He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. Her chin tilted up and he crushed his mouth against hers, desperation mixing with relief. Her lips were so soft. They were kissing him back with a ferocity that had him running his hands up to clasp her face. She gripped his shirt, spurring him on, and his tongue stroked hers as their mouths parted, slanting. She tasted so good. He wanted more.
A clap of thunder shook the hall. There were screams and gasps. Piper jumped, breaking their contact. Emmett was breathing hard. The candles around them flickered when a strong gust came through the door. Emmett couldn’t make out the expression on Piper’s face, leaving him in the dark in more ways than one. He didn’t like it.
‘Close the door!’ Mayor Briggs bellowed.
‘Emmett, give me a hand, would you?’ Stef said.
Piper took a step back out of his reach and Emmett turned to help his partner with the blankets. When he glanced over his shoulder, Piper was across the room.
Chapter 14
With the door closed against the raging wind, muffling out some of the thunder, everyone found some floor space among the racks of old costumes and shelves full of props. Maddie grabbed Piper’s hand and pulled her down to sit on an old suitcase. Gloria handed her a blanket and someone passed her a candle in a cup like the ones she’d seen people holding on the hill, waving them along to the Christmas carols they’d been singing. It felt like only moments ago they’d been on the outside stage. Now they were huddled beneath the inside one.
Piper had been right that the room was big enough to fit most of the town in it. Well, those that had been at the carols. It was a bit of a tight fit, though, and she was glad that the cool front the storm had brought with it had quickly overtaken the stuffiness of the room. Piper looked across the crowd to where Emmett was crouched next to Harry, his fingers pressed to the man’s wrist, measuring his pulse against the tick of the hand on his watch that lit up part of his face. He’d kissed her. Piper’s own pulse raced at the memory of his lips against hers, the scratching of his stubble against her chin, his hands cradling her face like she was something precious to him. More precious than just Carter’s little sister. Urgh. The title was like a knife cutting straight through the memory, destroying all that was good about it. Did the kiss mean he saw her as more than his old best friend’s sister? She touched her lips, wishing the kiss had happened in different circumstances—ones where they didn’t have to stop.
‘You okay?’ Maddie asked, bumping her shoulder against Piper’s.
She sighed. ‘Yeah, just facing reality, I guess.’
Dragging her eyes from Emmett, Piper took in those around her. The Christmas cheer was gone. Multiple children were crying, some sobbing, being hushed by parents who wore looks of defeat. People were huddled together, shaking, crying and clutching blankets to them like they were a lifeline. Mayor Briggs kept glancing upwards, as if the storm was going to come straight through the roof. Next to him, his wife was muttering, tears tumbling down her cheeks. Piper strained to hear and caught her murmurings of a ruined Christmas. Her heart hurt. She knew the magic of Christmas. Felt it every year, but none more than the ones she’d had with Emmett and his mum sitting at their table. She wanted to laugh at herself for ever thinking she could make do with a low-key Christmas. But fate had known this and that’s why she’d landed in Rush Creek—the town that did Christmas like nowhere else.
Piper stared down at the flickering flame of the candle. The town needed the magic back.
A song popped into Piper’s mind, one the choir hadn’t sung yet. One that captured everything the town seemed to have forgotten as soon as the rain hit. One she’d been practising. With a deep breath, she opened her mouth and started to sing.
‘O holy night, the stars are brightly shining.’
All around her people stopped talking.
‘It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth …’
A child stopped crying. Then another one.
‘Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared, and the soul felt its worth …’
Everyone was looking at her. Mouths turning up instead of down.
‘A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!’ Her voice rose with confidence as Maddie squeezed her hand. ‘Fall on your knees; O hear, the angel voices! O night divine …’
She pushed on. A single voice in the storm.
Emmett held the straw to Harry’s lips so he could take a sip before he settled back on the makeshift bed. Silence fell around him and then he heard it. The most beautiful voice. He followed the direction of everyone’s heads to the singer, but he already knew it was Piper. He recognised her voice from home, but none of those times had been like this. He swallowed hard.
The way her voice bounced around the room like its acoustics had been built for this, the way her face glowed in the candlelight … who was he kidding? He was completely and utterly in love with her.
One by one, voices added to Piper’s, but he couldn’t shift his gaze. He wanted to march over there and kiss her all over again, but this time, he wouldn’t let her go. Not until he’d told her exactly how strong his feelings for her were. That he didn’t think of her as Carter’s little sister. Not anymore. That he loved her because she was thoughtful, kind, beautiful and funny. She was everything good in his life. She was home.
But now was not the right time. He’d wait until they got back to his place and she could see what he’d done for her, see how much he cared.
It was going to be a long night.
The mood in the storage room continued to rise as someone unearthed a guitar and the singing continued. When the clock struck midnight, no one turned into a pumpkin, but the music wound down and calls of ‘Merry Christmas!’ filled the room.
The storm eventually stopped but the community didn’t venture out until the first strands of daylight broke as the hands of the clock passed four thirty. Piper had managed to grab a couple of hours of uncomfortable sleep with her head resting against the blanket that had been wrapped around her shoulders.
Stepping out into the dull light of the early morning, she gasped at the destruction. The huge gum tree that had fallen, pinning Harry, wasn’t the only one brought down. None of the shade tents that had been standing along the top of the slope were in one piece; picnic rugs were torn up; chairs were scattered everywhere, including on the roof of the hall and up trees that were still standing; and bits of soggy gingerbread houses floated in puddles. A few of the windows in the main area of the hall were broken and down the street, the devastation continued.
Maddie linked her arm through Piper’s as tears welled in her eyes. ‘Our town.’