Her lungs stopped working. “Me?” she squeaked.
He nodded. “I have a story to tell you. All that I ask is that you listen. You can tell me to leave when I'm done, and I will.” He swallowed heavily as if saying that meant that he would lose everything.
She stepped back and motioned for him to come inside. “No sense turning us both into icicles.”
He stepped in, and she closed the door behind him, cutting off the cold.
He reached for her hand. Darn her, she was so lonely and needy for emotional connection that she let him take it. Her eyes burned. How pathetic was she that she would allow this man who had lied to her, tried to gaslight her, into her home, and then touch her?
Pathetic or in love–were they the same thing?
“I need so much therapy,” she moaned as she pulled him into the house.
The thing was, she didn’t feel icky around Ethan. Didn’t feel like he was all the things she labeled him as when he’d left the house this afternoon.
She’d felt that off feeling, like something-wasn’t-quite-right sensation, with many people before and always trusted it, putting distance between herself and them. And every time, she’d been right. Their true colors came shining through, and their reputations changed.
This was different. Ethan’s hand around hers felt so right, so good, so warm, and so … magical.
Steeling herself for the chance she’d still have to send him packing, she went to the kitchen instead of her beloved Christmas room. Dropping his hand, she proceeded to gather the ingredients for stuffing. If she could keep her hands busy, she might be able to hold her emotions back. “Start talking,” she said evenly.
Ethan bellied up to the bar and splayed his hands across the cool granite. “It all started the day after Thanksgiving…” he proceeded to tell her about his son Collin and the wish he’d made to a Santa at the park to have his mom home for Christmas. Pearl showed up. He thought it was out of the blue, but it was part of the wish.
“... and then Nick told me–.”
“Nick?!” she exclaimed. “You talked to a Santa namedNick?”
He nodded.
She dropped the butter on the counter, and it splatted. “I talked to a Santa named Nick.”
He nodded again. “I know. You wished that you wouldn’t be alone for Christmas–ever.” His voice was soft and full of an understanding she rarely found.
Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, she scooped up the butter with a spatula. “So much for Santa's confidentiality.” How embarrassing. “Did he feel sorry for me?”
“Not at all,” Nick assured her. “He only told me because, well, your wish and Collin’s wish got tangled up, and he thought I could untangle them.”
“How?” She unwrapped another cube of butter, unsure how many the recipe called for. She didn’t want to meet his gaze and see pity or any other emotion there.
He cleared his throat. “That’s where things got dicey.” As he explained about testing the wishes and how he tried one way and got so frustrated because it seemed like Pearl was constantly getting between them, he wished her away and lost his son in the process.
On the screen behind him, George ran through Bedford Falls, calling Mary’s name and panicked that the world was upside down. Valerie stared at the screen. They say every good movie has a particle of truth in it. She’d always assumed that when it came toIt’s a Wonderful Life, the universal truth was that we all matter–every life impacts others for good or bad.
But what if the angle was the truth? What if Clarence was like Nick?
It sounded crazy, yet… she’d felt something when she’d made her wish. And then Ethan came along.
“Why are you telling me all this?” she asked, suspicious that he was about to flip her world on its back.
Ethan stood up, his dark eyes full of love. She gasped at the sight of it. The combination of adoration, promise, friendship, and desire was all for her. He walked around the counter as she did everything she could to drop her walls and let his love flood her soul.
He got down on one knee in front of her. “Do you have a middle name?”
Tanya and Tucker came around the side of the island, their expressions curious. They sat on their backsides to watch.
Valerie laughed even as her eyes stung with tears. “Faith.”
His eyes widened slightly.
