When Bea leaves, Isay, “I wanted to ask you a thousand questions back at the Villagetoo.”
“Well,ask away.”
I hesitate for amoment before deciding to dive right in and ask the question that’sat the forefront of my mind. “You said you’d been through somethingthat caused your Grinchy attitude toward Christmas…”
“Hey,not so Grinchy now.” His words are followed by that crooked smilethat does funny things to my heart. “You helped me see the error ofmy ways.”
His casual wordsfeel like a deflection, which is fine. We’re still practicallystrangers and he doesn’t owe me any explanations or back story. Imentally fish around for a change in topic.
Cole releases abarely audible sigh. “Do you really want to know?”
“Onlyif you want to tell me.”
He ponders thatand then nods. “Okay.” He drops his gaze to his plate, where heroughly spears a fry with his fork. “I was supposed to get marriedthis week.”
I nearly choke ona cheese curd. It’s a good thing I’ve only taken a few bitesbecause I’m sure the fries would feel like lead in my stomachotherwise. “Wow. Okay, um…wow.”
“Sorry.Guess I should have started at the beginning.” He gives me a ruefulsmile as I clear my throat and wipe my mouth with a napkin. “I wasengaged until about two months ago. My nowex-fiancée wanted a Christmas-themedwedding. I didn’t love the idea at first, but it had always beenher dream, so I went along with it. Even got really into the ideaeventually and enjoyed helping her plan everything.”
“Whathappened?” I ask.
Helifts one shoulder, shaking his head. “Cold feet? Second thoughts?I’m not even suresheknows why she called it off. I told her if she needed moretime, we could wait until next year. Or even elope if she wasoverwhelmed by the idea of a big wedding, even though it wasn’tthat big. I was stunned and upset about her not wanting to getmarried, but I wanted to work things out and stay together. Forwhatever reason,shedidn’t. She packed up and moved out of our apartment the dayafter she called off the wedding.”
Icringe. “That sounds brutal. ‘I’m sorry’ feels like such a stupidthing to say, but Iamsorry.”
“Thanks. I thought I was doing pretty well—coping in my own wayby burying myself in work and staying busy—but then December hitand it was a stream of constant reminders. Every time I turned onthe radio, it was Christmas songs. Christmas movies on TV,Christmas decorations everywhere, a Santa Claus around everycorner.”
“Nowonder you hated the Bellevue Village assignment.”
“I feltlike the universe was mocking me,” he says with a weary laugh.“Shoving reminders in my face in a steady barrage. Butthen…”
“Then…?”
He waves a handand picks up his fork again, stuffing a giant bite of gravy-soakedfries into his mouth.
“It’sfunny you think that’s going to deter me,” I say, pointing my forkin his direction before taking another bite of my ownpoutine.
Colepresses his lips together and laughs, covering his mouth with theback of his hand. After chewing and swallowing, he says, “Okay,fine. I wasgoingto say…then I met you and it felt like a silver lining in thebleak shit clouds the universe has been throwing myway.”
Warmth rushesthrough me. Before I can say anything—which is probably a goodthing because I’m tempted to make an embarrassing joke about silverlinings and silver bells—he continues.
“I hadforgotten how much I love this time of year. My initial hesitationabout having a Christmas-themed wedding was because I liked theidea of celebrating our marriage and then subsequent anniversariesproperly and not having them blend in or compete withChristmas.”
“Nowthat’ssomething I completely understand,” I tell him. “My birthdayis right before Christmas and, even though my parents were amazingabout keeping things separate, I always felt like my birthday wasoverlooked by other people because they’re so swept up in holidaystuff.”
“Right,exactly.” He leans forward slightly, his earnest expressionlightening a fraction. “Also, happy early birthday.”
“Thankyou.”
“Anyplans for the big day?”
“Notreally, no. The Village closes at noon that day, and I opted towork that morning so I could be around people.” He tilts his headto the side and, while I wouldn’t call it a look of pity, hisexpression has changed. Before he can ask anything else, I rush toadd, “I’ll have the rest of the year off after that, so it’ll belike one long celebration of birthday, Christmas, and NewYear’s.”
“Thatsounds fun,” he says, his smile returning. “Even though I’m feelingbetter about Christmas in general, I’ll likely work as much aspossible through the holidays. I managed to get some of thedeposits back for the wedding, but a lot of it was non-refundable.Plus we were supposed to go on a mini honeymoon right after thewedding, so I think it’ll be good to stay busy rather than sittingaround and dwelling on that.”
“Goodcall,” I say. “Not to rub salt in the wound, but where were youplanning to go?”
His lips twitch atmy words. “Well, my ex wanted to go somewhere tropical, but Iconvinced her to do a short, local honeymoon and then plansomething bigger later. We were going to go to NiagaraFalls.”
