Page 10 of Merriment and Mayhem
“You realize responding to emergencies is our job, right? You don’t have to thank us for it. Though”—he grinned—“you’d be hard pressed to hear any of us say no to baked goods.”
“You know damn well what I’m talking about,” she said, placing a hand over the tender ache inside her chest that bloomed each time she thought about what he’d done. “The lights, Griffin. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Oh, that.” He shrugged as if it were nothing, when it meanteverything. And he probably didn’t even realize it. “You needed a ladder; we had a ladder. You didn’t have to thank us.”
As if it weren’t his idea. As if it weren’t him she was here to thank. As if Everleigh weren’t tempted to press him up against the engine and show him exactly how grateful she was. “Well, I wanted to. So here I am.”
“You want to know what I think?” His front teeth scraped against his bottom lip, leaving his mouth red and distractingly kissable. “I think you came here today because you wanted an excuse to see me.”
Everleigh’s heart stuttered and sped. “Maybe I did.”
Maybe it made her a reckless idiot, but after what felt like an endless winter spent frozen by ... byfear, Griffin’s warmth had been the first thing to make her feel alive and happy.
He ducked his head, smiling down at his feet, looking supremely pleased. “So.”
“Hmm?”
“You’re in town for the month.”
“I am.”
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but Christmas is in a couple weeks.”
“No.” Everleigh gasped theatrically. “I had no idea.”
Griffin chuckled and the sound sent a shiver down her spine, warmth blossoming inside her chest. “You got family coming to town?”
The question Everleigh dreaded most, the one that never failed to put an ache in the back of her throat. “Uh, no. It’s just me and my older brother now, and he and his wife live in upstate New York. She’s got a big family up there.”
Nieces and nephews and so many cousins she couldn’t believe anyone could remember everyone’s names. The kind of family you saw in movies and on TV, the kind Everleigh had always wanted. And yet, twice she’d taken her brother up on his offer to fly out and join them, and each time, she’d felt lonelier in a room full of people she was tangentially related to than she had when she spent the holiday by herself, eating Chinese takeout and watchingHome Alone.
Her brother had a lovely family, but it wasn’t hers.
Griffin frowned. “You’re spending Christmas alone?”
She shrugged. Frank and Gloria had invited her over for dinner on the twenty-fourth. As much as she wanted to take them up on their offer, she didn’t want to intrude.
“Yeah, no.” Griffin gave a short, sharp shake of his head. “Absolutely not. That’s not happening.”
Everleigh balked. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” He folded his arms across his chest and steeled his jaw. “Christmas is the one time of the year no one should be alone.”
“All right, Cindy Lou Who.” Everleigh laughed. “Look, it won’t be the first Christmas I’ve spent alone.”
Freshman year of college, she’d spent Christmas by herself in the dorms, the loss of her parents too raw to fathom the idea of celebrating anything. Then there’d been a couple of years after college when she’d been working at a firm, rather than as a freelancer, and had had to work the day afterChristmas, making the trek to Port Angeles unfeasible. So this was hardly her first holiday season spent alone, and in all likelihood, it wouldn’t be her last.
His frown deepened, and Everleigh had the strangest urge to smooth away the faint lines etched between his brows with her fingertips. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? Because it doesn’t.”
It wasn’t meant to make him feel anything at all. “I will be fine. Seriously.”
What was it with everyone in this town worrying about her? Not that it wasn’t nice, but it was new.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” His voice picked up a gruff, authoritative edge that made her instantly flustered. “You heard of Deck Out the Docks?”
She racked her brain and vaguely remembered spotting a flyer posted up near the Vietnamese restaurant off Front Street. “I ... I guess? It’s a boat-decorating contest, right?”
“Mm-hmm. And Captain Keegan happens to live on a houseboat. Every year, she and her girls go all out with the decorating, and those of us who aren’t scheduled for a shift like to show up to show our support. A lot of local businesses set up booths, and the bakery off First Street always gives out free cocoa.”
