On Christmas Avenue Read online

  “So, out-of-towners will never even drive through Clark Creek?” Evan was impressed she’d thought of this.

  “Nope. Not at all. I mean, they’ll be in Clark Creek, but they’ll park on its outskirts. I’ve lined up several volunteers to direct parking at the fairgrounds, and Main Street should be blocked off so nobody can enter that way.”

  Evan nodded. “The other streets leading to the town square probably should be closed off, too.”

  “Yes! Keeping things nice and clear for foot traffic.” She beamed. “And those floats.”

  She spread out her hands in front of her while turning toward Nash’s property. “This is where the pet adoptions station will go. Santa’s workshop will be beside it, in case any child asks Santa for a new dog or kitty.”

  “Clever.”

  “The reindeer will be in this adjacent pasture,” she continued. “Austin and Leroy are handling the rides.”

  “There’ll be rides now?”

  “Not just any ol’ rides,” she told him. “Reindeer rides.”

  Evan couldn’t help but laugh, because she was so very good at this. “You’re not bad for a Christmas Consultant, you know.”

  Her eyes widened. “Wait a minute. Did I just hear a compliment?”

  Evan lifted a shoulder. “Might have.”

  It was her turn to laugh. “Well, I’d like to compliment you too, for listening to my ideas.”

  “Truthfully,” he told her, “they’re pretty good ones.”

  She preened in the snow, little white flakes dotting her hair and eyelashes. “Shall we head toward the gazebo?”

  “Sure.”

  Dusk had settled on Main Street and each of its streetlamps had turned on. Evan tipped his hat at the occasional passerby, issuing his greetings to the familiar faces. Mary shared friendly hellos and waves, too. Even though she didn’t know everyone, it was clear she’d already made several acquaintances in Clark Creek.

  “Hello, Mr. Parker!” she said to the band director, as he exited the music shop.

  “Ms. Ward,” he said. “Good to see you! The marching band is shaping up. We’ve already selected our pieces for the parade and will begin practicing tomorrow.”

  “Oh, how fantastic.” She flushed happily and Evan couldn’t help but think that her expression made her look sweet. And she was sweet, through and through. A goodhearted woman. About as goodhearted as they come. He was well aware of that now.

  Making this parade a success wasn’t just a job for Mary. It was a mission. She really did care about Clark Creek and its people.

  She cheerily greeted Vivi Torres and the librarian next. “Mrs. Watson. Good evening!”

  “Well, hello, Mary,” Mrs. Watson said. “Looking forward to your parade.”

  Vivi Torres walked beside Mrs. Watson, and they’d both apparently been doing some Christmas shopping. “We all are,” Vivi said with a warm grin.

  As Evan and Mary strolled along Main Street, a light snow sifted through the air. White flakes danced beneath the streetlamps’ glow, and colorful Christmas lights shone in store windows. The setting was scenic, almost romantic, and it occurred to Evan that he hadn’t been out with a woman in a while. After his big letdown with Cathy, he hadn’t been in mood for female company for months. He’d slowly gotten back into dating, but nothing ever seemed to click. He guessed whatever vibes he was sending out were not the sort to keep a woman interested for long.

  The truth was, his heart hadn’t been in it. He’d been just going through the motions because it seemed like the thing to do. He was the right age to settle down and raise a family. He’d finally realized that a family was a useless goal to have unless he found somebody he loved enough to want to marry. Nobody had come along like that so far.

  He thought of that snowball fight he and Mary had engaged in with those kids when they’d come out of the Whistle Stop Café. For the smallest sliver of time, he’d let himself go and had enjoyed living in the moment. It wasn’t something he intended to do often, but it had been nice while it lasted. It had been especially nice since it had happened with Mary.

  “I love this town,” she said, as they passed the Blue Heron Bookshop. “I’m sure that all those paradegoers will too.”

  He realized that he’d never thanked her, at least not sincerely and with a smidgen of humility. “I have to say you’ve impressed me,” he said. “You’re an unbearably sharp woman.”

  She shot him a cockeyed grin. “Unbearably?”

  “Yeah. It’s been kind of…overwhelming…how you’ve been able to accomplish so much in so little time. I mean, not overwhelming so much as impressive.” He met her eyes. “Mary Ward, I’m very impressed by you.”

  Her eyebrows arched. “Why, thank you, Sheriff.” She added playfully, “You’re not too terrible yourself.”

  His back of his neck warmed, and he rubbed it. The effect she had on him wasn’t an unpleasant one. It was actually kind of nice, and he was getting used to it. “So,” he said, then he cleared his throat because his voice had embarrassingly gone husky. “The ticket-selling will take place over there?”

  “Yes,” she said. “In the gazebo.”

  They approached the square and walked toward the gazebo. Strings of lights circled the ice skating rink, and couples and families were out on the ice. It occurred to Evan that it was a Friday, so a typical date night. He wondered if Mary was seeing anybody, but she didn’t act like she was. She hadn’t mentioned a boyfriend or a significant other.

  She noticed the skating rink too. “Ooh, fun! I’ve always wanted to try ice skating.”

  “Have you?” He observed her curiously. “Why?”

  “Because, Evan.” She rolled her eyes in an adorable manner. “It looks like such a cool thing to do.”

  “Cold is more like it. Especially if you fall and land on the ice.”

  “Ha ha.” She leaned against one of the railings on the gazebo and crossed her arms. “How about you? Skate much?”

  “Haven’t in years. I mean, when I was a kid, sure. Who doesn’t?”

  “Me,” she quipped. “I just told you.”

  Something weird was happening between them—it felt like their situation was morphing from a business relationship into some kind of friendship. The funny thing was, Evan didn’t mind being friends with Mary. The truth was, he liked being in her company.

  “On account of the hotel thing?”

  “On account of lots of things.” She shrugged. “Some of the kids had skating parties, but I was never invited.”

  He frowned at this. “That’s terrible.”

  “It was okay.” She sighed. “I was always the new kid. Not around for very long. Also, kind of geeky, in that I lived in hotels.”

  “I’m sorry, Mary.”

  “Don’t be! My life had its good parts.”

  That was so like her. Always trying to look at the positives. But, deep in her heart, that had to have hurt. Evan guessed it had been hard being a kid on the outside looking in on so many childhood activities, while feeling excluded.

  “What about your mom? Didn’t she try to arrange playdates?”

  “Lila? No.” Mary waved this aside. “Her schedule was always really booked.”

  “I see.”

  “I knew some cool doormen, though. Charlie was especially sweet. He’s the one who taught me how to ride a bike.”

  “How old was this Charlie?”

  She giggled at his expression. “Very old. Like a grandpa’s age. He was really kind to me. Other people were too, at the various hotels. Only…”

  She looked away.

  “What is it?” he asked gently.

  “I guess I learned to be self-sufficient.” She shrugged. “You know. Not rely too much on anyone.”

  Evan’s throat felt raw. That’s how he thought of himself, too. Tough. Independent. Only, hearing it coming from her, it made him wonder if independent was sometimes more like lonely. He swallowed hard. “You said you’ve got no brothers or sisters. How about
close friends?”

  “I’ve got Judy.” Her face brightened. “She and I are super tight. She’s also, weirdly, my boss at work.”

  “How did that happen?”

  “Judy’s really smart and ambitious.”

  “So are you.”

  She blushed. “Thanks, Evan. What I mean is, she went for the supervisory position, and I didn’t, until…” She stopped talking.

  “Until?”

  “Doesn’t matter. What matters is how spectacular this place is going to look tomorrow.” She swept her arms around the gazebo, her dark eyes sparkling. “Ken’s bringing all his decorations and the town tree.”

  “How tall?”

  “Twenty-six feet.”

  Evan whistled. “That’s big.”

  “It won’t look so huge in this setting.”

  “Where are you going to put it?”

  “Over there,” she nodded in the opposite direction. On the courthouse side. She stared up at the building’s second floor. “How’s that reindeer team holding up? And your coat rack?”

  Evan shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, because he knew what she was asking. She wanted to know how he was enjoying her decorations. He couldn’t tell her he’d removed them. “Oh well, I suspect they’re just fine.”

  “Suspect? What do you mean?”

  “Mary.” He decided to change the subject, focusing one critical problem they hadn’t solved. “You’ve done a great job with everything, and things seem to be coming along. Except for one thing.”

  Her smile faltered. “Yeah. Lodging.”

  Folks didn’t have to stay over. They could come and be gone in the same day. But it would be so much better if they had the option to stay, and he and Mary both knew it.

  “How’s it going over at Marshall’s place?” he asked.

  “Really well. As soon as word started circulating about the parade, he got more bookings. The Clark Creek B&B is full up for several days leading up to Christmas.”

  “That’s excellent. For Marshall.”

  “Yeah, but his inn’s kind of small.”

  “Nothing like the size of the places you grew up in, I’m sure.”

  “True.” Mary gazed around the town square. “I keep feeling like I’m missing something. Something obvious.”

  “You don’t seem to miss much to me.”

  “Well, I’m missing this, and it bugs me.” She turned to him suddenly. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

  He blinked, caught off guard. “Uh. It’s my day off, but I’ve promised to help Nash with something at his farm. Did you need—?”

  “No, not really.” She gave a soft smile. “I just wondered if you’d like to be here when the town tree gets installed.”

  “When will that be?”

  “I don’t have an exact time yet, so don’t worry about it. As long as you’re here for the tree lighting.” She saw the question written on his face. “Sunday at five.”

  “I’ll put it on my calendar.”

  “I know it’s not the same as putting up your personal tree at home,” she said. “But a community tree is really special in its own way.”

  “Well, since I don’t put one up at home—”

  “What?” Her eyes widened.

  “No need. My Mom and Dad decorate their place, and that’s where everyone goes for Christmas dinner. So.”

  “Marshall decorates his inn,” she told him.

  “Sure, it’s a business establishment and in his interest.”

  “What about Nash?”

  “He decorates too. He also has a kid, my niece Chloe, so it’s natural for him—”

  “Wait a minute.” She looked amazed, and not necessarily in a good way. “You mean you’ve never decorated—ever?”

  “My own place? No.”

  “Evan.” She playfully pushed his arm, and he experienced a small spark when she did. “Come on. Get in the spirit.”

  “I am in the spirit. I’m helping you with your Christmas parade.”

  “And I appreciate that. I really do.” She looked him over again. “I just can’t believe you don’t decorate for the holidays.”

  “I don’t have any decorations,” he said—and then he bit his tongue. Saying something like that around Mary might be seen as a plea for her to come on over to his place and decorate it herself.

  “Well, that’s too bad.” Then her face lit up. “I’ve got some extras in my SUV.”

  “Thank you, but no.”

  She frowned at his consternation. “Suit yourself.”

  “It’s getting late.” Evan checked his watch and saw it was almost six. “I don’t mean to keep you.”

  “Oh, right! I need to get back to my room and phone Judy before she leaves the office. Then I’m going to order dinner in and put my feet up and relax.”

  “What? Relax?” he teased. “You?”

  “I know how to relax,” she said. “You’re the one who doesn’t.”

  “Not so.”

  Her eyes glimmered. “Then take me ice skating.”

  His heart pounded at her invitation, and now he was almost sure she didn’t have a boyfriend. He forced himself to say, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

  “Why not?”

  “We’re working together.”

  “I’m not asking you to marry me, Evan. Gosh.”

  His ears burned hot. “Never thought that you were.”

  “So then, what’s the problem?”

  “I haven’t done it in years.”

  “You said the same about the snowball fight, and you enjoyed that.”

  “Yeah, but that was different,” he hedged.

  “Different how?”

  “It was—unplanned.”

  She rolled her eyes. “So you only do impromptu fun, huh? No planning.”

  “That sums it up,” he said, sensing he was walking into a trap.

  “So, if I just showed up and surprised you last minute and said, ‘Hey, take me skating!’ then you would?”

  “Wait. What? No.” She was moving awfully fast, and he had no clue where she was leading.

  Mary thoughtfully pursed her lips. “If I could only solve that lodging thing.”

  “Now, that would surprise me.”

  “Would it?” He could practically hear her mental wheels turning. She was preparing to outfox him. He could feel it.

  “So,” she said slowly. “If you considered yourself surprised, because I’d solved our lodging issues…then you’d take me skating?”

  Why was she being so bull-headed about this? “Uh, yeah. I guess.” He knew full well that her achieving this goal was impossible. Unless she pulled a genie from a bottle and had him snap his fingers and create an enormous luxury hotel on Main Street.

  “Okay.” She grinned brightly. “It’s a deal.”

  He’d just agreed to a pseudo-date that was never going to happen. Which sounded all right to him. “So, yeah. Um. Okay.”

  “Great.” She shifted her satchel strap on her shoulder and moved to get past him. “I guess I’d better g—”

  “Uh-huh, same,” he said, stepping the other way. They nearly collided with him almost trampling her toes.

  “Wow, sorry!” He jumped back.

  She did too and her chin jerked up. “I’d better, er…”

  She licked her lips and Evan’s mouth went sandpaper dry.

  “Right,” he said hoarsely. “Me too.” Then he skedaddled around her and got out of there, striding toward the courthouse.

  “See you on Sunday!” she called, as she walked away through the shadows. “At the tree lighting, if not before!”

  He waved goodbye. “See you then!”

  Chapter Twelve

  “I can’t believe it, Judy,” Mary squealed with into the phone. “I actually asked him out.”

  “Who? Not the sheriff?”

  “Well, yeah. In a roundabout manner, you could call it.”

  “What? How did he take that?”

  Mary lau
ghed, settling back against the headboard in her room. “I guess you could say he was confused.”

  “Mare-y. What’s going on?”

  “I wanted to go ice skating,” she stated rationally. “So, I asked him to take me.”

  “Why not just take yourself?”

  “Because I’ve never done it before, and it honestly looks like the kind of thing you do with someone else.” Mary frowned, thinking of all those kids’ skating parties she’d missed. Then she told herself not to be silly. She wasn’t a kid anymore. And it hadn’t been that big a deal. She was a grownup now, anyway.

  “There’s something else going on, too,” she told Judy. “With Evan. Something I can’t put my finger on.” She wrapped a lock of her hair around her finger. “It’s like he’s all of a sudden become supportive of the parade.”

  “Well, that’s good. And about time.”

  “I know.” Mary sighed. “He is handsome, to tell you the truth. Very handsome underneath all that scruffy pragmatism. But there’s more to it than that. It’s about…I’m not sure. The way that he cares about the town, and his family. Evan’s the honorable sort, you know?”

  “Sounds like a principled guy.”

  “He is, but he’s challenging,” Mary said.

  “You knew that from the start.”

  “Yeah.”

  A short silence hung between them.

  Judy said, “So! When are you going out?”

  “We’re not. Yet. We sort of made a bet about me solving the lodging problem.”

  “Still haven’t figured that out?”

  “No, and I need to. If I don’t, Evan won’t take me skating. That’s the deal we made.”

  “Well, when you put your mind to it, you can solve just about anything.”

  “I wish.” Mary adjusted the comfy blankets around her. She’d finished some takeout Chinese in bed and was going to stream some of her favorite shows when she got off the phone.

  “Just don’t get too involved,” Judy cautioned.

  “What?”

  “With Evan. This is only a short-term job. And when—not if—it all goes well, you’ll be moving to Seattle.”