Season of Joy

by Annie Rains

  Chapter Four

  The temperature was falling. Rosalie’s breath created visible clouds.

  But the cold couldn’t reach the warm feeling of excitement inside her. Everett was considering changing the parade route, which would help build store awareness and sales. That explained her eagerness, not the fact that she’d be walking with Everett.

  She rounded the corner and saw him standing outside the town hall holding Tinkerbell.

  Remington gave a soft grumble and picked up his pace.

  “Put her down and let’s walk,” Rosalie instructed when she was a few feet away.

  “Are you sure?” Everett glanced around. “I tried to walk her this morning, and she wouldn’t stop barking.”

  There were several shoppers entering and exiting stores. They greeted Rosalie warmly, frowning at or ignoring Everett. He didn’t seem to mind being snubbed but it bothered her.

  “Put her down.” Rosalie shoved thoughts of Everett aside, focusing on Tinkerbell. “Once we get in a rhythm, she’ll quiet down.”

  Tinkerbell didn’t prove Rosalie’s theory. She yapped her way down the block next to Remington, who pitched his ears forward as if he was inwardly wincing. Likewise, Everett hunched his shoulders higher up toward his ears with each step.

  “You know,” Rosalie shouted above the barking as they neared a corner, “dogs can sense when your stress is off the charts.”

  Everett blew out a breath. “If that’s true, old Remington should be woofing nonstop like Tink.”

  “What do you mean?” She patted Remy’s shoulder, not breaking stride. “I’m perfectly fine.”

  “Liar. You look like you haven’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks.” They turned down a street toward Sunny Avenue. Everett glanced at her. “I’ve always heard starting a business is stressful. Go on. Admit it. It’s not like anyone can hear us above Tink.”

  Before she could deny she was stressed, Tinkerbell stopped barking.

  “Do you hear that?” Rosalie asked, grinning.

  “No,” Everett grumped. And then he looked down. “Oh.”

  “That is the sound of a happy dog.” One that didn’t bark. “Maybe you’re the one who needed a walk. Are you feeling less stressed?”

  “That’s a chicken-and-egg question.” His lips rose in an almost smile. “Did our walk relieve my stress? Or am I more relaxed because of Tinkerbell’s silence?” He stared at her the way Kimmy had described. Lingering. Thoughtful.

  Is he thinking about kisses?

  Rosalie had trouble breathing.

  “And what about you?” he asked. “I’ve seen you walk all over town with your dog. Why?”

  “Besides the fact that he needs exercise, I…” She shouldn’t say anything. “I…” For sure, Everett didn’t want to hear about her feelings. “I wake up angry,” she said anyway.

  Everett’s eyebrows arched.

  “I’m angry at the kid who shot my husband, although I ache at the thought of him spending his life in prison.” Rosalie should stop there but she couldn’t. The anger that interrupted her sleep had invaded her mouth. “I’m angry at my husband for letting his guard down while on patrol, although he died doing a job he believed in and that makes me proud. And—”

  Aruff-aroo.

  Remington didn’t like it when she released all these messy emotions. He crossed into her path, slowing her down.

  Rosalie guided him back to her side. “And I’m angry with myself for wanting Marty to pick up an extra shift.” She patted Remington’s shoulder again. “I wanted to buy a new dining room table. I shouldn’t have cared what we ate on. I should have been patient or found something used online. I should have been happy with what I had, because now what I have is anger and regret in the middle of the night.”

  They approached the corner at Sunny Avenue. All the landmarks came into view—the clock, the barbershop pole, the wrought-iron bench and historic street fountain.

  Everett’s silence said more than words. She’d made him uncomfortable.

  Rosalie slowed and measured out an impromptu sales pitch. “This street is as wide as those around the town square, providing plenty of parking. And it’s charming, don’t you think?”

  His gaze roamed the street. “I hear the fountain doesn’t work.”

  Rosalie glanced up at Everett. “My husband hit the fountain years and years ago.” The day she’d decided she was going to marry him.

  Everett’s eyebrows resumed the surprised position. “Joyriding?”

  “He was learning how to drive, and I was walking our family dog.”

  “You stopped traffic.” There was a teasing note in Everett’s voice.

  She elbowed him gently, as if they were longtime friends. “I had fewer miles on me then.”

  “You don’t have many miles on you now.”

  Her cheeks heated. “But they’re hard miles. I feel older than thirty-four.”

  Kimmy would be crowing at Rosalie fishing for Everett’s age.

  “Wife of a cop. Widowed.” He shrugged. “Fair mileage.”

  He wasn’t going to tell her how old he was? She tried to tell herself it didn’t matter. She wanted him to change the parade route, not make a pass.

  “Age is relative,” Everett added slowly, coming to a stop in front of her store. “The day after Lydia was arrested, I could barely bring myself to get out of bed. Coming here…Let’s just say I feel much younger now.” He may have been looking at her shop but he didn’t seem to see anything.

  The chalkboard sign invited folks in. The bunnies and kittens were cuddling as they slept. The Christmas tree lights twinkled next to pet-themed ornaments. It was a beautiful façade.

  She caught sight of his reflection in the window. He wasn’t smiling.

  His reflected gaze met hers. “I understand the anger. I understand sleepless nights and second-guessing. But what happened…You can’t change that. You have to move forward with a more careful tread.”

  Watch your step.

  The reason for all his rules became clear. She’d read about his past. His wife had been a city’s longtime controller. He’d been hired to straighten the finances, same as in Sunshine. And according to the press releases, his wife hadn’t stopped stealing after he’d come on board. She hadn’t watched her step but Everett now made sure everyone around him watched theirs.

  Tinkerbell barked impatiently, prancing. By unspoken agreement, they resumed their walk. They rounded another corner, heading back up Center Avenue toward the town square.

  Everett slowed, staring across the street at the vacant warehouse.

  “Does the city still own that warehouse?” At his nod, she said, “I’ve always thought it would be cool to turn that place into loft apartments with shops or restaurants below.”

  Before he could answer, a group of high school kids drove by in a car with the windows down, singing the five golden rings line at the top of their lungs. The rest of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” faded as they turned at the next intersection.

  “Kids.” Rosalie chuckled, although it sounded bittersweet.

  “Lydia didn’t want to have children,” Everett admitted quietly, squelching Rosalie’s desire to laugh. “Her horses were her babies. And then Tink, of course. Afterward, I was grateful we hadn’t been parents. What do you tell a child about their mother when she goes to jail? What do you say when…”

  “Their father is killed in the line of duty?” The words came out on a tight thread because Rosalie was angry about being childless too. “We always felt like we weren’t at a place to afford children yet.”

  Aroo-ruff. Remington had something to say about that. Or perhaps he thought she’d said too much already.

  They reached Main Street. The town square was dark. The trees wouldn’t be lit until Friday. But the stores along the town square were open late, shop lights warming the sidewalk. Townspeople were bundled up and scurrying about with shopping bags. For them, it was just another normal holiday season.

  B
ut for Rosalie and Everett…

  “There’s something about you…” Rosalie couldn’t look at him. “I tell you things I should keep to myself.” Things she hadn’t even told Kimmy.

  “Who says I don’t want to listen?” Everett took her hand, the one that didn’t hold Remington’s leash. He slid his thumb over the hole in her mitten, touching her skin with his bare hand because he didn’t wear gloves. “Or that I didn’t want to be heard?” He stared into her eyes. There was no Scrooge, no ice, no frozen tundra.

  Rosalie held her breath. Was he thinking about kissing her?

  Why was she thinking about kissing him?

  Somewhere nearby, a child belted out an energetic rendition of “Must Be Santa.”

  Somewhere, deep in her chest, Rosalie’s heart belted out a strong cadence of attraction—him, him, him.

  It’s okay to move on. Marty’s voice, as if he were reading a line from the love letter she’d found after he died.

  Rosalie sighed.

  “I’ll see you around.” Everett released Rosalie and walked toward the town hall. “Here’s hoping you don’t wake up in the middle of the night angry.”

  Rosalie stood staring at his retreating back, unable to move.

  What was happening here? This morning he’d been Scrooge, more concerned with pennies than people.

  It didn’t matter what she’d thought of him this morning. The attraction…It wouldn’t go away. It validated her hunch that there was more to Everett Bollinger than what he showed others.

  Snow began falling. Several inches were predicted to come down before morning, enough to cover their footprints in the sidewalk and conceal all evidence that indicated Everett Bollinger had a heart.

  Yap-yap-yap.

  No matter how much Everett walked Tink, she was still yappy every time he put her down when they were inside.

  “Watch.” He gave her a treat and then walked out of his office to the printer to collect the pages of a proposal for the town council to sponsor a mudder. The costs associated with setup were minimal, while the entry fees would generate much-needed income. Building and housing values in Sunshine were stagnant and had been for years, which meant tax dollars didn’t increase when the town hall’s spending increased. And then there was the vacant warehouse.

  When Kevin’s father had been mayor, he’d purchased that warehouse from a friend and proposed developing it into a second mall. The rents were supposed to pay the mortgage, and then tenant sales were going to be taxed. He’d claimed it’d be legal double-dipping. But while they were remodeling the building, there’d been a fire and a worker had died. Several years and one lawsuit later, the abandoned warehouse was a rock around the town’s neck.

  Kevin couldn’t find a company who’d be willing to invest in the building and Sunshine. Without a buyer, the path to a balanced budget was nearly impossible. And without a balanced budget, the town wouldn’t qualify for federal funding, which they needed to provide residents with other services.

  Yap-yap-yap.

  Tink pranced around his feet in her holiday sweater. She followed Everett back to his desk, where he put her in her pet bed, currently residing on the corner of his desk.

  Feeling masculine much, Bollinger?

  He’d seen Rosalie every morning and every night as they walked their dogs. They’d call out hello and by mutual agreement head in opposite directions, as if they regretted the confidences they’d shared on their walk around the block.

  I regret it.

  And yet his thoughts drifted toward Rosalie when he clipped on Tink’s leash. Would she be out walking? Was the hole in her mitten unraveling further?

  Unproductive, these thoughts. Not to mention soft. He was the hatchet man, not the mayor.

  “Of course we still have places in the parade,” Yolanda was telling someone in the outer office.

  Everett pressed his lips together. The deadline for inclusion in the parade had been the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Deadlines were rules and meant to be honored. He stood up and put Tink on the ground.

  Yap-yap-yap.

  “Watch.” Everett gave her a treat. Crunching the kibble, she followed him happily to the service counter. “Late entry?”

  Twin teenage boys stood at the counter with paperwork and cash. They were the same boys who worked at the bakery after school.

  Yap-yap-yap.

  At Yolanda’s frown, Everett scooped Tink into his arms.

  “We forgot to turn in the paperwork.” One teen tried to look contrite but he was doing a bad job of hiding a smile.

  “It’s for our FFA club at the high school,” his twin said, doing a better job of looking meek and apologetic. He elbowed his brother.

  “You’re letting them in?” Everett fixed Yolanda with a stare. “Were you going to charge them a late fee?”

  Yolanda had a hard stare of her own, one he’d been on the receiving end of from her all day. “You want to charge a late fee to students?” She crossed her arms over her chest and tsked. “During the holiday season?”

  “We just want to make it right,” said the first teen.

  “Yeah,” echoed his twin. “Just because we screwed up doesn’t mean the rest of the kids should suffer.”

  Kevin would have given them an understanding grin and relented. Everett wanted to refuse them entry, teach them a lesson about responsibility, and send them on their way.

  “We brought a toy.” The first teen dug in his backpack and put a new Frisbee in the toy drive box.

  It was the only thing in the toy drive box.

  “You’re gonna make them pay a late fee when they brought a toy?” Yolanda made another disapproving noise, strong enough to send her Christmas tree earrings swaying. “I need to consult with a higher power. And I don’t mean God.” She meant Kevin. She picked up the phone and punched in Kevin’s extension.

  “Hang on.” Everett pushed down the phone button, blaming his sudden soft spot on Rosalie, who was kind to everyone. “I think there’s a lesson to be learned here.”

  Yolanda’s eyes narrowed.

  “Boys.” Everett fixed them with a no-nonsense smile. “We’re trying to build a stronger sense of community in Sunshine. You missed the deadline to sign up for the parade, late or otherwise.”

  “Here we go,” Yolanda muttered, picking up the phone once more.

  “But…” Everett waggled a finger at Yolanda. “I’m willing to make an exception if you help us with the town hall toy drive.” He rattled the near-empty box.

  “You’ll waive the parade fee completely?” Yolanda asked suspiciously.

  “We’ll take their fee, and if they fill this box with toys by the tree-lighting ceremony, we’ll let them be in the parade.”

  “Toys in lieu of a late fee?” Yolanda still looked dubious.

  “Exactly.” Everett nodded. “No one gets special treatment around here.”

  Except maybe Tinkerbell.

  Chapter Five

  You know, this is ridiculous.” Rosalie stopped on the corner of Sunny and Center Avenues and called across the street to Everett. It was Thursday and the third night in a row she’d seen him walking Tinkerbell after she closed for the night. “We’re the only ones out here walking dogs. We should walk together.”

  The sheriff’s car drove slowly toward them. It had snowed earlier, and the roads and sidewalks were slick. Sheriff Drew Taylor waved to them both as he passed. He had one of his deputies in the passenger seat.

  “I don’t think walking together is a good idea,” Everett said, but he crossed the street toward her anyway.

  “Why? Because you haven’t decided about the parade route? You know it’s a good idea.”

  Oo-oo-aroo.

  “And Remy agrees with me.” Rosalie patted Remy’s shoulder.

  Everett stopped a few feet away, staring at her. “And this is why I don’t walk with you. I don’t like to talk shop after hours.”

  “Please.” Rosalie turned toward the south end of town and home. “You
don’t walk with me because you have your secrets, which you don’t want to tell.”

  “And you have yours.” He fell into step beside her. “Which you don’t want to tell.”

  Rosalie could feel his gaze upon her face, as tangible as a caress. Her pulse quickened.

  “The circles under your eyes are gone.” Everett looked ahead. “You’ve been sleeping well.”

  She had been. Their conversation had loosened anger’s hold on her dreams. “And you’ve been up to your old tricks in town.”

  He glanced at her. “Tricks?”

  “Blackmailing kids into supporting the toy drive. Charging another couple to ring the bell after they become engaged in the town square.” Rosalie whistled, long and low.

  Both dogs perked up their ears.

  “What is it with you and money?” Rosalie gently bumped Everett’s arm with her elbow. “If I didn’t know better, I’d still believe all the talk about you being Scrooge incarnate.”

  “Do you know what it takes to keep a town financially healthy?” Everett stared down at her through his glasses. It was the icy stare he’d often used on her prior to buying her that hot chocolate. “Much less to make it grow?”

  “Nope.” She was as immune to icy stares now as she’d been then. “I barely know what it takes to make a business grow.”

  “I was hired to get the town’s finances in order.” Each word he uttered was as sharp as a fresh icicle.

  She nodded, still immune. “And you’re doing a good job.”

  Everett’s gaze thawed. “Did you have retail experience before opening your store?”

  They stopped at a corner, waiting for a car to pass before crossing.

  “Nope. I worked as a nine-one-one dispatcher before I moved back home.” Rosalie slowed for an icy patch of sidewalk. “I worked at the Feed Store at first but Victor Yates treats pets like livestock.” It had bothered her. “To me, pets are part of the family.”

  Ga-rumph.

  Remington slid a few inches. Rosalie led him onto the fresh snow on her uncle Mateo’s front yard. It was slower going but less slippery.