“Do you have those kinds of connections in New York?”
“In Brooklyn, close to where I live, I’ve met some really great people.” She missed Shea and Larissa, who’d encouraged her to fulfill the pact to make peace with the past. That “peace” sure didn’t involve kissing Gavin. She wasn’t a woman who shared that kind of thing lightly. Now she was more confused about what she was doing here than ever. “One of my friends, Larissa, just moved back to Cheyenne and I’m going to really miss her. She was hoping to come here for a visit this week, but her favorite sheep is sick.”
“Her favorite sheep?” Gavin didn’t bother to hide a grin as they walked out of the playground and toward the igloos into a more rustic area.
Visitors could experience more of an old-fashioned holiday in some of the wooden cabins ringing the igloo area, while the faux ice-houses were stocked with more modern amenities.
“Yes. I’ve had so much fun hearing about her life out there. She moved to New York after I did to work on Broadway, but I think she always missed the wide-open spaces of her old life.” Rachel had liked hearing her stories and had learned a lot about using wool in her designs from Larissa the sheep expert. “And my other friend, Shea, just opened a boutique in a Vermont ski town.”
“Really?” That got his attention. “Which one?”
“Cloud Spin.” She had high hopes Shea would order some of her designs for the boutique once she got a little more established in her new space.
That hope had been a bright spot in her flagging career.
“I’ve been there.” He nodded. “Good moguls course for snowboards. But it sounds like your closest friends have both left Brooklyn.”
“Believe me, I told them I wasn’t crazy about that aspect of our plan to make peace with the past.” She could hear the country music from the bachelorette party as the igloos came into view. “Both of my friends ended up moving closer to where they grew up.”
Gavin slowed his step. He slipped a hand over hers where it lay on his arm. “Maybe one day you’ll want to do the same.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.” She shook her head. She didn’t see herself ever returning to Yuletide for good. “I promise I’m not going to move home and cramp your style when you’re getting your new business underway. I feel guilty enough I’ve caused an uproar already.”
“I’m not worried about what everyone else says.” All traces of good humor fled from his features. He was absolutely serious.
Did he mean that he wanted her here? And did that suggestion have a romantic overtone, or was she just being hypersensitive after what they’d just shared? Up until that moment, she wouldn’t have thought it was possible to feel butterflies in her belly at the same time she tensed with new worries.
“But living here means doing business here, and associating with me will only make that tougher for you.” She understood what was at stake for Gavin.
“I’m not planning on moving back here permanently until I retire.” Now, he quit walking altogether, keeping them in the shadows of the tree line ringing the private igloo.
She noticed he was vague about his future plans, especially when it came to snowboarding. He’d told her once that he wouldn’t retire until the mountain “got the best of him.” But did he really mean to snowboard until he couldn’t do that any longer?
“You’ll be opening the Jingle Elf house before then, right?” She guessed he could afford the home even if he wasn’t living there year-round, but knew the town would have never approved the sale of prime real estate like that without dictating that it be open for tourists within a reasonable amount of time.
“It needs to be operational within eight months of when I closed on the house,” he admitted while night creatures scurried in the underbrush of the surrounding trees.
“That’s good. But I won’t have a change of heart where Yuletide is concerned.” She withdrew her hand from where he held it, knowing she needed to resurrect some boundaries where Gavin was concerned. “I plan to deliver those bridesmaid dresses and make peace with Luke before the wedding so I can finally find some closure. I hope attending Kiersten and Luke’s wedding will make me feel like I can come back to Yuletide sometimes without so much stress. But after that wedding, I’m going back home.”
His gaze roamed over her in the moonlight, reminding her of that night she’d scrambled out of her house to follow him to a bonfire in the woods and he’d skipped the event to walk her home. Looking out for her. Keeping her safe.
Even to his own detriment.
“What if I don’t want you to leave?” he asked, sliding the backs of his leather-clad fingers along her cheek.
Making her breath catch.
“Your life isn’t here any more than mine is. At least, not yet.” She couldn’t let herself cave to the attraction. To the desperate need to kiss him again now that she knew the contact was even more potent as an adult than it had been in her teens. “Everything that we’re doing and feeling this week? It’s just temporary. A time out from our real lives.”
He frowned. She guessed he wanted to argue the point, but she wasn’t going to give him a chance.
“I have to go.” Turning on her heel, she headed into the ring of light around the igloo. “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me, Gavin. But I’ll be okay from here.”
*
Gavin stomped through the woods, taking a shortcut to avoid seeing the locals. When he’d been walking through town with Rachel earlier, he’d noticed a handful of people—who normally greeted him with a friendly hello—snub him completely.
That in itself didn’t bother him personally. He didn’t need anyone’s approval. But Rachel was right about one thing—his business would. And the more time they spent together, the farther out of reach his charity skiing event became. For that matter, his plans for the Jingle Elf restoration could be stuck in the approval process for as long as the town chose. So if someone on the council wanted to drag their feet for spite because they held a grudge against Rachel…
Damn it.
If there was any justice in the world, he would be walking home with memories of her kiss to keep him warm. Now, instead of bringing them closer, the kiss seemed to have ignited her need to run. She couldn’t sprint off to the bachelorette party fast enough after that conversation. It bugged him that they’d parted on that note.
It bothered him even more that she assumed—rightly—he would care a great deal about his new business in Yuletide being a success. And that he cared more about that than her.
She’d been wrong about that last part. But she sure hadn’t given him a chance to argue with her.