On Christmas Avenue by Ginny Baird

Author:Ginny Baird [Baird, Ginny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Christmas, Fiction, Holidays
Publisher: Hallmark Publishing
Published: 2021-08-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Evan returned to his office Monday morning after completing his early-morning patrols. Everything was peaceful in Clark Creek. He’d seen no one else on the streets except for the Public Works employees. When Evan was growing up, his dad had driven a snowplow, and he and his brothers had thought that was so cool. They’d even taken turns riding with him a couple of times. Later, Jesse had moved into management, where he still worked part-time. Jesse’s main job was farming. He raised silage corn and soybeans. Of the three brothers, only Nash had been bitten by the farming bug. His crop was hay, which fit in with his love of horses.

Evan hadn’t been on a horse in a long time, and he wondered what Mary would think about riding. Not that he was mentally setting up a second date, or anything like that. They hadn’t even had a first one, and he wasn’t sure how Mary considered their ice skating outing. While it was true that they were colleagues working together on the parade, something more had transpired between them recently. Her showing up at his house with that Christmas tree had been a big surprise. He had to admit that he’d liked it. He’d also enjoyed her company while she was there and had been sorry to see her leave.

His house did seem homier with all her Christmas decorations in place. He’d even followed her instructions and put up a Velcro ornament on that advent calendar yesterday and today. Though it was a bit of an embarrassing thing for a grown man to do, the simple action had made him feel like a kid again. In a way that made him think about Christmas as a fun time, and something to look forward to, the way he used to.

All yesterday evening during the tree-lighting ceremony, he’d been hoping to run into her. Then he’d seen her standing in the gazebo. When she’d seen him, she’d smiled her dimpled smile, and she’d looked more than pretty. She’d been absolutely beautiful, causing all sorts of crazy thoughts to brew in Evan’s head. Like what it would be like to hold her and kiss those incredible lips of hers. And whether it was possible for her to come to care for him, like he was beginning to care for her.

He glanced around his office, thinking it looked barren in here compared to how his decorated house did now. His old coat rack stood in the corner, but it seemed to be missing something. Evan slid open his bottom desk drawer and extracted the string of lights and garland he’d stowed away. Yep. It was that garland with the threaded tinsel. All shimmery and over-the-top-looking, but he didn’t mind. Somehow it just seemed right.

He set the garland and lights on his office sofa and walked to the coat rack, moving it in front of the window. Then he wound it with the garland and the lights and turned them on. Their cheery glow reminded him of Mary, and his heart warmed.

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