Page 43 of 5 Golden Flings

“Oh, I’m sorry. It looks great,” Alice said with her best smile. Tuesday afternoon’s task was to get the tree up and lit. She needed to focus on her work and stop daydreaming about some magical wishing bell and yesterday’s kiss. “You can go ahead and get started on the decorations.”

The man nodded and returned to where the others were standing around with tall ladders and huge crates of the city’s lights and ornaments. He gave them the thumbs up and they started unrolling the long strands of lights to wrap around the tree.

This was one task Alice didn’t do herself, thankfully. She was not a fan of heights and there was a lovely landscaping company in Rosewood that was always happy to put up the décor around town in their slow season.

With a sigh, she slipped down onto a park bench and watched. They wouldn’t finish tonight, but they would probably get the lights up and be able to test them. Ornaments could go on tomorrow. Saturday night after the parade would be the official tree lighting ceremony. It was a big event with almost everyone in town showing up to see it. Mayor Gallagher would say a few scripted words Alice wrote, hit a big, fake button, the tree would light up, and everyone would cheer. It was the traditional kick off to Christmas in Rosewood.

And standing right next to Mayor Otto was supposed to be the jolly man, himself. She had to find a replacement for Leo, and soon.

It was hard to focus on that, though. Alice had a million things to do, but her mind kept drifting back to the coffee shop and that kiss. She still wasn’t certain why he’d done it. He said he was trying to prove his point. Not terribly romantic, but she couldn’t complain too much. A bigger worry for her was howthe kiss had made her feel. Bells aside, her whole body had responded to Foster’s touch. It had made parts of her tingle that she’d nearly forgotten she had.

Foster was the first man she’d been attracted to in a long time. And of course, any feelings she had for him would be doomed from the start. He was only in Rosewood because he was essentially on house arrest watching his father. Once the new year came around, Foster would be headed back to Nashville and he would forget all about her.

Typical Alice, she sighed, to want something that she couldn’t have. She needed to stick to work. She was much better at her job than she was at relationships.

“That’s a pretty impressive tree.”

She snapped her head around and found the object of her thoughts standing beside her on the sidewalk. He was looking up at the tree, dressed in a leather jacket and jeans that fit remarkably well. “It is. Rosewood has put up a tree in the square every year since nineteen-fifty-seven, but this is the biggest one yet.”

Foster sat down on the bench beside her, his shoulder brushing her arm. Even through the wool of her coat she could feel the heat of him so close. The scent of the leather coat mingled with the earthy male scent of his skin, making her squirm a bit on the hard bench.

“I remember the tree here when I was a kid. Since we lived just off the square, my parents and I would walk around the park and look at the lights almost every night after dinner. In my mind, the tree was gigantic back then, but I imagine I was just smaller. This one reminds me of the ones they put up at the Opryland Hotel. Have you ever been there at Christmas?”

“No,” she admitted. “I’ve never been to Nashville.”

“Oh, well,” he smiled. “They really do it all up. The hotel itself is gigantic, with these big, glass atriums and indoor gardens.There’s a life-sized manger scene out on the lawn. Every year they do a different carved ice display with a slide you can go down. There’s even a giant gingerbread house.”

Alice noticed a curious light in his eyes as he talked about the hotel. Perhaps he didn’t hate the holidays as much as he’d claimed. “For someone who doesn’t do Christmas, you know an awful lot about it,” she noted.

Foster nodded. “I know. I went to a writer’s convention that was hosted there in early December. It didn’t even occur to me that it would be done up for the holidays, but I do have eyes, so I couldn’t not see it. Even I have to admit it was beautiful for what it was. And I was tempted by the ice slide. How often do you run across one of those?”

“Almost never,” Alice agreed. “It sounds like you really like living in Nashville.”

“Eh,” he shrugged. “It’s the same as anywhere else. I moved there to go to school and when it was done, I stayed. The most important thing for me was to not be here. That left a lot of options. Nashville suits me fine.”

“This will be a long month for you, then. The town you hate during the holiday you despise.”

Foster turned to look at her. “It hasn’t been so bad. I’ve been pleasantly distracted.”

Alice felt the tingly sensation start again when he looked into her eyes and gave a knowing grin. “It’s only day four,” she warned. “I’m not sure I’m interesting enough to distract you for twenty-six more days.”

“If you’re willing, I sure would like to try.”

She wasn’t sure what to say to that. She very much wanted to be his distraction, but this wasn’t the best month for her. And come January? He was looking at her so intensely, January was suddenly not nearly as important as the here and now. And now,she really wanted him to kiss her. And he looked like he was going to.

But not in front of the team working only a few feet away. She panicked, turning away from Foster to look at the tree in progress. “We can see. You’ve got a twenty-four-seven charge and you know how busy things are for me.”

“You’re one of the most dedicated workers I’ve ever met.” His words were complimentary, but his tone was not.

“Well, if I don’t do my job,” she explained, “Christmas will be ruined for all the little girls and boys in Rosewood. It’s motivating. So even if I want to, I won’t be able to help you fillallthe hours. But maybe some.”

Foster nodded. “I’ll take what I can get.”

Alice felt his arm brush the outside of her thigh as he reached out to take her hand. It engulfed her own and made her wish she wasn’t wearing gloves so she could feel his skin against hers.

“You’re already a happy distraction for me. I’ve had my fill of the holiday spirit today,” Foster said. “Dad insisted I take him to the Christmas tree farm so he could pick out one for the house. He couldn’t get one from the parking lot of the Piggly Wiggly, of course, so I got the joy of chopping down a tree.”

“You didn’t tie it to the roof of the Mustang, did you?”

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