t move.
“And don’t call my mom. If you think she’s worried about me now, you can’t imagine how much worse telling her about this will make it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Any more orders for me, your highness?”
“Your highness. Very flattering. But at least you’re finally being honest. That’s how you’ve always thought of me, and that’s why you liked beating me at everything for years. You loved to be the one to bring me down a little.” She was trying to hurt him now. She was driving him away with her words. “The only reason you were ever nice to me was for my parents’ sakes, wasn’t it, because they tried to help you. All I am to you is an obligation. Well, here’s a news flash for you. I’m all grown up, and I don’t need you to take care of me. You can put paid to that debt.”
Nick turned without another word and left the store, and the door slammed behind him. She shivered as the sharp sound echoed through the shop. She didn’t move until she heard the truck door slam and the engine start. When she knew he was gone, she sank to her knees in the midst of pieces of the porcelain angel. She felt a shard pierce her pants and cut her knee, but she didn’t care. It didn’t hurt as much as her shredded heart. She’d succeeded in driving Nick away.
It was the exact opposite of what she wanted.
****
Nick spent the day worrying about Noelle. After he’d cooled down a bit and thought about their argument, he realized she’d probably been overwhelmed by the scare she’d had. He shouldn’t have reacted to what she’d said. He shouldn’t have gotten mad and stormed out. He’d let her down.
He forced himself to stay away from the store. No doubt his presence would be unwanted. Instead he pumped Drake for information the next day. They were sitting at the table, Drake with a plate of food in front of him, Nick with a bottle of soda. Nick always insisted that Drake sit down and have something to eat before he started in on work.
“Did Deirdre say anything about a break in at Joyeux Noel?” he asked, trying to sound casual.
Drake’s mouth tightened. “Yeah, she told me.” He bit into the ham sandwich he’d made at Nick’s invitation.
“I think Noelle was pretty shaken up. She’s okay, isn’t she?”
Drake swallowed his bite of sandwich. “She’s your friend. Why are you asking me?”
Nick shrugged. “I just thought maybe you’d know.”
“All I know is, she doesn’t have to worry—and neither do you. It won’t happen again.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
Drake put down his sandwich and looked Nick in the eye. “I can’t say how, but I just know, okay.”
Nick gazed back at the teen and read sincerity in his eyes. “I don’t know how you can make that guarantee, but I’ll trust you.”
The teen lowered his gaze back to the table, but not before Nick saw the flash of pleasure in it when he said he trusted him.
“Besides, I wasn’t worried about Noelle.”
Drake seemed to find something very amusing about that. The corners of his mouth turned up. “Yeah, right.”
Nick didn’t like the way this was going. He drained the rest of the soda from the bottle in one long drink then rose from the table. “Finish up there. We have a lot of work to do.”
“Sure,” answered Drake, not even trying to hide his grin now.
Nick went outside, slamming the door behind him.
Nick And Noelle
Chapter Five
Noelle sat at her dressing table. It was Thanksgiving, and the house would soon be filled with guests—extremely annoying guests like her perpetually matchmaking sister Natalie, along with her husband and children. Worse, Gladys had invited Nick and his Uncle Larry to dinner. Noelle hadn’t seen him since their fight at the store, and she wasn’t looking forward to having their first meeting in front of her family. The weather reflected her mood. It was cold and grey with heavy clouds covering the sky, but no snow yet.
With a sigh, Noelle began putting up her hair. She wondered if she should change out of the pant suit she’d chosen, but decided not to. She’d already changed six times, and if she hadn’t made up her mind yet, it wasn’t likely to happen.
Was Nick still mad at her? Would he even talk to her today? What if the family noticed they were fighting? Noelle shook her head. Squabbling was the norm for her and Nick. But this went much deeper than their usual disagreements.
She looked into the mirror in front of her and touched her nose. He’d said it was perfect, that she was beautiful. Did he mean it or was he just trying to make her feel better. A tear trickled down her cheek, and she wiped it away. She had to stop this or she’d be putting her make up on with a paint roller to hide the damage. Nick wouldn’t think she was beautiful then.
Resolutely, Noelle blinked back her tears. No matter what Nick thought of her, she was going to apologize. It was the right thing to do. Whether he accepted her apology was his business.
She did her best to cover up the evidence of her tears, took a deep breath to gather her courage, and then went downstairs to face her fam
ily.
Things started out well. Natalie was perfectly nice and the children, Tara and Robin, were being well behaved. Even Natalie’s husband Jeff managed to tear his attention away from the football game on television long enough to exchange a few pleasantries with Noelle. Then the three women headed into the kitchen to start dinner and Natalie pounced.
She was already annoyed with Natalie when Nick and Larry arrived. Nick came into the kitchen with the store bought pies he and Larry had brought as a contribution to the dinner. He caught her eye and mouthed “we need to talk.” In spite of her good intentions to apologize, she pretended not to see. Now with Natalie scraping her nerves raw, she didn’t think she had the strength to face Nick.
“Hi Nick,” said Natalie who was happily peeling potatoes at the counter. “How are you? I haven’t seen you for ages.”
As Natalie chattered on to Nick, Noelle did her best to make herself invisible while mixing together the ingredients for cranberry punch. Maybe she succeeded too well, because Natalie decided to enlist Nick’s help in arranging Noelle’s love life.
“…and I keep telling Noelle that Scott Thomas would be perfect for her. We were friends in high school and I’m sure he’d be interested. I could arrange a date...”
“Natalie, please don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” interrupted Noelle. “I’m sure Nick is not interested in your fiendish plans for me.”
“What’s so fiendish about wanting to see you happily married?”
Noelle rolled her eyes but didn’t answer.
“It would be nice to see you settled, dear,” offered her mother.
“I am settled,” Noelle countered. “I live with my mother and own a business. That sounds settled to me.”
“That sounds pathetic to me,” said Natalie. “Doesn’t it sound pathetic to you, Nick?”
Nick looked at Noelle and she felt herself blushing under his appraisal. “I think it’s her life. She should do what she wants,” he finally answered.
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