Page 14 of Carpenter's Christmas Bride

She grabbed a fruit roll-up from the open box in the cupboard as quickly as she could and carried it back to him.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll, uh, take it with me since I’ve got to get to my aunt’s place.”

He seemed to be in a hurry to leave all of a sudden, and she could hardly blame him. But he stopped at the door and turned to her.

“I’ll try and be in touch later today,” he said. “I can start as soon as I have materials, if you want me to.”

“The sooner, the better,” she told him excitedly, feeling relieved that she hadn’t completely scared him away with her awkwardness. “That’s amazing that you can start so fast.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’ll just… juggle a few things around.”

He slipped out the back door and was gone before she could fully take in what was tickling her mind about what he’d just said.

Juggle a few things around? Holy cow. He does remember me.

And he made another joke.

Amazed, she stared at her own back door for two full seconds before bursting out laughing. Then she popped her fruit roll-up back in her mouth, and moved to the sofa as quickly as she could to get to her phone, which was buzzing again.

When she had leaned her crutches onto the arm and lowered herself onto the cushions, she unlocked the screen and saw she had missed about a million messages from Mal.

She tried to think of what to text back, and the ideas formed a traffic jam between her brain and her thumbs, so she pressed the button to call instead.

“Kenzie,” Mal said breathlessly, picking up on the first ring. “Aidan Webb is headed over there right now.”

“Oh, he was already here,” Kenzie told her. “And you’ll never believe what happened.”

5

AIDAN

Aidan drove out of Trinity Falls village, his thumbs tapping the steering wheel with a restless energy he couldn’t seem to shake.

He’d just had a work meeting. That was all. And it was honestly for a really annoying job. No matter how reasonable his quote, she was going to think he was taking her for a ride. And for him, doing the work would be stressful and time-consuming.

So why was his heart pounding, and why was he fighting back the urge to smile like a kid in a candy shop?

That girl is nuts, he told himself. Don’t let her shake you up just because she’s pretty.

But it wasn’t just that she was pretty. There was a happiness inside her that spilled over the edges, and an innocence that made him feel almost protective.

On the other hand, she’d clearly gotten herself pretty badly hurt and then tried to go shopping when she wasn’t strong enough to have control of the cart. And it wasn’t even for essentials. She’d bought a carload of sugary snacks like she was Will Ferrell in that movie where he was a giant Christmas Elf.

And now she wanted to put a ballet barre and mirrors in her house, as if she was ready to just start Adult Ballet classes when her leg was in a cast and she’d apparently switched to an all-candy diet?

Though honestly, she was scrawny enough she probably needed those extra calories…

Steer clear, he advised himself. You don’t have good instincts when it comes to women.

But he was still trying not to smile when he thought about the look on her face when she seemed to realize she had offered him the kind of snack he hadn’t eaten since third grade recess. He patted his breast pocket and heard the plastic wrapped fruit roll-up make a crinkling sound.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered, actually smiling now, and scolding himself for it.

Before long, the little village was behind him and he was passing through miles of dormant fields. In the summertime the fields would be lush green and shimmering gold, overflowing with life. But they were beautiful even now, with the soft gray sky above like a blanket over a snoozing bit of nature.

He had never really gotten used to living in the city. The buildings blocked out the sky and the smells and sounds all pressed in on him. There were no animals except squirrels and pigeons. But he was able to do the kind of bespoke carpentry that paid well there. The one thing that wasn’t lacking in the city was money.

He had always hoped that by the time Walt was ready for school, he would feel okay about the funds they had in the bank and be ready to move out to the house he still kept in Trinity Falls.

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