Christmas at Fireside Cabins - Jenny Hale Page 0,23

everyone. “He’s so mysterious. Doesn’t he know that he’ll probably sell more coffee if he’s actually pleasant to talk to?”

“Unless it’s just us he doesn’t like,” Charlotte said.

Lila stiffened at the thought.

“He didn’t seem that way with Rex at the farm yesterday. Did you see how the little boy responded to him?” Charlotte continued.

“Why wouldn’t he like us?” Piper asked. “We haven’t done a thing to him.”

Lila shook her head, wondering if Charlotte was right. Theo had been awfully friendly with Rex, and he’d even hung a wreath on his door for the little boy’s mother, yet he barely even cracked a smile whenever he looked at her, and then that intense reaction to being surprised—what had he meant by that? But then she remembered the softness of his voice as he’d said, “I’ve got you,” and how tightly he’d held her on that horse ride, his big hands gripping her firmly, keeping her safe. It didn’t make any sense.

“What are you thinking about?” Edie asked. “You look like you’re solving an algebra problem over there.”

“I don’t know,” she replied, not entirely present in their conversation anymore.

Edie leaned into her view. “You don’t know what you’re thinking?”

“Hm?” she said, swimming out of her reverie. She needed to get to the bottom of it. Suddenly she couldn’t stand it. Theo couldn’t just treat her like that. “I forgot the box of scissors and stuff at the coffee shop. I’ll go get them.”

Piper’s knife and fork stilled in her hands, as if she were dialing in to Lila’s inner thoughts. “We could all go get them.”

“No, I’ll go,” Lila said, getting up. “I’ll be back in time for our day out, but I want to talk to him.”

“What happened last night?” Edie asked, following her with her eyes as Lila slipped on her shoes. “I know we’d all turned in by the time you got back, but I’d expected you to run and jump on all our beds, waking us up and telling us what you’d done. You’ve been quiet this morning—it’s not like you.”

“I’ll fill you in later. But I can’t until I talk to Theo.”

They all sat around the table silently looking at her, and she knew what they must be thinking. Why was she rushing away to talk to some guy instead of spending quality time with the people who knew her best? But she wouldn’t be able to enjoy her vacation until she got to the bottom of Theo’s reaction.

“I swear,” she promised. “I’ll be fast.”

Lila strode through the snow that was now piling up beneath her feet, through the coffee shop door, the Christmas wreath swinging as she closed it behind her, and past a few people sitting at the tables with their coffees. “Hey, Johnny,” she called to the overall-clad man in the corner she remembered from their first visit.

Johnny didn’t look away from his paper, but his hand went up in greeting.

The closer she’d gotten on her way there, the more she’d realized that no matter what Theo’s issues were, he had no right to be so rude to her. And the more she’d considered this, the more frustrated she’d gotten.

She went straight up to the bar and glared at Theo, her eyebrows raised in anticipation, just hoping he’d figure out that he owed her an apology. When he didn’t say anything, she dropped her fingers down on the bar and squared up to him. “What’s the matter with you?” she asked quietly, so as not to disturb his customers.

His expression didn’t change from the blasé one he’d had when she’d first walked up, and that just angered her even more.

“Well, right now, the matter is that you aren’t ordering your coffee, since people are waiting behind you.” He looked past her and apologized to the woman who’d come in after her.

Lila stepped aside. “You can order,” she said, to the lady’s inquiring stare.

The woman squinted up at the menu on the wall. “I’ll have a double-shot espresso with… What dairy substitutes do y’all have?”

Lila let out a huff of sardonic laughter.

“I just got some new ones,” he said. Theo rattled off a few selections of various milks: coconut, oat, cashew, soy—but no almond. A thud of disappointment mingled with the frustration Lila already felt, while she waited, inwardly gritting her teeth. She’d gotten all her courage up on the way over and now it was slowly withering away.

Eight o’clock in the morning must have been the busiest time for Theo because someone else stepped