I liked his smile so much.
“Couldn’t have asked for a better opening day.” Winter’s eyes met mine. “This is a great turnout, huh?”
Small talk was never my strong suit. Especially when I couldn’t stop noticing his gloved hand rubbing over his protruding tummy. “You look pregnant.”
He laughed and slowly unzipped his coat a little, and a tiny white-and-ginger kitten poked his head out, then another. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh.”
“I have the boys with me,” he said. “Evie babysat them all day for me and she had the baby carrier pouch thing. Turns out they love it, so she insisted I borrow it. I think Merry loves it because he’s warm and cuddly, but Brightloves it because he can see everything and has a better vantage point for mischief.”
Bright meowed his agreement.
It made people turn around and they smiled too when they saw him.
I gave Bright a little scratch on the head and Merry popped his little face out. “Hello to you too,” I said.
Winter was smiling at me, and it made me all swoopy inside, but I couldn’t look at him. “Yes, the turnout is always good for this.”
He nodded back to the group of guys he’d been standing with. “I met all the crowd tonight. Such a great group of friends,” he said. “They wanted to meet you, but I said maybe another time and maybe not all at once.”
I looked at him then.
He was still smiling. “They understood. There’s a lot of them and it’s kind of overwhelming. Hamish said you care for his dog?”
“Chutney.” I nodded. “They have a coat and matching shoes. And yes, maybe another time and not all at once. I wasn’t expecting you to be with all of them, and I don’t do well with unexpected things.”
“Me either,” he said. “I need fair warning. Especially when it involves a lot of people. I’ve seen just about all the people today that I can handle, and I’m honestly hoping tomorrow is a bit quieter.”
That made me chuckle. “Probably not a good business plan.”
He laughed. “Probably not. But I’ll be very glad to go home where it’s quiet. Except for these two,” he said, and the bulge under his coat shifted. “They’ve certainly entered their gremlin mode.”
“Is your aunt Ro not here with you?” I asked.
He gestured to the crowd. “Oh, yes, she is. Probablyoff talking to anyone and everyone. She, unlike me, is a social butterfly.”
I was smiling at him. “Unlike me, too.”
Then the mayor took to the microphone and did his spiel of good wishes and happy holidays before announcing it the official Hartbridge holiday season, and after a dramatic pause, the tree lights flickered on.
Bright blues and reds and greens shone against the dark night, and everyone cheered. And then, like it was all part of the show, it began to snow.
People laughed and clapped, some folks began to sing “Silent Night,” and I was very pleased that Winter did not.
He looked at me though, grinning, then he looked up at the sky in wonder. “How is this even real?”
I knew a rhetorical question when I heard one, even though I almost itched with the need to tell him about barometric pressure and precipitation.
I was saved by his aunt Ro. She came up behind him and, putting one arm around his shoulder, gave him a hug. “Isn’t it magical?” she asked.
“It really is,” he replied.
Then she was talking to my mom and Winter was still smiling at me. “I should get these little ones home where it’s nice and warm,” he murmured. “I left my car behind the store. Want to walk with me?”
Yes, I did. But... “Oh.” I paused. “My mom and dad?—”
“That’s fine,” Dad said, interrupting us. “We can wait.”
“I can drop him home,” Winter suggested. “It’s not far. Well, I assume it’s not far. This is Hartbridge. Nothing is too far.”
