by Nancy Naigle
Joe filled green holiday cups to the very top, added a little peppermint, and then whirred them with a frother.
“Two peppermint cocoas.” Carol dropped peppermint sticks into them and handed them to Ben.
He dropped a five-dollar bill into the jar. They stood there, sipping down the sweet drinks. “My favorite.”
“I always just had it with marshmallows, but now I’m a big fan of the peppermint. What a treat. I’m going to miss this.”
Stick around, then. “You can always visit to get your fix.”
“Truly.”
“Come on.” He walked over to one of the benches near the pond. They sat together, clutching the warm cocoa. She leaned closer, bumping her shoulder to his. “It’s nice out here.”
“Not a ploy. Not marketing. Just locals getting together for ice skating.”
“And not even a price on the cocoa. Can’t get more real than that, can you?”
“Nope.” He lifted a hand in the air, then dropped it on top of hers. “We’ve stalled about as long as we can. Are you really going to skate with me?”
“I am.” She put the skates on the ground in front of her. “I wasn’t lugging these around for nothing.”
“Awesome. My skates are over there under that bench. I’m going to go get them. I’ll be right back.”
By the time he got back, Katie had laced up Nan’s fancy skates. “I hope you’re a good skater, because I’m going to need someone to hold on to.”
He kind of liked the sound of that. “Nan taught me how to skate when I was just a boy. She was kind of known for her elegant ice dancing, but I’ll tell you, that little woman was a kick-butt goalie too. She taught me everything I know about ice hockey.”
“No way.”
“Truth.” Ben took both of her hands in his and helped her stand. Warmth spread from his fingertips right to his chest. For a moment, it was as if he were in some kind of dream. They edged their way through the grass to the edge of the pond. He stepped out on the ice first and then helped her.
Her feet scissored, but he steadied her.
“I told you I’m not good at this.”
“Nobody is,” he said, trying to get her to relax.
Several very good skaters whipped past them.
“They’re good,” she said, pointing at a couple holding hands skating gracefully. At that moment they parted and spun so fast they were almost a blur. “And they’re great at it.”
“Yeah. They’re pretty good.”
With her arms out for balance, she was a little clunky, but she was getting steadier. “So, you left Chicago because…?”
She never let up with the questions. He admired her tenacity. This was his chance to come clean. “I needed a change. I was at a job I didn’t love, and I’d just gotten divorced.”
“Wow.” Compassion etched her face. “Breaking news,” she said quietly.
“Right?” Ben had known he had to tell her about his divorce eventually. “So, I came home to visit, and while I was here, Nan broke her foot.”
“Oh, no.”
“Yeah, and I stuck around to help her out, and to figure out what was next for me after having my marriage end.”
“I see. And did you figure out what’s next?”
“I did. But after a few months, I fell back in love with the library, and then those few months turned into a year, and then five.”
“So, five years go by, and you’re staying in Evergreen forever? You don’t miss the work?”
Ben confessed, “I do miss it, actually. I still sometimes scan job postings. Even in New York. But…Nan. I think Nan needs me here. So, this is where my life is now.”
“Which begs the question. What’s the dating scene like in Evergreen? Is there a magical snow globe that comes out at Valentine’s Day too?”
“Are you kidding me? We’re still singing Christmas carols at Valentine’s. And we don’t even take our trees down until Easter.” But it was a legit question. He looked down, wishing she was part of this dating scene. “Our dating scene is small, which is a shame.” He lifted his gaze, smiling as she hung on his words. “Because it’s…it’s fairly romantic.”
“Yeah.” She lowered her lashes as if she was dreaming of something romantic right now.
He could picture something like that so easily too.
“It would be a nice place to build a snowman with someone. Sit by the fire after.” She lifted her gaze to meet his.
Ben wanted to kiss her, but he stopped himself. She’d be going back to the city. His life was here in Evergreen. Why complicate it? A snowflake landed on her eyelashes. He reached to brush it away as it fell to her cheek. “Sorry, you have a—”
“Oh?” She ran her glove across her cheek. “Thanks.”
“It was just a snowflake.”
Katie hesitated, her mouth slightly parted. He wished he’d kissed her just then.
“Hey, Ben.” Thomas walked over. “I thought that was you. Good to see you.”
“Hi. Welcome back.”
“This is a new face,” he said, noticing Katie. “Hi. I’m Thomas.”
She extended her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Katie. Have to admit I just saw your reunion with the town mayor. Very romantic to surprise her like that.”
“I try.” His voice was as deep as he was tall, and happiness etched every line in his face.
Michelle and David walked over. “I see you’ve met.”
He grinned. “I have a logging operation up in Maine. I’m setting up headquarters here, but I had to take care of things there until we shut down. It’s taken a lot longer than I’d planned. It’s worth it, though.”
“Because of Michelle,” David said.
The woman blushed. “Well, not really. It just—”
“No.” Thomas stopped her. “David’s right. Michelle is a big part of why I chose to settle here in Evergreen. My sister, Hannah, is here too, but it’s Michelle. This beautiful woman in front me. She makes this town feel like home.”
Michelle looked taken aback. “Thank you, Thomas.”
“It’s all true,” he said, with a prideful tilt of his chin.
Ben longed for that same feeling Thomas had written all over his face right now.
Chapter Nineteen
Last night, Katie had used muscles she hadn’t used in a long time. Her legs ached from the ice skating, but it’d turned out to be a fun night after all. And she hadn’t fallen but once, and even then, Ben had been right there to catch her before she’d hit the ground.
She carried a cup of coffee from Kringle Kitchen over to where Hannah was leading the choir members in a lovely version of “Angels We Have Heard on High.” The locals slowly gathered around the advent calendar in preparation for opening the next box at the top of the hour.
The choir filled the square with a joyful noise, their voices lovely even with no musical accompaniment. It lifted Katie’s spirits when everyone else joined in with the choir for those Glorias, the harmony rising to the heavens.
She sat down on the curb to write down everything that was happening and how she was feeling at this moment in her notebook while she waited.
“Still at it, huh?” Ben asked.
Her heart leaped at the sound of his voice. Had he been standing there long? “Hey, Ben. I am still at it. I was just going over all of my notes. I’ve interviewed a few more people. I didn’t know the story about Lisa re-opening Daisy’s General Store until I was helping her decorate the tree.”
“Yeah. She came down from Boston for a visit.”
“So I hear. And then never left.”
“That’s right. Happens all the time.” His eyes searched her for something. Did he know that she was, in a way, wishing it might happen to her? Even though she knew she couldn’t…wouldn’t…make a life here in Evergreen, it was certa
inly alluring.
She tucked the notebook under her arm. “I also heard a great story about twin sisters who live on a farm called Two Pine Farms. I can’t wait to interview them. They were there with Nan and Nick during the big blizzard.”
“So you feel good about your story.”
“I’m still working on it. I decided to try to talk about Evergreen in this article in a way that would make most of my jaded city friends want to come here for Christmas.”
“It’s a good angle,” he said.
“Well, I’m really not sure it will work for the magazine. But luckily, Mom’s been looking for other projects, so maybe she’ll find a better article for the magazine and I’ll be off the hook. Either way, I’m sticking around for a while to enjoy the festivities.”
“Good.” A wide grin spread across his face, and that made her day.
She stood. “Let’s go get a good spot so we can see what’s in the next box of the time capsule.”
“After you.” He swung an arm wide then walked with her past the choir to a spot right in front of the mural.
Michelle was right on their heels. She stepped in front of the advent calendar. “Good morning, Evergreenians. We’ll be opening the next box here shortly, so grab your friends, and we’ll get started in about five minutes.”
“Just in time,” Katie said to Ben.
Michelle walked over to Hannah. “Thanks for bringing the choir together for this. What a great idea.”
“It makes it even more special,” Katie added.
“Thanks. I thought we’d multitask. We all want to see what’s in the daily box, and we need the practice. A win-win for the Christmas Festival.”
“Ah, the Christmas Festival always ends up being just fine. I’m not worried about that.”
Hannah stopped and looked at Michelle. “Is this my same friend who almost had a total breakdown over decorations at the last festival? Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this calm about anything.” Hannah glanced over at Katie. “Seriously. One year we almost had to have her breathe into a paper bag to keep her from hyperventilating.”
“Wow.” Katie couldn’t even picture it.
“True, but not anymore.” Michelle popped a hand onto her hip. “Everybody’s going to have to stop saying that. The Christmas season is upon us—we get to bundle up in scarves and eat pie for breakfast. What’s to stress over?”
“I don’t know…something is different this year. You seem very happy. And you have for a while now. Happy and relaxed.”
“Is it the pie?” Katie asked. “If that’s all it takes to be happy and relaxed, I’ll take a double serving.”
“Pie helps, but I can promise you that’s not it.” Michelle blushed. “I think that’s what love does to a girl.”
A high-pitched squeal escaped from Hannah as she wrapped her arms around Michelle. “I’m so glad you said that. He’s so in love with you too. And thank you for not being mad with me about the snow globe.”
“I’ll be honest. I think the old me might have gone a little cuckoo when that snow globe broke. It’s definitely a town draw, but I was more worried for you. You were the one who convinced me to wish again. When I wished on that snow globe last year, I had no idea that Thomas would be my answer.”
“You?” Katie looked at Michelle, then to Hannah. “Your wish came true?”
Michelle nodded.
“It does grant wishes. We’ve seen it happen.” Hannah squeezed Michelle’s hand, then wrinkled her nose. “But now…I don’t know. I think my wish needs updating.”
“To what?” Michelle and Katie said at the same time.
“I’ll let you both know if the snow globe is fixed.” She crossed her fingers. “We’re very close to having it all done.”
Ezra showed up with the top hat for Michelle to draw the next person to open a box, and the town began applauding, anxious for the next big reveal.
Michelle walked over and addressed everyone. “Okay, everyone, let’s open another advent calendar box, shall we?”
Katie looked out across the people of Evergreen bundled up with their rosy-cheeked neighbors, all anticipating the possibilities.
Michelle reached into the hat and pulled out a name, then read it. “Henry Miller!”
“Hooray!” Henry jumped in the air and jogged over. “I can’t believe it.” He rubbed his hands together, then moved the ladder to where he could climb up and pull out the next box.
A garland of Christmas trees represented an assignment for that night. The whole town was to get together for a tree lighting at seven o’clock. Forming a large circle around the tree, holding hands, the whole town was to sing “O Christmas Tree.” It was really the perfect box for him to open.
There was no way Michelle could’ve rigged that.
Magic? Have I gone crazy to even entertain that might be a plausible answer?
She stood there, trying to make some logical sense out of it all. There was no other explanation.
As if Ben knew exactly what was rolling through her mind, when she looked up and caught him staring at her, he winked. “I’m headed over to the library if you want to come with me.”
“I do.” She didn’t hesitate, keeping in step with him the whole way over. Barely an inch between them as they walked.
Nan was already inside, tidying things up.
“I’m going to do a little research this morning if you don’t mind.” Katie took off her coat and hung it on the rack near the door.
“No problem,” Nan said. “What are you looking for?”
“Articles about the blizzard fifty years ago.”
“Not a problem. I’ve got all those old newspapers on microfiche. Do you know how to use one of those machines?”
“Sure do.”
“Follow me.” Nan led her to the room and got her set up with the films from that year.
Katie sat there for hours, reading the articles and jotting down names, hoping to uncover more nuggets that would be interesting reading.
Her meeting later that afternoon with the twins over at the farm was delightful, but not very informative. They weren’t sharing many details. They did, however, elude to having a special box in the advent calendar and left her with a wait and see for yourself. Maybe her investigative reporting skills weren’t as sharp as she thought.
Then again, she didn’t really want to be a reporter. She wanted to write fiction, and boy, did this place spark those ideas. Her notebook was now full of ideas for a book filled with tradition in a community that embraced the holidays and put friends and family first over anything else. She’d checked out a few holiday novels and had devoured them one a day for the last few days. Did the world really need one more Christmas novel?
Every time she read The End, she was convinced it did.
She wished she hadn’t felt inclined to accept the challenge to write an article for the magazine, because if she’d been free to cut loose and work on a novel while she was here, she knew she’d have thousands of words on the page by now. Instead, she kept writing and rewriting the same fifteen hundred words, and it was a decent article, but it wasn’t what she really wanted to be working on.
The next few days, she worried less about that article and concentrated on just enjoying her time in Evergreen and getting to know the people. Each morning, she rushed to get dressed to go see what the advent calendar would behold. She’d be lying if she didn’t admit that meeting up with Ben there was a big part of the draw. He dropped more Evergreen trivia on her daily, which set her day off to a good start.
And even though the contents of the advent boxes differed, they still all carried a thoughtful message that set the theme for the day, and with that she got to know Ben a little better. It was nice that she’d been able to extend her trip when they uncovered the time capsule. She would have hated to miss all of this. But no
w her time was quickly dwindling, and she worried she might be a little too interested in this small town man. As much as she loved this town and these people, she knew she couldn’t live here. She looked over at him. He’d said he loved Chicago. Was there any way he might fall in love with New York City? Maybe even consider a move? A girl can dream.
On the fourteenth day, Michelle pulled the name out of the hat. “Day fourteen is Ben Baxter!”
Katie and Ben hugged in the excitement, and then he opened up the box. He pulled out a string of giant cookie cutters made from copper. “I think this means it’s time for another night of baking cookies at Barbara’s Country Inn. Who wants to help?” His eyes went straight to Katie.
Her heart fluttered at being considered one of the gang. “Count me in.” She couldn’t wait to get in the kitchen with him again. Shoulder to shoulder.
“We’ll make a night of it,” Megan said. “And whoever bakes cookies and wants to participate in a cookie swap, come to the inn Saturday at noon with however many you want to swap. It’ll be a fun way to get a wide variety of goodies with a whole lot less work and mess.”
That night, Ben came over to the inn with a bag full of groceries and a laminated recipe card.
When they walked into the kitchen, Megan was putting together a goody basket for new guests arriving. “You two make yourself at home in here.”
“You’re not going to help us?” Katie asked.
“No, I’ve got plenty of other things to do. Have fun.”
Katie would be lying if she said she wished Megan had stayed. It was kind of nice being in the kitchen with Ben without half the town around. Just the two of them. Would it be like this in their own kitchen? She tried to picture him at home in her condo.
Ben unpacked the groceries and set them on the island.
“Laminated. This must be one special recipe.” She reached for it.
“Yeah. Nan’s grandmother’s shortbread cookies. I think you’ll really like them.” He snagged the card from the table. “Of course, I’ll have to swear you to secrecy. It is a family recipe, after all.”
She zipped her lips. “My lips are sealed.”