by Lori Wilde
“You’re sure?”
Belle was still eeling between Evan’s legs.
Chloe picked up Belle and held her up so Evan could see her face. “I think someone will be brokenhearted to see you leave.”
Evan scratched the cat behind her ear. “I’m getting to meet many animals today.”
Chloe sat Belle down and moved outside, closing the door securely behind them. “Lots of people in town have dogs or cats or both. I know it might seem that my practice would be small, but it’s actually very busy. We have lots of pet lovers in Kringle.”
Evan Conner drove an expensive black SUV. Everything about him screamed success. She’d bet those dress pants that Belle had covered with fur cost more than her weekly grocery bill.
He opened the passenger door for her, and she climbed inside.
“I was going to comment on the lack of animal fur in your car, but it won’t be fur free for long.” She nodded at his pants.
He glanced at the bands of fur Belle had left behind and smiled, which made Chloe like him even more. He’d already explained he wasn’t used to pets, yet so far today he’d taken on the responsibility for a new mother and her pups and gotten coated in fur by an attention-loving cat.
“It’s just fur. It will come off the car and my pants,” he said. “Life comes with messes.”
With that, he closed her door and headed over to his side of the car.
Chloe watched him circle the car. She better watch herself around Evan Conner. He was irresistible.
Chapter 3
Evan studied the menu and wondered what everything meant. Normally, he was pretty quick to catch on to things, but the meal selections at the Kringle Kafe had him baffled. What exactly was a HoHoHo burger?
“I have no clue what to order,” he admitted to Chloe. “A HoHoHo sandwich?”
She laughed, the sound soft and appealing. “It’s a little confusing until you get used to the Kringle lingo.” She leaned over and pointed at his menu. “The names are on the front of the menu, but the descriptions are on the back. A HoHoHo is number three on the menu. Turn it over and read the description on the back.”
Why in the blue blazes would anyone design a menu that was this complicated?
Evan turned the menu over and read the description. HoHoHo, the joke is on you if you were looking for beef. It’s a mushroom veggie burger.
Chloe grinned at him over her menu. “The HoHoHo is my fav.”
“Um, I guess I’ll get that,” he said.
“You don’t have to. I get it because I’m a vegetarian. You can order whatever you like.”
As someone who didn’t really care one way or the other what he ate, he figured he’d just follow her lead. Agreeing was simpler, and he liked things simple. Complicated was stressful, and life was complicated enough without stressing about food.
A pert waitress named Sandy bopped over to take their order. “Excellent choice,” she said, revealing red and green braces. “The HoHoHo is our number two best seller after the Kris Kringle.”
Evan looked at the description of the Kris Kringle. It was a double meat chili cheese burger. His mouth watered, but he took the high road and stayed with the HoHoHo.
“So tell me about yourself,” he said to Chloe, once the waitress had gone. It surprised him how much he wanted to know her better.
“Not much to tell. Born in Fort Worth. Grew up there happy. Went to A&M and was happy. Worked for a big vet clinic in Tyler for two years but was not happy. So I came here to Kringle when Mom moved. I’ve had my clinic for three years, and it’s going great!” She flashed a smile. “Happy again.”
Her version of her life made him smile as well. In an era when everyone shared everything online in minute detail, she’d condensed her entire life into a few brief sentences.
“Succinct,” he said.
She shrugged, a casual little drop of her shoulders. “There’s not much to tell. My life is pretty straightforward. I’ve been very lucky. I know that.”
Truthfully, he’d met no one whose life was this straightforward. Everyone encountered bumps in the road. He had, and he’d be willing to bet that Chloe had as well. Still, it was good that she saw her life in terms of happiness and that she was happy. When he considered his life from that perspective, he wasn’t as lucky.
He just couldn’t put his finger on why not. He had a magnificent job. Thomas & Associates was one of the most successful corporate law practices in Dallas, and there was no doubt he was on track to make partner in the next few years.
So why wasn’t he happy?
“What about you?” Chloe said. “Who is Evan Conner beneath that buttoned down appearance?”
He was about to give her a synopsis of his career when their waitress, Sandy, reappeared with their order.
Sandy set down their plates in front of them, then stepped back, rested her hands on her hips, and gave Evan a frown. “I heard you’re here with Peter Thomas.”
Evan hadn’t been paying as much attention as he should have. He glanced up and realized Chloe, the waitress, and most of the café patrons stared at him.
“Yes. Peter is my boss.”
“I’m Sandy Hughes,” she said, sounding indignant, and touched her name badge. “Peter really did a number on Kringle when he convinced the Madisons to move their candy company to Dallas.”
Evan knew his boss had a tendency to plow over people to get what he wanted, but he valued loyalty, and he would not badmouth Peter in front of these townsfolk. “The Madisons made their decision of their own free will. You can’t blame him for recommending a move that was in their best interest.”
“Best interest, my fanny.” Anger flared in Sandy’s eyes. “Kitty and Dwayne are in their seventies. Peter badgered and harangued them until they agreed, and now they’re miserable and so are we.”
“How do you know that?” Evan asked calmly. “Were you in the meetings?”
“I heard—”
“Hearsay isn’t a fact.”
“Spoken like a lawyer.” Sandy glowered. “What’s Peter got up his sleeve this time? Closing the Kringle Kafe?”
“He’s not planning anything except to apologize for his actions five years ago. He will also have a party on Christmas Eve, and he’s invited everyone in town. You included, Sandy.”
He looked around the room at the proliferation of John Deere caps, down coats, and work boots—even on the women. Most of these people were farmers.
“Everyone is invited. Peter wants to make up for what happened. He’s a changed man.”
“Sure he is.” One farmer snorted. “About as sorry as my pig Matilda for eating up my wife’s flower garden.”
“He thinks one party will smooth over five years’ worth of heartache he caused this town?” A stocky, elderly woman in Wranglers and pigtails asked.
“I don’t trust that rascal any farther than I can throw him,” a younger man in a motorized wheelchair exclaimed.
Then the entire café started talking at once, telling him about the underhanded stunts Peter had pulled, and all the problems he’d caused Kringle and its citizens.
He just listened.
Evan had no justification for what Peter had done the last time he was here. Although from a purely business standpoint, convincing the candy company to move to a bigger town had probably made sense. The Madisons probably had made a nice profit, and Evan knew that Peter had made a bundle off the deal.
But even one day in this small Texas town had shown Evan that the bottom line wasn’t all that mattered. Moving that company had caused a lot of hardship. When they got back to Dallas, Evan planned to look into the specifics of the deal and make his own decision about what had happened.
At the moment, though, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get out of the diner. Everyone had a story to tell.
Evan shot Chloe a look. Had she invited him here on purpose? Did she want him to hear these unsavory stories about his boss? She’d vetoed his suggestion to drive to Fort Worth to a nicer res
taurant than what was available in the small town. Had that been intentional? Or was he attributing devious motives she didn’t possess?
When the conversations dwindled and people finally wandered off, Evan looked at Chloe and raised one eyebrow. “That was, um…interesting.”
She looked sheepish. “Sorry for being a bit underhanded, but I wanted you to understand exactly how your boss disrupted this entire town simply out of greed.”
“You know I came on this trip with Peter to help him,” he noted. “I don’t control his actions.”
“I respect your loyalty, but I hope you would stop him if he tried to do something terrible again.”
As far as he knew, Peter was here to do exactly what he claimed—ask forgiveness and strive to have a perfect Christmas. “I’ll try if that comes up.”
But the apologies Peter owed the townsfolk didn’t seem to be so quick and easy as his boss made them out to be.
“So tell me about this town,” Evan said. “I’m Dallas born and bred. Teach me about how things work here. How did Kringle come into being?”
“They founded Kringle on the railroad like a lot of Texas small towns back in the late 1880s,” Chloe explained. “The story goes that the people who settled here were Norwegian, and their leader’s last name was Kringle. Then when Fort Worth grew, it syphoned off population from Kringle as people moved where the jobs were. During World War Two, to keep the town financially viable, the citizens capitalized on the name and went all in on Christmas tourism.”
“Smart.” Evan nodded.
“Each year at Christmas, it just kept getting bigger and bigger. Tourist visits from Thanksgiving through the New Year support our economy for the entire year, and Kringle Kandy was a big part of that success. Not only was the candy factory the town’s biggest year-round employer, the Madisons also funded many of the holiday events. We’ve really had to scramble to make up for the loss.”
“In what ways?” he asked, truly interested. The town fascinated him.
“On the outskirts of town, we have the Kringle Kampground and the Kringle Village, which at Christmas features holiday-themed amusement rides, an indoor ice skating rink, and visits with Santa.”
“Kringle Village? They couldn’t think of a word that started with a K?” He chuckled.
Chloe shook her head and grinned. “Nope. We love our kitsch in Kringle.”
Evan couldn’t help returning her grin. This town was something else.
“This place is different,” he admitted. “And I’ve only been here one full day.”
“But different in a nice way.” Chloe bit into her HoHoHo burger and wriggled with delight.
Evan turned his attention to his food. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure about life in Kringle, at least not for someone like him. Having this many people know your every move was disconcerting. But it seemed to work for Chloe. She’d greeted everyone in the café when they’d entered, and she knew everyone, and they knew her.
In Dallas, he didn’t even know the names of the people who lived on either side of his condo.
After they finished eating—the veggie burger was pretty darn good and the fries that accompanied it were out of this world—he paid the bill, and they headed for the door. Getting to that door, though, took time because Chloe stopped to say goodbye to everyone. In two cases, that caused the person to regale him once more about the negative impact Peter Thomas had had on their lives.
Overwhelmed, Evan felt exhausted by the time they finally reached the sidewalk outside the café.
“Sorry about that,” Chloe murmured.
“Not your fault. Meeting the townsfolk was educational. I really had no idea Peter had caused so much harm. He didn’t share any of this with me, Chloe, but you have to realize he’s my boss, and I don’t control his actions.”
“But you can control who you work for.”
“I don’t see him in the same light you do.”
Chloe sighed and couldn’t meet his gaze. “I know. It was unfair of me to dump all this on you, but you seem like someone who would care.”
Evan would like to think he was that sort of person. He tried to handle his life and work with integrity and ethics. Still, he couldn’t guarantee that any business decision he’d made hadn’t affected other people. Business was business.
“Would you like to take a stroll around the town square?” she invited. “Then you can walk me to my mom’s house, then walk back for your car. We’re only two blocks from home.”
The night was warm for December, comfortable in the upper fifties. Why not?
“I haven’t had my daily exercise,” he said. “Let’s do it.”
They walked side by side, stopping to peek into store windows. They decorated every business on the square to the hilt with over-the-top Christmas themes. Twinkle lights winked from every building. Christmas music played from speakers inset into the old limestone courthouse in the middle of the square, and in the air he could smell the scent of cinnamon, yeast bread, and wood smoke.
“You work out every day?”
“I have to,” he said, patting his flat belly. “I have a mostly sedentary job. I’d turn to jelly if I didn’t hit the gym every morning at five a.m. for ninety minutes of a high-intensity workout.”
“Sounds brutal.”
“Actually, I miss it when I don’t.”
“You like routine.”
“I wouldn’t say ‘like’ it as much as it’s just part of my lifestyle.”
“That’s what I love about my job.” Her eyes sparkled. “Every day is different. At the vet clinic, you never know what interesting thing will walk through those doors. And I get a workout lifting animals all day.”
He stopped at a snowman family displayed in the window of an old-fashioned hardware store. He thought Amazon and big box warehouse stores had put places like this out of business. Grinning, he said, “This town is something special.”
“This is nothing. Stick around for the full court Kringle press. We’ll have a parade down Main Street and around Santa Boulevard on Saturday morning, along with the Christmas craft fair at city hall. The craft fair alone brings in people from all over the state. We even got a write up about it in Texas Monthly.”
“Christmas sounds like an excellent business plan,” he noted. “A great way to maximize earning potential.”
She laughed softly, and he had to admit, it was appealing. He could definitely get used to her laughter. “I knew you’d like the way we turned Christmas into our main economy.”
“Tell me more about Chloe,” he said. “What do you do for fun?”
“I like reading,” she said. “To me, there’s nothing more relaxing than curling up with a good book. It’s hard to find a nice chunk of time without distractions, especially this time of year. I take long bubble baths just so I can have twenty minutes of uninterrupted reading.”
“Who interrupts you?”
Chloe waved a hand. “There is always some kind of pet emergency. Plus, I have friends galore who hate to see me sitting home in the evenings. They don’t get that I cherish my alone time with my books.”
“I’m a big reader too,” he admitted.
“Really?” Her eyes brightened. “What are you into?”
“I like history and biographies, mostly. You?”
“I’m a fiction buff.” Her cheeks pinked. “Romantic stories are my favorite, but mysteries are a close second.”
He slanted her a sideways glance. “So you’re a romantic at heart?”
“Hey.” She met his grin with one of her own. “Have to be romantic to live in this town and survive.”
“Well, from where I stand, you’ve done a fine job of not only surviving but thriving.”
“That’s kind of you to say.” She dropped her gaze, then glanced over her shoulder at her mother’s house behind them. “I had an enjoyable time tonight, Evan.”
Evan was reluctant to see the evening end, but he had no reason to keep her. “Me too.”
�
�Be sure and check on Vixen when you get back to the house.” Chloe opened the front door. “Call me if there’s any problem.”
He agreed, and then they stepped over the threshold. Both Ruby and Peter turned to look at them and said simultaneously, “Hey, you’re under the mistletoe.”
Evan glanced up. Mistletoe hung in the middle of the doorway, and he was certain it hadn’t been there when they’d left for dinner two hours ago.
“You have to kiss,” Ruby said.
“Dirty pool, Mom. You put that up after we left.”
Her mother widened her eyes, trying to look innocent, but then she burst out laughing.
Still, they were standing under mistletoe, regardless of why it was there. Evan turned to look at Chloe, who simply shrugged.
He leaned down.
Visibly, she quivered, and he could read the question in her eyes. Was he really going to kiss her?
Yes, ma’am, I am.
Evan’s mouth hovered above hers. He could smell her sweet scent—yeast bread and Christmas and happiness all rolled into one.
His heart galloped, and she moistened her lips. He ignored the voice in the back of his brain that yelled, don’t do it.
Gently, his lips brushed hers.
A brushfire flamed through him, bathing him from head to toe in pulsating heat, and he never wanted it to end. Without thinking, he pulled her closer, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He could have gone on kissing her until the end of time if her mother and Peter weren’t watching them.
Reluctantly, Evan let her go and straightened.
Chloe’s eyes grew wide, and she reached up to finger her lips, looking as stunned as he felt from the impact of their kiss.
Oh, no. Oh wow. This was bad. A big mistake.
He was way too attracted to her. She was someone who had deep roots in this town, and he was just here for a couple of weeks. Getting involved with her would be bad for both of them. Long-distance relationships never worked. Worse, why was he even thinking about a relationship?
“G-good night,” he stammered, then turned and ran out the door before he did something really foolish, like kiss her all over again.