Page 6 of Once Upon a Winter
She got the impression he wasn’t so much interested in that answer as he was in easing the awkwardness, which seemed to fill the air like an unpleasant static charge. But she answered for the same reason he’d asked. “I used to come here on day trips from the city, and it always made me feel so… I don’t know, happy. Then I’d go back to the job that I hated and the stress of the city. One day I asked myself why, and I didn’t have an answer. So I set a goal to move here. And here I am.”
After she said it, she realized how she must sound to him, and she felt the need to clarify. “It’s not that I’m flighty. I spent years doing all the things you’re supposed to do—working long hours, chasing promotions, trying to say and do the right things to succeed. And I guess I burned out. It just wasn’t for me.” She looked over at him and was surprised by what she saw.
Cooper’s eyes softened, and Laura felt something in her heart stir as he said, “I know what you mean.”
“Really?” That was a side of him she hadn’t seen—human.
He looked off into the distance then continued. “When I got out of college, I worked at a bank. Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t have expected that from me.” His scowl turned into a smirk as his hand brushed through his untamed mop of dark-blond hair.
“Wow.”
He scowled. “Wow what?”
Laura tried not to look defensive. “Oh, nothing. I just… You’re right. Banker wouldn’t have been my first thought.”
His voice was laced with self-mockery. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Laura suppressed a smile. She hadn’t meant it as one, although she hadn’t meant it as an insult either. “So, you worked at the bank here in town?”
He narrowed his eyes. “No, Bangor. There’s nothing wrong with it. It just wasn’t the right place for me. So I quit the bank and came home.” He turned to her. “We have that in common.”
Those eyes of his were intense, as was her reaction. It was only a moment, but it had caught her off guard.
Laura understood why he’d come home. It was the same reason she’d moved there.
“My favorite time here is Christmas. I timed my move so I’d be here by Christmas.”
“This place is magic during the holidays.”
She tried not to sound too surprised. “You don’t seem like the Christmassy type.”
He laughed lightly. “Well, you can’t judge a book by its cover, now can you?”
“Apparently not.”
The warm light never left his eyes as they locked gazes for a moment—a moment that caught them both off guard but slowly melted away any lingering hesitation between them.
She tried to rally. “I imagine that after living in Mistletoe, you’d find that anywhere else paled in comparison.”
“Yeah,” he replied as a warm light came to his eyes. “Mistletoe is an experience. At Christmas, the town really comes together.”
Laura sighed softly, her mind drifting to the enchantment of her first holiday season in a place where the streets would come alive with twinkling lights and vibrant merriment during December.
For a moment, the room fell into a hushed stillness with only the gentle crackle of logs in the fireplace in the air. Laura studied Cooper’s face and those unsettling eyes. A sense of limitless possibilities seemed to charge the surrounding air.
Cooper exhaled and stood. “I should probably get started on that roof.”
“Of course,” Laura replied, trying to look nonchalant. “Thanks for the coffee and muffins. They were delicious.”
Cooper dismissed her thanks with a smirk before turning to leave. As the door closed behind him, Laura wondered about him. She couldn’t figure him out except for one undeniable truth—that tall, athletic frame and disheveled dark-blond hair made for a very good look.
Four
Laura cradledher morning coffee mug as she studied her miniature snow globe house. All the tiny houses in her snow globe village had Christmas trees in their windows. Except hers. Her house was missing a Christmas tree. Morning sunlight streamed through the window to the mantel, giving the snow globe a glimmering aura.
“Look at us,” Laura mused aloud as she surveyed the room. “We’re the only house without a Christmas tree.” She glanced out the window at the sunny day then sighed. “I wish…” But as she eyed the boxes still left to unpack, she said, “No. Unpacking now, Christmas tree shopping later.”
The snow globe pulsed with light.
