Christmas at Holiday House - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,44
showing a little holiday spirit.
* * *
Abby had spent more than a week decorating Holiday House for the season. She had strung countless ornaments on countless boughs, twisted together pine branches, tied ribbons, created ornaments.
She should be tired of it by now, but something about this huge tree in Winnie’s great room was different. Or perhaps her enjoyment of the moment had more to do with her companion. She found a soft, bewitching sort of peace in Ethan’s company, which she found both unexpected and odd.
Something seemed to have changed between them and she wasn’t quite sure what.
He wasn’t enthusiastic about his grandmother’s plans to open her house to strangers. Ethan had made his position abundantly clear. Yet he was still willing to step up and help Abby decorate the big tree, simply because she was too afraid of heights to tackle the job on her own.
“Your son is sleeping, I would guess.”
“Yes. He put in a big play day with Dakota Raymond. I’m keeping track of him with the baby monitor.”
“Smart.”
“It’s not really necessary. He turned five last month and is old enough to know how to come looking for me if he wakes up, but I’m a bit of an overprotective mother, I guess.”
“Not overprotective at all. No need to traumatize the kid by having him wake up and not know where his mom is.”
She gave him a sharp look, unable to help it. He didn’t look at her, though she couldn’t tell whether he was avoiding her gaze or simply busy hanging ornaments.
She knew enough about his childhood to know there was something autobiographical in that statement. Lucy hadn’t wanted to talk much about her life growing up, but she had said enough that Abby understood their complicated history.
Lucy had processed that pain by frequently saying she wasn’t interested in the complications of romantic love. Had Ethan taken the same attitude? No. He had been engaged, she remembered, but it hadn’t worked out.
She wanted to ask him about it but sensed Ethan wouldn’t welcome her curiosity.
“I think that’s everything,” she said after she hung the last ornament from the final box, except for a few broken bulbs that hadn’t survived the year.
“I’m out here, too.” He held up an empty box.
“I think that means we’re done.”
“Well? What do you think?”
She stepped away to take a better look at the entire massive Christmas tree, which had been pretty enough with only the white lights. Now, with the star and garland and the ornaments, it quite literally took her breath away.
“Oh, Ethan,” she exclaimed softly. “It’s beautiful.”
He climbed down the ladder. “Any bare spots?”
“Not that I can tell. You did a wonderful job. Almost like a pro.”
“Turn the main lights down so I can see the full effect, would you?”
She crossed to the wall and flipped off the main chandelier in the room so that only the tree and a lamp in one corner illuminated them. The lights on the tree reflected off the shiny ornaments, magnifying their glow.
“It’s lovely. Don’t you think so?”
“Absolutely.”
His voice sounded oddly intense. When she looked over, she met his gaze and discovered he was not looking at the tree at all, but at her.
She felt warm everywhere and those butterflies returned to flit around inside her.
He could not be attracted to her. The idea was laughable. She was bedraggled and dusty, her hair falling out of her messy bun. Any trace of makeup she had put on that morning, only mascara and a quick brush of lipstick, had likely worn off hours ago.
Still, she couldn’t deny that expression in his eyes, hot and hungry, or her answering reaction. She fiercely worked to fight it down.
“Thank you for your help,” she said into the silence. “I honestly would not have been able to tackle this job without you. There’s a chance Winnie could have found a Silver Belle to help, but if not we would have ended up with a half-decorated tree, completely bare above about seven feet.”
“I enjoyed it. But, again, please keep that between us.”
“Well, if you enjoyed that, I have plenty of other decorating jobs you could help with. Tomorrow evening after the grounds are decorated, we’re hanging more greenery around the windows outside.”
He frowned a little, as if doing some mental calculations. “I could maybe swing by after work again tomorrow. I have a meeting in the afternoon but could come after that.”
She didn’t know what to say, touched that he would be willing to come again despite his opposition