Chapter Twelve
The next morning, Caroline woke early and checked the texts on her phone. The first one was from Max.
“I had fun last night. Lily can sound like a walking ethics textbook, but she’s a sweet kid when you get to know her. Now that you and I have the dating rule book squared away, how about lunch? There’s somewhere I want to take you. Wear warm boots. I don’t want you to get cold feet.”
Caroline laughed to herself. She tapped on the screen.
“Lily is delightful. She should write a book on advice to grown-ups from an eight-year-old. I always turn everything into a book idea. Hazard of the job. As for lunch, I’d love to. I promise not to get cold feet this time. If I do, you can warm them up.”
Caroline reread it before she pressed Send. She wasn’t usually so flirty by text. But if she was going to show Daphne that she was serious about winning the dare, she had to move the relationship along.
The second text was from Daphne.
“Luke and I are going skiing. Then we’re going to have après-ski cocktails at the bar. I’m going to need one. I hope I can keep up, Luke was on his high school ski team.”
Caroline sent a quick reply with an emoji smiley face. She was glad she and Daphne weren’t fighting anymore. Then she jumped in the shower and got dressed. She was meeting Nick for their first meeting to discuss her editorial ideas for his book, and she couldn’t wait to dive in.
Nick was waiting for her when she arrived at Paradise Bakery. It was cozy inside, and smelled of fresh-baked pastries. Skiers trudged around in ski boots, and couples drank cappuccinos and hot chocolates.
“This café is the best,” Nick said when Caroline sat down. “The owner lets me sit here all morning, even though I can only afford one cup of coffee.”
Caroline ordered a flat white and a pumpkin-nut muffin.
Nick spread the manuscript on the table. “I read your edit notes about the revisions I made for your mother,” he began. “She had the same concerns about the section where Josh and Maggie meet for the first time. Josh doesn’t show enough emotion. I tried to revise it in the current draft but judging from your notes, I didn’t succeed. How do I show his emotions when he doesn’t even reveal them to himself?”
Caroline thought about it. “How did you feel when you met Savannah?”
“Maggie and Savannah aren’t alike. Savannah is from a wealthy family in Atlanta. In the book, Josh is a schoolteacher and Maggie has a boring job at a pharmacy.”
“The characters might be different but the emotions are the same,” Caroline urged. “That’s the wonderful thing about books. The themes are universal.”
Nick sipped his coffee. He leaned back in his chair.
“I was surprised when my parents hired Savannah. Savannah attended some fancy private college in Atlanta. She wore nail polish, and she had never done physical labor. Being a ranch hand is hard work. Getting up at sunrise to feed the animals, helping with the cooking. I figured she’d last two weeks. She’d go back to Atlanta and spend the rest of the summer sitting beside her parents’ pool.
“I tried to be friendly, but she kept to herself. The second week, I understood why. Even though I didn’t enjoy horseback riding, I’d always been around horses. I knew how to handle them. I saddled up Savannah’s horse and watched her try to get on.”
She tried to get on the horse, but slipped off.
“I explained that she was doing it wrong,” Nick said to Caroline. “First she had to grab the reins, then place her foot in the stirrup.
“She did what I suggested, but she lost her footing and slipped off again. She must have gotten on a horse before. My parents wouldn’t have hired her otherwise.
“She looked at me guiltily. She really was beautiful. Huge green eyes, and a heart-shaped mouth. She admitted that she may have fudged that part of the application. I was furious. It was a dude ranch! All the guests took horseback riding lessons.
“She argued that there were other activities like fly fishing. She was good at fishing. Her parents had a house on the Gulf Coast. I asked her why she was there if she didn’t know anything about horses, and she said she was an archaeology major. She liked going to different places. And she was a fast learner. If I showed her how to get on the horse, she’d be fine.
“I led her through the steps. She did it right the first two times to practice, but the third time the horse started bucking. She rubbed his neck the way I showed her, but that made it worse. The horse reared and Savannah fell on the ground.
“I ran over and helped her up. It was the first time I noticed how good she smelled. Like wildflowers in the spring.
“I inspected the horse’s neck and explained the horse bucked because it got stung by a bee. She didn’t say anything, instead she walked to the house. I figured she’d had enough and wasn’t going to try again. A few minutes later she returned. She was holding a teacup.
“She placed the cup under the horse’s nose. He sniffed, then he lapped it up. Then she put the cup down and climbed on the horse. She grabbed the reins and the horse did a slow trot around the ring before she hopped off. She smiled smugly and said she’d given the horse Southern sweet tea. Tea steeped in sugar water. Her dog Moonie used to get stung by a bee and it worked every time.”
Nick stopped talking. He took a sip of his coffee.
“I learned her parents were doctors, they didn’t approve of her major. She called her dog Moonie because Legally Blonde was her favorite movie. She was tired of people judging her for her Southern accent and strawberry-blond hair. And just because she was studying archaeology, that didn’t mean she wanted to get a suntan in exotic locations. She was serious about it. She asked what kind of future we could have if we don’t learn by our past mistakes.
“That summer, I fell in love with Savannah and writing, and even with working on the ranch. My favorite time of day was evening, when Savannah and I strolled around the ranch. The sky was full of stars and it was so romantic.”
Caroline tried to think whether she had ever felt that way about a guy. Often there was an electric spark when she met someone new, but after a few dates it faded. If her dating rules weren’t so strict, would the spark grow instead? Then she remembered how things ended with Jack. Her rules made sense; she had no plans to change them after she won Daphne’s dare.
Caroline pulled her mind back to Nick’s book. “Josh might not be clear about his feelings for Maggie, but he knows how she makes him feel about other things.”
Nick scribbled some notes. “Your mother said the same thing. That falling in love was like Aspen after a summer thunderstorm. The clouds cleared, and the colors were so vibrant.”
Caroline wondered if her mother had been talking about herself. Nick had seen Anne at the conference. Maybe he met her lover.
Caroline told him about the letter from Santa’s Little Red Mailbox. “Was there a man with my mother at the conference?”
“She attended the events by herself, but she did seem happier the last time I saw her,” Nick mused. “It was the last day of the conference. She was wearing yellow sandals.” Nick smiled. “That’s the thing about being a writer, I remember every detail. I mentioned how I liked her sandals. She smiled and said they were a gift.”
“Thank you for telling me.” Caroline gulped. “It sounds like she was happy.”
They talked more about the book and then Nick had to go to work. Caroline went back to the inn and got ready to meet Max for lunch.
An hour later, Caroline stood on the front steps of the inn. A red Jeep pulled up and Max jumped out.
“I brought a thermos of coffee.” He handed it to her. His smile was bright as the snow. “I wasn’t taking any chances that you’d get cold on the drive.”
The scenery was breathtaking. The mountains formed a ring around them. There were forests, and a valley, covered in snow. Caroline saw elk, and a few moose.
They talked about Christmas and Lily.
“Lily likes you, and she’s a harsh critic. She doesn’t like the heroines in most Disney movies. They spend too much time worrying about finding a Prince Charming, when they should be concentrating on themselves.”
Caroline laughed. “It’s hard to be a male character in a Disney movie these days. In real life, most Prince Charmings would be out of the job.”
Max turned onto a side road. He glanced at Caroline.
“I don’t know if this is okay to say with the rules, but I like you a lot too.”
They were somewhere up in the mountains. A few wooden buildings lined a pathway. One had a sign that read POST OFFICE , another was a bank. There was a building with a sloped roof.
“Ashcroft is one of Colorado’s ghost towns,” Max said. “During the summer there are a lot of tourists, but it’s quiet at Christmas.” He pointed to a building with a blue roof. “That was the Blue Mirror Saloon. The owner painted the roof blue, so newcomers couldn’t miss it. At the height of the silver rush, Ashcroft had twenty saloons and two thousand residents.”
Ashcroft was settled before Aspen, by a guy called “Crazy Culver” because he left the boomtown of Leadville to look for new silver deposits. He discovered silver in Ashcroft, and other prospectors joined him. Miners were given building lots, and erected houses and a school. Then the silver mine dried up and a new silver rush started in Aspen.
“That’s where my ancestor Finn came in. Finn saw how much silver there was in Aspen, so he returned to Ashcroft and convinced other miners to come to Aspen. He even created a contest—the first miner who reached Aspen won a ham sandwich.”
“That doesn’t sound like a good prize,” Caroline laughed.
“The men were always hungry, it was hard to find food during winter,” Max replied. “The point is Finn didn’t give up. When something didn’t work out, he figured out how to do better.” Max fiddled with his jacket. “There’s something I want to tell you. I…”
His phone rang, and he took it out of his pocket.
“It’s Lily,” he said, frowning. “I told her not to call unless it’s important.”
Caroline waited until he hung up. “Is everything all right?”
Max looked sheepish. “She wanted to tell you that she packed nutmeg brownies for our picnic. She read that nutmeg can cause a bad reaction and she wanted to make sure you weren’t allergic.”
Caroline waited for Max to finish what he was saying. Instead, he concentrated on zipping up his jacket.
“You were saying something when Lily called,” she prompted.
Max opened his mouth. Then he closed it again, as if he decided to say something different.
“It’s about the picnic. I made the stuffing. Lily said I used too much mayonnaise the first time, but I think I got it right.”
After they toured the buildings, they climbed back into the Jeep.
Max had packed roasted turkey on baguettes. There was stuffing, and macaroni and cheese, and a plate of Lily’s brownies. They talked about Daphne and her love of cooking.
“I want to learn more about you,” Max said.
“There isn’t much to tell.” Caroline shrugged. “I love books and New York. And my sister and I have always been close.”
“There must be something,” Max prodded. “Most people have secrets they keep from everyone but themselves.”
“There is one thing.” Caroline toyed with her brownie. “I learned the truth about Santa Claus when I was in third grade, but it didn’t stop me from believing in him. I still do. Christmas is the only time of year that everyone stops what they’re doing and concentrates on other people. What can be more magical than that?”
After they finished the picnic, Max drove back to the inn.
Caroline turned to him. “Would you like to have dinner tonight? We could go to the Silver Nickel and order more of your rye whiskey.”
“I’d love to, but I’m taking Lily to see The Nutcracker. I’d invite you, but it’s sold out.”
Caroline was about to get out of the Jeep but Max stopped her.
“Why don’t we spend the day together tomorrow?” he suggested. “We can go snowtubing, and do some night skiing.”
“Daphne and I are going shopping for her wedding dress in the morning, but I’m free after that.”
Max leaned forward and kissed her. It was only a short kiss, but it was warm and sweet.
He pulled back and smiled. “I’ll tell Lily our date was a success. She was afraid I’d mess it up.”
After Max left, Caroline sat by the fireplace in the lobby. The lights on the Christmas tree twinkled and Christmas music played over the loudspeakers. Outside the window, the sun was setting and the mountain was bathed in a purple glow.
She was almost glad that Max wasn’t free for dinner. Being with him had been like celebrating Christmas Eve. It was still her favorite day of the year. When the excitement of Christmas was before her, and there was so much to look forward to.