Mistletoe Between Friends / The Snowflake Inn

by Samantha Chase

  She hadn’t jogged since her knee gave out that day in the park when she’d first met Riley, and in her spare time, she just hadn’t felt up to socializing. This funk was seriously starting to grate on her nerves.

  All around her, people were chatting and talking about the upcoming holidays, but all she could think about was Riley Walsh in a hot tub. Hot and hard beneath her. She closed her eyes and groaned. Why? Why did she have to stop him? Maybe if she’d just do it, she could move on with her life rather than thinking about him, fantasizing about him, and doing everything but drawing their names in cartoon hearts.

  “You okay, Grace?” Ben asked as he came into the kitchen. “You’re a little quiet today.”

  “I’m fine,” she lied. “I guess I didn’t sleep well last night.” She was about to go back to chopping the vegetables she had out for tonight’s stew when she noticed Ben was a little off his game, too. “How about you? Everything all right?”

  Ben looked around to make sure they were alone. “I’ve got a date tonight.”

  “What? With whom?”

  He glanced at his feet before looking up and facing her. “Her name is Sharon. I met her at the grocery store.”

  “Oh, Ben, you didn’t… Don’t be that guy.”

  “What guy?”

  “The guy who goes to the grocery store to pick up women.”

  He sighed and leaned on the butcher block. “Grace, believe me, I’m not that guy. Unfortunately, I’m a guy who is lonely, and I need more than just hanging around and sharing a meal with a woman who isn’t interested in me. It’s time for me to put myself first for a change.”

  “Oh, Ben…” she began.

  “I’m okay, really. I guess I kept hoping for things to change, but the reality is that they’re not going to. I’ve done everything but build a neon billboard sign telling Corrine how I feel. I love her, but I can’t wait for her anymore. I need more.” He looked at Grace with eyes full of sadness. “Does that make me a horrible person?”

  She shook her head. “No,” she said and walked around to hug him. “It makes you human.”

  Corrine walked in and placed a glass in the sink. “Everything okay in here?” She looked at the two of them as worry creased her brow. “What’s going on?”

  Grace carefully stepped aside and busied herself at the sink.

  “Ben?” Corrine asked.

  Taking a deep breath, he straightened his shoulders and said, “I was telling Grace I have a date tonight.”

  Shock registered on Corrine’s face, but she quickly masked it. “Oh…a…a date. With whom?”

  “Her name is Sharon. We met a couple of days ago in the grocery store.”

  Grace watched Corrine willing herself to stay calm. “I see. Well, good for you. Where…where are you taking her? Dinner? A movie?”

  Ben nodded. “We’re going to dinner at Mario’s. She likes Italian.”

  “You can’t go wrong with Mario’s,” Corrine agreed flatly. “They do have the best Italian in town.” They continued to stare at one another for several moments before Ben spoke again.

  “I think we got enough done here today that it won’t be a big deal for me to leave early. I’d like to go home to shower and change before I pick Sharon up.”

  All Corrine could do was nod.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Corri,” he said softly. But she didn’t say a word. Instead, she watched him leave, and Grace wondered at the pain on her friend’s face. Why wouldn’t Corrine take the next step? And then Grace wondered if she should be doing the same with Riley.

  * * *

  It took a couple of hours for Grace to finish getting dinner on the stove and setting the dining room before she found Corrine in her room. She knocked gently on the door but wasn’t sure if the muffled sound she heard was actually an invitation to come in. Pushing the door open slowly, she scanned the room before spotting Corrine’s small form sitting in the corner in her rocking chair.

  “I used to rock Riley in this chair when he was a baby,” Corrine said. “I used to love sitting here in the middle of the night with him. It was such a peaceful time, just the two of us.”

  Grace walked into the room and sat on the bed and waited.

  Corrine faced her. “Life was so much simpler then. I had my husband, I had my son, and I had my home.” She gave a mirthless laugh and looked at her hands clasped in her lap. “Now what do I have? My husband is gone, and my son is here for a short time and wants to escape as soon as possible. He wants me to sell this place, and…I’ve lost Ben.” As she looked up at Grace, her tears began to fall. “I have nothing. It’s all gone.”

  Reaching out, Grace took one of Corrine’s hands in hers. “That’s not true, Corrine,” she said softly.

  “It is. It’s all gone now. What am I going to do?”

  Grace knew she had to choose her words carefully. “Jack has been gone a long time; I know that. And Riley was gone for a long time, but he’s back now. It’s going to take a while for him to adjust to being home. He may not want to stay here at the inn, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have him. Who knows where he’ll settle down? Now you won’t have to wait for him to be on leave to see him or talk to him. You have that freedom.”

  Corrine gave a trembling smile. “Oh, I hope so, Grace. I hope he’ll want me to be part of his life.”

  “Of course he does! In his own way, he thinks he’s helping you by wanting you to sell this place. He just needs to get to know you now as an adult, so he’ll understand what this place means to you.” Corrine nodded. “And as for Ben?” Grace said as she tugged on her friend’s hand. “You know good and well he’s in love with you. He’s been in love with you most of his life.”

  “He’s out on a date tonight, Grace!” Corrine cried. “How could he go out with someone else?”

  “Because he can’t sit here with you every day and every night just to be your pal! He’s a man, Corrine, and you’re a woman. He’s been waiting a long time for you, but he feels you’re never going to return his feelings. It’s not fair for you to expect him to live like a monk.”

  “I never expected that! He never made a move…never even tried to kiss me!”

  Grace laughed. “The two of you are something else. You know that, right?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s afraid to make a move because he doesn’t want to scare you, and you’re waiting for him to make a move. No wonder nothing has happened.”

  “Grace, it’s killing me he’s out with someone tonight.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you think it’s serious? Do you think he really…likes this woman?”

  Grace shook her head. “I think he’s just trying something new.”

  Corrine frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “He certainly got your attention, didn’t he?”

  Nodding, Corrine asked, “So what do I do now?”

  Grace gave a wicked grin. “Tomorrow, you go after your man.”

  “What? Oh no, I couldn’t! What would I do?”

  “For starters, you could greet him with a kiss.”

  Corrine blushed from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes. “But…shouldn’t he make the first move?”

  “Corrine, it’s been what? Twenty years? Clearly he’s not going to make the first move. If you don’t want him dating anyone else, you’re going to have to be the one to do it.”

  “Oh dear…”

  “Trust me, you’ll be fine.” They sat and smiled. Grace looked at the bedside clock and saw it was time to start prepping to serve dinner. “C’mon. We’ll get through dinner and talk strategy afterward.” They headed to the kitchen. “Is Riley coming back tonight?”

  “No, he called earlier and said he was going to stay a couple of extra days with his friends. He’ll be back Wednesday night, so he’ll be here
for Thanksgiving.”

  “Oh,” Grace said, forcing herself to sound casual. “Any reason for the extended stay?”

  “Boys will be boys,” Corrine said with a dramatic sigh. “If I had to guess, I’d say he was having a good ol’ time going out drinking with his friends and probably making up for lost time with a woman.”

  Now Grace felt sick and imagined this was how Corrine was feeling a few minutes ago. “And you’re okay with that?”

  “Grace, Riley is a thirty-year-old man. I don’t harbor any illusions of him being… What did you say earlier? A monk?” She chuckled. “I’d say there was something wrong with him if he didn’t get out and go a little wild.”

  Grace slammed a cabinet door with more than a little force as Corrine spoke. “Grace? Are you okay?”

  “What? Oh, I’m fine. I didn’t mean to slam that so hard.” But the slamming continued as she made up the trays of food for their guests.

  * * *

  Monday morning, Ben let himself into the inn like he always did. The place was quiet. Almost too quiet. There were no cars out in the front, and he thought he remembered hearing Corrine saying everyone was checking out on Sunday. They weren’t expecting guests again until the day after Thanksgiving.

  Walking to the kitchen, he expected to see Grace. Even on days when they didn’t have guests, she was up early and puttering around in there concocting one magnificent dish after another.

  The room was empty.

  Coffee wasn’t even started.

  He began to panic. Where was Grace? Hell, where was Corrine? A glance at his watch showed it was just after eight. In all of the years he had known Corrine, she’d always been an early riser. Maybe they went out to start work on the last cottage without him. Walking out the back door, Ben headed down the path to the row of guest cottages. He took pride as he saw them come into view. The grounds looked beautiful, and the cottages each had a fresh coat of paint and looked almost like new.

  As he approached the last cottage, he realized this was the last project that would bring him here on a daily basis for a long time. After this, he was really only needed one day a week. The thought of not seeing Corrine every day brought a pain to a region of his heart. She made every day brighter for him, gave him a reason to get up each day.

  His date with Sharon had been fine enough, but there were no sparks. For either of them. It was a pleasant evening, but that was it. It was just an evening. So much for his grand plan to make Corrine jealous. He’d barely made it through one date. He snorted with disgust at himself.

  Taking his keys out, he unlocked the door to the cottage and stopped dead in his tracks as the door opened. The entire place was decorated for Christmas. The smell of fresh paint lingered in the air along with fresh pine. He stepped inside, closed the door, and looked around in wonder. How had all of this gotten done over the weekend? He hadn’t told his crew to come in.

  “I was thinking of doing this in all of the cabins.”

  Ben turned and felt a wave of shock hit him at the sound of Corrine’s voice. She seemed to step out of the shadows. “When… How…how did you get all of this done?”

  “I called the boys in over the weekend. Grace and I helped them, and we got this done.”

  “But…why? You knew I’d be here today, and we had it all planned out. It would have been done by Thanksgiving.”

  “I was…restless…this weekend,” she said coyly. “I needed something to do. All of the guests were out and about, and everything else is done around here, so I decided to take the initiative.” Her voice sounded a bit breathless even to her own ears, and she hoped and prayed she could pull this off. Stepping closer to Ben, she gazed into his eyes. “How was your date?”

  His blue eyes bore into hers, and his heart was hammering in his chest. She wanted to know about his date? Was she trying to kill him here? All this talk about being restless and taking initiative… What the hell was going on? “We had dinner, and I took her home,” he said gruffly, losing himself in Corrine’s soft, brown eyes.

  “How was the food?”

  “Corrine?”

  “Hmmm?” she said, a small smile pulling at her lips.

  “I don’t want to talk about food. Or my date.”

  “Then what do you want, Ben?” she asked boldly as she stepped closer to him. Corrine held her breath as she waited for an answer. With each second, she was certain Ben could hear her heartbeat.

  “You,” he finally said. “I want you. I’ve always wanted you.”

  And then he kissed her. For the first time in the fifty years they’d known each other, Ben allowed himself to kiss Corrine. He wasn’t gentle; he wasn’t smooth. He kissed her with all of the passion that had been building his entire life, and the amazing part of it was that she kissed him right back in the same fashion.

  Who knew?

  Chapter 7

  The day before Thanksgiving dawned gray and dreary, which fit Grace’s mood. Riley was due back today, and it had been hell not thinking about him off sleeping with some other woman. She had no one to blame but herself on that one. She could have slept with him—twice! But had she? No…she had to be a stickler about rules and morals. Idiot.

  And to add insult to injury, she now had to sit back and watch Corrine and Ben. They clearly had worked out their issues, because everywhere Grace went, there they were…kissing, hugging, holding hands. It should have made her happy for her friends, but instead it just made her jealous and pissed off because they had something she wanted.

  Grace had never thought herself to be petty, but right now, that was exactly how she was acting and feeling. Walking into the kitchen, she found the two of them there, holding hands while they had their morning coffee. Perfect.

  “Good morning,” they both said as she walked in, and all she managed was a grunt. “We’re taking a ride into town after breakfast. Is there anything else you need for dinner tomorrow?” Corrine asked.

  Grace shook her head. “I have everything. If I don’t, I’ll go to the store.”

  Ben and Corrine exchanged glances. “Is everything okay, Grace?” Corrine asked.

  Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess the holidays just get to me sometimes. This is the first time in a long time that I’m spending one with people who are like family to me, and well…”—she sat beside them and cursed the tears that began to fall—“it’s going to be so much harder because I know this will be the only one we have together.”

  “Oh, Grace,” Corrine said, and she leaned over to hug her. “What are you talking about?”

  “Please,” Grace said with a hint of anger as she pulled away, wiping at her cheeks. “You and Ben are together. Which, by the way, I really am happy about. But now that you are, and with all of the fuss Riley’s been making, it’s only a matter of time before you two decide to go off and travel. Just like Riley said.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ben asked.

  With a huff of frustration, Grace faced her friends. “Ben, we all know you don’t need this job. You’re here because of Corinne. And, Corrine? You’ve put your heart and soul into this place, but wouldn’t you like a little time alone with Ben?” They both nodded. “See? So the perfect solution is to sell the Snowflake Inn and have a life together. You’ve both waited long enough for this, and you should enjoy yourselves.” If she could have kept the contempt out of her voice, they might have actually believed her. “Damn Riley,” she muttered.

  Ben cleared his throat. “Um, Grace,” he began hesitantly, “I’m sure all that makes sense in your head, but I’ve got to tell you that you’re jumping the gun here a little bit.”

  She stared at him as if he were speaking Greek. “What do you mean? Are you saying the two of you are going to just stay friends?”

  “Hell no!” he said with a laugh. “This is all new to us, and while yes, we do w
ant to have some time to ourselves, that has nothing to do with the inn. You’re here now. Corrine can go away on a vacation and not stress out because she knows everything is being taken care of. By you.”

  “Really?” Grace said with a sob.

  Corrine and Ben both nodded. “Really,” Corrine finally said. “Oh, Grace, I’m sorry if you’ve been sitting here thinking we were going to take off on you. To be honest, I still don’t know what I’m going to do with this place. With Riley not wanting it, there’s no reason for me to hang on to it until I die. I won’t will it to him. Eventually I will have to sell it. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

  While Corrine’s words should have made Grace feel better, they didn’t. The simple truth was that this was all temporary. Grace was tired of temporary. She wanted something real and lasting. She knew better than anyone that there were no guarantees in life, but she was going to do her best to find that for herself.

  Over the past couple of days, she had done her research and she knew she would never be able to buy the Snowflake Inn from Corrine. The property was worth far more than Grace could ever afford, and she would never ask her friend to lower the price. So that put Grace back at square one—finding a place of her own where she could grow and settle and find her forever home.

  The thought made her sad because she had truly felt this was going to be home. But that just wasn’t meant to be. So for this year, she’d have her Thanksgiving and Christmas with Corrine and Ben…and Riley, but then it would be in her best interest to move on. It would be better to cut her losses now than to spend years here and then be forced to go.

  In the past ten years, Grace had learned the fine art of leaving places that she loved and detaching herself from the process. Now it was her turn to take control of her destiny and find her forever place.

  She only hoped it was as wonderful and lovely as the Snowflake Inn.

  * * *

  Riley came back late. It was well after dinner, and he had planned it that way. The days away hadn’t been all that he had expected them to be. His buddies were both engaged to wonderful women, and he’d found he spent most of his time hearing about wedding plans and houses and building futures.