“Do you know what? That’s exactly what this place needs. You’re both doing a fantastic job, too. I could tell the difference the moment I walked in yesterday. I especially love the pine boughs on all the fireplace mantels and the glittery pinecones in some of the rooms. Did you have anything to do with that?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed, looking delighted that he had noticed. “I helped spray paint them. It wasn’t hard at all, just a little messy.”
“You did an excellent job. I’m very impressed at your spray-painting skills.”
“Look. The paint is almost gone from my fingers where I pushed the spray thingy.”
She held up her pointer fingers and he did indeed see a little residue of metallic paint.
Sue chortled at that. “Hey, look at that. Guess you’re not the only one at Snow Angel Cove with the golden touch, boss.”
“Are you good at spray painting, too?” Maddie asked.
“Not as good as you,” he assured her. She beamed at him and he was happy to see her mother seemed to have relaxed a little during the conversation. She even unbent enough to smile a little.
“How are the new additions to the barn?” Sue asked.
“All settled in. You’ll have to go down and visit them. They are a couple of fine-looking gentlemen.”
Maddie giggled. “That’s silly. Gentlemen live in the house, not the barn!”
“These gentlemen are two new horses who are visiting for a few weeks. They’re going to help me with a surprise.”
“What surprise?” she asked.
“I can’t tell you yet. You’ll have to wait until later this week. But you can come down to the barn and meet them.”
“Now?” she asked eagerly. “Bob would like to meet them, too.”
“We have some things to do this afternoon, honey. Maybe later,” Eliza said.
“When Jim and I stopped for gas this morning, everybody was sure talking about the big boat parade tonight.”
“Boat parade?” Maddie frowned. “How do they do that?”
Eliza answered. “Everyone in town decorates their boats with Christmas lights and then they float from the marina in town around the edge of the lake to Shelter Springs and then back to Haven Point.”
“Christmas lights and boats? Oh, can we go see, Mama?” Maddie sounded breathless with excitement at the idea.
“It’s so cold out. Who wants to watch a parade in the wintertime?”
“I think it sounds wonderful. I think we should all go together.”
“That is an excellent idea, Sue,” Aidan said. “Now I’m sure I don’t pay you enough.”
“Can we, Mama?” Maddie pressed.
Eliza looked torn. She obviously didn’t want to spend more time with him but he guessed she also didn’t want to disappoint her daughter.
“Sure,” she finally said with a smile. “That sounds like fun.”
“According to the sign I saw in town,” he said, “the boats leave the marina just after sunset, at about six o’clock, which means they would probably hit the downtown area about ten or fifteen minutes later. Let’s leave at five-thirty, to be safe. That should give us time to park and find a good vantage point to watch the parade go past. We can all grab dinner in town somewhere and try to squeeze in a little shopping, too, if you want.”
“I
love
shopping,” Maddie informed him. “And I love parades, too. And boats, except I’ve never been on one.”
He was rapidly coming to adore this sweet little girl. She made him smile, which he was discovering he didn’t do nearly enough of. She made him want to do crazy things, like rent a boat, decorate it with Christmas lights and take her for a spin around the lake, just to make her happy.
Maybe next year.
Except she wouldn’t be here next Christmas and neither would her lovely mother. He swallowed the bite of bread he had just taken, wondering why it suddenly tasted like horse feed.
He forced a smile. “Well, I love to eat so it sounds like the Lights on the Lake parade is something we definitely can’t miss. It’s a date, then. We’ll all meet back here and go together.”
“I cannot
wait!
” Maddie exclaimed.
Her mother didn’t look nearly as enthusiastic, but Aidan figured he would have all night to make Eliza glad she had agreed to go.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Y
OU
HAVE
YOUR
mittens, right?”
“Yep.” Maddie thrust out her hands to prove it. “And my hat and my scarf and I have on two pairs of socks under my socks. I’m going to be warm enough to bake beans.”
Eliza gaped at her. “Where on earth did you hear that?”
“That’s what Jim said yesterday when I helped him feed the horses. I asked if they were cold in the wintertime and he said their hide keeps them warm enough to bake beans.”
Her daughter was going to come out of this sojourn at Snow Angel Cove with quite an education. Eliza had to smile. Both Jim and Sue treated her with such kindness. She was going to miss them both so much when the holidays were over and she and Maddie moved on.
Aidan’s family would be arriving in just a few days. A little burst of panic fluttered through her. Twenty-something strangers, and she was charged with making sure they all enjoyed themselves—and she had to help Aidan keep a fairly significant secret from them, information she didn’t believe should be withheld.
She had to put it from her mind. No need to panic. She had played host to plenty of strangers while working at the Diamond Street Inn. This wasn’t any different, only perhaps on a more intimate level.
She had more immediate concerns, anyway—like how she was going to get through the evening in her employer’s company without turning into even more of an idiot around him.
How could she have been stupid enough to argue with him about his own family? She still didn’t think it was right for him to keep his brain surgery a secret from them, but he was absolutely right. That decision was his alone to make and her job was simply to honor his wishes, as she would do for any other employer.
At least the disagreement had served as a much-needed reminder of her place here at Snow Angel Cove. She was his employee, not his advisor or his confidante—or anything else that might involve heated kisses she still couldn’t shake from her memory.
“All right. Let’s do this.” She gave the ends of Maddie’s purple-and-pink scarf a little tweak, picked up her purse and walked with her daughter out into the kitchen, which she had quickly realized was the real heart of Snow Angel Cove.
Aidan sat alone in the sitting area in front of the fireplace, reading something on his ubiquitous tablet. When he spotted them, he closed the cover and rose.
“Are you two ready for a boat parade?”
“Yes!” Maddie beamed.
“Let’s go. I brought the ranch Suburban around the front of the house.”
“Are we picking up Sue and Jim at the foreman’s cottage?” she asked.
He shook his head. “They already left. Jim needed to pick something up at the farm implement store before it closed so I told them to go ahead. We’ll try to meet up with them.”
She drew in a sharp breath. That changed
everything.
She had been counting on the older couple to provide a buffer between her and Aidan. Now she was going to have to be alone with him except for Maddie, at least during the short drive to town.
“Let’s go! I can’t wait to see the boats!” Maddie exclaimed.
He smiled down at her. “Okay, Miss Maddie. You’ve got it.”
Whatever her disagreements with the man and her self-protective instincts, she couldn’t deny he was wonderful with her daughter. How was she supposed to keep any emotional barriers in place around him when he could be so sweetly patient with a five-year-old girl?
This ridiculous crush was one thing. Yes, it was mortifying—especially if he ever figured it out—but she could at least tell herself it was just a normal physiological reaction to a gorgeous-looking man who happened to kiss like he had written a doctoral thesis on effective technique.
It would be a disaster of a completely different nature if she let herself fall for him.
Eliza let out a breath. She couldn’t seem to shake the idea that she was standing next to a railroad track watching a train race merrily along toward the inevitable plummet into the abyss.
She couldn’t do this. Her mind raced, searching for some way to jump the track before it was too late and everyone onboard was doomed.
She could always say she wasn’t feeling well, that her head was pounding or her stomach hurt. She could fake-sneeze a few times and pretend to be coming down with something.
At the thought, she rolled her eyes at herself. How pathetic. What kind of mother would deprive her child of a greatly anticipated treat, a festive holiday event, because she didn’t trust herself to control her wayward feelings?
Couldn’t she simply enjoy herself for the evening without falling head over heels for the man?
Absolutely. She hadn’t taken enough time over the past few years to simply have fun.
“Let’s go,” she said, resolving to live in the moment and not worry about a million things at once. “We should probably hurry if we want to make sure we have a good spot to see the boats.”
“Great. Let’s go.”
Maddie chattered from her booster seat in the backseat the entire drive to downtown Haven Point about everything and nothing. Eliza tried not to think how surreal it was that the CEO of a Fortune 500 company didn’t seem the least bit bored.
Aidan actually seemed to be enjoying her daughter’s conversation about everything from the movie she watched that morning about two cute elves to a book Eliza had read her the other night to a robot toy her friend Rodrigo in her Boise kindergarten class was going to ask Santa Claus to bring him.
The lake gleamed a brilliant blue in the fading sunlight as they reached the outskirts of town.
“Oh, look at the big Christmas tree at that house, Mad,” she said, pointing out the window, just as her daughter was gearing up to start into a conversation about how she went to see Santa Claus at the mall, only he wasn’t very fat.
Maddie allowed herself to be distracted. “It’s pretty,” she said. “But not as pretty as ours. And not as big, either.”
She winced a little, wishing she could remind Maddie the Snow Angel Cove tree wasn’t theirs. They had their own smaller tree in the sitting room of the cook’s quarters that would be more than sufficient for their needs.
Maddie had become rather territorial about Aidan’s house. She wondered if he noticed. Eliza had even reminded her that morning they wouldn’t be staying there long, only through the holidays. “I know, Mama,” she had answered. “But when we have a house, I want it to look just like this one and I want to have a barn with six horses, too.”
She didn’t have the heart to tell her daughter they would most likely end up back in a crowded apartment building, probably without much of a yard at all. They certainly wouldn’t have a barn with room for six horses.
“Why don’t you see if you can find a snowman wearing a purple scarf before we arrive at the parade,” she suggested. Sometimes little distractions like this were the only parenting ploy that kept her sane.
“A purple scarf like mine? Does it have to have pink flowers, too?”
“Any shade of purple will do, flowers or not,” she answered.
Maddie immediately turned her attention outside the vehicle, frowning in concentration as she looked.
“Sorry,” Eliza murmured to Aidan, pitching her voice low so her daughter couldn’t hear from the backseat.
“For what?” he asked in the same low tone.
“Maddie likes to talk. I’m not sure if you noticed.”
He gave her a half smile. “I don’t mind. I have a few nieces and nephews, remember? Maggie and Ava could probably give lessons in chatter to all comers. Little Faith isn’t much for conversation but her younger brother, Carter, will talk both ears off and your eyeballs, too, if you give him the chance. Maddie will fit right in with all the craziness.”
She didn’t anticipate her daughter spending too much time with his family, though she imagined some interaction would be inevitable.
“She is entirely too comfortable with adults, probably because she has spent so much time in the hospital, around doctors and nurses.”
“She’s a delight, Eliza. Full of life and joy. You should never apologize for raising a child who rushes out to embrace life the way she does.”
His words seemed to resonate right into her heart. “You know, you’re right. I should remember to appreciate those moments, especially in contrast to those moments when she’s too sick to say much. Thank you for the reminder.”
He gazed at her, a warm light in his eyes that gave her a strange ache in her chest. “You’re welcome.”
“I can’t see a purple scarf
anywhere,
” Maddie exclaimed dramatically.
“I’ll help you look,” Eliza said.
“Too late. We’re here,” Aidan said. “And look at that. This must be our lucky night. A perfect parking spot.”
He skillfully parallel-parked between a minivan and an SUV with Oregon plates. It really was the perfect spot, close to what looked like the main viewing area.
“We
are
lucky,” she said. “I can’t see your name on it but maybe the Chamber of Commerce saved it just for you. A sign of their goodwill and all.”
He gave a short laugh as he opened the door and walked around to the passenger side of the vehicle to let them out.
He reached a hand out to help her over an icy patch on the sidewalk as she climbed out and she tried to ignore the little spark as his skin brushed hers.
He gazed at her with that strange light in his eyes that made the butterflies twirl again.
“Do you have gloves?” he asked. “It’s cold out here.”
She swallowed. “Yes. Right here.”
She pulled them out of her pocket while he opened Maddie’s door and lifted her out onto the sidewalk. While she adjusted Maddie’s scarf again, Aidan pulled out a black wool hat with red stripes and planted it on his head.
“I like your hat,” Maddie said.
“Thanks, bug.”
He smiled that devastating smile of his. To Eliza, he added, “I’m not much of a hat-wearer but the neurosurgeon recommended it out in the cold as I continue to heal. My sister, Charlotte, made this one for me. I believe she is a better candy maker than she is a knitter but I still like it.”
She shouldn’t be so charmed that a man who could probably afford to buy an entire hat factory would wear a slightly lopsided beanie because his sister made it.
“Where can we see the boats? Is it time?” Maddie asked as Aidan pulled a couple of blankets out of the backseat. She was practically jumping up and down with excitement
“Almost. We’ll go find a good spot.” He pointed toward the long, skinny parkway that ran through most of the town along the lakeshore. “Looks like that’s where most of the action is taking place.”
They headed toward a much bigger crowd than she had yet seen in Haven Point. Maddie huddled a little closer to her side as they walked past the charred pile of rubble that used to be the inn.
Eliza sighed. It was only a small sound but it must have been loud enough for Aidan to hear. He took her arm to help her over the curb and gave it a comforting little squeeze before he released it.
“I’m sorry things didn’t work out as you planned when you came to Haven Point.”
“Things rarely turn out the way we intend, do they?”
“True enough.”
“That’s not always a bad thing,” she observed. “Sometimes the unexpected is better than what we might have otherwise known. For instance, you probably never imagined when you were in high school that one day you would be running your own company, did you?”
“No, and if someone had told me, I never would have believed it. In retrospect, I guess it wasn’t that much of a stretch. I always knew I had serious skills when it came to tech things and I fooled around on computers from the time I was little.”
“A Geek God, even in elementary school.”
He laughed. “Something like that. My parents always supported me—Mom, especially. Whenever Pop would grouse about me spending the money I earned working at the café on a faster processor or a beefier hard drive instead of saving for college, Mom always managed to calm him down.”
“I would say that was a good gamble on her part, since all that computer time probably helped you get the full-ride scholarship to MIT.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Have you been reading my press bio?”
Oh, crap. She could feel herself blush and hoped he would attribute it to brisk color in her cheeks from the cold. “My daughter and I are living in your house. You don’t think I would do a little homework about you before I agreed to put my child and myself in a situation I might come to regret?”
A Google search didn’t constitute cyber stalking. Exactly.
“Find out anything else interesting?”
Her blush intensified as she thought of the pictures she just might have looked at more than once, where he had looked gorgeous in a well-tailored tuxedo at some charity event in L.A., with a sexy, skinny model-type on his arm.
Fortunately, she was spared from having to answer as they neared the park when she heard someone calling her name.
She turned and spotted Barbara Serrano, one of the ladies she had met at McKenzie’s shop, bundled onto a lawn chair next to a man who wore a scarf in exactly the same garish colors as Barbara’s.
Eliza gave a small wave. Barbara returned it with a beaming smile as she rose and headed toward them.
“Hi! You made it! Oh, I’m so glad. You can’t miss the Lights on the Lake! I was just telling Tom—that’s my husband over there—this is my favorite night of the whole year. We’re lucky. The weather’s perfect for it this year, even above freezing. Two years ago, we had to cancel the whole thing because of a blizzard. Be glad the last storm we had hit early in the week instead of now. I was worried for a bit there. And who is this? You look just the age of my granddaughter Lacy.”
“Hello. Pleased to meet you. I’m Madeline Elizabeth Hayward and I am five years old.”
Barbara grinned at Maddie’s formal self-introduction. “Hello, Madeline Elizabeth Hayward. I’m Barbara Renee Serrano.”
Apparently her daughter had better manners than she did. “I’m sorry. Barbara, this is my daughter Maddie and this is, er, my employer, Aidan Caine. Aidan, Barbara and her husband own Serrano’s, up on Main Street.”