Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
By late Thursday afternoon, Mapleford had gone from “charmingly decorated” to “if you stand still too long we will put a wreath on you.”
Eli peered through the bakery window at a world that looked like an aggressively shaken snow globe.
Garlands curled around lamp posts. Shop windows glittered.
Every inch of the giant spruce in the square was covered with decorations, the lights all in place, waiting for the big switch-on.
Everywhere he looked, someone was carrying a box of ornaments, a coil of extension cord, or a pan of brownies “for the volunteers.”
The town’s Christmas Festival would officially kick off the following evening with the lantern walk, the tree lighting, and market stalls. Eli had watched it from afar for years on his mother’s Facebook photos. This time, he’d be in the middle of it.
What was more unnerving? He wouldn’t be in the middle alone.
His phone pinged.
Noah: Be ready in five minutes. I have a plan. Dress warm.
Eli stared at the screen. A plan for what? He was too scared to ask.
He went out back to grab his coat, scarf, and gloves, and Aileen leaned in the doorway, watching him as he wrapped himself up.
“Going somewhere?”
“Noah’s stopping by to pick me up.” He kept his voice steady.
“You’re doing The Face.”
“What face?” Eli asked.
“The ‘something big is happening and I’m pretending it’s totally casual’ face,” she said. “You’ve had it all morning.”
He walked past her into the empty shop. “We have a lot to do. Lights. Booths. Trying not to electrocute anyone.”
“Uh-huh,” she said, following him. “Never mind it’s almost sunset. And I’m sure it’s nothing to do with a certain festival coordinator picking you up.”
“Stop saying things aloud,” he muttered.
As if summoned, Noah’s truck pulled up across the street.
“Gotta go.” Eli was out the door in a heartbeat.
Noah opened the passenger window. “Get in.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. My mom told me never to get into a truck with a strange man.”
Noah narrowed his gaze. “So now I’m strange?”
Eli grinned. “The strangest.” He climbed into the truck and belted up. “What’s this plan of yours?”
“Have you ever done the River Walk at night?”
Eli blinked up at him. “I… walked along it the other day.”
“No, I’m talking about the real River Walk. Lights, cocoa, food stalls, live carolers, the works.”
Eli’s eyes lit up, and Noah wanted to keep feeding the wonder he saw in him.
“That sounds amazing,” Eli said. “But… I kind of wanted to try skating, too. You mentioned it earlier.”
Noah froze, then burst out laughing. “Oh no.”
Eli frowned. “What ‘oh no’?”
“You just said the magic words.” Noah maintained a solemn tone. “The words every Mapleford native dreams of hearing from a city boy who’s never skated on a frozen river.”
“I didn’t say I’d never skated,” Eli protested. “And you know I’m Mapleford born and bred.”
“Sure, but Boston sucked it all out of you.” Noah leaned in. “Your version of ‘skating’ was probably a climate-controlled indoor rink with emergency contact forms and a snack bar.”
Eli lifted a finger. “I’ll have you know there was also a hot chocolate machine.”
Noah folded his arms. “And were you any good at skating?”
He coughed. “Okay, so I might have drunk hot chocolate while I watched other people skate. I remember doing a lot of falling on my ass.”
“What about when you were a kid? Didn’t your parents take you skating on the river at Christmas?”
Eli’s face tightened. “By the time I was old enough to do it, they’d already divorced, and I don’t think taking their two kids skating was very high on either of their lists of priorities. So it kinda got lost in the mix.”
He sat back. “Okay, that’s it. You’re learning the Mapleford way.”
Eli blinked. “You’re going to teach me?”
“Obviously.”
“Should I be nervous?”
“Yes.” Noah grinned. “Very.”
Eli’s warm, shy laughter made Noah’s heart do a little flip-flop.
He drove them to the river, and they parked up alongside a line of other vehicles.
The river had frozen thick and smooth, a natural surface lit by strands of fairy lights stretched overhead like glowing spiderwebs.
Families skated hand-in-hand, teenagers raced each other, and someone’s dog skidded wildly across the ice wearing booties that kept falling off.
Noah led Eli to the equipment booth. “Size?” he asked.
“Ten,” Eli said.
“Perfect.” Noah grabbed a pair, then brushed his mittened hand gently against Eli’s shoulder, a casual-but-not-casual touch.
They sat on a wooden bench, the river stretching out like a ribbon of silver before them. Noah slipped on his skates with practiced ease.
Eli did not.
“Okay, are these meant to feel like medieval torture devices?”
“Yes.” Noah smiled. “That means they’re on correctly.”
Eli groaned.
Noah chuckled. “All right, up you get.”
Eli stood, and immediately grabbed Noah’s arm as though the ice was out to kill him.
Noah fought a smile. “Easy, easy. I’ve got you.”
“I hate this,” Eli muttered.
“You haven’t even moved yet.”
“I hate the idea of this.”
Noah slid closer, his hands steady on Eli’s arms. “Look at me.”
Eli did, his cheeks pink from cold and probably a good dose of nerves.
“You’re not going to fall,” Noah said in a low voice.
“That’s optimistic.”
“No, that’s faith.”
Eli’s breathing hitched. “You have more faith than I do.”
They stepped onto the ice together, Eli clinging to Noah with both hands, his knees locked, his expression somewhere between terror and indignation.
“Why do people do this voluntarily?” Eli hissed.
“Because it’s fun.”
“This is not fun.”
“It will be.”
“No, it won’t.”
“It will,” Noah promised. “Mostly because I know a secret cheat.”
Eli glared. “What cheat?”
“Let me move your feet for you.”
“No—”
Noah took Eli’s hands in his, backing up slowly, guiding him forward. Eli stumbled once, twice, but Noah kept him steady, their arms locked, their breaths visible between them in the crisp air.
“See?” Noah said. “You’re doing it.”
“I’m not skating,” Eli responded, deadpan. “I’m being dragged like a reluctant sled.”
“Semantics.”
Somewhere behind them, a couple cheered as they spun in a perfect circle. To their left, the dog fell again. To their right, kids broke into a carol slightly off-key.
Noah only saw Eli.
And Eli was looking right back at him.
“All right,” Noah said in a positive voice. “Let’s try something fancy.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes,” Noah insisted. “And here’s why. Skating’s basically walking, just with longer glides. Shift your weight. Trust your feet. More importantly—trust me.”
Eli swallowed, then nodded once, a small, brave nod that hit Noah right in the center of his chest.
“Okay,” he said. “Show me.”
Noah stepped back half a foot, still holding Eli’s hands, close enough to feel his warmth through the cold.
“Ready?” Noah asked.
“No,” Eli said.
“You’ll be fine.”
“You’re a liar.”
“Correct,” he agreed. He tugged gently, Eli followed, and suddenly they were moving together, gliding albeit with a few wobbles across the river while Eli whispered a constant stream of anxious curses and Noah laughed through every single one.
“You’re doing it!” Noah’s chest swelled with pride.
“I look like a foal learning how to stand.” Eli pushed the words through gritted teeth.
“You look—” Noah paused as Eli nearly crashed into him. He steadied Eli with both hands on his waist. “Adorable.”
Eli froze, and the world stilled for a beat, with only the hum of distant music and the glow of lights draping them in soft gold. Above them, the sky had slipped into dark velvet.
Noah loosened his grip, but didn’t step away. “You okay?”
Eli nodded slowly, his gaze locked on Noah’s. “Yeah. I just… didn’t expect to—feel this.”
Noah’s heart pounded. “This?”
Eli swallowed. “You.”
Warmth surged through Noah so suddenly he thought the ice might melt under them.
He cleared his throat. “Come on. Let’s take a break before you fall and give me a heart attack.”
They skated—well, they walked—off the ice together, Noah steadying Eli like a lifeline the entire way.
When they reached the bank, Eli coughed. “Can we take the skates off now? We don’t have to do the walk in them, do we?”
Noah laughed. “No, we do it in boots.” He removed his skates, and waited as Eli extricated himself from his. Once they’d returned them, Noah led him to where the River Walk started.
The air smelled like maple sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and pine. Lanterns bobbed in the trees. Vendors handed out steaming cups of spiced cocoa and little paper boats of fried dough dusted with powdered sugar.
Eli held his cocoa with both hands as if it were precious.
“This is…” Eli exhaled, his smile small and real. “This is magic.”
“Told you,” Noah said in a honeyed voice. “Mapleford saves its best tricks for nightfall.”
Eli leaned lightly against him, just enough for Noah to feel his weight, the way he trusted Noah, the warmth radiating through two layers of coats.
“I’m really glad you brought me here,” Eli said.
Noah swallowed. “I’m really glad you came.”
They walked slowly along the river, the lanterns reflecting on the dark ice in shimmering colors. Eli’s hand brushed Noah’s once, then again. The third time he didn’t let go.
Noah didn’t want him to.
“Look.” Eli pointed to a cluster of lanterns drifting down the river like floating stars.
Noah didn’t look at the lanterns. He looked at Eli, the light on Eli’s face, the wonder he saw there, the gentle, unguarded awe.
And in that moment, Noah knew as surely as he knew his own breath that whatever they had, it wasn’t going to end when the season did.
He didn’t want to let it.
Eli turned toward him, eyes soft, voice quiet. “Noah?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I stay with you tonight?”
Noah’s heart stuttered. “Of course you can.”
And as they continued down the river, their hands joined, cocoa warming them, the cold reddening their cheeks, the entire world felt wrapped in lights and possibility.