Page 17 of A Sudden Romance

The workers walked back and forth, carrying and moving ladders and setting up scaffolding to string dangling lights from the thirty-foot vaulted ceiling over the main room. They didn’t seem to need her, but a distraction about now would be welcome since she was staring at the screen without grasping what she was supposed to read.

“Christmas...” She stopped, having no clue what she was looking at on the iPad. No, they didn’t have activities planned that far since Mom and Dad had their usual Christmas traditions, a routine the family went by each year. She strained to read the spreadsheet. “I mean—”

“The nineteenth,” Sabastian said, his voice low and deep. “What do we have in mind for Friday?”

“Ugly sweaters.” Suddenly hot, she dared not look at him until she composed herself. Her cheeks had to be flushed pink. They’d better not be. Otherwise, she’d have to wear a red ugly sweater to camouflage her skin.

This was Sabastian, their shy chef who seemed to have a permanent life in Pleasant View. She had her life in Boston. She’d only been home for one day, and she’d been busy. Yet Sabastian, in his soft, shy way, was stealing into her head.

Swallowing, she sat up. She’d better get through the schedule and go separate ways until they left for the band later. “It shows here that the gingerbread kits were delivered.”

“Already in the basement storage.” He rested his hand on his chin. With his olive skin, it was hard to tell if he was as heated as she was.

“Speaking of Christmas songs...” Get it together, girl! “We may have to print out copies to hand to everyone.”

“If we can come up with the songs, I’ll print them.”

Setting her iPad aside, she stared at him, curious now. “What’s your favorite Christmas song?”

“I love Christmas music.” His eyes softened, and a fondness reflected in them. “Too bad I can’t listen to it all year long.”

“Why not?” They had smart speakers in all the main rooms. “All you need to do is request a specific song.”

“I don’t want to get burned out on my favorite songs.”

“Any one in particular?”

“‘O Holy Night.’” He gave a firm nod. “I’ve been there—‘weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn’.... The season’s all about His birth, and people think about it and talk about it. But that song... those words weary world, well, somehow, it gets into the heart of it, makes you think of what the world would have been like without Hope, how you felt before you knew about Hope, how others feel without Hope. Weary—it’s such a powerful word. I’ll never forget the first time I truly heard and felt that song.”

The way he talked... She wanted to know what life was like for him before they knew him, before he knew Christ. What other memories were attached to the song? Songs had a way of igniting random memories, at least for her they did.

She shifted on the stool, studying him to grasp the things deep within him. “When did you first hear it?”

His gaze flickered to the south hallway, settling on the wall in the main room, on the photos. “It was the first song I heard when I didn’t have to worry about where to stay that night. The Christmas Eric changed my life and gave me my ‘new and glorious morn.’”

Eric had hired Sabastian to work at The Peak. Her brother still paid him to cook for their parents. Eric never talked much about Sabastian’s background, not that Iris had asked except when she’d overheard Sabastian talk to Logan about Denver.

“You used to live in Denver, right?”

He nodded, his lips pressing together, and his eyes dimming before he cleared his throat. “What about you? What’s your favorite Christmas song?”

She reached for her sparkling coconut water and ran her pointer finger on the rim as she contemplated what story she preferred to share in reference to one of her favorite Christmas songs.

Something light. “‘Silent Night.’”

“Why’s that?”

“It was playing in a taxi on a day I was so stressed.” She shook her head over that day in New York.

“I hate being late. But that day, my first client had way more questions, and we went over the meeting time. Then I had to make it clear across town to meet another client.” She could still feel her heart racing by just straining her mind. To top it all off, it had been her first solo pitch.

“I hailed a cab on a whim.” She waved to emphasize her statement. “As soon as the car stopped, another man cut right in front of me to swing open the back door.” She was standing up, then sitting down on the barstool as she whirled her hand to express how she’d tugged at the man’s jacket and he’d almost stumbled. “I told him it was my cab, and before he could do or say anything, I was in the car and closing the door.”

That moment, it hit her that she was stressed if she almost wrestled a man for a cab. “What song do you think was playing in the taxi?”

“‘Silent Night.’” Sabastian spoke through laughter, his shoulders shaking.

“While it’s funny now, it didn’t seem like it at the time.” With a grin lifting her cheeks, she buried her face in her hands, too embarrassed to fathom her actions that day.

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