Page 48 of Sweet Surrender

The jumping was contagious as usual, and the next thing he knew, both boys were practically bouncing off the walls.

“Let’s help your grandparents with these dishes,” he said quickly, hoping to stop them before they started getting rough and knocked something over.

“Okay,” Nick said happily, grabbing three mugs.

That was probably one too many to carry safely, but Zane had to choose his battles.

Cal got the other two mugs and the plate from the cookies and followed his brother toward the kitchen.

A day in town will be good for us, Zane told himself.It will be good to celebrate something great for them.

And it would honestly be good to get his mind off of Becca Hawthorne for a while.

15

BECCA

The next afternoon, Becca stepped out of the copy shop and onto Red Oak Street, smiling at the fact that despite the cold, half the town seemed to be out walking, shopping, and chatting, or playing with children in the park across the street.

Visiting with the eye doctor and the young man who ran the print shop had been really wonderful. She was learning more about Sugarville Grove every day, and she would be able to do a better job helping the children with their reports, now that she was getting good information from their sources.

And she had other things to look forward to as well. Next week, she would be singing with the choir at the tree-lighting ceremony. Her eyes went to the big evergreen standing majestically over the picturesque scene before her. It was impressive even without lights and decorations. She could only imagine how it would look next weekend.

Determined not to think about her own confusing tree-decorating experience last night, Becca crossed the street to head into the park, wondering if she might bump into anyone she knew.

It seemed unlikely, since it was only her sixth day in Sugarville Grove. She had joined an activity and tried to meet her colleagues at the school, but the chances were slim that she would bump into any of them.

The thought had barely left her mind when she heard someone call out to her.

“Miss Hawthorne,”a familiar little voice cried.

“Miss Hawthorne, it’s us,”another one added.

She turned to see the Lawrence twins standing on the pavilion waving to her. Their father stood looking up at them from the grass below.

Zane turned to her, and his face seemed to light up for a moment, his eyes flashing to hers. Then just as quickly, his expression shut down, his jaw tensing.

He regrets what happened—what almost happened—yesterday,she thought to herself.I knew it.

And she also knew that it should be a good thing. She had been trying desperately not to think about how good it felt to be all but in his arms yesterday.

But somehow it still hurt a little to know he was bothered by the memory.

“Well, hello there,” she said, plastering on a smile and meeting the boys halfway as they both jumped down and ran toward her. “What are you up to?”

“Just playing,” Nick said with a funny expression.

“That’s nice,” she told him. “I’m headed over to check out the ice-skating rink.”

“We’re going ice skating too,” Nick told her happily. “Right, Dad?”

“Oh, you’re finally ready to skate now?” Zane asked.

She glanced up and saw he was smiling at the boys, clearly just teasing.

“Yes, Dad,” Cal said. “Can we?”

“Sure,” Zane told them.

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