Page 44 of Carpenter's Christmas Bride

But seeing her now, it was like Kenzie had come to life. She was genuinely happy doing this. And that kind of flexibility was probably hard to hang onto if you didn’t practice it daily.

“Kenzie,” Walt said, laughing in delight. “Kenzie.”

“Do you want to do it, too?” she asked him.

But he just laughed and barreled over to hug her.

“Gently, buddy,” Aidan said.

“I want to go see the animals,” Walt said suddenly.

“We could do that,” Aidan said. “I’m all done here.”

“I want Kenzie to come,” Walt wailed, wrapping himself around her like a vine.

“She can come too, if she wants,” Aidan heard himself say.

Kenzie’s eyes widened a little and she turned to him.

“If you want,” he said, shrugging. “We’ve got plenty of room in the car, and it’s just Cassidy Farm. You should be okay on crutches.”

The tourist farm had paved pathways so that guests who used wheelchairs could enjoy everything the place had to offer, and all the doorways were nice and wide. If you were going to walk around somewhere on crutches, it was a pretty good choice.

“Okay,” she said, looking like he had just offered her the winning lottery numbers. “Let me grab my coat.”

In Aidan’s experience let me grab my coat was woman-speak for I’m going to spend half an hour changing my clothes and puttering around, so when she grabbed her crutches and disappeared into the hall that led to the front of the house, he took his time gathering his tools and hoped that Walt wouldn’t lose his good mood if it took them a while to get going.

But Kenzie amazed him by appearing a minute later with her coat on and a smile on her face.

She must have literally just grabbed her coat…

“I wish I could help you carry that stuff out,” she said, indicating the tools.

“Oh, I’m fine,” he told her. “I can do it all in one trip. I’m going to head out with it now and be back to help you guys out. Walt, can you get your coat on by yourself?”

“Yes,” Walt said with a serious look in his eye.

He normally did the upside-down coat trick, but Aidan could tell by the look on his little face that he was going to try to impress Kenzie by doing it the grown-up way.

I don’t blame you for wanting to impress her, buddy, he thought to himself, then frowned.

He hurried out to the truck with his stuff, wondering what was happening to him.

Please don’t let me make a fool of myself over this girl, he prayed. Walt and I need stability.

But his mind unhelpfully showed him the image of Kenzie and Walt curled up in the window seat, looking like they belonged together. And his mind immediately started running down a list of the materials he would need to put a seat just like that in his own house.

14

KENZIE

Kenzie sat in the passenger seat of Aidan’s truck as they made their way through the village toward Ambler Road.

She was feeling super awkward with Aidan for some reason. And Walt was dozing in the back seat, so he was no help at all breaking the tension. She knew this was just a friendly outing, yet there was a touch of ambiguity.

Aidan had been alternating between gazing at her appraisingly, and pointedly growling and looking away all day long. The growling and looking away were classic Aidan behavior, and she was learning not to take it personally.

But the gazes were new, and she thought maybe just for her. Something about having his eyes on her made her feel all melty inside, like she would do just about anything to win one of his elusive half-smiles, even if he cut it off quickly and got growly afterward.

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