Proxy Bride (The Lindstroms Book 1) by Katy Paige

Author:Katy Paige [Paige, Katy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Katharine Gilliam Regnery
Published: 2019-12-08T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 8

With you.

With you.

Jenny wasn’t about to bring it up or ask him about that slip, but she was still reeling from the words: Someday. With you.

She believed one hundred percent that he had misspoken. His eyes couldn’t have been more horrified and shocked when the words popped out of his mouth. But once they were out, they were out. He couldn’t unsay them, and she couldn’t get them out of her head. She couldn’t stop wondering if there might be a grain of truth to them.

As they walked in awkward silence toward Arch Park, Jenny couldn’t help but think about what their children might look like. Blond hair like me, or with red highlights like him. They could have blue eyes, or brown…They’d have his long lashes, and they’d be tall, for sure, and maybe—

“This way, Jen?”

“Um…yes.”

She nodded, gesturing to the small park down the street to the right and forcing the lovely, dreamy thoughts from her mind.

He didn’t mean it, for heaven’s sake! Get a hold of yourself!

But try as she might, the images were already there. Sam with a redheaded toddler on his shoulders as she walked beside him, holding his hand.

Dangerous territory, Jen. Don’t forget he’s leaving on Monday.

She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing away the yearning that threatened to make her eyes water. Thankfully, when she opened them again, they were almost at the park, and she distracted herself with the annual festivities.

Most of Gardiner turned out for the tree lighting, so the community park was full of holiday cheer. Christmas carols played over a loudspeaker at the bandstand. Red-cheeked children, ready for the “official” start of the Gardiner Christmas season, scurried around merrily, turning their eyes up toward the top of the giant Christmas tree, where a gray star was about to light up their world. A bonfire behind the bandstand scented the air with the smell of burning logs and created a nice spot for hand warming while waiting for the thousands of rainbow-colored twinkle lights to brighten the small park.

The music suddenly stopped, and the head of the Chamber of Commerce stood up in the little bandstand, which was dwarfed beside the enormous tree. In one hand he held the plug for the lights and in the other a massive extension cord. He welcomed everyone to the Annual Gardiner Tree Lighting and started the countdown.

“Ten…nine…eight…seven…”

Jenny stood beside Sam, smiling like a six-year-old, bunching up her shoulders and biting her bottom lip as she kept her gaze fixed on the star at the top of the tree. She felt Sam’s warm, bare hand take hers, and her tummy leapt with a flurry of happiness: for Christmas, for the tree lighting, for the magic of him standing next to her holding her hand.

“Three…two…one!”

In an instant, the entire park was twinkling. The music started up again, and the entire crowd broke into a chorus of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Parents held up small children to take in the full length of the tree,

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