We brushed off a layer of snow on the bench and then sat down, conspiratorially close but not as close as if we were dating. Never that close.
Not for the first time, I wondered what it would be like to date Nick. I’d never seen him date anyone in town, although over the years after graduation, he’d posted a picture or two of him with someone on his social media, never the same woman twice. Was he the kind of man who held his girlfriend’s hand in public? Or the type to curl his arm around his girlfriend’s waist as they window shopped? Had he studied the ingredients that made up a scrumptious kiss the same way he examined what made a new recipe delicious?
Get a grip on that over-active imagination, girl. He’s your friend.
I slouched down on the bench and studied the view.
A pair of young, chattering moms herded five young kids toward the toy store. The Victorian quartet was slowly walking through the town square singingHark the Herald. On the other side of the town square, a couple emerged from the waterfall path, arm in arm, her head on his shoulder.
Maybe that’s how Nick would treat his girlfriend.
I blew out a breath, annoyed at my mental meandering. I didn’t even know if Nick had a girlfriend. “The last time we sat here was…when?”
“A lifetime ago,” Nick mused. “Did you miss it?”
“Yes.” Although if he’d have asked me a week ago, I might have denied it. There was something about being here that enveloped me in nostalgia.
Snow began to fall. People stopped to watch at the snowflakes. In New York City, no one stopped to marvel at anything.
“Christmas Mountain hasn’t changed,” I realized.
Nick sighed, somehow managing to make a gust of breath sound happy. “That’s the best part about coming home to Christmas Mountain, isn’t it?”
I nodded, turning toward Nick, drinking him in.
Honestly? For me, the best part about coming home was Nick. Just being with him made all my troubles and tricky career turning points seem less trying. When Nick was near and smiling, I could breathe easy.
“Allison.”
And just like that, the sound of my mother’s disapproving voice stole my breath.
ChapterTwo
“Doyou know where I found her, Lee?” It was dinner and Mom still wasn’t over me not getting off the bus and calling her for a ride first thing.
I hadn’t come home in five years, but Mom looked just the same – short, neat brown hair, crisply pressed mom jeans, a thin red sweater set, and a string of pearls around her neck. The attitude was the same, too. She was the boss and romanticizing Christmas Mountain wasn’t allowed, hence her disapproval of me sitting on a bench and taking in the sights.
My goal was to keep discussion of my career to a minimum.
“I believe you said you ran into Allie on Main Street, honey.” Dad looked up from his pot roast and winked at me. He was going bald and carried a few too many pounds. But his genial, nothing-gets-to-me air was the same. “That’s the heart of the town. It’s the first thing I’d go see if I’d just returned home. Feels good, doesn’t it, Allie?”
I nodded, smiling a little.
“Tactical error, you not calling Mom when your bus arrived,” my brother Tim whispered from the chair next to mine. Like me, he had an athletic build, unexciting brown hair and milk chocolate brown eyes. Tim was a senior in high school and planned to make himself internet famous by charging people to watch him game online.
“I’d planned to call,” I felt compelled to say. “But then Nick picked me up.”
“Allison wasstaringat the town square,” Mom reiterated as if she hadn’t already announced this to the family twice before dinner. “As if she missed it.”
“Guilty, as charged.” I tried to laugh and make light of it. Nobody joined along.
“Tell Allie about your business idea, hon,” Dad said in a voice that encouraged a change of topic.
Ignoring Dad, Mom continued on her one track tirade. “I can’t believe you came home, Allison. So what if your latest show closed? If you’d have stayed in New York, someone else might have taken time off for the holidays and you could have jumped into their place.” She gave a wry chuckle. “Permanently.”
“Your mother is talking about opening a boutique,” Dad said in a voice that was too casual to actually be casual in meaning.
Tim pushed his carrots to the outer rim of his plate. “Mom wants to stock her store with dry-cleanable clothes.”