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She missed him.
Leah went about life as usual, checking in guests, caring for guests, and then wishing guests the best as they moved on. And it was a great distraction, but as busy as she kept herself, she kept thinking about Shaun.
Where was he? What was he doing? And did he still think about her?
He’d been gone for days when the doorbell rang at the inn. Mochi accompanied Leah when she went to answer it. When Leah opened the door, she found her stepmother standing on the porch with something in her hands. “Hi. Come on in.”
Tracy’s face lit up with a smile. “I hope you don’t mind me stopping by.”
“Not at all.” Leah felt guilty that she hadn’t been in contact before now.
“I was baking again. I made cherry pies, and I recalled you mentioning that you liked cherry, so I thought I’d bring this over.” She held it out to her.
Leah accepted the pie. She was so touched. She’d never had anyone in her life that baked for her.
Leah blinked back the tears. “Thank you. It was so sweet of you.”
“You’re most welcome.” Tracy’s gaze moved to Mochi. “And who is this?”
“This is Mochi. She’s temporarily staying with me. She’s Shaun’s dog.” She braced herself for questions about Shaun.
Tracy bent over and fussed over the dog. Mochi immediately liked her. With her tail swishing back and forth, Mochi ate up the attention.
To Leah’s relief, Tracy didn’t ask about Shaun. “Come on in the kitchen.” She gestured for Tracy to follow her. “I just made a fresh pot of coffee.”
“Thank you. That would be nice.”
After Tracy took off her coat and boots, she joined Leah at the kitchen table. Mochi took her usual spot on the rug in front of the oven. Leah pulled out the sugar cookies she’d baked and placed them on a small plate. And then she poured each of them a cup of coffee.
She placed it all on the table. “It’s really nice that you stopped by. I’ve been meaning to reach out, but there have been a lot of distractions.”
“I understand.” She leaned forward to get a closer look at the cookies. “Those are cute. Did you make them?”
“I did.” And then she felt compelled to say, “And Shaun helped decorate them.”
Tracy nodded. “I heard he’s not staying here any longer.”
“How did you hear that?” Realizing how that might sound, she said, “Sorry. I’m just surprised is all.”
“It’s okay. This is a small town. You’ll find out that there isn’t much that happens in Kringle Falls that the gossips don’t know about. And with Shaun staying with Michael Bishop, well, everyone is wondering what happened with you two.
“It was never going to last,” Leah said, though her heart refused to believe it. “His home is in Kentucky.”
“If that’s the case, what’s he still sticking around Kringle Falls for?” Tracy let the words hang out there as she sipped her coffee.
The words teased and tormented Leah’s mind with all the possible answers. So, she said the one thing that made the most sense to her. “He’s waiting for his SUV.”
“From what I heard, it’s repaired. But he’s still here.”
“Why?”
“I think you know the answer.”
“It’s not me.”
Tracy arched a brow. “I don’t know about that.”
If so, why hadn’t he called or stopped by? There had been countless times that she’d picked up her phone to call him but then changed her mind. And there had been times her phone had rung when she’d hoped it was him, only to find that it was someone else.
