Page 54 of The Holiday Gift

She beamed. “I’m so glad we’re having our pretend Christmas Eve on the same night as the show. It’s perfect.”

He buttoned up her coat, humbled by the way she always tried to find a silver lining. “Even though we can’t spend the whole evening playing games and opening presents, like we usually do?”

“You only let me open one present on Christmas Eve,” she reminded him. “We can still do that after the show, and then tomorrow we’ll open the rest of them on our fake Christmas morning.”

“True enough.”

“Presents are fun and everything. I love them. Who doesn’t?”

“I can’t think of anyone,” he replied, amused by her serious expression.

“But that’s not what Christmas is really about. Christmas is about making other people happy—and our show will make a lot of lonely older people very happy. That’s what Faith said, anyway.”

His heart gave a sharp little jolt at her name, as it always did. “Faith is right,” he answered.

About the show, anyway. She wasn’t right about him, about them, about the fear that was holding her back from giving him a chance. He couldn’t share that with his child so he merely smiled and held open the door for her.

“Let’s go make some people happy,” he said.

Her smile made her look wiser than her eleven years, then she hurried out into the December evening.

* * *

Three hours later, he stood and clapped with the delighted audience as the children walked out onto the small stage at the Saint Nicholas Lodge to take their final bow.

“That was amazing, wasn’t it?” Next to him, Flynn beamed at his own daughter, Olivia, whose red-and-gold dress was a perfect match to those worn by Louisa and Addie.

“Even better than last year, which I didn’t think was possible,” Chase said.

“Those kids have truly outdone themselves this year,” Flynn said, gazing out at the smiles on all the wrinkled and weathered faces in the audience as they applauded energetically. “Like it or not, I have a feeling this show for the senior citizens of Pine Gulch has now officially entered into the realm of annual traditions.”

Chase had to agree. He had suspected as much after seeing the show the previous year. Though far from an elaborate production—the cast only started rehearsing the week before, after all—the performance was sweet and heartfelt, the music and dancing and dramatic performances a perfect mix of traditional and new favorites.

Of course the community would love it. How could they do otherwise?

“I’m a little biased, but our girls were the best,” Flynn said.

Again, Chase couldn’t disagree. Olivia had a pure, beautiful voice that never failed to give him chills, while Lou and Addie had done a more than adequate job of backing her up on a stirring rendition of “Angels We Have Heard on High” that had brought the audience to its feet.

“I overheard more than one person saying that was the highlight of the show,” Chase said.

He knew Flynn had become more used to his daughter onstage over the last year as she came out of her shell a little more after witnessing the tragedy of her mother’s death. While Flynn would probably never love it, he appeared to be resigned to the fact that Olivia, like her mother and grandmother before her, loved performing and making people happy.

Almost without conscious intention, his gaze strayed to Faith, who was hugging the children as they came offstage. She wore a silky red blouse that caught the light and she had her hair up again in a soft, romantic style that made him want to pull out every single pin.

She must have felt his attention. She looked up from laughing at something cute little Jolie Wheeler said and her gaze connected with his. Heat instantly sparked between them and he watched her smile slip away and her color rise.

They gazed at each other for a long moment. Neither of them seemed in a hurry to look away.

He missed her.

He hadn’t really spoken with her since that sleigh ride the other night. She had seemed to avoid him for the rest of that evening, and he and Addie hadn’t made it to Sunday dinner that week.

When he dropped Addie off earlier in the evening, he had greeted Faith, of course, but she had seemed frazzled and distracted as she hurried around helping the children with hair and makeup.

He hadn’t had time to linger then anyway, as Rafe had sent him out to pick up some of the senior citizen guests who didn’t feel comfortable driving at night amid icy conditions.

Now Jolie asked her a question and Faith was forced to look down to answer the girl, severing the connection between them and leaving him with the hollow ache that had become entirely too familiar over the last few weeks.

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