by Meg Easton
“Hello?” Eli’s voice came out groggy and scratchy.
“That was a crap thing you did, leaving your mom in charge of the store.”
“Dad?” Eli sat up. “Why? What happened?” He’d talked with his mom about it for quite a while before he left, and she’d seemed fine with it. She’d been helping his dad with the store for the past thirty-two years, after all. She had done every part of every aspect of running the store, even if it wasn’t something she did regularly. And Grace was an excellent shift manager, so he’d really thought it would be fine for him to be away while his dad finished recovering.
“Nothing happened. But she shouldn’t have to have that extra stress on her. She isn’t used to running the entire store by herself.”
“Did Mom say she was stressed about it?” Maybe it was his cloudy brain from a terrible night and still trying to emerge from the fog of sleep at... what time was it? He pulled the phone away from his face long enough to look. 7:03. But he was having troubles understanding what his father was trying to tell him.
“No, because your mother’s tough. The point is, I asked you to run the store while I recovered.”
Ahh. So that was the real reason his dad was upset. “I was under the impression that you weren’t particularly happy with the way I was running the store.”
He grunted. “You actually did some good things.”
His dad had practically whispered the words, and they were jumbled together so much they sounded like a single word. “What?”
“I said you ran the store well,” his dad said, this time yelling it, like he was angry.
“It really does physically pain you to give me a compliment, doesn’t it?”
“And comments like that make me want to take them back.” He let out a huff, then a few slow breaths, like he was trying to be calm again. “Anyway, that wasn’t what I was calling you about.”
“Oh?” Eli got out of bed and walked to his bathroom, curious to see how awful he looked after such a bad night. His eyes were puffy, he definitely needed a shave, and his hair was so far past the kind of messy that could be considered a style it had moved to the kind of messy that bordered on man raised by wolves who then stuck his finger in a light socket.
“I was calling to talk about Whitney.”
Eli froze, then walked back into his room and sat on the edge of his bed.
“It was tough making this call, because, well, matters of the heart are more your mom’s territory, not mine, but this is important. You there? You listening?”
“I’m listening, Dad.”
“Well, you know we like Whitney. Truth is, we’re rather fond of you, too. And we think you and Whitney are perfect for each other. Always have been.”
Eli was so stunned that those words just came out of his dad’s mouth that he couldn’t form words.
“Why haven’t you ever gotten married? I mean, you’re thirty years old, son.”
After yesterday and the night he had, he was finally being truthful to himself. He might as well be truthful to his dad, too. “Because no one else has ever been Whitney.”
“Good. So you feel it, too.”
“Dad, the issue has never been whether or not Whitney is perfect for me. I’ve always known she is. The issue is me not being perfect for her.”
Another grunt from his dad. Then the line went silent for a moment before he said, “Tell me, why do you think she’s never gotten married either?”
“I...” He realized he didn’t know.
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe she hasn’t for the same reason as you? That she’s not married because no one else is Eli?”
Did he dare even hope that was her reason?
“Now I know I tend to focus on pushing you to reach your potential and getting frustrated when you don’t do as well as I know you can. And I haven’t been great at saying things like ‘I love you’ or telling you when you do something that makes me proud. But son, I do, and I want what’s best for you. Your mom and I both do. And we can’t imagine anything being better for you than Whitney.”
His dad paused, and when Eli didn’t say anything, he added in his usual gruff voice, “Now you get your rear end back here and run the store like you said you would until I recover. I don’t want your mom to have the stress of running the store by herself. You hear me?”
For the first time in his life, Eli did. “I love you, Dad.”
After a long pause, his dad said in a low voice, “I love you, son.”
Eli didn’t move a muscle for several long moments after he hung up the phone. His mind went back to the sermon the preacher had given about forgiveness. Peter had asked Christ how many times he should forgive his brother. Seven times? And Christ had responded “Until seventy times seven.” Maybe that was the real reason he was supposed to keep forgiving someone like his dad when he got hurt by him over and over again. Maybe he was supposed to keep forgiving because it took someone like Eli that long to figure out what was underneath his dad’s words.
He kept thinking through what his dad had said over and over as he took a shower, shaved, and got ready for the day. Somewhere amid all the thinking, a realization hit him. He had been letting his dad’s inability to say he loved him make him feel unlovable. But even worse than that, he had been letting that be his excuse to back away from Whitney all along.
Because if it was his dad’s fault that he felt unworthy of Whitney, then it wasn’t his fault that he had made the poor decision not to call her over and over and over again for the past twelve years. Maybe part of learning to forgive his dad also meant letting go of the crutch that blaming his dad had become.
And maybe learning to forgive also meant learning to forgive the stupid, younger Eli who left Nestled Hollow in the first place. Because if he could forgive Younger Eli, then maybe he could move forward, with nothing holding him back, and do everything in his power to get Whitney to forgive him.
Terrible night or not, Eli was suddenly feeling like maybe he could take a much needed turn to get his life back on the track he’d wanted it to be on all along.
Chapter Twenty-Three
A couple dozen people showed up before the sun to help Whitney set up, and she was eternally grateful for the help. Sam from facilities had been stretching the lights across Main Street since 5:00 a.m. so he wouldn’t be in everyone’s way with his equipment, and he was nearly finished.
She split the volunteers into six groups, and had each group set up one archway and wind leaf garlands through their arch. Mrs. Davenport stopped by to help—she had a maple tree with the most beautifully colored leaves, and she had snipped enough small branches for them to wind through all six archways, making Whitney feel like she was truly stepping through a canopy of trees to enter Fall Market. Each group also laid out the bales of hay to block any cars from being able to enter Main Street, making it a pedestrian mall for the day.
Then they positioned the fire pits, loaded them up with wood and tinder, and placed the logs around them for seating, all while the Main Street businesses and the local and county vendors set up their shops. And then they all took on the massive job of spreading all the boxes of leaves that she and Eli had gathered across both blocks of Main Street.
When they were finished, Whitney stood at the archway near Treanor’s and admired their work. It was even more incredible than she had imagined it would be. Between the leaves hanging from the light strands and looking like they were falling from the sky, the outdoor feel from the fire pits and leaves on the ground, the businesses setting up their booths and spreading out their fall-colored wares, and the mountains nestled so close in the background, the place looked like a fall wonderland.
Whitney turned to see Ed and Linda Keetch step through the archway behind her. Linda laid her hand on Whitney’s arm and said, “I’ve lived here since I was a little girl, and I have never seen this street look more beautiful. I knew if I paired you and Eli up for the job that magic would happen.”
Whitney turn
ed and looked at Linda. The older woman’s eyes were sparkling, like maybe she was referring to more than just the decorations when she’d said magic. “I just wish Eli was here to see it.”
Linda looked at Ed, then reached out and entwined her fingers in his before turning back to Whitney. “The thing about love is, most people are only willing to let someone in to a portion of their heart. If you let someone in to your whole heart, that’s when a little bit of heaven comes down and you get to live your life basking in it.”
“Thank you, Linda. Truly.”
The thought of opening her entire heart was terrifying. But for the first time in a very long time, she was ready. Whitney pulled out her phone and took pictures of how amazing everything looked before the streets got crowded. Eli deserved to see how everything turned out, regardless of what happened between the two of them. She just wished the pictures could do it justice.
Once they opened Fall Market to the public, people swarmed in. The joint effort of everyone in the Main Street Business Alliance had accomplished miracles, because there were more people shopping than Whitney had ever seen before. Their makeshift parking lot in the field was overflowing. People were heading into shops with their scavenger hunt papers in hand and eager looks on their faces. She stepped into the Gazette and grabbed her nice camera to take pictures for the paper. With this many people, all the businesses would definitely go into winter doing well enough financially that even if they didn’t get much snow, they’d still survive.
Throughout the day, she, Scott, and Kara took turns manning the Gazette’s booth and handing out free Fall Market editions of the paper. When she wasn’t at the paper, she checked in with all the booths, made sure everyone had what they needed, and made sure the stage was set up for the band. She worked with the band— a group of five Nestled Hollow High School kids— to get their equipment set up, and even raced across town in her car with Kylie, one of the band members, to grab an amp they’d forgotten.
As she went from task to task, she wondered if she could ever possibly work things out with Eli. How could she show him that she wasn’t afraid of letting him in anymore? That she was ready to give up all her fears and doubts and worries so that they could be together?
She pulled out her phone once more and looked at the screen. She had texted him several times throughout the day, asking if they could talk, but she hadn’t gotten a response yet.
The Back Porch Grill, Keetch’s, Joey’s Pizza and Subs, and some of the food vendors were just starting to serve dinner and the sun was starting to light the sky with brilliant colors. She gathered members of her volunteer team, and they went from fire pit to fire pit, lighting the fires. The band took their places on to the stage that sat on the bridge right in the very center of Main Street and tuned their instruments. The sun dipped behind the mountains, and the temperature dropped noticeably. People not already sitting at the outdoor tables chatting and eating dinner started flocking to the fires, warming their hands and sitting on the logs, chatting.
Everyone turned their attention to the stage at the center when Ed Keetch tapped on the microphone, and said, “Will everyone please join me in welcoming our very own Flight of the Mountain Ducks!”
Everyone cheered, then the hundred strands of lights strung between the buildings from one end of Main Street to the other lit up, and the cheers changed to expressions of awe, Whitney’s included. She had imagined this exact moment dozens of times, and it still blew her away. Having the fall leaves hanging from the lights had definitely been the right choice. She used her work camera to capture at least part of the magic on film.
The teens were playing covers of songs from big hair bands in the eighties and nineties, and the crowds were immediately re-energized. Some shopped more, some ate dinner, and quite a few gathered around the campfires or on the road in front of the band.
As the band played the first few chords of Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi, a dozen little kids ran out to the empty space in front of the band and started dancing.
“Can I take the camera?” Kara asked.
Whitney jerked in surprise— she hadn’t even seen Kara walk up to her.
“I just want to get a few pictures for the paper. Or do you need it right now?”
Whitney ducked under the strap and handed it to Kara. “It’s all yours. Take all the pictures you’d like.”
Hanging out here all day and seeing all the things that she and Eli created together tore her insides apart. She had socialized with so many people in the past nearly twelve hours, and now she truly understood that even though she loved every single one of them, all the friendly relationships in the world didn’t make up for one really deep, meaningful relationship, where she actually let someone inside the wall she’d worked at reinforcing for so many years. It made her miss Eli even more.
She pulled her phone out one more time, hoping and praying for a missed text or call from him, but there wasn’t one. She decided that if he didn’t text back by the time Fall Market was over and she finished cleaning up, she was going to go to her apartment, pack a suitcase, drive to the Denver airport, and get on the next flight to Sacramento, no matter how late it was.
The band started playing Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx, and Ed Keetch stood up from where he sat on a log next to a campfire, holding a hand out to his wife. Linda took his hand, and he led her to the open area in front of the band and danced with her. Moments later, they were joined by several other couples in love.
Normally, a scene like this would’ve grabbed her heart and made her feel all warm inside as she watched. For the first time in a very long time, though, she’d been able to actually picture herself as someone who could’ve been out there, dancing with a man she was in love with. But she’d let fear take that away. She was about to go find somewhere else to be, where she could nurse her broken heart in solitude until the festivities were over, when all one hundred strands of lights above went out.
Alarmed, she took half a dozen steps toward the city building, where the power switch was located, when she realized that although the band’s singer had stopped singing, the band kept playing, their soft melody seeming to move along with the creek that ran down the middle of the road. All the happy chatting from the crowds had stopped, and through the lights from the campfires, she could see that all the people on her side of the road were slowly moving toward the sidewalks in front of the buildings, leaving the street empty.
She took a few steps forward, confused, not understanding what was going on when everyone else seemed to.
Then she saw a small light bobbing down the creek. A few seconds later, a second light came into view. Then a handful of others, each light bouncing off the waves of Snowdrift Springs, dancing along its surface. She walked to the nearest pedestrian bridge to get a closer look at what was in the creek. More and more and more lights wove their way down the water. As the first one neared, Whitney’s hands flew to her mouth, her breath shallow. It was a swan, folded out of a square of what looked like parchment paper, a votive candle resting on its back. Hundreds and hundreds of swans made their way down Snowdrift Springs, each one sending a flicker of candlelight bouncing off the water.
Her breaths became quick, deep, and ragged as she scanned the area for Eli, praying that the swans were from him. A movement off to the right caught her eye, and Eli stepped from the crowd, wearing a suit, looking stunningly perfect, and striding straight toward her. She’d have run to him if she weren’t frozen in shock in the middle of the pedestrian bridge, seeing the man who hadn’t left her mind since they’d broken up four days earlier.
Eli’s steps quickened and he took the last few strides right up to join her on the bridge. “Whitney,” Eli said as he grabbed both of her hands in his.
“Eli,” she breathed. “You... This is so beautiful.” She looked back at the creek, where more and more swans continued to float down it.
“I love you, Whitney. I’ve loved you since we were sixteen and first became friends. I
loved you when we started dating at eighteen. I’ve loved you every single day over the past twelve years I’ve been gone, even when I wasn’t willing to admit it. You’re all I’ve ever wanted. I’m sorry it took me so long to figure out how to stop running.” He reached out and tucked a curl behind her ear, running his knuckles along her cheek. “Please tell me you’ll give me a second chance.”
Whitney’s breath caught in her throat, emotion rising up and washing over her. She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek, grounding her and steadying her, letting her know that he was the reason why she was supposed to stay in Nestled Hollow. She was supposed to stay here long enough to reconnect with Eli. “I’ll move.”
A look of surprise crossed Eli’s face.
“I’ll move to Sacramento to be with you.” She would’ve never guessed that she’d be okay with moving away from Nestled Hollow, but the moment the words left her mouth, she was at peace with it. She knew that being with Eli was more important than anything she’d built here.
“And leave all this?” he said, gesturing at the town and Fall Market and everyone on Main Street, who she now realized were all watching her, some taking pictures and videos with their phones, Kara right in front taking pictures with the paper’s camera.
“None of this is worth it if it means being without you.”
“You would do that? You’d leave Nestled Hollow for me?” His voice came out choked, full of emotion.
“In a heartbeat.”
Eli placed his hands on her face, cradling her head, and bent down and touched his lips to hers in the most heartfelt, sweet kiss Whitney had ever experienced. She closed her eyes and soaked in everything about it. Then she put her arms around his back and pulled him in close, deepening the kiss, to the cheers of the crowds around them. Eli chuckled, his mouth still against hers. “We’ve got a bit of an audience.”
Whitney pulled back, so she could look in his eyes. “Speaking of which, how is it that they all seem to be in on this?”