Page 84 of Not Exactly a Small-Town Romance

“Oh, my gosh! Are you okay?”

I stand up. It’s her. She came in through the swinging door at the same moment Randy tried to go out.

He fumbles for a moment to keep from losing the entire stack of wood. Kelsey reaches down to pick up a piece, but the swinging door makes its return and smacks her on the butt.

“Oh!” she cries and stumbles forward into Randy a second time.

More firewood falls.

I rush forward to help.

“I’ve made a real mess of things!” Kelsey cries, trying again to pick up a log.

But Randy laughs. “It’s all right. Careful with your feet.”

Kelsey glances down at her bare toes, then realizes how she’s dressed. Her hands go up to her hair, all over the place in a messy bun.

This makes the gray sweater she’s been wearing slide open, revealing the dancing bears on the front of her pajama top, plus several inches of her belly.

“Oh, my gosh,” she says. “I’m ... Oh, gosh.”

I slowly back to the far corner of the kitchen to let this play out. Maybe they’ll forget I’m here.

Randy shifts the logs he’s still holding to one arm and extends a hand. “I’m Randy, Jack’s brother.”

Kelsey takes it for a quick shake, then pulls her gray sweater around her. I catch her glancing at his hands. There’s no wedding ring. I already looked.

“I’m Kelsey.” Her gaze finds me. “I’m here with Zach. Not with-with Zach. We’re just traveling together. We work together.”

Randy glances back at me. “Interesting. Is it a work trip? Don’t see a lot of business travelers in Glass.”

“No. Yes. Well, a little of both, I guess.” She’s flustered.

I sip my coffee, trying not to smile. I’m curious to see how she’s going to get out of this one.

“A little of both is a good thing. Will you be here long?”

“Yes. We’ll want to check out the event at the tree farm. It looks fun. It’s why I came here. To Glass.” She fusses with her hair again, this time holding the sweater closed with the other hand.

“That’s great. We’ve never done it before, but the whole town is getting involved.”

“Why this year, then?” Kelsey asks.

“We’ve had a tough couple of years with the family farm,” Randy says. “It’s no secret. Not as much call for it, especially with the national forest permits to cut down your own. We’re trying to pivot.”

Kelsey’s eyes go round, like cartoon characters when they realize something huge has just gone down. “So you’re saying the town is having a festival to save your family’s Christmas tree farm? Like, right now? While I’m here?”

Randy chuckles. “That’s about the heart of it. I’m going to run this load to the main room. I’ll be back in a few.” He kneels to gather the fallen logs.

When he passes through the swinging door, Kelsey looks at me and mouths,Oh, my God.

She hurries over and takes my coffee cup, grimacing at the lack of cream or sugar. Or caramel drizzle. She passes it back. “I can’t even believe this.”

“You couldn’t put this in a script. Nobody would buy the pitch.”

“Hallmark would.”

“They’ve already done it. Five hundred times.”

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