Chapter 2
END OF NOVEMBER; PRESENT DAY
WYNTER DELANEY
Nostalgia.
It was poisonous.
The desire to repeat the past had to be an addiction of sorts.
At least that was what it felt like. Six years of avoiding town from Thanksgiving to New Year’s had been for nothing.
Yes, Wynter had come home to Copper Creek to visit her grandparents over the years, but she’d begged them to keep each trip a secret.
She didn’t need anyone in town knowing that she set foot in the state.
Gossip in Copper Creek was as bad as an infestation of bedbugs.
The lighting ceremony had been like a beacon to her.
She’d become the moth and the soft glow in town was the flame.
When had she lost all her self-control? Then again, who could resist seeing the Christmas lights lining the storefronts, the wreaths on each shop door, the garland on the lampposts, and the big Christmas tree lit up with a star on top.
Five minutes ago, she’d been lost in all the good memories this night had to offer her.
She’d drank in all the lights on the tree, and it was like she could breathe again.
She’d been taken back to her first Christmas in Copper Creek.
Up until that year, Wynter hadn’t liked the holidays. Moving town to town did that to a kid.
What was there to look forward to when you didn’t know if you’d be in the same place the following year?
She hadn’t allowed herself to revisit those memories in six years.
Back in high school, she’d told Marcus that she didn’t want to attend the lighting ceremony because there was no guarantee she’d get to go again, so she didn’t want to like it too much.
It was a flimsy excuse even back then.
He’d taken her hand and insisted she was acting crazy.
Then he’d offered her something she hadn’t known she needed.
A community. Living in the moment. Loving every second she could spend with a boy who hadn’t been touched by tribulation. Marcus practically glowed with optimism and joy. Everyone around him couldn’t help but be drawn into his happy orbit.
And Marcus had picked her to share it with. Thank God for that.
Just when a tear of melancholy escaped, she caught sight of the one person she wasn’t ready to see. Not yet. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been fast enough to turn away from him.
Marcus stood about ten feet away from her. People wandered back and forth between them like a slow-flowing river, but his eyes never left her face. She begged her feet to move; to run so she could make it back to her car before Marcus closed the distance between them and demanded answers.
He deserved them.
Heaven knew he deserved them.
This was her penance.
For running after he’d kissed her.
For avoiding Copper Creek all these years.
For pushing him out of her life.
Without a single explanation.
Even from here, she could see the familiar tick of his jaw. She noticed the way his hands balled into fists. One week. One year. Six years. No amount of time would be able to erase how well she knew Marcus Palmer. They’d been as close as two people could get.
And then she’d ruined everything six years ago when she’d given in and let him kiss her beneath the mistletoe.
Standing in town, seeing Marcus after all this time, she thought she’d be better prepared for this moment. She thought he’d be married, and they could look back on that night and laugh about it. They’d been friends who shared a silly kiss when they were nineteen.
Based on what she’d heard from her grandmother, Marcus was as single as they came. It wasn’t even that Wynter had inquired. Nora Delaney had offered that information up all on her own.
Wynter inched backward a step, and Marcus blinked. Then in seconds, he was through the crowd and standing in front of her. She gasped involuntarily, breathing out his name like it was a prayer. “Marcus.”
“That’s all you have to say?” His voice was cold, detached.
She cleared her throat. It didn’t matter how much she’d changed her appearance.
Gone were her long tresses. Gone were the glasses.
The woman she was now knew how to best use her appearance to garner respect in her field.
And yet, standing before Marcus had her reverting back to the awkward nerdy girl she’d been in high school.
Wynter opened her mouth, but no words came out. What could she say to him that wouldn’t completely destroy what little they might have left? She was stuck in Copper Creek for the next three months while she helped her grandmother heal after she’d broken her wrist.
“Well?” Marcus pressed. “We haven’t seen each other in five years. Five years, Wynter. We haven’t talked in four. You fell off the face of the planet. I might have thought you died if I didn’t get the occasional update from Nora.”
She winced. Five years ago, her grandfather had passed.
Marcus had been there for her. He’d comforted her without demanding answers for her behavior.
That weekend had been the epitome of bittersweet.
Marcus had likely expected them to return to normal, but spending time with him had only solidified one thing.
Wynter had fallen in love with Marcus against her own wishes, and she couldn’t handle it.
Marcus huffed out an exasperated breath and turned from her, his hands clasped behind his head as he took a step away from her.
She turned and walked away.
She could hear him calling her name as she practically dove into a crowd of teenagers.
Her breathing turned ragged and her face heated, but not from the energy she was expending.
She knew if Marcus caught her, she’d have to deal with the conversation he wanted to have.
He’d demand those answers that she wasn’t ready to give.
This was a mess, and it was all her fault.
Wynter dropped the keys to her grandfather’s old pickup on the table by the front door.
They clattered in the ceramic dish as Wynter heaved a sigh.
If Marcus really wanted to talk to her, he’d show up here.
She might not have much time before she was really on the defensive.
Lord, please help me know what to say to Marcus without hurting his feelings even more.
Rubbing at her temples, she hadn’t bothered looking up when she entered the house, but then she heard her grandmother’s voice.
“How were the lights? Sorry I couldn’t make it out with you, but the doctor says the icy sidewalks aren’t a good idea.”
Wynter looked up and found her grandmother standing in the kitchen doorway with one braced wrist lifted in the air.
Her bright blue eyes were clear, and she had an ease about her that Wynter hadn’t seen in a long time.
The smile lines around her eyes deepened as she moved through the open living space and toward her favorite chair.
“Come, dear. Have a seat with me. We can catch up. How was your flight last night?”
Wynter sighed again. She shrugged off her coat and hung it on the old-fashioned coatrack her grandfather had built the year they moved to Copper Creek. Then she found a seat on the sofa. “The flight was good, Grams. Uneventful.”
“You didn’t bring much with you. I thought you said you were staying for three months.”
Wynter nodded. “I don’t need much. I sublet my apartment while I’m gone. I’ll only be here during the winter, so I didn’t have to bring much in terms of a variety of clothes. And since I used to live here, I still have some things in my room I can use.”
Her grandmother frowned. Or did she? It was such a brief shift in her expression that Wynter had to do a double take. “That makes sense.” Nora nodded. “I’m so grateful you can be here with me, sweetheart.”
Settling back against the cushion, Wynter covered her face with her hands. Then she let them fall to her lap.
“Everything okay?” Grams asked.
Wynter looked up at her grandmother. She loved Grams with all her heart. However, she didn’t want her grandmother to know her secrets. “Of course. Why do you ask?”
An arch of a brow was all she was given.
Sighing, Wynter glanced at the clock. Despite the fact that it wasn’t that late, she could claim exhaustion and head to bed early. But that would only delay the inevitable. Her grandmother was nothing if not observant. “I saw Marcus in town at the lighting ceremony.”
“Oh? How is he doing?”
She lifted a shoulder. “We didn’t talk much.”
“He was always such a nice boy. Whatever happened between you two?”
Wynter fought the urge to grimace. She hadn’t divulged her reasons for shutting Marcus out of her life.
Mostly, because her grandmother wouldn’t approve.
Wynter had spent her formative years learning how to protect herself, and a big part of that included knowing when to put up walls.
Yes, Marcus was a nice boy. He was… everything.
And that was the exact reason Wynter had needed to put distance between them.
“We just… drifted apart,” Wynter murmured lamely.
“You know how it is. Long distance is a death sentence for friendships.”
Her grandmother pressed her lips together in a tight line, but she didn’t argue.
Thank goodness.
Blowing out a breath, Wynter got to her feet. “You know what? I’m tired. I think I’m going to head to bed. I’ll make sure to get up early enough to help with breakfast.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
Wynter squeezed her grandmother’s shoulder reassuringly. “I know. But that’s why I’m here—to help you. Besides, it will be nice. Like old times.”
The woman who raised her smiled up at her and patted Wynter’s hand. “That sounds lovely. Sweet dreams.”
Alone in the room she’d spent the last two years of her high school career, Wynter settled onto the edge of her bed.
She glanced around the familiar space, then closed her eyes as she allowed herself to fall back into those memories.
Marcus had been terrified of visiting—especially when her grandfather had been home.
Honestly, Jack Delaney could be scary when he wanted to be.
But to her, he was a big teddy bear. After she’d lost her mother, and her father wasn’t a part of her life, Wynter’s grandparents took her in.
She’d been young, and her grandparents hadn’t been ready to find a place to call home for good.
Maybe it was the fact that her grandfather had been a military brat.
He’d moved a lot as a kid. Even Wynter could see he was restless.
And yet Wynter had never wanted anything more than to find one place to call home.
She’d wanted to sink her roots deep into the soil of a place and prepare it for her future generations.
But then she’d grown up and realized that wasn’t how the world worked.
People left. People you loved died. Nothing lasted.
It was safer to not open herself to the pain of loss in the first place.
Since high school, the closest she’d come to settling down was her job in California.
She was the lead entomologist for a company that was developing and implementing behavioral tests on a variety of insects.
The goal was to assess how they responded to visual and olfactory stimuli.
And she liked it. The job. The location. Even the few acquaintances she dared to call friends.
But something didn’t feel right. There was something missing. And she couldn’t figure it out. Still, she continued pouring her heart and soul into her job. She’d risen in the ranks from when she first started working there as an intern right after college.
It wasn’t until a couple weeks ago, when she’d gotten a call from Grams about her broken wrist, that Wynter had realized she needed to reevaluate her life. She had already started praying about it, asking God to guide her.
Wynter’s eyes scanned the room and landed on the document on her dresser. It was a short-term contract with a partner company out here in Copper Creek. They needed someone to come out and assess the alarming rate at which certain insects were infesting the barns during the winter months.
She rose and picked up the contract. Once the time was up, she’d return to her position in California. At this point, that time couldn’t come soon enough.
Her eyes landed on a familiar plexiglass cube she’d brought with her. The purple butterfly seemed to mock her. What was she doing here? Why had she allowed herself to get caught up in the memories of her past?
There were no answers to those questions. Even if she hadn’t gone to see the Christmas lights, she would have only been prolonging the inevitable.
Marcus would have eventually heard about her arrival.
And he would have tracked her down.
She dropped the paperwork on the dresser with a sigh. That time had merely come sooner rather than later.