Smitten (39 page)
“Great. Won’t be long.” He exited the shop. She watched him cross the plate-glass window, then dropped her head in her folded arms and moaned.
Why did things have to get so complicated? Everything had been just hunky-dory before. She had a great friend, the best contractor for her new shop, and a buddy to challenge her on the court and slopes, all wrapped in one convenient package.
Now all she had were confusion, awkward moments, and constant tension from trying to hide her feelings. The chorus of “You’re All I Want for Christmas” built as Bing Crosby belted it out.
Swell. She knew just how he felt.
“Reese?”
Her head popped up. Shelby had stepped inside and pulled the door shut behind her. Her dark hair was flecked with flurries. She wore a cute peacoat with dark trendy slacks.
Reese suddenly felt like a slob in her jeans and stained sweatshirt. “Hey, Shelby.”
“What’s wrong?” Shelby approached, dusted off the stool Griffen had occupied, and sat down.
She hadn’t mentioned her problem to the girls since that first night. She was hoping it would blow over. Instead it seemed to be blowing up. Right in her face. How long could she hide her attraction from Griffen? And what would he do when he found out?
“I stopped by to check out your progress.”
Progress?
She blinked.
“On the store,” Shelby clarified, glancing around. “It’s coming along. I like the open loft concept. You found brick behind the walls like you were hoping.”
“Yep.”
Bing crooned on as they looked around, then Shelby’s eyes settled on hers. “Want to talk about it?”
Reese looked into her friend’s warm brown eyes and felt her defenses fall for the first time in weeks. She palmed her face. “What is wrong with me?”
Shelby rubbed her arm. “Nothing’s wrong with you, honey. Your feelings are just changing. There’s no crime in that.”
“But I don’t want them to. I feel tense all the time and awkward and afraid he’s going to realize what’s going on in my head. Everything was better before.”
“Maybe God has something different in mind.”
“Well, he failed to inform Griffen.”
Shelby chuckled softly. “It might take some time. You’ve always been able to talk to him about anything. What if you just told him how you feel—got it out there on the table?”
Reese dropped her hands. “No. That is not the plan.”
“You can’t plan everything, honey. God is the real planner.”
Just the thought of Griffen knowing, of how that would change things between them, made heat crawl up her neck and anxiety snake through her veins. He would distance himself from her, maybe even feel sorry for her.
Ick.
She shook her head. “I’m not losing his friendship over my temporary insanity.”
Shelby gave a sympathetic smile. “There’s nothing insane about having feelings for an incredible man.”
Shelby hadn’t known Griffen long, but she’d heard plenty of stories. And she was right. “He is pretty incredible, isn’t he.”
“I’m just saying, be open to whatever God has in store.
You never know. I mean, I never expected my friendship with Nick to change the way it did.”
It sounded great in theory, but that didn’t change the facts. “Griffen doesn’t see me that way. To him, I’m just his best buddy.”
“Well, that’s how you saw him until a couple weeks ago.”
True. Reese picked up the pencil on the counter and tapped it on her lip. “If only the same thing would happen to him.” It had struck out of the blue, like a lightning bolt. Maybe Griffen would get a lightning bolt too. Too bad something like that couldn’t be manufactured.
Could it?
Shelby propped her elbows on the plastic. “Isn’t Sawyer coming home soon for Christmas?”
“That’s what I heard. He’s taking a break from touring from Christmas through the wedding.”
“Maybe seeing your ex-fiancé will do something inside Griffen.”
“I don’t think so. It didn’t seem to matter when we were engaged. And clearly Sawyer’s no threat now.”
“You’re probably right. Well, we’ll just have to pray God opens Griffen’s eyes.”
An idea formed in Reese’s mind. “Or . . .”
Shelby raised her delicately arched brows. “Or . . .”
“Or I could help Griffen along just a little.” Now that she thought about it, the idea was growing on her. She absently bit the metal pencil tip.
Shelby narrowed her eyes. “What’s going on in that blond head of yours?”
“He sees me as a buddy, right? And I want him to see me as a woman.”
“Right . . .”
“Well, there’s nothing like a date to make a man see a woman as a lady.”
“You’re going to ask him out?”
“Heck no. I’m going to ask someone else out. He’ll see me with another man and realize he wants me for himself.” Okay, maybe that was simplifying things a tad. Reese shrugged. “Well. It might work.”
“I don’t know. Sometimes these things can get out of hand. Feelings can get hurt.”
Reese gnawed on the pencil. Shelby was right. “But if I were honest with the other guy, then there’d be nothing to lose.”
“I suppose . . .”
Reese was already searching her mental database for the right man. He had to be available and able to keep a secret. Good looks wouldn’t hurt either.
She smiled. “Joshua Campbell. He’s perfect. Nice looking, friendly, and available. Plus he owes me big-time. I taught him how to ski so he didn’t fall on his face in front of Betsy Harmeyer.”
“Isn’t Betsy married?”
Reese waved her off. “It was a few years ago. Josh is perfect, and I’m sure he’ll help me out. I’ll ask him today.”
After Shelby left, Reese went back to work, a new bounce in her step.
Okay, God, new plan. Please make Griffen notice me. Please?
G
riffen slid to a stop, sending a spray of ice toward Reese. “Nice skates. You spared no expense.”
“They’re made to last.”
They shared the rink with a handful of tourists and a couple he remembered vaguely from high school. A tall man in a bulky coat lumbered across the ice in the shadowed corner. He lost his balance, and his arms windmilled before he regained his footing.
An old-fashioned waltzy song leaked from the speakers.
Griffen watched Reese execute a graceful turn. She looked beyond cute under the twinkling lights that danced in the trees around the rink. She finished the twirl and took a bow. Her cheeks were flushed with cold, and a relaxed smile curved her full lips.
“You become a ballerina while I was away?”
“As if I’d be caught dead in a tutu.”
“I’d pay money to see it.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
Tonight she wore her usual jeans and a baby blue North Face parka. A fuzzy black hat covered her low ponytail and kept her ears warm.
“The gazebo looks awesome over there,” she said. “I love the scrolling on the eaves. Look, it’s already in use.”
Someone had lit the structure with white Christmas lights. During the warm months, the Garner Sisters would play from there on weekend evenings, replacing the canned music. Right now, a couple cuddled on the bench. When he’d been building it, he’d dreamed of Reese and him cuddling there under the stars. But then, he was always dreaming about Reese and him.
He was thinking of telling her soon. It was the reason he’d returned to Smitten. Well, that and to help the town rebuild. He watched her do another spin. Maybe he’d tell her tonight if he found the right moment. His heart bucked at the thought.
The timing never seemed right. When he’d realized his feelings three years earlier, she’d been dating Sawyer. Then, to his dismay, they’d become engaged. That was when he’d known he had to leave town. He couldn’t stand by and watch the woman he’d fallen in love with begin her life with someone else.
The man in the gazebo had lowered his head toward the woman.
“Look, they’re smooching,” Reese said.
He looked at Reese instead. Her lips curved in a dreamy smile that gave him courage. If not now, when? She already loved him. How big a gap could there be between “love” and “in love”? He’d never know what could be if he didn’t take a leap of faith.
He pushed off, closing the distance between them, pocketing his hands when he realized they were shaking.
“Reese . . .”
She turned those dreamy eyes on him, and for a moment his world stopped. His breath seized in his lungs. Even her frozen exhale seemed to hang in the air between them.
Say it, Parker. Tell her that she’s captured you, heart and soul. That you love every little thing about her. That you can’t bear to face another day without her knowing
.
He opened his mouth to deliver the words that had been three years in coming.
Thwack
.
A body barreled into Reese. Griffen reached out but she was gone, swept up in a tangle of arms and legs. They fought for balance, spinning and chopping at the air.
Finally they came to a standstill, facing one another. And that’s when Griffen got a look at the man who’d nearly swept Reese off her feet—in more ways than one.
Sawyer Smitten. Griffen recognized him the same time Reese did. He watched her lips part, her eyes widen.
“Sawyer.” His name left her lips on a sigh.
“Reese. Good heavens, I’m so sorry. I’m a klutz on these things.” He’d picked up a southern accent somewhere. Probably all those country songs he crooned.
Reese gave a high-pitched laugh—her nervous laugh. She and Sawyer still gripped each other’s forearms, and Griffen wanted to tear them apart, but he couldn’t seem to move.
“I hadn’t heard you were back.”
Was he imagining the breathiness in her voice?
“Just arrived today. I’m on break until we kick off the tour here in Smitten.” He managed to pull his eyes from Reese and scan the square. “Can’t believe what y’all have done with the town. Heard it was your idea, your planning.”
Reese did her nervous laugh again and shrugged. “No, no. Everyone worked together.”
“Some of the men gave you a hard time, I hear,” Sawyer said, a flirtatious twinkle in his eyes.
“Not so much anymore. They’re coming around.”
Did they not realize they were practically folded into each other’s arms? He wondered if Reese liked the changes in Sawyer. The neat sideburns, the shadow of a goatee. Some women went for that country singer look, he supposed.
Sawyer finally noticed him. His eyes widened in recognition. “Griffen Parker.” He extended his hand, which at least meant letting loose of Reese.
“Didn’t recognize you without your cowboy hat. Good to see you, Sawyer.” Griffen shook his hand. “Congratulations on your career successes—and your upcoming nuptials.” In case either of them needed the reminder.
“Thanks. Yeah, a lot going on these days. So you’re back in Smitten for a while?”
Griffen stood close to Reese in case she swooned. “For as long as I’m needed.” He telegraphed a message with his eyes, but Sawyer was already back to Reese.
“You’re opening that sporting goods store you always dreamed of.”
“An outfitters shop.”
He nodded. “Well. Good for you.”
“I bought the old Palmer building. You’ll have to swing by and see it when it’s finished. It’s going to be great.”
My best buddy Griffen is renovating it
, Griffen added to himself.
You know, the one who didn’t leave me for fame and fortune
.
“I’ll do that.” Sawyer caught her hand. “It was good seeing you again. We’ll have to catch up sometime.”
“I’d like that.”
“Well, listen, I’ll let you two get back to it. I think I can make it back to my boots without fracturing my skull.”
Nervous laugh. “See you around, Sawyer.”
He could hardly wait.
“Bye now.”
Griffen watched Smitten’s claim to fame scuttle over the ice, watched Reese watching him go, and wondered if the woman he loved wasn’t still in love with a man who now belonged to someone else.
I
t’s too cold for this,” Natalie said, her feet pounding the river walk pavement behind Reese.
“Four months ago you were complaining it was too hot,” Reese called, her fogged breath dropping over her shoulder like a cape.
“Well, we were running up a mountain,” Natalie said between breaths. “And it’s Christmas Eve—shouldn’t we get holidays off?”
“Christmas Eve morning. It’s not a holiday until tonight.”
“Speaking of Christmas,” Shelby said. “I can’t wait till you girls see Penelope’s Christmas outfit.”
“Why am I suddenly picturing her in red velvet and a white beard?” Reese asked.
Shelby laughed. “No, no. More like a red boa and white tulle.”