Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13
T he next morning, Natalie’s heart was heavy as she drove her car away from Vernon’s shop, back toward The Mistletoe House. Faith had been asleep by the time Gabe had dropped Natalie off at the inn; Natalie had tapped lightly on her door but received no response, and her room was dark other than the soft glow of the Christmas tree lights spilling out into the hallway. Natalie had left, disappointed, and spent the next hour packing her suitcase so she could leave right after breakfast.
She wasn’t sure why she had wanted to see Faith so badly. Maybe she wanted to return her elf costume so the older woman could find a replacement as soon as possible, and keep the town’s biggest Christmas event running smoothly. Maybe she wanted to share one last mug of hot cocoa with her by the inn’s fireplace, which had become something of an evening ritual for the two of them once Santa’s Wonderland was closed for the day.
Maybe she just needed someone to talk to.
Gabe had been quiet and solemn as the two of them had walked back to the inn, his hands shoved deep in his pockets, her heart thumping dully at the base of her throat. They’d said goodbye on the threshold, neither one of them quite meeting the other’s eye.
“Is this it?” he had asked, his voice uncharacteristically gruff.
“What? No!” Natalie had replied, stricken by the thought. She thought she caught a flicker of hope in his eyes—there and gone in an instant—and she’d quickly said, “I’ll stop by your office before I leave to say goodbye.”
The light in his eyes had dimmed at that, and when he walked away, his head bowed low against the cold, Natalie had tears in her eyes. He had gotten to her. He had reached into some deep, broken part of her, and together, the two of them had created something that had the potential to be special. That had the potential to be beautiful. That had the potential to last a lifetime, and beyond .
She knew it. She could feel it.
And here she was, walking away.
The view out of Natalie’s windshield was blurry as she wiped away a fresh wave of tears, averting her eyes from the holiday shoppers crowding the town’s quaint cobblestone streets. She had to circle around the block twice before she found a parking space near The Mistletoe House, and when she slid out from behind the wheel, she was surprised to find Faith standing in the inn’s doorway. The older woman’s arms were crossed over her chest as she watched Natalie cross the street, her eyes sliding back and forth between Natalie and her car.
“Don’t tell me you’re leaving already!” she said the moment Natalie was in earshot. Her tone wasn’t accusatory… exactly… and Natalie found herself shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot under the woman’s stern gaze. Faith scowled at Natalie’s car. “How is that done already? Vernon is usually slower than a snail running a marathon, but somehow he managed to get your car back before Christmas?”
“He called in a favor for me,” Natalie replied. “He knew I was anxious to leave.”
Well, she had been anxious to leave. Now… not so much.
“I’ll need to have a word with him,” she could have sworn she heard Faith mutter. Then, more loudly, “What are we going to do without an elf?”
“Right.” Natalie straightened her shoulders, even though she felt about two inches tall. Faith had realized this was a temporary gig… right? Somehow it didn’t feel that way, and Natalie couldn’t figure out why. “Well, I figured that Jeannie would probably be over the flu by now, and?—”
“She’s not,” Faith cut in. “I just spoke to her last night. She sounds terrible. She could barely get her words out, she was hacking so hard.” She shook her head. “The children would get sick for Christmas, and they’d be so disappointed.”
Natalie stared at Faith, her heart sinking as a sense of déjà vu washed over her. Now that she’d met the kids, now that she’d seen the awe on their faces, the glow of excitement, the wonder…
“I… I guess I could manage another day or two,” she relented, and something inside of her shifted, as if a weight had been lifted from her soul. “Just until Jeannie is better.”
“Just until Jeannie is better,” Faith replied, clapping her hands once, a combination of enthusiasm and finality. “Wonderful, Natalie, I knew you wouldn’t abandon us in our hour of need.”
That sounded just a tad overwrought, Natalie thought as she swept past Faith on the way to her room, but she couldn’t keep the grin off her face all the same.
“Natalie! There you are. Just the woman we wanted to see.”
Carol Miller slid into the seat across from Natalie, gingerbread latte in one hand, Holly’s signature sugar cookie in the other, and motioned to Walter, who was standing by the pastry case at The Chestnut Café, his belly touching the glass as he debated his options while Holly stood patiently by.
“Walter, over here!” Carol called, gesturing animatedly to her husband. He held up a finger, indicating that she should wait, then turned his attention back to Holly before pointing to an enormous slab of cherry cheesecake.
“That man can’t see a dessert without sampling it for himself,” Carol said with a good-natured shake of her head as she watched Holly slide the cheesecake onto a plate and pass it across the counter to Walter, whose eyes lit up with glee. He paid for the treat, then strolled over to the table where Natalie was sitting—and now Carol, and apparently Walter too .
The three of them had just finished their shift at Santa’s Wonderland, and after removing her elf costume and jingle shoes, Natalie had hightailed it to the café to send out another round of resumes in her never-ending job hunt. So far, she hadn’t had a single bite, and even though she wanted to chalk up the silence to the approaching holidays, Natalie feared she would soon be out of options... and worse, out of money.
Despite her fears, Natalie closed her laptop and smiled at the older couple before taking a sip of her espresso hot chocolate, another Holly specialty—both delicious and completely necessary after a little girl had thrown up all over Santa’s chair, necessitating a one-hour cleanup that largely fell on Natalie’s shoulders.
“That was some day today, wasn’t it?” she asked, watching Walter shoveling cheesecake into his mouth with reckless abandon. He paused only to nod, while Carol watched him with an expression somewhere between horror and love.
“Eh, we’ve seen worse,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Do this for another thirty years, and you’ll have plenty of stories of your own.”
“I’m sure I would,” Natalie said, resting her hands on her laptop, her mind rotating through the list of jobs she’d applied for over the past couple of days. A few of them seemed promising, sure, but none of them felt right . Not like the ice cream shop had, the first time she’d stepped inside and that cool, sweet air had hit her lungs. Of course, Devin had been there too… which reminded Natalie that she’d never returned his message. The ease with which it had slipped her mind surprised even Natalie.
Lost in thought, she hadn’t realized that Carol was studying her until she glanced up to find the other woman’s eyes locked on Natalie’s face. “So what did you want to talk about?” Natalie asked, her fingers itching to return to the keyboard. The days were ticking by, the money in her bank account was dwindling to alarming numbers, and as much as she would have liked to sit and chat, she simply didn’t have the time.
After exchanging a look with Walter, Carol gestured toward Natalie’s laptop. “I know you’ve got a lot on your mind, so I’ll cut right to the chase. Walter and I have a job available on our farm, and if you want the position, it’s yours.”
Natalie reared back in surprise as a grin formed on her lips. She was a city dweller, and had been for all of her life. The idea of her tramping around on a farm in muddy boots and overalls… well, it was ridiculous. Completely ridiculous.
“I appreciate the offer,” she said with a laugh. “Truly, I do. But I think you may have gotten the wrong impression of me—I’ve never even visited a farm in my life, let alone worked on one.” She shook her head. “I don’t know a thing about them.”
Nor do I want to . She kept that last thought to herself, because the offer was lovely, and Carol and Walter were even lovelier. Her nose wrinkled at the thought of goats, and pigs, and… manure. So much manure.
Carol laughed. “It’s not what you think. While we do have a few animals puttering around, our focus is mainly fruits and vegetables, and seasonal offerings—berries and peaches in the summer months, corn and pumpkins in the fall, Christmas trees in winter. We have hayrides, corn mazes, and scarecrow-making contests in the fall, horse-drawn carriage rides and hot cider in the winters, and just about everything in between. We sell our produce to local markets and restaurants, and then we have our own farm store where we offer homegrown canned goods, jams and jellies, apple and pumpkin butter, fresh cider…”
Carol spread her hands wide. “As you can imagine, we’re pretty busy, and as we get older, Walter and I are starting to slow down a little.”
“Speak for yourself,” Walter said, licking a smear of cheesecake from his lips. He laughed richly and patted his belly. “I’m just as strong and limber now as I was when I was a young buck.”
Carol gave him a wry look. “Well now you’re an old buck, and I don’t think I imagined all the moaning and groaning I heard yesterday when you were unloading crates in the back of the store.” She turned her attention back to Natalie. “We only have one child—our son, Leo—and he chose not to follow in our footsteps on the farm. He’s a botanist working in research at a university a few hours from here, and while we couldn’t be prouder of all that he’s accomplished, we need help. Desperately. We want someone to manage our farm store, and then eventually expand into other things, like events.” She cocked her head curiously at Natalie. “Didn’t you say you managed an ice cream shop before you ended up here?”
“I did,” Natalie said, “and I loved it. The job on your farm, well… it sounds fantastic.” And it did, truly, a dream job, and one she would have jumped on in an instant if it were anywhere else. Anywhere else but this town of eternal Christmas. So it was with no small measure of regret, and sadness, that she shook her head. “But as wonderful as it sounds, I’m afraid I’m only going to be in town a couple more days. As soon as Jeannie is back on her feet, I’m headed out.”
“I see. Well, I sure am sorry to hear that.” Carol took a sip of her gingerbread latte, though her eyes never left Natalie’s face. “And where will you go after here?”
Natalie hesitated. “I don’t know,” she admitted after a few moments. Carol and Walter had never asked about her background, and she’d never volunteered any information. “I haven’t quite figured out my next steps yet, but I’ve been applying to jobs around the area, and I’m sure something will turn up soon.”
Carol was silent for a few beats. Then, “I see,” she said in a mild tone. “Well, like I said, Walter and I think you’d be the perfect fit…” She gestured to Walter, who nodded emphatically, his snow-white beard bobbing up and down. “And we’d hate for you to say no without even seeing what we have to offer. Tell you what.” She tapped the table with her latte cup, once, with finality. “Our farm is a little off the beaten path, and you might have trouble finding it on your own. Why don’t you ask Gabe to bring you by , and we’ll give you the full tour. Then you can say no.”
Natalie froze at the mention of Gabe. She had no idea where they stood. Yesterday had been wonderful, and magical, and their almost-kiss had stolen her breath away—she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. But the tone had shifted completely after Vernon called, and their walk back to The Mistletoe House had been awkward, to say the least. She promised she would stop by his office and say goodbye before she left, and she intended to keep that promise. Otherwise…
Carol leaned forward, her eyes impossibly soft, impossibly kind. “Honey, can I ask you a question.” When Natalie nodded, she said, “Are you sure you want to leave Chestnut Cove? We have a wonderful community, you know, and it seems like you’ve been enjoying yourself here.” She trailed her fingers over the rim of her cup, eyebrows furrowed as if she was debating what to say next. She glanced at Walter, who nodded and pushed aside his empty plate.
“Gabe is a good man, you know,” he said, his eyes steady on hers, a grandfatherly expression on his face. “As steady as they come. We’ve known him since he was a boy, and he seems to be quite taken with you. In fact,” he added with a chuckle, “ever since you showed up here in town, that boy has had a grin on his face and a new spring in his step. He’s a good man,” he repeated.
“I’m sure he is,” Natalie said after a beat, swallowing hard, her heart folding in half. “But my home isn’t here. It’s…” Nowhere . “Not here,” she finished, looking everywhere but into Walter’s kind eyes.
Carol nodded. “Okay,” she said, reaching across the table to rest her hand gently on Natalie’s wrist. “You don’t owe us any explanations, honey, and we aren’t going to pry. But if you change your mind, just know we’d love to have you.”
Natalie nodded, her eyes on the table. “Thank you,” she murmured. “That means a lot.”
The conversation drifted to different topics after that, but Natalie had a hard time concentrating. While she normally enjoyed being in the Millers’ presence—in some ways, they reminded her of her parents, or who her parents could have been—today, she was anxious for them to leave.
Fifteen minutes later, they did, with Walter waving goodbye to everyone in the café and Carol tugging him out the door before he could order a second slice of cheesecake to go. Natalie watched them leave, then sighed and opened her laptop once more, ready to resume the job search. She was just logging into her email when Holly passed by the table with a cart, stopping to collect Natalie’s empty cup and plate.
“Another round?” she asked, brushing back a few strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail. She was wearing her usual frosting-stained apron, and today had accessorized it with dangling Santa Claus earrings.
“No thanks.” Natalie patted her stomach. “If I keep this up much longer, I’ll have to go shopping for new clothes.” Then she eyed the tray of cookies in Holly’s cart. “But do I really care?” she asked, snatching an enormous chocolate chip one.
Holly laughed. “I understand the dilemma, believe me.” She nodded toward the door. “I saw you talking with Carol and Walter. They’re wonderful people, aren’t they?”
“They are,” Natalie agreed around a mouthful of cookie. She raised her napkin to her lips to brush off the remaining crumbs. “They’ve really taken me under their wing since I’ve been here—they even offered me a job at their farm store. I guess their son Leo doesn’t live around here…” She trailed off as she noticed Holly’s entire body language shift. At the mention of Leo’s name, the smile had slipped from he r lips, and tension began emanating from her in waves.
Natalie peered at her closely. “Is everything all right?”
Holly gave a little start, then shook her head. “Everything’s fine!” she said with an emphatic wave of her hand. Then she grinned at Natalie. “Just trying to remember if I added sugar to my latest batch of red velvet cupcakes. Would you believe I once grabbed the salt instead of the sugar and added a whole cup to the mixing bowl? You should have seen my customers’ faces when they bit into it, but of course, this is Chestnut Cove, so everyone was too nice to complain.” She laughed, though Natalie noticed that it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Anyway,” she said, tapping Natalie’s table, “I’ll let you get back to work. If you want anything else, you know where to find me.”
“Thank you,” Natalie said, her eyes drifting back to her computer screen. “I might—” Then she stopped short with a gasp. “Oh my goodness. Oh, yes ! Finally! Finally finally finally !” She was doing a wiggle dance in her seat while Holly watched in amusement.
“Good news?” she asked, nodding to the screen.
Natalie nodded, her gaze still locked on the intro line of the email that had come in just five minutes ago. “A job interview for a manager position at a bakery.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks, shaking her head, still unable to believe her eyes. “It was my first choice, too!” She leaned back in her chair with a sigh of relief. “Now that is good news.”
Holly laid a hand on Natalie’s shoulder. “That is good news, Natalie. I’m happy for you.”
“Me too,” Natalie said. “Me too.”
And even though she meant it, for the rest of the day there was a heaviness in her soul, one she was entirely unable to shake.