“For what it’s worth, I put a call in to the state historical society to see if it qualifies for their protection since it dated back farther than our town.” He led her to the outskirts of the park where gently sloped hills made for good sledding with young children.
Rachel stuck close to Gavin, her boots made for fashion more than trekking through snow.
“Thank you for doing that.” She was touched he’d thought of it. “You can’t have much time to devote to your home here with your training schedule. It means a lot that you want to help this place.”
“I was just glad I thought of it. I’d considered proposing a plan to restore it at a town meeting but then—” He stopped suddenly, his attention focused on two men on the hill above them who appeared to be holding a string or maybe a measuring tape between them.
“What is it?” she asked, following his line of sight.
“That’s Dewey, the town engineer.” Gavin was already striding toward them, tugging her along with him. “The other guy works at one of the local ski resorts as a groomer.”
She wondered if he was just in a hurry to say hello to a friend or if something was wrong. She didn’t ask because he was already hailing the pair, waving one arm as his long strides carried him uphill.
“You’re far from home,” he called to the groomer, a very fair man in all black with an ID badge and ski pass clipped to the zipper of his jacket. “What brings you to Yuletide, Sven?”
Something in Gavin’s tone warned her of his mood. A hint of tension threaded through his voice. She could feel it in his body too, even though they only held hands.
“Gavin!” The other man grinned, greeting him warmly with a clap on the back as the man juggled his tape measure to the opposite hand. “Good to see you, even if you belong on the other side of the globe this week.” With a laugh, Sven gave another one-armed hug. “You need to train, my friend. This is your year to bring home the gold.”
“I’m home for a good friend’s wedding,” Gavin replied before turning back to her. “Rachel, this is Sven Neelson and you might remember Dewey Lars from high school.”
She shook hands with both men, recalling the Lars family who ran the Snowball Snack Shack on the opposite end of Main Street from where she’d grown up. But there was no time to reminisce since Gavin quickly commandeered the conversation.
“So what are you working on?” he asked. “Looks like you’re doing some surveying.”
Dewey, a former athlete who had been a football star, tucked his clipboard under one arm. “Just an informal one, Gavin,” he answered, his whole manner guarded.
Sven didn’t hold back. “The town wants to do a feasibility study for a cross-country skiing course right through town.” He gestured toward the ridge above the sledding hill. “We’re trying to map out somewhere with the right grades.”
Rachel’s heart sank at the news, and she could only imagine how Gavin felt as Sven went on to regale them with a funny story about getting the call from the Yuletide mayor while Sven was on a high peak near Whiteface Mountain, trying to fix a piece of grooming equipment in the dark. It was just as well Sven had something to say to fill the awkward aftermath of that revelation. Otherwise, she had the feeling Gavin would have had some choice words for Dewey—who most who surely knew the idea for a cross-country trail had come from Gavin. For charitable purposes.
After a few pleasantries—terse ones for the engineer and more heartfelt for Sven—Gavin strode down the hill and away from the men. Now that they were alone on the walk back to the playground, Rachel could see the anger etched in Gavin’s handsome face.
“Maybe they will get the trail up and running, then use it for charitable events too,” she suggested, hoping the mayor and his group would do the right thing. “Even the most thrifty community member should see the publicity boost an event like yours would bring.”
“If that’s the case, it seems strange no one on the council let me know they were going to follow up on my idea.” He huffed out a sigh as they reached the Jack Frost Playhouse with small slides and a maze of tubes for smaller children. “And if they’re just looking to make a buck off tourists on new trails while they let beloved entertainment areas go to ruin, they aren’t being good guardians of Yuletide’s resources.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Briefly, she weighed the idea of sticking around the area long enough to attend one of these town meetings and make her thoughts on the subject known. But her whole point in being here was to make peace with the past this week—not get mired in it all over again. Still, for all his work to help Yuletide, Gavin’s efforts should be championed.
“I’ll call the mayor tomorrow.” Gavin nodded as he seemed to come to a decision. “Ask him point-blank what his plans are.”
“It does seem like an unlikely coincidence they brought Sven in at a time when they thought you were going to be in Austria for the week.” That worried her about the mayor’s intentions. “I checked your schedule before I came, and the website for the team says—”
She realized what she’d revealed, perhaps because his grin made her all too aware.
“You checked my schedule. Were you wondering if you would see me?” He seemed to like the idea, based on his teasing tone and the way he squeezed her hand tighter.
She realized they’d walked to the Candy Cane Slide as if drawn there by the past. They stopped there now, right at the site of that long-ago kiss.
“I was trying to make sure I would avoid you,” she shot back, even though the words lacked any heat. “Just because I thought it might be awkward to patch things up with Luke when you were here.” She had spent a long time thinking about the best time to return to Yuletide after she’d made the pact with her girlfriends to heal the past. “I didn’t realize you two had repaired your friendship so well after Luke found us that day.”
Not that she’d expected one kiss to drive a wedge between good friends forever, but Luke could be stubborn. Judgmental. Then again, that was nineteen-year-old Luke. He would have matured a great deal since then, the same as her. Even if he had avoided her at the party last night.
“I went to see Luke every day before he left for his next deployment.” Gavin rested a shoulder against one side of the steps leading to the top of the slide. “He didn’t acknowledge me until his last twenty-four hours in town, but by the time we spoke, he was ready to move past it. He admitted you’d broken things off with him weeks before that day he found us.”
Rachel exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She leaned her shoulder on the side of the slide steps too, buffeted from the wind by the molded plastic wall.
“That was good of you.” She couldn’t help but admire Gavin for putting in the effort to make peace with his friend, especially when he knew Luke had been headed overseas. Although it would have been nice if one of them had reached out to her. She’d been hurt, too. “I’m sure it helped him to clear the air before he left.”