Lambert's Peace (21 page)

Taylor jumped in. “All right, change the subject. Yes, Tim, I do think Boswell will offer me the job.”

Mom entered from down the hall, her arms loaded with ornaments. She set them on the coffee table with a sigh. “Jarred, please do your old grandma a favor and bring the rest out.”

“Help him, Quent,” Dana said.

The boys scurried away. Claire walked past her dad, kissing him on the cheek. “I'm off the phone. You happy?” She plopped down next to Taylor.

“Yes,” Tim said.

“So, are we talking about Will and Taylor's kiss?”

Taylor leapt to her feet. “No, we are not. Time to decorate the tree. Claire, help me with the lights.”

“Taylor,” Dad said, moving slowly off the couch. “Can I talk to you?” He motioned to the living room.

“See what you've done now?” she said over her shoulder to Tim then whispered to Claire, “If he grounds me, I'm running away from home.”

Claire laughed.

In the living room, Dad clicked on a low light. “What's this kiss business? I thought you two were just friends.”

She blushed. “He kissed me.” Taylor fell to the couch and hugged a throw pillow, flipping the fringe between her fingers.

“He loves you.”

She hopped up. “That's his problem.” Her tone was deep and solid. “I've made my position clear. I'm not grabbing some romantic thread left dangling in the corridor of time. If I pull on it, my whole life unravels.”

“Or, your whole life is finally sewn up, neatly pieced together.”

“Har, har. Very funny.” Taylor tried to frown, but a smile tugged at her lips. “I'm pressing forward to what lies ahead, Dad. I'm thirty-three, at the crux of my career. If I don't get going soon, I'll be left behind. Technology changes so fast, companies reorganize on a whim. Dot-coms die overnight. Boswell Global is on the rise, and I want a California job with a big fat salary.”

Dad tipped his head in understanding. “You're at the crux of love, too, Taylor. True love and men like Will are hard to find. I know you're determined to get this California job, but I'm warning you, as your father and friend, make sure. Look deep.”

Tears burned in her eyes. “I'm sure, Dad. I'm sure.”

He regarded her. “For some reason, I don't think you are.”

“Taylor!” Claire ran into the room. “You have to come see this.”

“See what?” Taylor followed her back into the family room and looked out the open side door. There, standing in an old sleigh, was Will. “Would you like to go for a ride?”

She pressed her hand over her mouth, hiding a big grin. He looked amazingly cute with his dark bangs flopping over a skier's headband.

The sleigh bells rang out as the horse shook his head. Harry answered with a sharp bark.

Will grinned. “I brought Harry along to chaperone.”

Say no. No, Taylor. No
. “Well, the family is here. We're decorating the tree—ouch,” she said, rubbing the spot where Claire's sharp fingernail had jabbed her in the side.

“She'll be right out, Will.”

Claire pulled her away from the door. “Get your coat. You may be moving to California, but you never pass up a romantic sleigh ride with a man as incredibly wonderful and good-looking as Will Adams.”

“Claire, please. You're a young fool in love.” Taylor stomped up the steps, Claire's hand pressing against her back.

“Say what you will, but if I were seven or eight years older, I'd be making goo-goo eyes at Will myself.”

“Whatever. And I never make goo-goo eyes.” Taylor yanked her coat from the hanger.

“Well, maybe you should.”

Taylor zipped up her coat and sighed. “How do I look?”

“Beautiful. Now get going.”

“Okay, okay. But, Claire, I'm not falling in love with Will. Been there, done that—not doing it again. In fact, this is the last time I'm hanging out with him.”

“Yeah, you're like Dad. You say a lot of things.”

“It is beautiful,” Taylor said, settling next to him with a deep sigh.

“You sound content.” Will switched the reins from his right hand to his left, and despite the pump of adrenaline, he gingerly slipped his arm around her shoulders. She squared her shoulders, bumping his hand away, but he dropped it back into place, and after a few moments, she relaxed and leaned against him. Sort of.

“What a great way to start the Christmas season,” she said. “Decorating the tree with the family and a sleigh ride with a friend.”

“Sorry to interrupt your tree decorating.”

Taylor nestled closer to him. “Are you kidding? The family practically kicked me out the door when you showed up.”

He grinned. “So I noticed.”

Taylor rested her head against his shoulder, and he wondered if she could hear his heartbeat beneath his coat.

“They think I'm in love with you.”

“Are you?”

“No,” she said with a
hmm
in her voice. “But you smell nice.”

Polo held his head high as he followed a moonlit path down Main Street. Will held the reins loosely in his left hand, guiding Polo out of town, but wrapped his right arm tighter around Taylor.

“It's cold,” she said, snuggling closer. For once, she didn't stop to check the wall surrounding her heart, guarding against the charms of Will Adams. It felt good to be near him, locked in his embrace. Just for tonight.

“Do you want to go home?” He pulled her closer.

She shook her head. “No. I'm having fun.”

“Be careful; you might fall in love with me.”

She peered up into his face. “I'll let you have your dream.”

He laughed. “My dream? Oh, no, Taylor. My destiny. You are my destiny.”

“That sounds like a line from a movie.”

“It's from my heart.” He brushed her cheek with his gloved hand, the leather reins dangling. “You
are
so beautiful.”

Taylor's heart beat like thundering horses. “Please, Will.” She closed her eyes and buried her face in his shoulder. Dreamy, romantic notions threatened her resolve. “I can't—”

“Or you won't?”

“Please,” she muttered.

“I won't stop telling you how I feel.”

She sat up. “Neither will I.”

“Then I guess we're at a stalemate.”

She looked down. “We want different things.”

“I used to think about you living up in New York. I wondered what you were doing and how you were doing,” he said.

“I wondered about you, too.”

“But I didn't call.”

Taylor shook her head. “Neither did I.”

“We chose career over love, I guess,” he said. “So you have to understand why this job in California is so important.”

“So you have to understand why having you here is so important to me.”

She shoved him slightly. “Don't make fun of me.”

He pulled her close. “Never. I'm using your words to get you to understand.”

Suddenly Polo stopped. Taylor glanced up. “Where are we?”

Will laughed as he wrapped both arms around her. “The covered bridge.”

They left Polo standing on the shoulder of the road and walked onto the bridge. “When do you think you'll hear from Boswell Global?” Will asked. He had to leave the subject of
them
before Taylor's stubborn streak made her refuse to even spend time with him.

Her breath billowed in the cold as she said, “This week, I think. It's been two weeks already.”

He leaned against the railing. “You've been a big help to Lambert's Furniture.”

“Markie is catching on very quickly. She's going to be key to the new system's success.”

The cold prevented them from staying too long on the bridge. As they walked back to the sleigh, they talked about their favorite Christmases. “I think this is my favorite Christmas,” Taylor admitted, as Will gathered the reins and chirruped to Polo. “I'm actually baking cookies with Mom tomorrow night.”

Will smiled. “I think this is my favorite, too.”

They rode in a comfortable silence with only the sound of Polo's bells jingling and jangling, until Taylor asked out of the blue, “Do you think a Yankee like me can survive in California?”

His laugh rang out. “You can survive anywhere. The Californians won't know what hit them.”

Taylor punched him lightly, giggling. “Stop.”

“I'm serious. When you're around, Taylor, the atmosphere changes.”

She settled against him. “It must be Jesus in me, ‘cause I'm not that special.”

“You are very special, but you let Him shine. A lot of people don't.”

“You do.”

He snuggled closer to her. “I try.”

“I wanted to tell you, you're a very good boss.”

He smirked. “You're excellent at what you do, too. We'd make a great team, Taylor.”

To Will's delight and surprise, she leaned into him and purposefully, softly kissed him while Polo drew the sleigh over mounds of fresh snow toward the moonlit horizon.

Early Monday morning, Taylor sat under twinkling Christmas lights at Peri's Perk, picking at a cinnamon muffin, clicking her fingernails against the sides of her latte cup and reliving her kiss with Will for the hundredth time.

Not his kiss.
Her
kiss. She caved, weakened by a romantic setting, and kissed him. She felt like a walking contradiction, and her actions weren't fair to Will.

“Hello, Taylor.”

She shifted to see Julie Lambert walking toward her, smiling.

“Julie, good morning.” Taylor rose and gave the pretty blond a hug.

“Mind if I join you? I have a few minutes to sit before school starts.”

Taylor smiled. “Please do.”

She watched as Julie picked out a Danish and ordered coffee from Peri. Despite her feelings about her relationship with Will, Taylor loved the Lambert family.

She'd spent many summer nights eating Grandma Betty's barbecue, roasting marshmallows over an open pit, watching movies with the cousins, and playing basketball, football, and baseball.

“So, what is up with Taylor Hanson these days? By the way, you look fabulous.” Julie settled on the high, round stool with her breakfast.

Taylor smiled. “Thank you, but I exercise too little and eat too much. Work too much.”

Julie smiled. “Exercise? I see you running around town all the time. I have a treadmill that moonlights as a clothes hanger.”

Taylor laughed. “It gets harder the older I get.”

“Tell me about it,” she said. “Between teaching at the elementary school, conducting private music lessons, and playing in a quartet, I never seem to find time to exercise.”

“I'm surprised you and Ethan don't have a houseful of kids,” Taylor said. “I hear they keep you running.”

Julie's expression darkened, and she broke off the edge of her Danish without taking a bite. “Ethan and I can't have children.”

“Oh, Julie, I'm sorry.” Taylor's cheeks flushed.