Christmas in Cupid Falls by Holly Jacobs

Author:Holly Jacobs [Jacobs, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781477825037
Amazon: B00J9P2ENS
Barnesnoble: B00J9P2ENS
Goodreads: 21995032
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

That evening, after the crafters and shoppers had all left, Kennedy looked out over the now-empty room. Well, empty except for Malcolm. He was busy turning off lights and doing a once-over before they locked up. He’d insisted she let him help. Most days she’d protest that she could manage on her own. She felt responsible for the craft show because she’d booked it. But she couldn’t manage the energy to protest, much less close up on her own. She was bone-deep exhausted. Everyone kept warning her how hard it was to have a baby—how exhausting it was. She was sure they were right, but she didn’t see how it could be much worse than trying to function when you were the size of a barge.

Malcolm walked down the center aisle and smiled at her. For a moment she was taken back to those long-ago high school days when she’d have given almost anything to have him smile at her that way. He’d been cute as a teen, but he’d truly come into his own as an adult. He was a Clooney—her own personal code for a man who only got more handsome as he aged, à la George Clooney.

On the heels of memories of her childhood crush came memories of their one night together. They’d both been so torn up over losing Val. They’d been looking for comfort, and they’d found it . . . with each other.

No, she needed to put away thoughts of their past and concentrate on the now. But then Malcolm smiled at her again as he reached her. Kennedy rose, pasted her most businessy smile on her face—one she normally reserved for dealing with May—and said, “Well, that was a good day. The show doesn’t start tomorrow until noon. I’ll see you before that.” She zipped up her parka and turned toward the door.

It was so much easier not fantasizing about her childhood crush or the one night they’d spent together when she didn’t have to look at Malcolm.

“Are you heading home?” he asked.

She really wanted to answer with her back toward him, but even though she could manage simply giving him social smiles, she couldn’t quite manage being rude. So she turned back around and settled for looking at Joan’s frog table, which was visible just beyond his shoulder. “Yes. I want to get something to eat before the lighting ceremony tonight.”

“May I walk with you?” he asked.

She withheld a sigh, but barely. “Sure.”

“Don’t sound so enthused,” Malcolm said with a laugh as he flipped off the light, followed her out, and locked the door behind them. “Too bad we didn’t get some snow today for tonight’s ceremony.”

“The weatherman said there was a forty percent chance of snow, and it’s definitely cold enough,” she said, hugging her parka more tightly to herself. “It’s been an early start to the winter this year.”

He didn’t say anything else as they walked to the corner. Kennedy allowed herself to hope that they’d walk in companionable silence the rest of the way home, but her luck didn’t last.

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