Chapter 26
SERENA
Storm asked me out! OMG!
I flew into my room and flung myself onto the bed, then flipped over and gazed at the ceiling with a dreamy smile on my face. I assumed that mistletoe kiss would be the end of it, that once he had a taste, he’d be ready to move on. But he’d just asked me for a real date…tonight. And he’d already arranged for his parents to watch Sadie.
When he asked, I wasn’t sure if I should say yes or not. It had been a really long time since I’d been on a date—not since Ty. I could deny that I’d love a chance to have some time alone with Storm, even if it was as friends, but we were hiding out on the farm for a reason. There was still someone stalking us. Was it appropriate for me to leave my child for a couple hours to go on a date? Even if that date was on-site?
Surely it would be okay. Storm and I wouldn’t be leaving the farm. Whatever he had planned was right here on the property. And Sadie would be in good hands with his parents.
A night off without having to worry about a babysitter… That was a gift in itself.
Time alone with Storm, though? Was I ready? I had my doubts. Sadie was still my priority; that wouldn’t change. Besides that, he was my lawyer and the one helping me through all of this scary stuff. I needed him to continue doing that. Would he if something went wrong between us? I couldn’t lose Sadie.
But through it all Storm had also become the one I turned to, the one I could count on to support me. I trusted him. And after that kiss, my certainties were louder than my fears. Storm wouldn’t hurt us. If I was taking risks, he was the sort of man to take them on. That settled, I allowed myself to revel in the joy of a first date.
After supper, Storm disappeared to get things ready. All he told me was to dress warm, and that we weren’t going far. I put on my favorite jeans that hugged my hips just right, and a soft sweater that begged to be touched. The blue in the sweater matched my eyes. And I don’t know why I was spending so much time on my hair and makeup when I would just be putting on a hat and scarf, anyway. But this was a first date.
I entered the open family area on the main level, with Sadie skipping alongside me. Storm stood but the back door wearing his black leather bomber jacket. The sight of him made my breath catch. What a beautiful man. Can I have him for dessert?
It didn’t matter that I just saw him at the dinner table twenty minutes ago, the butterflies in my stomach swirled as if in a snow globe, and my nerves were a tangled mess of Christmas lights.
Sadie didn’t care one bit that I was leaving. “They have a whole pile of Christmas movies we can watch, and I want to watch them all.”
I pulled her to me, gave her a hug, and kissed the top of her head. “Well, you won’t have time to watch them all tonight. But we’ll still be here tomorrow, so you can watch more then. Honey knows when your bedtime is, so you need to listen when she tells you it’s time. Okay?”
“Okay.” Sadie agreed, but I wasn’t sure she heard a word I’d said. She was too busy dancing around to the Christmas music Honey had playing in the background. “I’m gonna to go pick my first movie. Bye, Mommy.” And she darted off to the living room, with Lulu on her heels. Leaving me standing there with my mouth agape.
I turned to Storm and shrugged with my hands out. “Should I be happy my daughter will be so well entertained that she won’t miss me? Or feel bad that it doesn’t bother her in the least?”
“Enjoy the break, knowing she’s in the best hands and having fun.” He gave me a rare bone-melting smile that had my heart tap-dancing. “And we are free to have fun, too.”
“You’re right. Let’s go.” I put on snow pants that Honey set out for me, along with my warmest coat, hat, mittens, and scarf. I was no fragile flower, but I didn’t want to be shivering the whole time, either.
“Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to be out in the cold?” Storm asked, his eyes filled with concern.
“Yes. And I’m bundled up to my eyeballs. Which is probably a very sexy first date look.” I spun around and struck a pose, feeling like the Michelin man on the catwalk. “Don’t you think?”
“You could be wearing only a trash bag and look amazing.” Something shifted on his face, and he seemed a bit flushed. He shook his head and cleared his throat. “Ahem. Yeah, I can’t think of anything that would make you look bad.”
Storm getting flustered over me was unexpectedly sexy. My face heated, and I was glad for the scarf covering my assuredly red face. I was ready to jump in a snowbank to cool my thoughts.
He opened the door and motioned for me to go ahead of him. “Right this way, milady.”
Following his previous tracks in the snow, he led me to the side of the barn where a horse and sleigh awaited. He held his hand out to help me up into the sleigh. Mr. Darcy had nothing on him.
He spread a blanket across the bench for us to sit on. Then he wrapped another around our shoulders, and a third over our laps. “Are you warm enough? I have a couple more if you need them.”
I tucked the lap blanket under my bum and thigh. “This is perfect. I’m toasty.”
He picked up the reins. “Here we go, Shanley. This horse has been in our family since I was a little kid. She knows the route, probably better than I do.”
With the reins in one hand, he put his other arm around my shoulders, holding me tight to his side. I rested my head on his shoulder. I was so comfortable next to him, with the gentle swoosh and jingle of the sleigh, I could have fallen asleep, if not for the erratic pounding of my heart.
We crested the top of a hill that looked out over the entire farm. Storm pulled on the reins to signal for Shanley to stop. He got out a couple of mugs from a basket he had tucked under the seat and filled each one from the thermos. “Here. A mug of my mom’s infamous hot cocoa. She also sent a tin of Christmas cookies, if you’re hungry.”
“Thanks, this is perfect.” I took a sip and looked around at the snow-covered hills sparkling in the moonlight. “Look at that view. It’s absolutely breath-taking.” Millions of stars littered the moonlit sky. “Did you ever bring your telescope up here to look at the stars?”
He nodded. “This was my favorite place to stargaze. With or without my telescope. Skye and I would come out here and lie on our backs and see how many constellations we could name. If there was one that I didn’t know, I’d look it up as soon as we got back to the house, so that I’d know it next time.”
“I’ve always been a stargazer, myself. I’d lay out on the picnic table in our backyard. The sky was so vast, it made me believe anything was possible. I’d try to expand my view to watch the entire sky at once, waiting for a shooting star. A wish on the tip of my tongue, ready for the opportunity to be released to the sky.”
He leaned back and pulled me to rest my head on his chest as we stargazed from the sleigh. “Were you always into flowers, too?”
“Yeah. I had an aunt with the most expansive and immaculate gardens. I helped her tend to them in the summers. She let me pick flowers to make bouquets and arrangements. She also taught me that flowers had meanings and healing properties.”
“She sounds a lot like Tillie.”
“That’s one of the things I love about Tillie. She reminds me of Aunt Lydia.”
“Where did you grow up?”
“In Illinois, a small town just beyond the suburbs of Chicago. I still have family there, but I haven’t been there in years. Not much spare time for traveling with a young child and a shop.”
“How did you end up here in Moonlit Lake?”
“When Ty died, I had to make some decisions about what I wanted for my life with Sadie. I needed a stable income. And I also wanted something that was mine, that gave me joy. I’d had enough loss.” Telling this part of my story brought back the old pain, fear, and determination, but this time, I appreciated how far I’d come. “I was searching for a place to start over and stumbled upon a listing for a florist shop for sale here. The money I received from Ty’s military death gratuity was just enough for me to purchase the shop and start a new life here.”
Storm held me tightly as he whispered, “I’m so glad you did. You fit in this town like you’ve always been here. I can’t imagine you anywhere else.”
“Me either.” And that was the truth. It felt like we were a part of the community in a way that I’d never experienced. They were family to us now. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“I thought you were the biggest grump when we first met. Why did you always seem to be in a bad mood?” I prayed he wouldn’t be offended by my question. I didn’t want to ruin the cozy vibe we had going.
He chuckled, and my uneasiness melted away. “Well, my mom said I was born with a scowl on my face. That’s partly why she named me Storm. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ve always been more serious and focused, no matter what I’m doing. Intense is a word many people use to describe me. I guess that’s accurate.” He set his mug down and slid his gloved hand in mind under the blanket. “As you’ve probably figured out, I’m pretty introverted, and don’t enjoy socializing much. Makes me feel overstimulated, like the walls are closing in on me. So I think all of those things make me seem grumpy and in a bad mood, even if I’m not.”
“And here I thought you were a modern day Grinch angling to steal our Christmas.”
“As Sadie predicted, I think you both made my heart grow at least three sizes.” He pulled me closer, kissing the top of my head, and then resting his cheek there. “I hope you know, Serena. I wouldn’t ask you out on just a casual date. I’d never dally with a single mom. That’s not my style.”
I stiffened and shifted away from him. He was so far out of my league. What was I doing here with this amazing man, when I was a single mom? A guy like him could never fall in love with a woman like me. Could he?
He could have anyone he wanted, and if what Gina said was true, he dated models . The polar opposite of me. I didn’t even own a pair of heels, and rarely wore makeup. My hairstyle of preference was wash-and-go or a ponytail. And my wardrobe consisted of jeans, yoga pants, and sweatshirts. Who had time for more than that? Not me.
And a social life? Well, I hadn’t been to a party that didn’t have a princess theme and a nap corner in over four years. My drinks were more likely to come in juice boxes than wine bottles. I vaguely recollected dating, but it happened so long ago, it seemed like another life. Certainly, not this one.
“Yeah, I’ve heard a little about your dating preferences.” I pulled the blanket tighter around me and tucked my head into my scarf, like a turtle hiding in its shell.
He sighed, grabbed my shoulders, and turned me to face him. “You didn’t let me finish. Before I met you, I believed I was allergic to relationships. Even the hint of commitment made me flee for my life.” His intense gaze held mine. “My work and career were the most important things to me, and I didn’t want to sacrifice that for anyone else. Besides that, I believed that it would be doomed anyway, so why even start?”
“And now?”
“After spending time with you and Sadie, well, I’m starting to see the appeal.”
Though a part of me wanted to climb right into his lap, a bigger part of me wanted to make him work for it. To understand what he was really thinking and feeling. “You are, are you?”
“Yes. The first couple of times we bumped into each other, I wanted to ask you out. Just for a couple of casual dates, you know. But then when I found out you were a single mom, I told myself that you were off-limits. And I tried to stay away.”
“Really? How did that work for you?”
He shook his head and chuckled. “Terribly. Because when I’m not with you, I’m thinking about you. And when I’m with you, I have to stuff my hands into my pockets to keep from touching you. You make me feel things I never thought I’d feel.” His hands gently massaged my shoulders through my jacket as his dark, soulful eyes gazed into mine. “And those feelings didn’t even cause me to want to fake my own death and escape to the Azores, like I thought they would.”
My heart tripped over itself at his words. I chuckled and playfully slapped my glove against his leg. “Happy to be your aversion therapy.” His honesty and openness were unexpected and made me a little uncomfortable. I felt drawn to him and enjoyed his company, but didn’t know if I was ready for all he was admitting or how it made me feel.
He grasped my gloved hand beneath the blanket. “No, you’ve shown me how wrong I was. And I don’t like to be wrong. Almost as much as I don’t like to fail or lose.”
“So, where do we go from here? I swore I’d never date again, at least not until Sadie’s grown,” I admitted, aware of the irony of telling him this while on a date. “And my past has taught me that the people I love will leave me. I won’t let myself or Sadie be hurt like that again.”
“We each have some big issues keeping us from doing this. But here we are.” He pulled me to his side, tighter than before, wrapping us in the blanket again. We gazed up at the dazzling night sky. “What do you say we work through it together?”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re already in a relationship, Serena, and Sadie’s a big part of it. We just haven’t defined it yet. I’m ready to take the leap if you are.” He must have sensed my uneasiness, or maybe just knew he had to sell it better than that. Risk was not something I was a big fan of. “How about this? We can keep things on the down-low, not officially dating, but with an agreement of exclusivity.”
“Exclusively not dating?”
“But together. That’s an important part of the clause. We’re together and exclusively not dating.”
I burst out laughing and slapped my glove against his chest. “That’s ridiculous, you know that? If we told that to anyone, they’d think we lost our marbles.”
I knew this crazy define-the-relationship was primarily for my benefit, to make it less risky for me to be with him. And I appreciated it. We wouldn’t have to tell anyone we were together, but we weren’t seeing anyone else either. Problem was, it wouldn’t protect my heart when he decided to move on. But I wasn’t ready to let him go yet, either. This arrangement might be weird, but it was the best we could do right now. “Even if it’s ridiculous, there’s something about it that feels right.”
“Does that mean we have a deal? Are you my exclusive non-girlfriend?”
“I guess I am.” I slid my hand into his under the blanket and squeezed. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”
A swoon-worthy grin swept across his face. “Hmm… since I didn’t draw up a contract to sign, we’ll just have to seal it with a kiss.”
And we did.