Their Unexpected Christmas Gift (The Stone Gap Inn Book 3)

by Shirley Jump

  With her shoes off, she was a few inches shorter than him, but she fit against him as if she had been made for the space between his arms. A couple of missteps, and then their rhythms synced. He leaned closer, inhaling the dark scent of her perfume. Like Vivian herself, even her perfume had layers and surprises.

  A few more renegade tendrils had escaped the updo and skated along the edge of her neck. He whispered a kiss just below them, as light as a breeze. Then another and another, dancing down her neck with his lips. She let out a soft gasp, and her hand tightened in his. Her eyes widened in the low interior light. “What are we doing?”

  “Dancing. Kissing. Mostly dancing.”

  “It feels a lot like something more.”

  “Yes, it does.” What more, he didn’t want to voice, afraid the moment was as fragile as a soap bubble. Instead, he stopped moving, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed Vivian good and proper. The way he’d wanted to since the day he met her.

  She leaned into him, her hold tightening. The music shifted to something else, but neither of them noticed. They had this moment, and neither wanted to let it go.

  Chapter Ten

  Dozens of Christmas trees lined the tarred parking lot of the white Presbyterian church in downtown Stone Gap. One wizened old man in a Charlotte Hornets ball cap and a flannel shirt manned the lot. A bright orange pair of work gloves waved from the back pocket of his worn jeans. “Merry Christmas! Can I help you two lovebirds find a tree?”

  Lovebirds?

  Then Vivian realized she’d been holding hands with Nick ever since she’d gotten out of the truck. Actually she hadn’t stopped touching him ever since they left the gazebo. They’d danced and kissed until the air got too cold, and they had to pack up the food and leave. She could blame it all on the wine, but she’d only had one glass, and Nick hadn’t even finished his. The dancing, the kissing, the hand-holding, had all been...

  Wonderful.

  If she was honest with herself, that’s what she’d say. Wonderful and sweet and temporary. She’d expected Nick to be like every other man she’d dated—men who took her to nice restaurants and said nice things, but left as much of an impression as a drop of water on a sponge. The romantic gazebo setting, the thoughtfulness of the heater, the amazing meal and ambiance had all been the kind of moments she would hold on to long after she left Stone Gap.

  And that’s what she needed to remember. No matter how wonderful their date had been, no matter how much she wished they’d done more than kiss and dance tonight, this was a single date that was coming to its inevitable end. She had yet to tell Nick she planned to go back to Durham this weekend because she kept getting distracted from her job and her situation with Ellie by this man. She had maybe twenty-four hours left in this fantasy bubble of Stone Gap and Nick Jackson before her real life returned. Selfishly, she didn’t want their time together to end yet, but she also knew the sooner she stopped being so attached, the easier leaving would be.

  She released his hand and stepped away, drawing her coat tighter as an excuse to let go of Nick. A chill chased along her empty palm. “Just a simple tree,” she said to the man. “Nothing fancy.”

  The older man thrust out his hand. “Name’s Cutler Shay. Welcome to Stone Gap.”

  “How do you know I’m from out of town?” Vivian asked.

  “I’ve been around Stone Gap long enough to know pretty much every man, woman, child and grandchild in these parts. You don’t look one bit familiar, so I’m guessing you’re an out-of-towner. But you...” He stepped toward Nick and studied his face for a moment. “You’re...one of Ida Mae’s grandsons, aren’t you? You’ve got her nose and her eyes, my boy.”

  “I am. I’m Nick. The youngest of the three.” Nick shook his head. “Wow. I’m surprised you’d recognize me.”

  “Oh, I’m not that good.” Cutler waved off the words. “Just joshing with you. I saw you moving into your grandmother’s house. I live across the street. And scuttlebutt around town is that you’ve been settling in here, working at the Stone Gap Inn.”

  Nick grinned. “Of course. The Stone Gap gossip chain. Nice to see you again, Mr. Shay.”

  “Cutler will do just fine. Any relative of Ida Mae’s is a friend of mine.” He gave each of them a grin, then made a sweeping gesture of the lot. Trees lined either side of a pathway that extended from the front of the church to the back, all along the side driveway. Three-inch white Christmas bulbs strung between the trees to separate them somewhat into aisles provided decent enough lighting to see the trees, and hand-lettered bright red and white tags showed the pricing up front. “You might want to look at one of the Douglas firs. Ida Mae was always partial to them, and they look mighty nice in that corner of her living room. How long are you living there? Might want to get a watering system if you’re staying past the holidays.”

  Vivian glanced at Nick, then back at Cutler. “It’s just a temporary thing.”

  “Uh-huh. I’ve heard that before.” Cutler started walking through the tree lot, passing the squat blue spruces, the plump Norway spruces and the skinny traditional pines as he spoke. “You know, your grandmother and grandfather, God rest their souls, said the same thing when they first bought that house.”

  “I thought my grandmother always lived here in town.”

  “She did. Like me, she grew up in Stone Gap, and like most of us when we hit eighteen, she said she was going to move to somewhere bigger and fancier after we graduated. Living in Stone Gap was only a ‘temporary thing.’” Cutler’s wrinkled hands fashioned air quotes around his words. He paused by a selection of Douglas firs and raised a caterpillar brow in Vivian’s direction. “But this town has a way of growing on you when you’re not looking.”

  Why was everyone trying to sell her on Stone Gap as a home? She had a life elsewhere, a job, an apartment. Her time here was all going to be done and over in a day or two. “Yeah, like moss on a tree.”

  Cutler laughed. “Yeah, like moss. But you know, moss serves a purpose. It helps the tree retain water, save it up for those days that are dry and hot as Hades. At first, the tree might be annoyed by the moss, but after a while, it realizes the moss gives the tree a better life.”

  Vivian didn’t quite see how that equated to moving to a tiny town in North Carolina, but she wasn’t about to argue. Cutler seemed to be full of homilies, and right now, she just wanted to get the tree and go. This night with Nick was making her want things she couldn’t have. Best to end it quick, with this one last memory. “All these trees look great. Can you just wrap one up for us?”

  “Now, now, you can’t just pick a tree like that. A Christmas tree is special. It needs to be chosen by the people who are putting it up. It’s going to be a part of your home—” Cutler put up a hand “—temporary or not, doesn’t matter a whit. You should always make sure the tree feels like part of your family.”

  A part of their family? It was just a tree. And they were not a family. Not even close. Even if Nick saw it that way. The words panicked her because a part of her had long ago stopped believing she could have the very thing that she’d lacked all her life.

  Vivian looked at Nick. He shrugged and gave her a grin, unfazed.

  “Now, the Douglas fir isn’t exactly a fir. You see these cones here?” Cutler reached in between the branches to point out one of the long brown cones. “They’re distinctive just to the Douglas firs. This French botanist some years back—and his name is all Frenchie, so I can’t pronounce it—named the Douglas fir a ‘false hemlock,’ because it looks like one of those trees. But don’t worry, it’s not the kind of hemlock that Socrates used to poison himself. Or was it Plato?” Cutler shook his head. “That’s neither here nor there. What’s important is which of these trees feels right?”

  To Vivian, every one of the bright green trees with their dark brown cones looked exactly the same. Okay, yes, she could tell that a few sat wide and sh
ort, others were taller and leaner. But tree for tree, they were nearly indistinguishable. Cutler was staring at her, though, with a grin on his face that was half-knowing and half-expectant, so she pointed to the tree on her right. “That one.” She turned to Nick. “Does that work for you?”

  “Yep. Seems like the perfect tree for us. A little lopsided and in need of a good home.”

  Lopsided? She hadn’t noticed that. But as Cutler pulled the tree out from among the others, she saw that the one she’d chosen did, indeed, lean a bit to the left. “Are you sure you want a tree that’s not perfect?” she asked Nick.

  “None of us are perfect, Vivian,” he said. “You can look at that tree, or that one, and you’ll find a flaw. The flaws are what make the trees interesting, though. And people, for that matter.”

  Good Lord. Cutler was rubbing off on Nick. But why was it that when Nick talked, all Vivian could do was stare into his dark brown eyes and listen to the cadence of his words? The wine. It had to be the wine.

  A single glass of a fruity chardonnay affecting her that deeply? Unlikely. More that she’d grown to like Nick. Very much. That was all. He was a good friend. An interesting man.

  An interesting man who could kiss her and make her forget everything and everyone else. An interesting man who touched her and made her melt. An interesting man who wasn’t going to be so easy to leave behind.

  Cutler cleared his throat. “All right, kids, let me wrap her up and get her ready for you. Then you can go home, put on the Christmas carols and get decorating.” Cutler took the tree with him as Nick and Vivian followed, then he laid it on a wrapping machine and pushed a button. Orange netting slipped around the tree, pressing it into a more easily transportable shape. “After we finished decorating the tree, my wife and I, God rest her soul, would sit on the couch and watch the lights twinkle. I used to think she was a sentimental fool, but now that she’s gone, I realized I was the fool for not paying more attention.”

  A brisk breeze whistled through the lot, as if in answer to his words. Love and devotion weighted the ends of Cutler’s words, and shimmered in his eyes. He raised his gaze to the sky for a moment, then gave a little cough and bent to tie some twine around the base of the tree. “Damn, I miss her. Should have appreciated her more when she was by my side.”

  “I’m so sorry about your wife,” Vivian said. What would it be like to be loved that much? Or to give that kind of love to another? The kind of love that transcended life and death, and lingered in your veins?

  “Aw, thank you, miss. My Sarah was a saint for putting up with me. And when you find a keeper like that, you don’t let go.” Cutler straightened and took the cash from Nick. “Doesn’t matter where you live or what you live in. The right woman is the one who makes it a home. Remember that, son.”

  “I will,” Nick said. “You have a good Christmas, Cutler.” He hoisted the tree onto one shoulder and headed back to the pickup truck, sliding the tree into the bed in one smooth move. He opened the door for Vivian and helped her up.

  Their touch extended a few seconds longer than necessary. His hand warmed hers, and his gaze filled her with a comfortable joy she had never known. If only a bottle existed that could hold this moment, so that when she returned to Durham she could revisit Nick’s touch from time to time. “We, uh, should pick up Ellie and get that tree set up before it gets too late.”

  Nick dropped her hand and stepped back. “You’re right. We should.” Then he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. The drive to the Stone Gap Inn only took a few minutes, but the bubble that had wrapped around them from the minute she’d come down the stairs in her dress had popped, and they were back to being simply strangers who’d formed a temporary alliance to help one little baby feel safe and protected.

  * * *

  Mavis and Della almost didn’t want to give Ellie back. “She is just the cutest thing,” Mavis said, with Ellie in her arms, swaddled in a pink blanket and already dressed in her pajamas. “Such a good baby.”

  Della ran her finger over Ellie’s tiny hand and gave the baby a smile. “My boys were never that sweet. They cried so much, I’ve always told them I would have given them back if they weren’t so darn cute.”

  Nick laughed. “If I promise to bring her back, will you let us take her home and put her to bed?”

  Mavis made a face of discontent, but handed Ellie over. “You make sure to tell her that her aunties Mavis and Della can’t wait to spoil her again.”

  “And that we’ll bake her cookies soon as she starts getting a couple teeth.” Della tapped Ellie’s chin. “Isn’t that right? Any kind of cookies you want, sugar pie.”

  “We better get out of here before they build her a swing set in the yard,” Nick muttered to Vivian. She’d said maybe three words to him on the short ride from the church to the inn, and had found ways to avoid his touch. After the wonderful time they’d had in the gazebo—most of all, the way she had responded when he kissed her—Nick wondered where things had gone left instead of right. Had he said something that made her mad? Things had changed after the Christmas tree purchase, and he was damned if he knew why.

  “Thank you so much for watching her.” Vivian gathered up the diaper bag while Nick put Ellie in the baby carrier. Vivian headed out the door first, but Della pulled Nick aside just before he left.

  “How did it go tonight?” she whispered.

  Della had helped him coordinate the heater with Jack, and had lent him the insulated basket for the food and wine. Probably out of some misguided plan to make Nick and Vivian fall in love and settle down in Stone Gap with Ellie, the newly adopted granddaughter of the Stone Gap Inn. He couldn’t bear to tell Della that the evening was ending on a flat note. “Pretty good.”

  Della smiled. “She seems like a very sweet woman when you get her away from working. I had a lovely conversation with her this afternoon, you know. About babies, motherhood, and you.”

  About him? Nick wanted to ask what Vivian had said, but that would have been obvious and needy, and he was neither.

  “I agree,” Mavis said. “I’ve seen how that girl looks at you, Nick. She’s more smitten than she realizes.”

  The two women couldn’t have been more blatant matchmakers if they’d been holding up signs. Nick bit back a groan. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, ladies. Thanks again.”

  “No worries. It was our pleasure.” Della gave Ellie a quick kiss on the forehead. “See you tomorrow.”

  Nick started out the door again, but Mavis stopped him with a touch on his shoulder. “One more thing.” Cold air was coming through the open door, and he could see Vivian sitting in the truck, but Mavis paid neither any attention. “I heard your father will be in town tomorrow.”

  “Why? And how did you hear that?”

  “I have a little birdie down at the town hall. He said your dad is coming into town to meet with a client about a new building project that’s getting some pushback from the commissioners.”

  “That’s a lot of words for a little birdie.” There had been talk about a small outdoor mall going up in Stone Gap, something many people in the town opposed because they believed it would ruin the character and charm of the area. Some corporation had apparently looked at Stone Gap’s location off of Route 95 and decided it was perfect for more tourism. Nick wasn’t surprised his bulldog father was involved in the legal battle over that.

  “Just call him. Meet him for lunch. Like Ida Mae asked you to.” Mavis’s features softened. “Your grandmother wouldn’t have asked if she didn’t think it was important. For you and her only son.”

  Ida Mae’s only son had barely stayed to the end of his own mother’s funeral. He’d let her grandsons handle the arrangements, contributing only by handing Grady a check. Just tell me the time and date, their father had said. Ida Mae leaving the house to Grady rather than Richard wasn’t a big surprise—over the years the Jack
sons had made millions from their law firm. They hardly needed more property when they already owned the Mausoleum and multiple vacation homes all over the world. Instead, she’d left her son and daughter-in-law some stocks, her other grandsons money equal to the house she’d left Grady, and then that damnable box that Nick had yet to deal with. And a not-so-simple request for Nick.

  “I’ll...think about it.” Then he said goodbye for the hundredth time and stepped out into the chilly air.

  * * *

  Ellie was completely worn out by her adventurous day at the inn, and fell asleep as soon as the truck started. Vivian had hoped for some baby distraction tonight, but Ellie went straight to bed, barely stirring when they got home and Nick carried her upstairs.

  Vivian followed him up to the nursery. Ellie’s tiny head was nestled into Nick’s shoulder, and soft baby snores escaped with her breaths. Nick paused by the crib, cupping Ellie’s head as he lowered her onto the mattress. Every move he made with the baby held tenderness.

  It almost made Vivian jealous. What would it be like for Nick to touch her that way?

  He stood beside the crib and smiled down at Ellie. “She really is a beautiful baby,” he said quietly. “And so well behaved. Not that I have any other babies to compare her to.”

  Vivian shifted to stand by Nick. She held the railing, her hands close enough to touch his. Ellie’s eyelashes fluttered, and every once in a while one of her hands would clench and unclench, as if she was holding something in her dreams.

  A beam of moonlight speared into the carpet, reflecting off Ellie’s delicate features and then the dancing horses mobile above her head. On the scarred maple dresser, the short night-light matched the moon with a silvery pool of light. The carpet beneath their feet was soft and thick.