If that was true, it was an oddly fatalistic way to say it when they were here together, both single, and living right next door.
Maybe he doesn’t mean it. He’s just being nice. Or he still thinks of me, but not in that way.
In any case, she wasn’t going to beg.
“We all have parts of our past we wish had gone differently,” she said carefully. “The important thing, like you said, is what we do about it now.”
He nodded slowly.
“So, you’re making things right with Willow,” she said. “What about Jensen?”
“I actually bumped into him the other day at the library,” Ransom said, looking up at her at last. “We’ve been texting a little here and there.”
“That’s amazing,” she told him. “Have you two had it out?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, it’s one thing to smooth things over,” she said. “But he was your best friend. You two grew up together. If something went wrong enough to push you apart for years you probably need to talk about it as soon as you can, or things won’t ever be the same.”
Ransom frowned and lifted the hissing kettle from the burner.
She was tempted to argue her point, but she figured his own conscience would do a much better job than she ever could. And she could see he was thinking about it from the look on his face as he poured hot water into just one of the mugs before replacing the kettle.
“I got a text a couple of hours ago from Cal Cassidy that the roads are cleared,” he said, handing her the mug. “I know it’s an imposition, but would you mind keeping an eye on the kids for a little while?”
“I’d be glad to,” she told him, honored that he trusted her with them. “I’ll take good care of them and call you right away if we have any questions.”
“I know you will,” he said, smiling warmly at her.
“Where are you headed?” she asked him.
“I think I’m going to take your advice,” he said gruffly.
At first she wasn’t sure what he meant.
“You’re going to see Jensen Webb?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” he told her, with a big grin. “He mentioned that he wanted to talk about something tomorrow. Maybe he wants to have it out, like you said. Anyway, I don’t want to wait another minute to make things right.”
Haileyand the kids spent the rest of the day baking chocolate chip cookies and decorating the front porch while the dogs played in the snow. It was a fun and peaceful time, and if Travis and Mae were disappointed that their dad wasn’t around, they didn’t complain.
Mostly, they talked and laughed and ate more raw dough than they probably should have.
“Daddy will be so surprised when he sees the decorations,” Mae said happily as they all stepped back to admire their handiwork.
The boughs of greenery Ransom had bought earlier in the week were draped over the handrail and they had twined lights and hung balls from the pine branches once they were in place, before adding red velvet ribbons.
“I think so too,” Hailey told her.
“And he’ll eat lots of cookies,” Travis added.
“He sure will,” Hailey said. “As a matter of fact, I thinkwe probably deserve a break to drink hot chocolate and eat cookies and watch a Christmas movie.”
That earned her cheering from the pair that had quickly become her two favorite kids in the world.
They called the dogs to come in, and headed inside to prepare their feast of snacks.
“Which movie should we watch this time?” she asked them.
