Christmas in Evergreen Tidings of Joy - Nancy Naigle Page 0,65
go home now.”
“Merry Christmas, Katie.”
She and Ben went to pick up her luggage from Barbara’s and go to the train station.
The Evergreen train depot was crowded with families welcoming their arriving guests from the city for the holiday. Only a few people stood by, ready to load up and head back that night.
Katie walked alongside Ben on the walkway next to the red-and-gold train, wishing the ramp was about a mile longer, because she wasn’t ready for this to end.
“Well…” Ben was moving at a snail’s pace too. “I guess this is it.”
“Right.” The time had gone so fast, and honestly, she wasn’t ready for it to end, either. If only the one more day she’d stayed was still one more day away. Would he come to visit? She looked up, wishing she could read his mind. “If you get to the city, maybe we can—”
“Yeah. Definitely.” Ben licked his lips. “Or if you’re ever back in Evergreen and decide to spend a Christmas here—”
“Don’t I have to come back for the snowman-building event next year?” Katie stopped near the stairs. This is really goodbye.
“Yes. You do.” He looked like he had more to say.
She could barely breathe. Please ask me to stay. Or promise me you’ll call. She folded her fingers into tight little fists; silence hung between them. He’s not feeling it. Her eyes darted past him to the town. Maybe what she was feeling had been temporary Evergreen magic, not the real thing after all. She glanced back over to him. But it felt so real.
“We…” It came out almost a breathless stammer. He swallowed visibly hard. “If we weren’t in such different places in our lives, and such different actual locations…maybe we’d be—”
Her heart fell into a thousand tiny icy fragments. She’d envisioned it. “Sitting by a fire after making a snowman?” She nodded with complete resolution. This was goodbye.
The conductor took her bag.
“Thank you.” She stepped up backward on the first tread, eye-to-eye with Ben. “Merry Christmas, Ben.”
“Merry Christmas, Katie.”
She leaned forward, placing her left hand on his shoulder, kissing him softly on the cheek. She paused long enough to breathe in his scent one more time, then stepped away and turned to board the train.
Ben stood there as she boarded.
By the time she got to her seat, he’d begun walking back toward town. Her heart hung heavy in her chest, making it hard to breathe. She didn’t want this to be goodbye.
As if by magic, Ben must’ve felt it too, because he stopped midstride and turned to look, then waved.
The announcement echoed throughout the station: “All Aboard for New York Penn Station!”
Following one long whistle, the train eased out of the station. Katie watched from the window as they pulled away. With each mile, she longed for Evergreen. Or maybe it was just for Ben.
She recognized the red bridge that led into town, the only way in and out of Evergreen.
Somehow, the beautiful countryside, although still just as picturesque as it’d been the first time she’d seen it, had lost its amazement. It lacked the sparkle without the people she’d met in Evergreen. More than just people. Friends.
Katie’s phone rang. She looked down, her heart doing a little giddy-up hoping it was Ben, but it wasn’t. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hi. Just checking in, is the article—”
“Mom, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to turn this in.”
“What do you mean?” She sounded disappointed.
“I mean, I wrote an article about a town for Christmas. And I thought I might be able to make it work for the magazine. I think I wrote…something else. I might need a little longer to—”
“Katie. You’ve never missed a deadline.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. I know you were counting on me.”
“Send me what you have. You’re always so hard on yourself. I bet it’s wonderful.”
“Mom, I—”
“I am not asking as your mother. I am speaking as your editor.”
Too tired to argue, she turned on the hotspot on her phone. “Right. I’ll email it now.”
She pressed send, then rested her head on the window as the train chugged along.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Hannah arrived at the church to get things set up for choir rehearsal. She cherished her time alone in this church where she’d grown up. Normally, she was the only one here this early, but when she walked inside the vestibule, she was met with an unexpected surprise.
She opened the door to the sanctuary, and beautiful music washed over her so loud that she closed her eyes to take it in.