Nick rolled his eyes at Lucy’s comment, but Harlow totally agreed with her. Nick and Luke shirtless might be too hot for the crowd to handle!
Luke dipped his head down and kissed his wife. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, babe.”
“It’s too risky for me,” Nick said, quirking his mouth. “If Miles heard about me doing a Magic Mike routine at the fall festival, he might disown me. No kid his age wants his dad to act up in public,” Nick said. Harlow thought it was sweet how Nick always seemed to put Miles first. That was parenthood, she realized. Putting someone else’s needs before your own.
“Ain’t that the truth,” Harlow said. “If my dad had done something like that I would have freaked out.” She hardly ever talked about her dad, so it was a little surprising to think of him in this moment. Lately, memories of him were popping up at unforeseen times. Jack Jones had been everything to Harlow, and she was beginning to realize he still was. Stuffing his memory away hadn’t made those feelings any less powerful and poignant. She was stunned by the realization that she could handle the memories of him. She wouldn’t shatter.
“Were the two of you close? I know you said he passed away when you were a kid.”
Nick’s question gave her pause. She didn’t like to think about her childhood and all of the good times she’d shared with her father. Doing so made the loss of him even sharper. She’d been his princess and he’d been her king. In her eyes, he’d been magical. To this day, she could still remember the way his hand had felt in hers as they walked along the beach. And sometimes he would come to her in dreams, talking to her in his deep baritone voice. Showering her with his love. Waking up to the knowledge that she’d been dreaming was always heartbreaking.
Harlow nodded. “Yeah, we were very close. You could say I was a daddy’s girl. Wherever he was I wanted to be there right beside him.” The words caught in her throat and she found herself blinking back tears. “I need a minute, Nick.” She walked a few feet away and stepped behind the gazebo to collect herself. The last thing she wanted was for the entire town to witness her raw emotion.
“That’s your problem. You stuff everything down.” Malcolm’s voice buzzed in her ears. He’d said those words to her time and again. Harlow knew it was true. She had learned the trick of packing her feelings away as a child, and so far, she hadn’t been able to let it go. Hiding felt much safer than showing her fears and insecurities. Maybe if she picked apart the past she could finally move on. But that took courage she wasn’t sure she had.
“Are you all right?” Nick’s voice washed over her. Harlow turned around to see Nick standing a few feet away. He’d come to find her, which was a sweet gesture. Harlow had a hard time looking him in the eye. Staring into his warm brown eyes might just break her down even further. There was something about this man that made her want to lean on him.
Ugh. That wasn’t like her at all. Harlow prided herself on standing on her own two feet. Malcolm was the only person she truly turned to for support.
Nick stepped closer, then handed her a tissue. Harlow took it and gently dabbed at her eyes, sniffling to try and stem the tide of tears.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from,” she confessed.
Nick reached out and wiped tears away from her face with his thumb. His eyes brimmed with compassion. “I’m the last person you have to explain it to. I understand completely. Grief can rise up out of nowhere and take us by surprise.”
Harlow took a deep breath and stood tall, jutting her shoulders back. She needed to get it together and sell some raffle tickets. “Thank you. I’m ready to get back to it now.” She clapped her hands together. “Let’s go sell some of these raffle tickets before Lucy fires us.”
Nick leaned in toward her, whispering in her ear, “Okay, but no matter what you say, I’m not taking off my shirt.”
A laugh escaped her lips. “So we’re going to have to use our personalities to move these tickets.”
“It seems so,” Nick said with a wink.
“Game on!” Harlow held up her palm and high-fived Nick.
“Ain’t nothing but a thing, chicken wing,” Nick said as they headed back to the table. Harlow appreciated the fact that Lucy, Stella, Luke, and Dante didn’t even glance in her direction. They must have witnessed her raw emotion and were giving her the grace to rejoin them without having to feel self-conscious.
Working alongside Nick kept her laughing all day long. When he wasn’t cracking her up with celebrity impersonations, he was giving her the lowdown on all the characters in town. According to Nick, Mistletoe was a hotbed of juicy gossip and small-town intrigue.
“If you run into Violet Stewart, be prepared to hear about the founding fathers of Mistletoe. She’s a town historian of sorts and she loves to talk everyone’s ear off about her research.” The grin on Nick’s face was contagious. Harlow found herself grinning in response. Or maybe it was the man himself who made her want to smile.
“Point taken,” Harlow said. Ten minutes later, when Violet stopped by the booth, Harlow made sure not to engage her in a lengthy conversation. Nick stood by and watched with a huge smirk on his face. She almost lost it when he started making funny faces to distract her.
Harlow avoided eye contact with Nick while she listened to Violet talk about a famous pirate who operated out of Mistletoe in the 1600s. Harlow ended up selling her a bunch of tickets. She was proud of herself for not cracking up over Nick’s antics.
As soon as Violet walked away, Gillian stepped up to the booth. Perhaps this would be an opportunity to smooth things over between them. Harlow had sensed that Gillian wasn’t happy with their interaction at Paws. She always wanted clients to be comfortable, so it was worthwhile to be extra pleasant.
“Hi, Gillian. How many raffle tickets do you want to buy?” Harlow flashed the woman her most brilliant smile, hoping to cut through the tension from the other day.
Gillian kept her gaze focused on Nick, not bothering to even glance at Harlow. The woman was acting as if she hadn’t heard a single word she’d said. As if Harlow were invisible.
“Twenty dollars’ worth, please,” she said to Nick. Her face was lit up with a huge smile.
With a confused look on his face, Nick took her money and doled out the tickets. “Here you go. All proceeds to benefit the Free Library of Mistletoe.”
“Thanks, Nick. Good luck with the raffle,” she said in a sweet tone. To Harlow’s ears she sounded overly cheery, as if she was putting on an act. Gillian turned on her heel without sparing Harlow a glance. She walked a few feet away, where she met up with a few friends. As Harlow watched, Gillian leaned in and spoke to the ladies, then looked in her direction. When the other ladies’ gazes also landed on Harlow she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was the topic of their whispers.
Immediately, her body stiffened up. Harlow felt her cheeks burning. Gillian wasn’t being subtle at all. She’d deliberately ignored Harlow, pretending not to hear her. Then she’d made Harlow the object of her chatter.
