Page 21 of The Christmas Eve Delivery

“Sure,” I responded.

“Why are you back in Brookdale?”

“I didn’t really get a chance to take a look at the town. Last time I was here, if you recall, the weather didn’t exactly give me many options.”

I bit my lip and blushed. No, the weather had not left him with many options. He may have been stuck, but he did choose to stay an extra day after the snow had melted.

“What are you doing out and about? Shouldn’t you be at your in, checking in guests? I would think this lovely weather would bring people visiting and they would need a place to stay,” he said.

I nodded slowly, pausing to thank the waitress as she slid a slice of cherry pie and a cup of coffee in front of me.

“I spent the morning training a new part-time person,” I said.

“But I thought you did everything at your little inn,” he said as he slid another bite of pie into his mouth.

I watched the way his lips moved as he ate. His eyes closed and he really enjoyed that pie.

I took a bite of mine. The crust was flaky, but I didn’t get the same culinary pleasure from it that he obviously did. The pie here didn’t suck, but I'd had better.

“I pretty much do everything at the inn, but I can’t work all the time. I need to be able to take a break or I would go insane.”

“So, this new person you have, are they any good?” he asked.

I shrugged. “It’s not exactly rocket science and I just need them to hold down the fort. Get people registered while I spend some time with my focus elsewhere.”

“And where is your focus today?” Miles asked.

I blushed and lowered my eyes. “Honestly,” I started, “My focus was at the inn. I had to miss another important appointment because I didn’t have backup properly trained. That’s whatactually instigated my hiring somebody. I had to mess up before I realized I couldn’t be in two places at once.”

“That’s why you are out walking around?” he asked.

“Exactly. I could, and I probably should, do some shopping. But this is a rare moment where I don’t have any expectations and I don’t have to be anywhere.”

“I guess it’s a good thing I ran into you, then,” he teased.

“And why is that?” I asked.

“Because I find myself in Brookdale, not knowing what to do next.”

“I thought you just said you were here to check out the town.”

“I am, but where do I start? Downtown is barely two blocks long. I’ve seen the library. What else should I explore?”

I chewed my lip and thought about it for a while. “When I was younger, we used to go party up at the cemetery,” I admitted. “But that’s pretty much limited to high school students. However, the cemetery is a great place to start. There is a great hiking trail that leads up to a small waterfall if you’re into that kind of thing,” I mentioned.

“I did bring proper walking shoes this time.” Miles laughed. “A hike sounds like it would be good. You don’t happen to know if there is room at that local inn of yours for me to check into?”

I wanted to laugh. He was so on the edge of being proper, it was ridiculous.

“Somehow, I don’t think the innkeeper would let you have a room, not when she would be very happy to let you stay withher.” I felt the blush heat my cheeks before I finished. “That is if you’re still interested.”

I hid my embarrassment behind a very large bite of pie.

Miles set down his fork and looked directly into my eyes. “I was hoping you would say something like that. I was also hoping you might be interested in giving me another one of those historical tours of your inn.”

“Oh.” I laughed. “Is that what you’re calling it?”

“I didn’t exactly want to be presumptuous, but yeah, I’ve missed you, Lydia. You look better than this cherry pie.”

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