Christmas in Evergreen Tidings of Joy - Nancy Naigle Page 0,56
probably now more of an expert on Evergreen than any of us who live here are.”
She wadded up a piece of paper and tossed it at him.
He ducked playfully.
“So, I guess I’ll just have to do a final pass on it in the morning on the train.”
“Tomorrow?”
“That’s the plan, yeah.” But she wasn’t ready to leave. She looked at him. Say something. Ask me to stay.
But he didn’t; he simply nodded with no clear expression on his face. This was it. Was this all there was meant to be for her in Evergreen?
“So, I guess I should go. I’ve got to get packed and—” Katie caught Nan from the corner of her eye as she came down the stairs, dressed in a forest-green wool coat and a beautiful scarf. “Wow, look at this.”
Nan walked into the room. “Well, this was my mother’s caroling scarf, and her angel pin.” She ran her fingers over the lovely red-and-green plaid. Gold threads woven into the design picked up on the shiny gold of the pin fastened to her left shoulder. The pride of tradition showed in Nan’s eyes. “The Christmas calendar has everyone so excited about our old traditions, we’ve even fired up a few from long ago.”
“Really? Like what?” Katie asked.
Ben looked on, and although Nan wasn’t his mother, Katie could feel the special bond between them.
“Caroling tonight.”
“Well, you look—and that sounds—amazing. All of it.” Katie scanned the room. She would definitely miss Evergreen. “I should get back to the inn.”
“Oh, we’re about to go caroling out that way. Why don’t you come and join us?”
Ben lit up. “You should come! It really is a lot of fun. I bring my guitar.”
“You play the guitar?”
“I do.”
Smart, creative and musical too? “I can’t miss that. I mean, that does sound fun. Okay, yes. Do I need to know all the words or—”
“No, we know all the words very well. You can even just hum along,” Nan said.
In a whoosh of excitement, Katie swept all of her research materials into one stack. “Great, I’ll meet you two outside in just a minute. I just need to re-shelve these.”
As Katie eased the books back on the shelves in their respective spots, she overheard Nan talking to Ben. “I almost forgot. You know how finicky that old printer is. I found this jammed inside. I wanted to make sure you had it.”
He took the page and looked at it. “It’s just a job posting in New York. Yeah, that wasn’t anything.”
Katie heard the paper crumple, and the balled-up dream hit the trash can just before the door opened and they walked outside.
What would it be like if Ben worked in the city? Maybe meeting up for lunch occasionally? They could catch the train down here to Evergreen at the holidays. She could see herself spending more time with him.
She grabbed her coat and went out to meet up with them for her first time caroling.
Chapter Twenty
Hannah had dressed in her caroling attire, a green sweater, before going to meet Elliott. She was due to catch up with the others in front Daisy’s Country Store here shortly.
She leaned over the counter in the Tinker Shop, watching Elliott fill the new glass globe with liquid. He looked so handsome dressed in a button-down shirt tonight. He was wearing a fun Christmas tie, kind of out of character for him, but she liked this side of him.
Shivering in anticipation, she said, “It’s really going to be okay, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yes.” Elliott kept his hands and eyes focused on his work. “This snow globe will be as good as new.”
“I sure hope it still has the old magic.”
“That…I have no control of.” He gave her a playful grin. “It takes just the right mixture of water and oil.” He picked up a sterling silver decanter that looked like a genie lamp, then tipped the tiny spout into the globe slowly to add the glycerin.
She couldn’t take her eyes off him. The way he worked, so slow, methodical and patient. He was the most patient person she’d ever known.
He let one more drop fall into the globe. “I think this looks just about right. Oh yeah, we’ll need glitter for the snow.”
“White glitter,” she corrected.
“I saw some somewhere around here. It was in a glass jar. It was in all the stuff that was already here. Would you mind looking in the bottom cabinet over there?”
“Sure.” She tore herself away from him and rummaged through a few of the lower cabinets