Page 70 of Maybe This Christmas
She exhaled a breath.Tried to keep the anxiety from hovering over her head like a thundercloud.
But the rain fell, anyway, so much for her mountain town fantasy.
* * * *
The Falling Leaves High School chorus was never going to win any state competitions.Even with the perfect acoustics in the chapel, there were far too many flat notes for Caleb’s preference.
He tried to tune out the choir as he wove Christmas lights around the ends of the pews.He was desperate to get out of there and to see Emma again.He felt they were now on the same page.She was moving to town—but to follow her dreams, not for him.It could be a little insulting if he thought of it that way, but he was glad for it.
He was the icing.The town and the business were what she was really coming there for.So if, god forbid, this thing between them didn’t work out, there would be no harm done.
In theory, anyway.He couldn’t imagine her right next door and not being his.
Emma’s enthusiasm for her business only encouraged him to push his father for change in the new year.Ellis & Daughter would stay mostly the same, but they would add sustainable builds and interior design to their repertoire.Kayla was working on getting her associate’s degree in design and was on target to graduate in the spring.
There was one last thing he wanted to mention—a name change, not from Ellis & Daughter to something like Ellis & Son.No, Sabrina was still involved in the business.He’d rolled through several options.Ellis Design Co., Ellis Restorations…he just hadn’t narrowed it down to one yet.
He thankfully wrapped up the last strand of lights just as the choir started up with their rendition ofO Holy Night.
He headed for the rear of the chapel.There, he left the Christmas lights twinkling in shades of white and gold, giving the chapel an almost magical look.
He laughed to himself.He was becoming as bad as Sabrina.They were just lights.
He gathered his supplies and quietly slipped out of the chapel.He made his way to the lodge, intending to ask Brandon and Sabrina if there was a way to auto-tune the choir or if they had a backup plan.
Maybe the guests would be too drunk to find the choir anything but hilarious.
He dropped his tools off in a utility closet off the back door and sought out his sister.As he looked around the space, he swelled with pride.Guests happily moved around the lodge in groups.Some sat in front of the Christmas tree.Others were engaged in a Christmas cookie decorating contest in the restaurant.He made his rounds to ensure the evening was moving forward without a hitch.The last thing he wanted was for unhappy guests so close to Christmas.
Two weeks ago, he would’ve worked himself up before he approached strangers, introvert overthinker that he was.Now, he swept in and out of conversations easily.
No one judged him as hard as he judged himself.And he was getting better at being kinder to himself.
After his rounds, he found Brandon and Sabrina standing together behind the reception desk.
They wore concerned looks.
“Why the long faces?Did you guys hear the choir?They’re not that bad.”
When neither laughed at his lame attempt at a joke, an odd feeling settled over him.“What’s wrong?”
Sabrina and Brandon exchanged a look before Brandon gestured for him to follow them to the staff-only corridor.
“You guys are freaking me out.What’s going on?”
Sabrina worried her hands over one another.“It’s Emma.She’s gone.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“What do you mean, gone?She couldn’t exactly leg it out of here.We’re nearly an hour from anywhere.”
Brandon rubbed the skin between his eyes.“I saw her hop into the back of a car.It had one of those ride-share service stickers on the back.She had all her things.She returned the key in the drop box by the front desk.”
A feeling of dread settled down on Caleb.Words were unreachable to him at that moment.
“She left a note in her cabin, addressed to you.”Brandon handed it to him.Emma’s signature handwriting was missing—just a quick scrawl of his name littered the front.
Caleb’s heart raced as he tore open the envelope.What could it possibly contain that could explain her sudden disappearance?
