Christmas at Holiday House - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,103
gave him a radiant smile. “I’d better go. Marcos couldn’t find a place to park, so he just went around the block a few times while I ran in to grab something for my little brother.”
“Give him my best. And to your family.”
Except your cousin Cora, who is an interfering busybody, he wanted to add, but politely refrained.
After she left, Ethan finished his shopping, aware of the strangest feeling, as if a huge weight the size of Powderhorn Mountain had just lifted from his shoulders.
Only until this moment did he realize how much baggage he still carried over the end of his engagement.
Now that it was gone, now that he had come to see the breakup not as some kind of failure on his part but the best possible outcome for both parties, he felt a strange kind of peace.
One thing still puzzled him. Brooke had said she had learned things about herself after their engagement ended. Could he say the same?
Where was he now that he hadn’t been a year ago?
In love, he realized with a jolt.
He was truly in love.
This wasn’t something he had to convince himself he felt. The difference between what he had once thought he felt for Brooke and what he now felt for Abby was like the difference between the bunny hill and the resort’s most technical black diamond run.
He loved her.
What was he going to do about it?
On impulse, he hurried back into the store and bought one more thing.
He was putting them all into the hatch of his SUV just as he heard someone call his name.
“Ethan! Hi! What are you doing in town?”
He whirled around to find his sister smiling at him with the brightest expression he had seen on her face in days.
“Are you really Christmas shopping on the day before Christmas Eve?” she teased.
Could she see the box with the BMX bike that he would be putting together tonight? Or the other gift that was completely an act of faith?
“A few last-minute things.”
“Anything for me in there?” She pretended to look over his shoulder.
“I’m not telling. Stop snooping.” He closed the hatch and to distract her, he pointed to a steakhouse nearby. “I was thinking about grabbing a bite to eat at the Branding Iron. Want to join me?”
He hadn’t spent enough one-on-one time with his sister since she had been home, and she would also be leaving in a few more days.
She hesitated. “I’m actually...with someone. I decided to pop into the bookstore for a minute while he parks the car.”
“Anybody I know?”
To his astonishment, her face flushed and she looked away. What on earth? Lucy never blushed.
“Um. Yes—” she started to say. Before she could finish, José, his best friend and most trusted associate, came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, with an intimacy that was obvious for everyone to see.
José. And Ethan’s baby sister.
He couldn’t say he was completely shocked. He had known something had happened between them after José’s most recent trip to Thailand, where he had met up with Lucy. He had been looking for some sign between them, but hadn’t seen anything since Lucy had come back to town.
Apparently he hadn’t been looking hard enough.
José froze when he spotted Ethan over Lucy’s shoulder, and for a moment they all stood locked in an awkward tableau.
“Well,” Ethan said. “This is new.”
José stepped away from Lucy and scratched his face. “I wanted to tell you today, uh, but we decided we should both talk to you about it together.”
“Now is as good a time as any,” Lucy said brightly. “Here’s the thing, Ethan. I’m in love with José and apparently I have been for a long time—I was simply too stubborn to admit it. When he came to Thailand a few months ago, things changed between us. It took me a little longer than it should have to realize how I felt, but here we are.”
In love. Lucy, who had spent her entire life claiming she would never be foolish enough to fall in love. Who had made it very clear to everyone that she would never let herself become vulnerable and stupid like their parents.
Lucy was in love with Ethan’s best friend.
“It wasn’t just Thailand,” José said quietly. “Feelings have been growing for a long time. It was easier for both of us to pretend otherwise. Until I couldn’t pretend anymore.”
The emotion in his voice came through loud and clear, as did the tender look Lucy gave him.