Home for Christmas by C.E. Hilbert

Author:C.E. Hilbert [Hilbert, C.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Fiction, inspirational fiction, Clean and Wholesome Novels, Religion and Spirituality
ISBN: 9781522304401
Publisher: Pelican Book Group
Published: 2023-10-14T00:00:00+00:00

37

Darcy’s long legs gobbled the sidewalk toward Main Street. The distance between them allowed breath to revisit Finn’s lungs and his heart to slow its rapid speed. All day he had battled against his yearning to kiss and hold her. His only defense was keeping at least ten feet between them. Each time he entered the sanctuary during practice, he kept his gaze averted and stayed an assured, clear distance. He worked behind the sound board tweaking the tone on the mics for each of the play leads. He cleaned already tidy pews. He rearranged the life size Nativity in the narthex. And, when Darcy asked if he could give his opinion on where to stage Eloise during Emma’s monologue about the Baby Jesus, he kept his gaze on the podium, and then claimed he needed to take a call on his non-ringing phone. His antics were near rom-com level, but Finn did whatever he could to resist Darcy.

He committed to God and to himself to simply be her friend. He couldn’t be more. Their lives were moving in opposite directions. The temporary intersection where they found themselves would be over before the needles on his Christmas tree started to fall. And, in order to be only a friend, he needed to stay at least two arms lengths distance. If he couldn’t touch her, if he couldn’t breathe in her intoxicating aroma, he could be the friend Darcy needed without intrinsically engaging his already tender heart. With the self-imposed distance, he was able to maintain his commitment to the friend-zone, until Lulu called and asked him to extricate Darcy from her presence.

“My dear Finn, Darcy’s driving me crazy. You need to get her out of my house.” Lulu hadn’t even said hello. Instead, she dropkicked her demand through the phone. She complained Darcy was hovering around her like a mother hen with new baby chicks. “I’m not senile or feeble, Finnegan. I might be a little banged up, but Darcy has me with both feet in the grave and teetering on the edge of extinction. If I don’t get a break from my loving niece, I am liable to strangle her with my sling.”

Lulu was overacting for Finn’s benefit. Darcy had been at the church most of the day working on sets and rehearsing. But he couldn’t resist playing along with Lulu’s charade. He would have a guilt-free reason to be within an arm’s length of Darcy Langston outside of a children’s play. Even if the reason was contrived, he was thankful for any excuse—as friends only, of course.

“How did Lulu guilt you into escorting us to the tree lighting?” Ben asked as they walked the quarter mile to the hub of the opening night festivities.

In her overacted zeal, Lulu had neglected to tell Finn he would have a chaperone in the form of Darcy’s oversized twin brother. “Lulu said Darcy was making her crazy with her fussing and she needed a break from your sister.”

Ben shook his head. “She’s

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