by Janice Lynn
“Good idea,” Rosie praised, waggling her penciled-on brows at the men. “Sarah and I may need one of the men to go with us to carry all the donations that are sure to come in at the businesses on our list.”
“I’ve got that covered, Rosie,” Sarah informed her toy drive partner. “Bodie will be helping us go to the businesses, and he will carry anything we need carried.”
Rosie gave an oh-well-I-tried shrug. “If the two of you are too busy planning your wedding, I could always take care of things, so you don’t have to worry your pretty head about it.”
“Our wedding is all planned,” Sarah assured, a dreamy look settling onto her face. “Just a few more weeks, and Christmas Day will be here.”
“You’re getting married on Christmas Day?”
Sarah nodded at Cole. “I can’t imagine anything more perfect than marrying the man of my dreams on the most magical day of the year. Can you?”
Her glowy words and expression had Cole averting his gaze. He didn’t answer her question, but then, Sophie didn’t imagine Sarah noticed as she was all Bodiefied—the term Sophie and Isabelle had invented for when Sarah got all wrapped up in thoughts of her soon-to-be husband.
They ran through the rest of the meeting agenda, making plans to drop off everything to the firehall where Sophie and Sarah would make an inventory of the items collected.
“Did the Santa suit fit okay?” Sophie asked, glancing toward where Cole leaned back in his chair, quietly taking in the meeting.
“Like it was made for him,” Andrew answered for him.
Cole nodded. “He’s right. It fits perfectly. Thank you.”
“Pretty sure Bob’s got competition for next year. No green candy cane needed,” Ben added.
Cole frowned at his friends and shook his head. “The snow has apparently given you all brain freeze.”
Rosie’s phone buzzed and a smile spread across the older woman’s face as she read the text. “Sorry to bail on y’all, but I’ve got to run.”
They said their goodbyes as Rosie bundled up, then left.
Sophie grinned at Sarah. “Wonder who that was?”
Sarah sighed. “Hopefully, it was Lou, and she’s on her way to finally set a date to marry the poor man.”
“He sure does love her.”
“That he does, and he might have more patience with her than she deserves,” Sarah agreed. “Speaking of love, Bodie and I are having a little get-together later this evening at Hamilton House.” She ran the bed and breakfast out of the home she’d inherited from her Aunt Jean. The house held special significance for Sarah and Bodie, since he was the one who had helped her renovate the place and get her business started. “Our booked guests checked out early last night because they wanted to head home prior to the snow, so we’ve decided to have some friends over. We’re going sledding, so come dressed for playing outdoors, and bring something to change into afterwards for games at our place, because you’re all invited.”
Sophie’s gaze immediately went to Cole.
“Thanks, but I’ve got plans.”
Plans? Sophie’s pulse quickened. Not that it was any of her business, but what kind of plans did Cole have? With whom?
Why did the thought of him having plans make her so uneasy? She should be happy for him that he had plans. Unlike her. Unless you counted sewing a Christmas quilt for the shop. She’d finished the top, had the batting and back sandwiched together, and planned to load it on the quilting frame soon to quilt it.
An exciting Saturday night ahead of her, for sure.
“Not finished with those hardwood floors yet?” Andrew asked.
Cole shook his head. “Purposely saved them for after I had all the painting done except the baseboard trim work. I’m trying to decide the best way to redo them. I’ve watched several how-to videos on refinishing wood floors but I’m still not sure.”
“You should talk to my Bodie,” Sarah told him, her chest puffing with pride. “He’s excellent around the house. That’s how we met. He answered my handyman help-wanted ad.” Her gaze cut to Sophie and she giggled. “Well, I thought he was answering my ad. It’s a long story, and a great one, but now’s not the time for that.” She smiled. “Anyway, you should definitely come to the house tonight. Bodie grew up working for his stepfather, who’s a professional handyman. He’s bound to have great tips on how to do your floors.”
“He did an excellent job on Hamilton House,” Sophie added. “The place looked amazing when I was last there.”
“You should see it now that we have it decorated for Christmas. It’s so gorgeous with the garland and lights and wreaths with bright red bows on every window,” Sarah sighed with pure delight. “With Bodie’s help, I was able to go all out this year.”
“I can’t imagine anything better than how it looked at your open house last Christmas. Everything was so beautiful,” Sophie recalled.
“Thanks.” Sarah beamed. “I love Christmas so much and can’t wait for you to see the house tonight.”
Which put Sophie in the “going” category, even though she hadn’t been sure. She could work on the Christmas quilt later. An evening with friends would be fun, even if Cole didn’t plan to go.
Since when did she decide her social calendar around what Cole was doing, anyway?
Sophie lifted her chin, almost in defiance of her thoughts. “I look forward to seeing Hamilton House, and spending time with you and Bodie. I imagine the closer it gets to Christmas, the busier y’all are going to be.”
“We’re fairly booked, but we did block off the week prior to Christmas just in case anything unexpected comes up prior to the wedding.”
“I hope you blocked off the week after the wedding, too,” Ben teased.
Sarah’s cheeks grew as red as a holly berry. “No worries there. We’re going to be closed until after the new year. Bodie is taking me on a surprise honeymoon.”
Sophie was happy for her friend. Sarah was as sweet as Christmas candy. She deserved every good thing that came her way. But Sophie could be happy for her friend while still feeling a little sad for herself that she didn’t have anything like that. Cole silently stared into his coffee.
Let him be a lone wolf fuddy-duddy. Sophie liked having fun and didn’t intend to let his lack of participation stand in her way.
She said, “I haven’t been sledding in a few years, but I remember some fun times on Thrill Hill during that big snowstorm we had back seven or eight years ago.”
“Oh, I remember that year,” Sarah said. “It was the whitest Christmas we’d ever had in Pine Hill.”
A conversation comparing different snowstorms ensued. As Cole had only moved to Pine Hill earlier that year, he didn’t join in the conversation. Sophie didn’t have much to say, either, so she found herself studying Cole instead.
When he looked up and caught her staring at him, her breath stuck in her chest, and she fought to look away from those haunting blue eyes.
The conversation continued around them, but Sophie couldn’t follow anything being said. What she’d told her sister flashed through her head. She didn’t want to date Cole. She felt badly for all the things he’d been through and wanted to do something nice for him, to make him smile, and to show him that there were those who cared for what he and others in the military had gone through.
She wanted him to have a good life in Pine Hill, to enjoy the holidays, and to feel like he was a part of their community.
Only…
She also wanted to be his friend.
That he was a beautiful man and enthralled her in ways no man ever had was an inconvenient detail.
Cole was ready to leave. And not just because Sophie had been watching him for the past five minutes rather than talking with her friends about their hometown’s past snows.
“Are there any big snowstorms where you’re originally from, Cole?�
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He should have known Sophie would attempt to pull him into the conversation. It was all part of that emotional charity she constantly dished out.
“It rarely snows where I’m from.”
“Which is where?”
“Northern Georgia.”
“He’s a Southern Peach,” Ben teased.
“The phrase is Georgia Peach, and I’m not,” Cole corrected, scowling at his friend even though that accomplished nothing other than triggering a smirk from Andrew.
“Cole’s one of them Southern Belles,” Ben continued.
“Beaus,” Andrew corrected.
“Belles are girls,” Sarah agreed.
“Cole’s definitely not a girl,” Sophie added, then proceeded to blush.
Which Cole found interesting. Why had Sophie blushed?
Her expression had been one of a woman who was interested in a man. Her blush hinted at the same. As did the way she’d looked at him after her tree rescue, which he’d written off as gratitude after a highly stressful event.
She couldn’t really be interested in him as anything more than a charity project, could she? No, of course not.
Men had died because he’d made a bad call. Sophie knew that.
Memories tightened his throat, making him antsy.
“I’ll take that as my cue to leave,” he said, pushing his chair back from the table and standing.
“What’s your rush?” Andrew asked, eyeing Cole with too-penetrating eyes. Cole needed friends who were less perceptive.
“Say you’ll come to Hamilton House tonight, please,” Sarah implored.
Cole glanced toward Ben to see what he’d add. His friend flashed perfect teeth in a big grin, then turned to Sarah.
“We’d love to. What time do you want us to arrive?”
“I told you I was busy,” Cole reminded him. Going anywhere Sophie was going to be was a bad idea. He just needed to get through the toy drive, then he’d be more careful with future volunteer work.
His buddy harrumphed. “Even you have to take a break every now and then.”
“I’ve been on break all day.”
“You really should get Bodie’s advice,” Sarah said. “He did such a great job on our floors. Plus, he’s former Army, so you have a lot in common.”
“I was a Marine,” he reminded.
“Army, Marines,” Sarah waved her hand in the air. “You’re both former military. With you sharing that background, I’d imagine you and Bodie would have a lot to talk about.”
“Cole doesn’t talk about his military days,” Sophie said softly, as if she wished the conversation would end as much as Cole did.
She was right.
“Some things are better not talked about.” He avoided looking toward Sophie as he silently added, Or written about.
“Bodie is that way, too,” Sarah informed, her expression a mixture of pride and sadness. “He doesn’t like to talk about his time in the military, but I know there isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t think on his time there and the friends he made and lost while in the service.”
Cole fought wincing. This conversation had taken a horrible turn. Why hadn’t he left already?
Why had he bothered to come?
Oh, yeah. Toys. Kids. Christmas morning.
Still, they were finished with toy drive business.
He pulled his coat off the back of his chair. “Thanks for the invite. Maybe next time.”
“What he means is that he’d be glad to come to Hamilton House tonight,” Andrew corrected, standing and grabbing his coat, too. “Ben and I are headed to his place to check out these floors and see what needs to be done. With the three of us there, he’ll have plenty of time to go sledding later today if this snow holds out. What time should we have Cole at your place to get some expert advice from your fiancé?”
What Sophie had thought was going to be a small get-together had turned into a group of over twenty-five people. Leave it to Sarah to turn an impromptu gathering into a full-blown “It’s Snowing” party. She couldn’t help but be impressed with how beautifully her friend had managed to pull everything together. Then again, Sarah had worked as the church’s program director for years and was experienced in putting together events. She had a way of making things fall into place.
Sarah had created a party to celebrate the snow, so snow it had. Pine Hill had become a winter wonderland. There was a good four inches of soft powdery snow covering the ground and light fluffy flakes were still falling.
The group had met at Sarah’s, loaded into as few vehicles as possible and traveled the short distance to Thrill Hill, which was the most perfect location for sledding. Not only was there a wonderful long slope, but there was also a gravel road that led back to the top of the hill. Once at the bottom, it was easy to hook the sled to an all-terrain four-wheeler and pull the sled back to the top. There were couple’s sleds, single-person sleds, and a few tubes. A few more friends had shown up since their arrival.
Bodie, Andrew, Carrie’s son Jeff, and one of Jeff’s friends had each brought four-wheelers and were pulling the sleds back up the hillside, traveling way clear of where the sledders were zooming down the hill. Bodie’s dog, Harry, stayed close to wherever Sarah was, even riding on the sled with her after Sarah’s maiden voyage down.
“Sophie,” Sarah called after she’d made several more trips. “You haven’t been down yet, have you?”
Sophie glanced toward her. Sarah was barely even recognizable, bundled up as she was in hat, scarf, gloves, boots, and waterproof puffy jacket. Sophie shook her head. “I’m in no rush, though. Let everyone who wants to keep going go. I’m good.”
Thanks to her own cozy fleece-lined pants, jacket, boots, gloves, scarf and knitted toboggan, she really was. She loved playing in the snow and knew how to dress the part as she didn’t like to be cold.
“What about you, Cole? You’ve not gone down the hill yet, either, have you?”
Sophie did not glance toward the man Sarah was addressing. He’d been quiet since arriving at Hamilton House just as they’d been getting ready to depart.
As promised, Andrew had brought him, so he was trapped into staying until his friend decided to have mercy. Since Andrew appeared to be enjoying hauling the sleds back up the hill, Sophie didn’t think that was going to happen anytime soon. Which left Cole standing off by himself, watching the others.
Sophie had seen Bodie talking to him earlier, and the two men had seemed to hit it off. But once the sledding had started, Bodie had been tied up with sledders, and when he wasn’t busy with that, his attention had been on Sarah playing in the snow with his dog and two kids from church.
As Ben had ended up bringing a date with him, that left Cole on his own since he didn’t seem interested in making new acquaintances.
He didn’t appear to mind, but Sophie’s heart had squeezed every time she’d glanced his way, which was why she’d tried to keep from doing so.
If he was lonely then it was his own fault, going around and telling people he didn’t want to be their friend.
Remorse hit her.
She knew better than to have such negative thoughts. She knew why he didn’t jump in and join the fun. She’d watched her dad struggle with the same types of things, always uncomfortable when it came to interacting with others, not knowing how to be social. Even as a small child, she’d recognized that her father was usually an outsider on the rare family outing.
A two-person sled became free, and Sophie ended up on it with her sister.
“How is it I got stuck with you?” Isabelle complained, although Sophie knew she was teasing. Her sister had probably arranged it that way.
“You love it, and you know it,” Sophie retorted. “This way you can make sure I don’t do anything too daring.”
Looking guilty as charged, Isabelle lau
ghed. “Just like old times.”
“I only tried to stand up on the sled once,” Sophie defended.
“Once was enough for us to end up in the emergency room,” Isabelle reminded her.
“To be fair, I was only ten. And it wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m no worse for wear because of it.” Sophie ran her tongue over the scar on the inside of her upper lip. “Not much worse for wear, at any rate.”
“Wish I could say the same.”
As they settled onto the sled, Sophie turned to look at Isabelle. “I don’t recall you being hurt when we crashed.”
“You think I came through that unscathed? Seeing you all bloody-faced gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry,” she told her sister and meant it. “I imagine looking after the likes of me all these years can’t have been easy.”
“You’re not too bad. Most of the time.”
“Ready?” one of the guys asked.
Sophie nodded and he pushed them off the side of the hill.
Laughing, Sophie embraced the cool air rushing around them as they zoomed down the snow-covered slope.
“Oh, that was fun!” she declared when they got to the bottom. She climbed off the sled and pulled it over to where the guys were waiting for the trip back to the top.
“You’ll have to go again,” Andrew said, hooking the sled to the back of his four-wheeler.
“This is kind of fun, too,” Sophie mused as they rode the sled back to the top.
“I think I’ve gotten old,” Isabelle mused as she climbed off the sled once they’d reached the summit and rubbed her bottom. “Either that, or I should have worn padded pants.”
“Try going down on one of the singles and lie on your belly,” Sophie suggested. “Or use one of the tubes. Oh, there’s one empty now.”
Isabelle looked as if she was going to refuse.
“Go,” Sophie encouraged her. “Let loose and have some fun. Who knows when we’ll have another snow this awesome?”