Chapter 35
SYLVIE
By the end of the workday, I was practically vibrating with excitement and nervous energy.
Kent had spent the entire afternoon helping customers.
Watching him work alongside me had only reinforced my growing feelings.
He was patient with families, gentle with children, and didn’t complain once about getting pine needles in his expensive clothes.
I found Kent standing in the middle of some of the bigger trees in the older section.
He was completely still, staring up at the towering evergreens like he was seeing them for the first time.
Something about the way he stood there, with his hands shoved deep in his coat pockets and his shoulders slightly hunched against the cold, made me pause.
“If you’re waiting for them to talk, you might be out here a while,” I said to him.
He turned at the sound of my voice. I caught something in his expression that I couldn’t quite read. Sadness? Regret? But it was gone so quickly I wondered if I had imagined it.
“Just taking it all in,” he said, that familiar easy smile sliding back into place. “It’s peaceful out here.”
“Peaceful is one word for it,” I said, stepping closer until I was standing beside him. “I was thinking more along the lines of freezing cold and full of sap and pokey needles.”
He chuckled, but his gaze drifted back to the trees. “How long do these take to grow? From seedling to this size?”
“Depends on the variety, but most of these are probably fifteen years old.” I followed his gaze upward, trying to see what he was seeing. “Why?”
“Just curious,” he said. “That’s a long time to wait for something.”
His voice had a wistful edge to it that made me study his profile. “Are we still talking about trees?”
“Always talking about trees,” he said, but there was a teasing note that didn’t quite mask whatever he was really thinking about.
I bumped his shoulder with mine. “Well, thank you for helping today. I know customer service isn’t exactly your area of expertise, but you were great with everyone.”
“How do you know customer service isn’t my area of expertise?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Because you’re rich,” I said with a grin. “Rich people don’t usually have to be nice to other people for money.”
“Ouch,” he said, pressing a hand to his chest in mock offense. “That’s a harsh assessment of my character.”
“But accurate?”
He considered it for a moment, then nodded. “Probably accurate.”
I laughed, loving his honesty. “See? I knew it. You’ve been pampered and catered to your whole life.”
“Guilty as charged,” he admitted. “Though I have to say, there’s something satisfying about actually helping people instead of just writing checks.”
“Don’t go getting all philosophical on me now,” I teased. “Next thing you know, you’ll be telling me you want to move to a small town and sell Christmas trees for a living.”
The moment the words left my mouth, I felt heat creep up my neck. That sounded dangerously close to an invitation to forever.
I quickly cleared my throat. “I’m taking you into town tonight,” I announced. “I want to show you more of what Northwood has to offer.”
“Sounds perfect,” he agreed. “I’d like that.”
I needed to talk to Dad about the offer first, though. The papers Kent had brought back were burning a hole in my consciousness. I couldn’t wait another minute to share the incredible news with my family.
“How about we meet in the lobby in an hour?” I asked.
“Sounds good.”
I hurried up to the main house and found Mom in the kitchen, but Dad was in the shower. I could hear the water running upstairs and knew he’d probably be a while. I wanted to see his face when I told him about the money. It was going to be the miracle we had been too afraid to hope for.
But I also wanted to get home, shower, and get dressed for my date.
“Mom, can you make sure Dad sees this tonight?” I asked, setting the stack of documents on the kitchen counter. “It’s from Kent’s family. It’s… it’s incredible. It’s going to change everything.”
Mom looked at the paperwork curiously, but I was too excited to stick around for explanations. “I’m going into town. I’ll be back late. We’ll talk in the morning.”
I kissed her cheek and practically bounced out of the house, my mind already racing ahead to the evening I had planned.
The man I was falling for really was good, despite my momentary doubts when he’d left so abruptly. I’d gotten in my head about him abandoning me, but here he was, back with a solution that could save everything. He was my potential salvation and my family’s saving grace.
Tonight, I wanted to show him all the magic that Northwood had to offer. I wanted him to fall in love with this place the way I had, so that even after the business deal was done, he might want to stay.
Or at least visit more often.
I rushed back to my apartment above the garage, my heart still racing from the incredible turn of events. Two hundred million dollars. The number kept echoing in my head like some kind of beautiful dream I was afraid to wake up from.
I stripped out of my work clothes and jumped into the shower, letting the hot water wash away the pine sap and the lingering stress of the past few days. As I shampooed my hair, I couldn’t stop smiling. Kent had come back and he’d brought with him the answer to all our prayers.
I’d been so wrong about him. So wrong about his intentions and his character. The man I’d fallen for wasn’t some heartless player who used women and discarded them. He was someone who genuinely cared enough to find a way to save my family’s legacy.
When I stepped out of the shower, I caught sight of myself in the bathroom mirror and barely recognized the woman staring back at me.
My eyes were bright with hope for the first time in months.
My skin was flushed with excitement rather than worry.
I looked alive in a way I hadn’t felt since before all our financial troubles started.
I wrapped myself in a towel and padded to my closet, suddenly faced with the delicious dilemma of what to wear for Kent. I wanted to look good for him. Really good. This felt like a celebration, like the beginning of something wonderful.
I pulled out dress after dress, holding them up to myself in the mirror, but nothing felt right. Too formal. I pulled out my black skinny jeans, knee-high boots, and blue sweater. I quickly put on makeup and then rushed to the lodge.
Kent was standing in the lobby, staring at one of the trees he helped decorate. The man was very contemplative today. I wondered if he was thinking about things he might want to change. With the kind of money he was investing, I would absolutely be open to hearing his opinions.
We drove into town in Brom’s truck. Kent offered to drive, but I didn’t want to risk him sliding off the road. I knew how to drive in this stuff.
We went to my favorite restaurant, a cozy family-owned place where I’d been going since I was a kid. The owner, Mrs. Rosetti, lit up when she saw me come through the door.
“Sylvie! And who is this handsome stranger?” she asked with the kind of obvious matchmaking intentions that only elderly Italian women could get away with.
“This is Kent,” I said, blushing slightly. “He’s staying at the lodge.”
“Well, any friend of Sylvie’s gets the best table in the house,” Mrs. Rosetti declared, leading us to a corner booth with a view of the snow-covered street outside.
The food was exactly as I remembered. It was made with the kind of love that you could taste in every bite. Kent seemed genuinely impressed by both the meal and the warm atmosphere, asking thoughtful questions about the restaurant’s history and how long the Rosetti family had been in Northwood.
After dinner, we bundled up and went for a walk through town.
“Where are we going?” Kent asked as I led him toward the sound of voices and laughter echoing from a few blocks away.
“You’ll see,” I said mysteriously.
We rounded a corner and came upon the outdoor skating rink that the town maintained during winter months.
It was nothing fancy, just a cleared area with boards around the edges and some basic lighting, but tonight it was alive with activity.
A group of kids, maybe ten or twelve years old, were playing an enthusiastic game of hockey.
Their skates scraped against the ice as they chased the puck back and forth.
“Please tell me you’re not planning what I think you’re planning,” Kent said, eyeing the skates available for rent at a small booth nearby.
“Come on.” I laughed, already heading toward the booth. “When’s the next time you’ll get a chance to skate?”
“Never, if I can help it.”
But he followed me anyway, and soon we were both lacing up rented skates. I pushed off onto the ice with the confidence of someone who’d been skating since childhood, while Kent stepped out tentatively, his arms spread wide for balance.
The kids immediately recognized a new player and skated over to us with the fearless enthusiasm that only children possess. I thought they were going to give Kent shit, but they grinned instead.
“Hey, you guys want to play?” one of them called out. “We need more people for teams.”
I grabbed a spare hockey stick from the pile by the boards and grinned at Kent. “What do you say? Ready to show these kids how it’s done?”
What followed was an hour or so of pure entertainment.
Kent made an absolute fool of himself on the ice, falling down more times than I could count and flailing his arms dramatically every time he lost his balance.
But he was laughing the entire time, throwing himself into the game with the kind of abandon I hadn’t expected from someone so sophisticated.
Watching him get completely schooled by a bunch of twelve-year-olds was hilarious, but what I loved most was seeing how competitive I got. These kids were good, and I found myself checking them into the boards and stealing the puck with moves I hadn’t used since high school.
“Foul!” one of the kids yelled when I hip-checked him away from the goal. “That’s not fair. You’re like twice my size!”
“I’m barely taller than you,” I protested, but I was laughing too hard to sound indignant.
Kent, meanwhile, had given up any pretense of playing hockey and was just trying to stay upright while the kids skated circles around him. At one point, he got tangled up with two players and all three of them went down in a heap, with Kent somehow ending up at the bottom of the pile.
“I think I’m done being a human pancake,” he announced when they finally untangled themselves.
We skated for another twenty minutes before calling it quits, both of us breathless and giddy from the exercise and cold air. Kent’s cheeks were bright red, his hair was disheveled, and there was a triumphant gleam in his eyes that suggested he was also surprised by how much fun he’d had.
“I can’t believe you talked me into that,” he said as we returned our rental skates.
“I can’t believe how terrible you are at skating,” I teased back. “Good thing you’re pretty.”
We grabbed hot chocolate and cookies from a nearby stand for the drive home. This was what I’d wanted to show him. The activities, yes, but also the sense of community and simple pleasures that made Northwood special.
“Ready to head back?” Kent asked as we walked toward the truck.
“Actually,” I said, getting an idea that made me smile. “The best part of the evening is yet to come.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “That’s what I’m talking about. Just ignore all my bruises from falling down.”
I playfully shoved him. “Not that.”
“Are you sure?” he teased in a husky voice. “I mean, I want to redeem myself after the skating.”
“Trust me,” I said. “You’re going to love this.”