Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Harper
Iwas running late.
It was Kevin’s first full dinner service by himself. He was an experienced chef, and our menu wasn’t complicated. There was no reason that everything wouldn’t be absolutely fine. Logically, I knew that.
Still.
I found a million reasons to drag my feet and delay leaving until finally Erin pushed my parka at me and more or less shoved me out the front door.
By the time I got to the open field just behind the plaza, half the town was already there for the annual snowman build-off.
Rows of half-built snowmen dotted the area. Some were little more than lumpy mounds, while others looked to be almost done, wearing scarves, hats, and, in one case, a princess dress.
Kids darted around, shrieking with laughter as their parents tried in vain to wrangle them back into focus.
Grayson was already there, standing next to a mound of snow. In his dark jacket and matching knit toque, he looked like he belonged there more than anyone else. My heart did a weird little stutter at the sight of him, but I didn’t have a chance to think about it before I heard my name being called.
I turned to see Quinn waving at me. “You made it!” She stood with Delaney and Ethan, and a very tall snowman.
“Hey.” I waved back. “Looking good, you guys.”
“Tell Dad our snowman should be holding a book and not a beer.” She rolled her eyes dramatically.
I laughed. “I think I’ll stay out of this one.” I turned back toward Grayson.
His eyes found mine, and again, there was that same little hitch in my chest.
“Hey there.” He closed the distance between us and put his hand on my waist, drawing me in.
By reflex, I hesitated until he whispered, “Everyone’s watching.”
Of course.
I forced a smile as he pulled me in for a chaste kiss on the lips.
It may have been no more than a peck, but I felt it through every cell in my body.
“Are you ready to show off your snowman building skills?” Grayson stepped back and pulled his gloves out of his pocket. “That is, if you still have any.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
I smacked him lightly on the arm. “Don’t sound so doubtful. I happen to be excellent at snow sculpture arts.”
He laughed. “Is that right? You mean, all these years in tropical locations, you still managed to find time to keep your skills sharp?”
He had me there.
“Okay, so I actually haven’t spent any time in the snow since I—well, for a while.”
We both knew when that last time was. We’d stood in this very same field, working together on our snowman.
I swallowed hard and shook my head to clear it before crouching and scooping up some snow. “We should get started.”
Grayson hesitated, but only for a second, before he squatted next to me and joined me in packing snow into a ball. “I can’t wait to see how this turns out.”
Me too.
We worked side by side, rolling the base until it was too heavy to budge. The middle snowball seemed to be just as large, and Grayson insisted on lifting it into place while I pretended not to notice how easily his arms handled the weight.
“Teamwork.” He brushed the snow from his gloves.
“More like you doing all the heavy lifting while I supervise.”
“Just like the old days.” His eyes glinted. “Pretty sure you’ve always been bossy.”
“Pretty sure you’ve always liked it.” The words slipped out before I could stop them, but the grin that spread across his face made the heat rise to my cheeks faster than the cold could chase it away.
By the time we’d stacked the head ball onto the top and started fussing with some of the accessories Grayson had brought with him, Quinn had already declared it a suitable effort.
“It actually looks like a snowman,” she said. “Some of these just look like piles of laundry. And ours…” She pointed to where her dad and Delaney were putting the finishing touches on their snowman. “Can’t decide between books and brews.” She threw up her hands in defeat. “I give up.”
“Looks pretty perfect for your family,” Grayson said. “You guys definitely have a theme.”
“What’s your theme?” Quinn asked.
I looked at Grayson. “Do we have a theme?”
“Sure do.” His lips quirked up in a grin as he reached into his bag and pulled out an apron and a whisk.
I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. “But what about you? It should represent you, too.”
He shook his head. “Not this year. This one is about you.”
Not this year.
Would there be other years?
Not if I took the job.
The thought sent a flash of sadness through me, but before I could let it sink in, a wet snowball landed between my shoulders.
I spun around to see Ethan with his mittened hand over his mouth. “Sorry, Harper. That was meant for—”
A snowball flew past me and landed square in Ethan’s chest. Behind me, Grayson howled with laughter. “It’s on now, brother!”
“What the—”
“Duck!” Grayson grabbed my hand and tugged me to take cover behind our snowman, just as another snowball flew past.
I laughed, crouched beside him as we both packed snow as fast as we could.
“On three,” he said, grinning like a kid. “One. Two. Three!”
We popped up together and fired our weapons, pelting Ethan and Delaney in rapid fire until they threw up their hands in surrender.
Grayson whooped in triumph. “Victory!”
And then, while he was still celebrating, I nailed him in the chest with my last snowball.
He froze, brushing snow from his jacket as his mouth dropped open. “You didn’t just do that.”
I widened my eyes innocently and shrugged. “Oops.”
“Oh, you’re in trouble now.” He lunged, and I squealed, dodging him as I darted behind our snowman. He caught me anyway, grabbing my wrist and shaking the snow loose from my palm.
We were both laughing and out of breath. He held me close, and for a second, the entire world stilled. He reached up to brush snow off my cheek with his gloved hand, his fingers lingering.
“Truce?” he asked, his eyes holding mine.
“Truce,” I whispered back, my heart racing.
But neither of us let go right away.
“Now that,” Grandma’s voice called from a safe distance, “is a snowman worth fighting for.”
I startled, turning to see her bundled in her heavy wool coat. Her cheeks and nose were pink from the cold, her eyes shining. She leaned on her cane, but looked perkier than I’d seen her in days.
Grayson chuckled, stepping back just enough to wave at her, but his other hand gripped mine firmly. “Willa. Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Very much.” Her smile only widened as she looked between us. “Oh, Harper. You look happy. Happier than I’ve seen you in a long time.”
My throat tightened as guilt pressed against my ribs. She was glowing with joy, seeing something real where there wasn’t supposed to be anything at all.
I hated lying to her.
But seeing her smile, so alive in this moment, made it all worth it. This Christmas might be the last one we had like this, and if pretending with Grayson made it special, I’d play along as long as I needed to.
I swallowed hard and turned away.
It was only for Christmas. That was the plan. That had to be the plan.
Grayson
“Are you sure this is okay?”
It was the third time Harper asked me, and the third time I’d said, “Better than okay. We need to eat.”
She smiled softly. It did something to me. Something I had no business feeling, so I swallowed hard and held the door to Willa’s Whisk as she walked through it.
It was the first night Harper left her new chef in charge, and I knew it had weighed on her, so going to the restaurant for dinner seemed like the perfect solution. Especially because I wasn’t done spending time with Harper.
It might be just for show, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t fully prepared to maximize every moment.
Willa’s Whisk had slowed down over the years, but tonight it felt alive again. About half the tables were filled with guests laughing and eating. The scent of garlic and rosemary drifted from the kitchen, and my mouth watered as I followed Harper inside.
I took a moment to stand and watch as she moved easily through the space, chatting with Erin at the hostess stand, and stopping to say hello to diners with a smile on her face, before slipping into the kitchen to check on her new chef.
She looked like she belonged there. Like she’d never left.
“I know what you’re thinking, brother.”
I was startled out of my thoughts when Brody slapped me on the back.
“And what’s that?” I shook my head to clear my mind, trying and failing to appear casual.
“That she belongs here.”
Damn.
“I wasn’t thinking that.”
“Bullshit.”
Annoyed, I turned to glare at him. “What are you even doing here?”
My eldest brother grinned, either unaware that he’d gotten to me, or more likely, completely aware and loving it. “Dinner, obviously,” he said. “I ran into Ethan, and he mentioned you’d invited everyone for dinner.”
I rolled my eyes. “I mentioned it to them after we kicked their ass in a snowball fight. But they declined in favor of a family movie night.”
“Lucky for you I ran into them then. Reid and Avery are joining, too.”
“It wasn’t an open invite.”
He smacked me on the back, laughing. “You should know by now that’s not how this family works.”
I shook my head because he was right and followed him to a corner booth big enough for all of us. “Where’s Lauren tonight?”
Brody’s face shifted; something a little too close to jealousy flashed over his features when he said, “She’s on a date.”
He shrugged casually, but I didn’t miss the tension in his jaw. It was completely beyond me, and pretty much everyone else, why the two of them couldn’t see what was in front of them and stop trying to pretend they were just friends.
But there was no point saying anything. Besides, Reid and Avery chose that moment to join us. Followed by Willa, who emerged from the kitchen with a broad smile. “Is it okay if I join you all?”
“I insist on it.” I stood and offered her the chair at the end of the table.
“This feels just like old times,” she said after getting settled. “It’s nice.”
“I can’t speak to that,” Avery said. “But I agree, it’s nice.”
A few minutes later, Harper arrived with a basket of warm bread and slid into the booth next to me. I resisted the urge to slip my hand onto her thigh.
Conversation flowed easily. Reid told a story about a new client who’d commissioned an extravagant king-sized bed, and had unrealistic expectations about how long it would take.
Brody added a jab about Reid’s customer service voice, which had Avery laughing so hard she nearly snorted into her water.
Willa shook her head fondly, like she’d seen this scene play out a hundred times before.
I leaned back and let myself soak it all in. The clinking of cutlery. Harper’s warm laugh beside me. My brothers, laughing and joking. It felt easy. Like this was exactly the way things were supposed to be. Like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
“This is nice.” Willa’s eyes shone as she looked around the table. “Having Harper back, the two of you together…” Her eyes locked on me; the warmth reflected at me tugged at my heart. “Seeing you all here,” she continued. “It really feels like Christmas.”
“Speaking of.” Reid tore into another piece of bread. “Make sure you come by the inn and check out the tree Avery set up in the main room. It’s stunning. Like something out of a catalogue.”
Avery rolled her eyes, but I could see the pride in her expression. She put so much of herself into the inn. “Only because you helped with the lights, Reid. I don’t think I could have strung that many strands by myself. Even if you did almost knock the tree over more than once.”
The table erupted in laughter, but Willa shook her head. “I’d love to see it. I haven’t had my own tree in years.”
“What?” My fork froze halfway to my mouth. “No tree?”
Willa waved her hand like it was nothing. “It’s a lot to handle by myself, and this year, Harper’s been so busy with everything…it seems a bit extravagant.”
“It’s not extravagant to have a Christmas tree, Willa.” I shook my head and looked at Harper.
“I thought about it, but things just got—”
I set my fork down and wiped my hands on my napkin, the words coming out sharper than I intended. “That’s not okay. It’s Christmas. You must have a tree.”
The table went quiet for a beat. Harper gave me a look, but Willa smiled softly, like my reaction had pleased her beyond measure.
“He’s right,” Avery chimed in. “You need a tree, Harper.”
I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest. “It’s not up for negotiation,” I said. “You’re getting a tree.”
Even if I had to drag it into the restaurant myself.