Christmas at Fireside Cabins - Jenny Hale Page 0,62

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Eighteen

By six in the morning, Lila had already gotten herself together for the day. She knew people would be lining up at the coffee shop in about an hour, and Theo shouldn’t leave his loyal customers high and dry, so she pushed away the sting of his disappearing act, deciding to fill in until she could figure out where he was. She grabbed her coat and headed out the door.

Lila knew it was probably pointless, but she couldn’t help but look for Theo as she drove to the coffee shop. Her eyes roamed the barren tree line, the frost-covered medians; she peered over at every shop door and window on the way, scanning faces, just hoping to find him. But it was wishful thinking. If he’d run, he wouldn’t be hanging out in the woods.

As she came to a stop in the small lot by the coffee shop, her mouth dropped open in surprise. She snapped it shut, gaping at what was in front of her. “He moves fast,” she said out loud, to no one but herself. In the yard leading to the coffee shop, a corporate sign had been posted. The coffee shop was for sale.

Lila got out of the car, the icy wind assaulting her, and went up to the shop, taking the key from behind the Coffee sign. She unlocked the door and slammed it shut, causing the Christmas wreath to shimmy back and forth.

“Theo!” she called angrily, stomping through the dining area toward the office, but there was no response, just like before. She peered into the office and gasped. It had been totally cleaned out. All his books—gone. The furniture, the filing cabinet, the envelope—also gone. Turning back, she looked around the place. All the coffee shop paraphernalia was still in place, but his personal things had disappeared: the latest book he’d been reading, which he’d always kept on the counter, the cash in the tip jar, the jacket that had been draped over the chair in the corner of the prep station. The festive greenery was still there, a reminder that the holiday was looming despite the fact she didn’t feel a single bit of good cheer.

Feeling suddenly like she was carrying a weight bigger than herself, she slowly climbed the stairs to the little apartment where he’d always retreated, fearful of what she’d see when she got up there. When she reached the top step, her fears were confirmed. The open space was empty, the kitchenette bare, the wood floors swept. Not a stitch of Theo in the space.

Her eyes filled with desperate, frustrated tears as she pulled out her phone, the old feeling of her happiness being ripped away from her when her dad had died swelling in her gut. It was a helpless, angry feeling of being abandoned. She opened up a text to him and typed: I don’t always know the right things to do, and—news flash—neither do you. But I don’t run away from people who care about me.

She stared at the screen and willed the little bubbles to show on her phone, alerting her that he was typing back, but they never came.

“Hello-o!” She heard a woman’s voice downstairs. “Anyone here?”

Lila wiped her eyes and squared her shoulders. Then she headed down to the shop to greet the customer.

Evening had brought a chill into the coffee shop. Lila zipped up today’s earnings in the empty bank bag Theo had left in the cash register drawer and took it with her. If and when she saw him again, she’d hand it over. He could ruin his own Christmas and hers, but she wouldn’t let him ruin the Christmas of all the townsfolk stopping in for their peppermint lattes and caramel crumbles. Even if he was selling the place, she was going to keep it going until the last possible minute.

A few people had asked about Theo and the for-sale sign. She’d brushed off their suggestions that he was planning to sell the lot and close down. She’d kept his office door closed and turned on Christmas music to keep the atmosphere light, and his absence hadn’t seemed to be an issue for anyone but her. Turning off the lights, she flipped over the “open” sign to “closed,” and locked up.

When she got back to the cabins she went straight over to Eleanor’s, deciding to go ahead right away with her harebrained idea, to avoid the thoughts of Theo and his whereabouts that had been on her mind all