Christmas in a Small Town

by Kristina Knight

  He didn’t know what to do with that. No one outside his family had ever said those words to him. He’d never been tempted to say those words to a woman, but saying them in the middle of sex seemed like cheating.

  Levi didn’t want to cheat Camden—or himself—out of the moment, and so he held her in his arms while she slept, contemplating how this had all happened so fast. She hadn’t been back in Slippery Rock for a month yet, and he’d gone from being entranced by her to mistrusting her to being unable not to kiss her to being in a pretend relationship that had very quickly turned into a real one. They were still getting to know one another.

  Grant of the Khaki Pants was still coming around, although Levi figured that without Camden’s mother on Grant’s side, that play for reconciliation was likely over.

  Maybe it was okay for this to be going so fast. What was it that Mama Hazel had told him? Love happens when you least expect it and so fast you can’t believe it. That seemed true in this case.

  Levi let his eyes drift shut. He would tell Camden, but he wanted to make it special, to give her a true memory, as corny as that sounded.

  Adam had filled Jenny’s backyard with pictures of their life together a few months before.

  James had handcuffed himself to Mara in the back of a police cruiser.

  Collin had stood beside Savannah when her whole world was crumbling.

  He had to figure out what kind of gesture Camden needed, and that would be how he told her he loved her. And in the meantime, he would hold on to her so tightly, she would never feel alone.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “DO WE KNOW why Thom called this meeting?” Camden asked.

  “I have no clue,” Julia said. She held up the phone. “I got the same group text everyone else did. ‘Mandatory meeting, three p.m.’”

  Town hall was once again filled with residents and business owners, but instead of the usual Monday meeting to run down the final preparations before Christmas, Thom had called this meeting on the Sunday before.

  Maybe he’d actually managed to get a message to Kris Kringle and the original Santa was coming to Slippery Rock to ring in the holiday. Camden grinned at the thought.

  Her first Christmas season in Slippery Rock had been filled with magic, although she had only made it to a handful of events. Levi was the biggest part of that magic. She looked around the room, but he hadn’t arrived yet.

  At three Thom stood behind the podium and banged the gavel to call the meeting to order. “People,” he said, raising his voice to be heard above the voices. “We have a decision before us that could affect the entire future of Slippery Rock.”

  That sentence got the room’s attention. People stopped chatting and focused on him. Pleased to have their undivided attention, Thom continued. “As you all know, we are hoping to be the final link in the rail trail that will connect from St. Louis through Springfield, then Slippery Rock and on into Oklahoma. If completed, it would be the longest rail trail in the entire country, and it could mean a huge boost of year-round tourism to this town.”

  “I don’t think we’re going to see many hikers when the ice storms hit in January,” Merle said from the back of the room.

  “Of course, we would hope that adventure tourists would not use our trail during inclement weather. However, the trail would be run by the state. We would simply benefit from those spending money on food and supplies while traveling the trail by foot or bicycle.”

  “We know all of this, Thom,” Merle said. “What’s the deal with pulling all of us in here on a Sunday afternoon? I had to leave Juanita in charge of the bar, and who knows what kind of drinks she’ll start making for the football fans.”

  “The deal is that we had planned to use only the old railroad route. As you know, much of that land is flat, making it easily traversable. But it has come to our attention that part of the original spur, which was used during the creation of the railroad, is still in existence, and that the area with the spur would add quite the challenging section for either hikers or bikers.”

  An uneasy feeling crept into Camden’s stomach. What were the odds there would be more than one spur along the railroad tracks in Wall County? Probably slim to none. The area had been even more sparsely populated after the Civil War when the railroad went through.

  “There’s a historical railroad spur? I had no idea,” Julia said, making a note on her phone. “This is the kind of thing destination-wedding types love,” she whispered.

  Camden didn’t respond. She didn’t care about Julia’s destination-wedding business. She didn’t care about a more challenging course for those following the trail through Missouri and Oklahoma. What she cared about was the hilly, rocky area around the spur on Calvin’s land. An area that would give their dogs great real-world training before they went to working ranches all over the United States.

  Levi slipped in through the side door. “What did I miss?” he asked, reaching for Camden’s hand. She pulled away from him.

  “Thom wants to vote on putting the rail trail through the spur and not the actual tracks.”

  “Great idea, don’t you think?”

  Camden narrowed her eyes at Levi. “No, I don’t think. I wanted to use that area for dog training, or do you not remember that conversation?”

  Levi blinked as if shocked she hadn’t jumped for joy at learning her plans for the dog-school expansion were going up in smoke. “Of course I remember it. We walked through about three acres of similar terrain before reaching the spur, though.”

  “That isn’t the point,” she hissed.

  Thom turned on a presentation, pointing out the already planned route in yellow. That route cut across Harris land and then hit the northern edge of Walters land, too. Then he flipped the presentation screen and showed the alternate route in red. This time, the trail followed along a larger section of Harris land before dipping into a small corner of the national forest surrounding their land and rejoining the rail trail at the Wall County line.

  She’d told Levi just a couple of days ago that she loved him and this was how he responded? By yanking the proverbial rug out from under her plans for the future?

  “As you all know, Levi Walters has been a vocal opponent of the rail trail, fearing too much waste would be left behind, and that hikers or bikers could become lost or hurt. After talking with Levi about this new option, I have been assured he will withdraw his objections to the rail trail. Now, if there are no new objections—” Thom paused for a moment. Camden wanted to raise her hand to object, but she couldn’t.

  The land belonged to her grandfather, not to her. In her excitement over the new dogs, her plans for the future, over Levi, she hadn’t asked Calvin about doing some of the training near the spur. Even if she had, Granddad loved the idea of a hiking trail. How many times had he told her if he weren’t so tied to the dog school that he would hike the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Coast Trail? Having something similar in his backyard—there was no way Calvin Harris would vote against it.

  “With no other objections, I’ll note that the proposed changes are approved by the town, and submit them to the development crew for their decision.” Thom banged the gavel, and Camden flinched. “No other business. Go enjoy the last Sunday before Christmas,” Thom said.

  The room buzzed to life, with people talking about the new options for the trail. A few clapped Levi on the back, thanking him for voting with the town. That was the last straw for Camden.

  Levi was being celebrated for ruining her business plans.

  “I have to go,” she said to Julia, who was still making notes on her phone.

  “Sure. Call you tomorrow?”

  “Maybe,” Camden said. She stood, wanting to make a fast run for the door, but there were too many people crowded around the exit.

  Levi took her hand. “I thought you would be e
xcited. You’re getting the trail.”

  “And you’re getting rid of it,” she said. Camden pushed through the crowd until she was outside. She gulped in big breaths of cold December air, wanting to wake up from whatever ugly dream this was. No matter what she did, though, she was still here on the lawn outside town hall. Thom and the rest of the community members were flowing out the doors, talking excitedly about the probability of increased tourism and what it could mean for their businesses.

  Levi exited the building, saw her and walked quickly to her side. “I don’t know what you think I did wrong, but I was only trying to figure out a way to make the bike trail workable for everyone.”

  Camden laughed even though she didn’t find Levi’s words funny. She found them awful. She’d fallen in love with him, she’d told him she loved him. And he had yanked the life she was trying to build for herself away in a second.

  “No, you weren’t. You were trying to make it workable for you, because you didn’t want to deal with tourists hiking or bicycling near your retired, lazy-bones cattle. What did you think, that a hiker was going to be so enamored of those slow-moving cows that they’d pitch their tent right there in your field and never leave?”

  “Technically it’s your pasture, not mine. And, yeah, I was worried about people who don’t know how to handle cattle being too near them, or leaving their trash where the cows can get at it, or where predators like coyotes or wolves could find it and the cattle. It will be safer this way, believe me.”

  “Ha,” Camden said and walked away, willing Levi not to follow her. He did.

  “‘Ha’ what?”

  “Ha to the thought that you were thinking about the inconvenience of the trail to anyone but yourself. None of the other ranchers—and some of them have Herefords and Angus, which are much more lively beasts—seemed to mind the bike trail crossing their land.”

  “It was a business decision, Cam. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”

  “Why is it that when people screw over other people they always say, ‘it’s business, it’s not personal’? It is personal, Levi. I had plans for the area near the spur.”

  “So you’ll move the plans a little closer to the actual training area. Is that such a bad thing?”

  Camden threw out her hands. It was as if he were actually trying not to understand her point of view. As if he were intentionally trying to push her away. Fear lashed out at her. That was what this was. His way of backing out of their affair because she’d said she loved him and he didn’t love her back. Pain at the realization racked Camden’s body. It was bad enough that he didn’t love her back, but that he was willing to sandbag her plans... She’d thought Levi was different from Grant. Different from her mother. She’d thought he understood her need to be heard, but he didn’t hear her any better than the other people in her life did.

  Worse, she thought back to the things she’d told him. He had pushed and accused and pushed some more until she laid her heart and soul bare, but he hadn’t laid his own past out for her. Why hadn’t he tried harder to return to his career in football? Why was expanding the dairy so damned important to him? She didn’t have a clue, not to any of it, because while Levi wanted to know everything about her past, he wasn’t willing to share details about his own.

  The unfairness of it all struck Camden like a blow.

  “I told you about everything. Grant. Heather. My mother. The way I let all of them direct me where they wanted me to be, and I told you I wanted to direct my own life now. Make my own decisions.”

  “I’m not stopping you from doing that.” He cocked his head to the side as if he couldn’t understand what she was saying. Camden decided to spell it out for him.

  “But you are. You took the one thing I wanted for me, for my future, and you handed it over to the state, and for what? So you wouldn’t be inconvenienced in the tiniest way. And while I’m telling you all of that, while I’m trying to figure out how to be the person I want to be, you’re in your own little hidey-hole pretending nothing is wrong in your life.”

  “Nothing is wrong with my life.”

  “You walked away from a career you loved. You could have kept on with football, but you got injured and you ran away from it. And as for me, you didn’t just want to know why I came back to Slippery Rock, you demanded to know the reasons. Was that so you could use those reasons against me? Figure out what makes Camden tick, what makes her angry, what she wants the most? Toy with her a little bit and then take everything away from her? Did you get some kind of warped joy from that?”

  “I wasn’t toying with you, Cam, and this wasn’t a ploy to hurt you. I was only—”

  “Protecting your land and sacrificing mine in the process.” Camden sighed. He reached for her, but she backed away. If he touched her now she might shatter, and she was not going to break down in front of Levi. She would hold it together, because he didn’t deserve the satisfaction of seeing just how badly he’d hurt her. “Just leave me alone, Levi. I can’t be around you right now,” she said and walked away.

  Camden slipped into the front seat of her car and started driving. She didn’t care where she was going as long as it was away from Levi Walters. Another wave of pain hit her heart when she realized how easily he had let her go.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  TWO DAYS HAD passed since Camden had walked out on him after the town meeting, and Levi still hadn’t heard from her. He’d tried calling, but it always went straight to voice mail. Had stopped by the training area when she was usually working, but Camden wasn’t there. Even Calvin and Bonita were avoiding him, although they at least were speaking to him. They just weren’t speaking much.

  He threw a dart at the board on the wall. It hit the bull’s-eye. Just figured that when he drove Camden out of his life he’d start playing darts well again. Levi crossed to the board, pulled the three darts from the wall and threw away. Two bull’s-eyes and a five. Not bad considering.

  The door opened then closed, but Levi kept throwing. He didn’t want to talk to anyone, and if he stared at the dartboard hard enough, no one would bother him.

  The sound of tennis shoes squeaked against the hardwood floor, along with the padding of dog feet. Adam. Of course it would be Adam.

  “Destroying the dartboard on a Tuesday. Must be some kind of week.”

  Levi grunted but didn’t stop throwing the darts. Gathering them from the board. Throwing again.

  Adam would get the hint. After all, it hadn’t been that long ago he’d been even more ticked at the world than Levi was at this moment. After being diagnosed with epilepsy from the damage the tornado did to his body, Adam had tried to shut them all out. Friends, family. Jenny. Levi finished his beer and signaled Juanita for another.

  From the corner of his eye, he saw Adam take in the two other empties and whistle low. “Definitely not a great start to Levi’s week.”

  Levi threw three more darts, but Adam didn’t leave. Levi gathered the darts he’d been throwing along with another set and lined up before the board.

  “In case you’re wondering, Camden’s back at the dog school.”

  The dart in his hand flew, missed the target and clattered to the ground.

  “Good for her,” Levi said.

  “She’s been staying at Julia’s.”

  Levi let another dart fly, and once more the thing clattered to the ground. Levi narrowed his eyes. He just needed to concentrate on the target a little more. He’d get his stroke back. Just like he’d gotten it back after the injury to his knee. Adam seemed to want an answer to his statement. “Okay, good for her,” Levi said after a long minute. Where Camden was staying wasn’t his concern. He might want to know, but he didn’t need to know, not after the way she’d accused him of trying to sabotage her life.

  He’d been trying to do something nice for her.

  After she
told him she loved him, he’d been making himself crazy trying to figure out a way to show her he loved her, too. Adam had done the picture thing, James the handcuffs. The only thing Levi knew Camden wanted, aside from training Six, was for the rail trail to be completed. Having random tourists traipsing across his property, even if it was only an easement to his property, made Levi nervous.

  Dairy cattle were some of the gentlest creatures on the planet, but accidents happened every day. What happened if a cow got scared and trampled a hiker? Putting the trail on the spur, an area of land nobody was using, made much more sense. Not only that, but that area would add a challenge element to the Slippery Rock portion of the trail. Win-win.

  “Why’d you do it?”

  Levi frowned at Adam. “I didn’t do anything except push forward a plan that I never wanted in the first place. For her.” He threw again, and this time the dart flew true, landing a millimeter outside the bull’s-eye. Not bad after the last two throws.

  “And you didn’t tell her that?”

  “She was too busy accusing me of being some kind of cross between her idiot ex, her mother and the chick who pretended to be her bestie for the title of bridesmaid.” Levi threw again and again hit the bull’s-eye. Who knew darts were therapeutic?

  “Maybe you should try again,” Adam suggested.

  “Maybe you should mind your own business.”

  “Damn, I thought we’d worked you through this grouch stage after the knee injury.”

  “I’m not grouchy. I’m trying to play darts.”

  Although, he had to admit, he wasn’t exactly happy. Not about Camden walking out. Not about the way he’d handled it when she told him she loved him. Not about any of it. And now there was nothing he could do about it.

  “You want some free advice?”

  “Not really.”

  “You want Camden?”

  Levi turned to look at Adam. His best friend, who had come very close to walking out on his family a couple of months before because he didn’t want to hurt them. But Adam had stayed.