Page 50 of Carpenter's Christmas Bride

Do something?

What did that mean? Why was she so terrible at things like this?

“Just us?” Kenzie asked without thinking.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll come by for you around ten?”

“Sure,” she replied.

“It’s a date,” he said, winking at her.

It’s a date…

She was grateful that he headed back to his truck before he could see her leaning against her own back door, feeling like she just might melt into a big puddle right there on the welcome mat.

15

AIDAN

The next day, Aidan crouched and hugged Walt goodbye on Aunt Leticia’s front porch, while Uncle Simon looked on, a fond smile on his face.

“You have to go,” Walt said a little sadly. “So you can’t help us make cookies.”

“Not today,” Aidan told him. “I have to run some secret Christmas errands. But I’ll be back as soon as I’m done.”

“And you won’t be lonely because Kenzie will help you,” Walt supplied, sounding more cheerful.

“Yeah,” Aidan said, nodding. “She’ll be there.”

He pointedly didn’t look up at his uncle, who was surely having some kind of feeling about him taking Kenzie out.

I’m not taking her out, exactly…

“See you when I’m done,” he told Walt.

“Have fun, kiddo,” Uncle Simon said with a funny little smile as they waved goodbye.

Aidan jogged down the steps to his truck, trying not to be annoyed at that smile.

He hadn’t really dated much after Sharon left, and he was even less interested since she had shown him her true colors, prioritizing her new baby over Walt.

What would even be the point of him dating? He clearly had terrible judgement, and if he couldn’t keep Sharon around, why would he be able to stick with anyone else?

Heading through the countryside all alone, he had too much time to dwell on stuff like that. He switched on the radio for some Christmas music, and he couldn’t help feeling a little better when snow flurries began to fall. Aidan had always loved Christmas. He and his parents had spent a ton of time with the cousins around the holidays. He’d always been so certain he would have a big family of his own one day.

But the joke was on him. His family of two was even smaller than the small family he’d resented as a kid.

Walt seemed happy enough for now. But when he was old enough to notice that most of his friends had two parents and at least a sibling or two, he would be looking at Aidan and wondering why the two of them were all alone.

We’ve got our broken ballerina, he thought to himself. For now.

He honestly wasn’t sure what he’d been thinking even taking her to Cassidy Farm yesterday. Scheduling time to go out with her alone was probably madness, especially when it had taken all his determination not to kiss her yesterday when he’d given her those poinsettias.

But seeing the world through her eyes was addicting. She was so sweet and though he knew she was in her late twenties, and very capable, there was an innocence to her that tugged at his heartstrings.

Even Walt was completely mesmerized. Aidan adored the way she spoke to his son, like he wasn’t a little kid at all, but a treasured friend and confidante.

A real date would have been a better idea, he told himself inwardly.

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