Page 36 of Take Me Home for Christmas

She had no idea if West would write another word in his book. The two had been avoiding one another for the past week. According to Paige, he spent a lot of time working at the bookstore. Although what the man was “working” on was a mystery. He had less than four weeks to finish.

If he didn’t, Elle could kiss her promotion goodbye. She’d be lucky to even have a job to go back to. And wouldn’t that just be a big lump of coal in her stocking? Not only would she be the mostunsuccessfulMcAlister, but she’d also be unemployed. No job and no best friend to speak of.

She glanced through the blinds of the mayor’s office. The sheriff’s department was catty-corner across the town square. She’d spent countless hours pretending to work—West wasn’t the only one who got to goof off—while watching for any sign of Hayden. Apparently, the man had engineered some sort of invisible cloaking device because he was nowhere to be found.

Livi was gone, too. She was in Atlanta for a few days to sample upholstery. Had Hayden gone with her? The misery that came with that thought made her chest ache.

“And thank you for keeping up with the online teasers.” Madelaine interrupted her spiraling thoughts, thankfully. “Your enterprising attitude is an asset to the magazine.”

As if she had a choice. Still, she was glad to have something to occupy her time this week. Besides the clickbait social media pieces forVantage, she’d been busy helping Bernice with Chances Inlet’s social media. Once word got out that Elle was giving away free advice, every small business in town had formed a line out of the door of city hall seeking her help.

“You’re right. This town does need a newspaper,” she said once she finished several posts for the Bed and Biscuit kennel and groomers.

Bernice scoffed. “They say newspapers are dead. Folks want to hold the headlines in their hand.”

Elle grinned. “You should have gone into advertising. That’s a killer slogan.”

The older woman harumphed. “We need to do something. We had a great crowd over the holidays last year. But even your mom is complaining that occupancy is down.”

There had been fewer guests at the inn this week, she’d noticed. Elle was grateful for the privacy. But now she worried how this economic downturn might affect her mother’s business.

“The mayor says there is no money in the budget for a new website,” Bernice continued. “And none of those advertising magazines want to set up shop here. We are not ‘densely populated enough.’”

Elle scrolled through the town’s website. It wasn’t flashy, but it did the trick. All it needed was some updated photos. And a killer story to pull people in.

A knock on the window startled her. She looked up to see her brother, Ryan with his nose pressed against the glass, wearing a goofy smile on his face. Except Elle was more captivated by the other nose pressed up to the glass. The answer to Bernice’s prayers was in her brother’s arms, wagging his tail.

“Bernice, do you still have that elf costume?”

Hayden yankedopen the door to his workshop, not bothering to hide his annoyance. As usual, Simone wasn’t picking up the vibes he was putting down.

“Ooo, Lawd! You look like you’ve been through the wringer.” She plowed past him inside.

Xander followed her. “What she said.”

Simone tossed Hayden his T-shirt. “Your body is glistening like the cover of one of my grammy’s old romance books.” She fanned herself. “We are getting calls down at the station of women getting whiplash as they walk by.”

Hayden rolled his eyes. He was covered in sawdust. Not to mention sticky from the machines in the tiny room that ran hot no matter what the temperature was outside. He pulled on the shirt anyway.

“There. Happy now?” He walked back over to the table legs he was carving with the wood lathe.

“You’re right, Simone. The situation is worse than we thought,” Xander fake whispered.

“For crying out loud. Can’t you both see I have work to do?” Hayden snapped.

A tense silence settled over the workshop, making the hum of the lathe sound like a jumbo jet. Hayden dragged his fingers through his hair. He had no right speaking to his friends that way. It wasn’t their fault his life was effed up.

“Sorry. That was uncalled for.” He blew out a breath.

“Are you okay?” Simone asked, her tone more subdued now. “You never miss work.”

“I had some PTO I needed to take, or I’d lose it.”

Xander nodded. “I haven’t seen you at the gym all week, though. And you missed a meeting.”

Hayden gestured to the parts of the table he was building. “I took the PTO to finish a project.”

It was a lie. And judging by the looks on his friends’ faces, they knew it, too.

---