Well, she’d always been timid, she reminded herself. She’d outgrown abject shyness in her late teens, but she’d never been bold or talkative or flirtatious. And as far as men?
The one and only time she’d fallen in love, it had been a colossal mistake.
Sam Sutton had been her “moment of weakness,” to borrow the phrase that Marshall had just used, and twenty-four-year-old Gracie was sure she’d met “the one.”
But when she accidentally got pregnant, Sam showed his true colors. He didnotwant a wife, or child, or house with a picket fence in Park City. He’d freaked out, bolted to Vegas with some friends, and soon announced that he got a job in a casino and was staying there.
That was more than ten years ago.
Sam had been in Benny’s life from a distance. He sent the occasional Venmo, visited about once every year or two, made exactly one little league game, two Christmases, and zero school events.
Benny called him “Dad” but never knew him enough to really miss him. Her own father could have stepped into the role of a “man” in Benny’s life, but George McBride had passed away when Benny was in kindergarten. Thankfully, there was Red—Benny’s best pal on Earth.
And, oddly enough, that relationship worked very well. Maybe too well, since her grandfather managed to fill the hole in Benny’s life.
She glanced into the rearview mirror just as Marshall’s truck passed, giving her a glimpse of the handsome man at the wheel. He glanced her way and gave a smile and raised his hand.
What would it do to Benny if she were to…date? Ugh, she could barely bring herself to think the word.
But would it be good if she brought a man into his life? Maybe…a man who already had a child, knew how to love, and understood the challenges of being a single parent? A man like…
She peered in the direction the truck had gone, cringing at the memory of warning him to be careful around the construction like he was Benny’s age. That was dumb, and he took off a second later.
She had no idea how to flirt or send signals to a man. Quiet by nature, she simply wasn’t…sparkling.
But her baking was. So, maybe she could start with…adeadlycream puff.
Smiling at that, she headed to the bakery to make a few.
“So, wait—are you saying your parents just…got back together? After ten years? This week?” Cameron’s voice carried a mix of incredulity and amusement as he nudged open the paper cup lid for a sip.
“Crazy, right?” Nicole couldn’t keep the smile off her face as the two of them meandered along Park City’s Main Street, soaking up the explosion of Christmas and all things winter and Western. “They divorced when I was eighteen, and it wasn’t pretty. But then Dad came back to help at the lodge this Christmas, and…they just clicked again. Like all that lost time didn’t matter.”
She sipped her hot chocolate, taken in travel cups from Sugarfall. She’d been disappointed that Gracie was out getting Benny at camp when they’d met up there, but she’d introduce him to her cousin later.
Now, she just enjoyed Cameron’s reaction to the story she’d shared when he asked about her family and where she’d grown up. She enjoyed everything about him, to be honest.
For one thing, he looked maddeningly good in black jeans, a soft flannel shirt under a fleece jacket, and a knit cap over darkblond hair. He radiated easy confidence, the kind that made her feel both flustered and flattered just to be walking next to him.
“That’s…wow,” Cameron said, shaking his head with a laugh. “That doesn’t happen in real life. That’s like a movie.”
“It really is.” Nicole adjusted the gray knit beanie over her ears, and shifted the cardboard cup of hot chocolate from one hand to the other. They paused in front of an art boutique, glancing at Tiffany-style lampshades in the windows, created by a Park City artist.
“What about your family?” she asked. “Local?”
“Heber,” he said, referring to a town about half an hour away. “I live there, too,” he said. “In fact, I live in a small house on my parents’ property, so if that’s an issue, run now.”
She laughed. “Not an issue. My mom and I live in the same townhouse complex, only she owns hers and I’m renting with Bri, my roommate.”
“The phone number-giver,” he added with a grin.
“Do your parents ski, too?” she asked.
He hesitated, then shook his head. “Not as much as they used to. Right now they’re on a cruise ship on the way to Ensenada, Mexico. Their one big getaway every year.”
“Nice.”
He nodded, threading them through some tourists coming out of a boutique. She glanced at the window, and caught her own reflection with his, getting a little shiver of satisfaction. They made a nice couple, she had to admit.
