Page 12 of Home for Christmas in July

I loaded my clothes and books into the back of my beat-up Rabbit and headed north two days after I got my diploma. Six weeks after I arrived in town, I met a witty, vivacious blonde at the Christmas in July festival, fell head over heels, and never looked back.

Carol and I got engaged eighteen months later. When we started planning the wedding, she tracked down her childhood bestie, who was doing graduate work in Italy, and asked her to be her maid of honor. The night Noelle Winters walked through the door of the inn for our engagement party was like a punch to my gut.

“Penny for your thoughts.” Noelle’s clear voice cuts through the noise and penetrates my thoughts.

“That’ll cost you at least fifty pence,” I tell her, reaching for a goopy french fry.

Her eyes go wide and her face softens, and I know she’s remembering the launderette, too.

We didn’t hide the fact that we knew each other from Carol. But we both shrugged off our past as a summer fling, nothing more. No big deal. It was ancient history then, and it’s ancient history now. Someone needs to tell my racing heart that.

CHAPTER 5

Noelle

Wednesday

I’m so engrossed in the climax of the new mystery that I don’t hear the footsteps approaching. Just as the sleuth is about to reveal how she unmasked the killer, my chair whirls around in a circle, and I gasp.

I jerk my head up to see Farah, the high school student working with me this summer, grinning. “You’re going to be late for your appointment.”

I stick a quitter strip between the pages to mark my place and glance at my watch. “Shoot. I am.”

“Isn’t tea supposed to be in the afternoon?”

As I grab my purse and shove my book and phone into it, I explain.“You’re thinking of afternoon tea. We’re actually having elevenses,” I tell her.

“Like the hobbits?”

I laugh. “Well, yes, but also like the British. It’s a late morning snack. It’s not as fancy as afternoon tea, which, in turn, is not as fancy as high tea.”

Farah gives me a look. “The Brits really like their tea, huh?”

“They really do,” I agree. “Are you sure you’ll be okay handling the desk alone and maybe helping set up the puppet theater if you get a chance?”

“Piece of cake,” she assures me. “Ooh, if there’s cake, will you bring me back a slice?”

“Definitely,” I promise before hurrying out of the building.

I slip my sunglasses on as I speed-walk the block and a half to the Inn at Mistletoe Mountain. I break into a jog as the bell in the old courthouse building chimes the hour. On the ninth chime, I race up the stairs and jab at the doorbell. While I wait for someone to answer it, I try to decide whether I’m hoping to run into Nick or not.

I’m jittery and off-balance. Our college romance burned bright and hot, as such things tend to do. But it flared out fast, and once he and Carol got together, I placed our brief romance firmly in the past and Nick even more firmly in the friend zone. Of course he fell in love with Carol. Who wouldn’t?

They were one of those couples who just glowed. They belonged together. But last night, when he brought up the way we met in London, a wave of memories that I’ve been holding back for more than a quarter century crashed over me. And I haven’t been able to catch my breath since.

Ivy opens the grand wooden doors and waves me inside with a bright grin.

“Right on time.” She leans over and gives me a soft hug. “I hope tea in the kitchen is okay.”

“It’s perfect. Elevenses isn’t very formal,” I remind her.

Her grin broadens. “That’s right, you’re the one who turned Mom on to elevenses in the first place.”

“She was pregnant with Holly.” I laugh at the memory.

Carol was ravenous during her second trimester, and the hours between breakfast and lunch seemed interminable. So we made it a habit to meet up for an eleven o’clock snack and a cup of tea. Herbal for her, and Lady Grey for me.

As Ivy leads me to the kitchen, I notice that the parlor and dining room aren’t yet decorated for Christmas in July and suppress a frown. The girls have tons to do in the next few days. Nick really ought to stick around and help them.

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