This was her welcome home. It was a good thing she hadn’t expected much from him. Ethan had once been less reserved with his emotions but not by much. The death of his wife had closed him off entirely.
“You look good,” Kristen said. Her way of trying to get him to open up.
Ethan grunted. He still wore his winter jacket, a quilted green coat that was opened to reveal the checkered shirt he wore beneath. He needed a shave and a haircut, but overall, he seemed in good health. Judging from their scattered emails to one another preceding her move home, he was doing well. Maybe not great, but at least well.
George stretched and, leaving his catnip toy behind on the windowsill, reached out to try to catch a string hanging from Ethan’s coat. Ethan glowered and stepped away. “What is that?”
Dorothy scooped up the cat and cuddled him close. “That is your new brother, and he has a name. It’s George.”
Ethan glanced at Kristen as if to question whether their mother had gone nuts.
Kristen shrugged. “Mom was just telling me about that new Christmas store in town. What do you think of it?”
Ethan gave one last frown in George’s direction and took another cookie. “Haven’t been inside it.”
“Well, of course not, but you must know what the community response is to it. Do you think people are warming to it, or will it flop this season?” How will it affect our business? Business was what Ethan was always most inclined to talk about. His entire life had become about the tree farm, much the way their dad’s had been.
Had it been the business that had put the strain on her dad’s heart? Should she be worried about Ethan too? Maybe she should just keep her big mouth shut.
Not that her brother seemed inclined to speak much at all. She could have been shouting at a brick wall for all the change she got in his expression. In answer, he shrugged and turned away. “Don’t know.” He stole another cookie from the rack, this time one of the frosted ones.
When Dorothy stepped closer, George squirming in her arms, Ethan held out a hand. “You can keep that over there.”
“You used to love cats when you were a kid,” she said.
He only grunted in response and bit into the cookie.
Kristen decided to change the subject. “So what’s going on in town? Have things changed much? I know I come back for the holidays every year, but now that I’ll be living here, I was wondering what the opportunities for socializing are.”
In the city, there was always a new restaurant or bar to go to, but Kristen knew there wouldn’t be much of that in Pinecone Falls. She was actually looking forward less to partying and more to reconnecting with her old friends. She made a mental note to call Ivy and let her know that she had arrived. She’d gone to school with Ivy, and they’d remained in touch all these years, always taking time to catch up whenever Kristen visited her family. Another friend, Julie, had just returned to live in town, so hopefully, Kristen would find plenty to do when she wasn’t busy with the tree farm.
Her brother shrugged. “I don’t leave the farm much. You know I like trees better than people.”
In a soft voice, Dorothy asked, “How are the trees looking?”
Kristen whirled around to face her mother. Why was she asking it like that? There was only one reason: something was wrong with the trees. The trees that were the central core of their business. She’d suspected something was wrong with the farm from her mother’s cagey response earlier, and now this confirmed it.
Ethan sighed and finished the cookie before he answered. “Good. We have another couple of weeks before Christmas.”
“What’s going on? Is something wrong with the trees?” Kristen asked.
“It’s nothing.” Her mother shoved another cookie at Ethan. “Just the usual.”
Kristen didn’t think it was nothing, but she also knew by her mother’s tone that she wasn’t going to get any more information. She’d have to wheedle it out of her over time. “Anything I can do to help?”
“No,” Ethan said, turning away. “I’ve got the trees. You handle the rest.”
Why did Kristen suddenly feel as if she had bitten off more than she could chew?
Chapter 3
“Do you think maybe you’re overdoing it a little bit?” Mason asked as he watched his father drape a layer of gold garland over the silver garland he’d just wrapped around the porch poles.
Kent turned to him, looking surprised. “What do you mean? We need to show our wares. Walk the walk. Show people that we’re using our own products. That’s important for business.”
Mason bit his bottom lip. He agreed with what his father was saying, but he thought maybe his father was attacking the problem a little too eagerly. He didn’t want to say any more, though, because this was the first time he’d seen his father excited about anything since his mother had left him for her yoga instructor several years ago. It was good to see his father getting back on his feet.
His father had always been ambitious and had started several business ventures over his lifetime. He had once worked as a salesman, and Mason had followed in his footsteps, becoming one of the top sales and marketing people for a giant fertilizer corporation.
