But with Brayden, it was better this way, them staying friends.
“Sarra. Where does she live?”
“Phoenix.”
“Married? Kids?”
Brayden took a step back and assessed the top branches, wearing a frown that suggested he was not satisfied with the shape. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“You answer a lot of them with short, punctuated answers that create more questions.”
From behind the cover of the thick tree, she couldn’t see his expression. Only the tips of his fingers back at work on the branches. “I don’t have any nieces or nephews, if that’s what you want to know. No additional names to memorize.”
The mystery of Brayden’s sister continued. At least she got a name this time. She gave up on learning more about the elusive Sarra and moved on. “Grandparents?”
“Down to one. Grandma on my dad’s side.” Elsie’s sleepy growl filled the silence as Ava waited not so patiently for him to continue. In all fairness, this was the most Brayden had opened up since those first few weeks as neighbors. When she decided a rescheduled date wasn’t in their future, he clammed up. They’d never regained that early effortless friendship. She missed it. “I lost my grandpa—dad’s side—a little over a year ago.”
Ava stretched her neck around the tree again, unprepared for the emotion lingering in his dark brown eyes. He’d never mentioned this before. Surprising, with it so recent. It had to be a clue as to why he really moved to Sunset Ridge. “You two were close.”
“At one time.” Brayden met her gaze for a mere second, and something unusual happened. Ava’s stomach fluttered as if a butterfly had been trapped inside. “He taught me how to work with wood. Everything I know about making bookshelves and coffee tables with careful skill. He’s the whole reason I wanted to live here, where there was a woodworking shop already set up. It makes me feel closer to him somehow.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“That’s life, right? Over in a blink of an eye if you’re not careful.”
Something important had been left unsaid, and Ava desperately wanted to know what it was. She felt as if it were the key to everything where Brayden Young was concerned. She chose her next question carefully, uncertain he would answer at all. “Why did you move to Sunset Ridge? It’s kind of off the beaten trail.”
Brayden stepped back from the tree in search of his fountain drink, but a single loud slurp rendered the cup empty of everything but ice. “Long story,” he said evasively. “I don’t know about your side of the tree, but mine is ready for lights.”
She came around to the front, shocked how perfect the branches he’d worked were shaped and fluffed. It was better than the floor model. “How did you do that so fast?”
“I’m that good.”
“Well, if you’re such a tree genius, why don’t you finish my side while I test the lights.”
“On it.”
Elsie let out a groan and stretched on her side from the dog bed Brayden had placed in front of the couch. She’d been happily napping ever since the halibut tacos disappeared. Her eyes fluttered open for a split second, then fell shut again. Ava envied the pup’s easy life, and naps whenever she craved them. Ava hadn’t taken a nap in at least four years. Maybe longer.
She settled onto the end of the couch near an outlet and set to work plugging in strand after strand, disappointed at the number of old strands that wouldn’t light at all.Glad we stocked up on new ones.
Her mind raced, wondering if Brayden was only opening up because he had no other choice. Whatever he kept from her his mom might reveal. It only stirred more questions. Ava didn’t care to feel so unsettled about it all. Secrets had never done anyone she knew any good. Kinley suffered for years not knowing her father’s true identity because someone was so set on keeping it a secret. And Laurel, she kept a secret from Ava when she boarded a plane with Chase and eloped. And again, six months later when they broke up the marriage and she left without saying goodbye.
Ava despised secrets.
“Tell me more about your gift baskets,” Brayden said, shaping branches at an alarming speed, as if he’d done this many times before. “I didn’t see any in the store last time I stopped in.”
“You hardly leave this property,” Ava countered, slipping her phone from her pocket and adding a couple of notes about the store display she planned to put together tomorrow. She still had to track down boxes and assemble three dozen baskets.Guess I’ll sleep after Christmas is over.
“I went out twice just today.”
“I should mark that down on my calendar.” She tossed another dead strand in a pile and went for the next. She used to have enough lights to suffocate a massive tree, line the ceilings, and light up the front of her house. At this rate, they’d have to go back to the hardware store to get more. “I thought the baskets might be a way to showcase what the Forget Me Not has to offer. They’re filled with Alaskan-made goodies, just like the store.”
“I think they’re a great idea,” Brayden said. “But aren’t you selling them a little late in the season? Christmas is next week.”
“Yeah.” Ava let out a heavy sigh, wishing she’d brought her soda with her to the couch. No way she was getting so close to Brayden with those unpredictable butterflies clouding her judgment. “I just got the ribbon in this morning.” She didn’t want to admit that she’d had to purchase as much as possible on clearance. She bargained with her wholesalers, too. Every penny had to count. “I’m hoping to mostly sell them around town. Maybe see if I can get a couple of gift shops in Seward to sell them on consignment.” Except she had no clue when she’d find the time to make it to any other small towns with Mom inbound.
“Suppose shipping them to the lower forty-eight is out,” Brayden murmured.
