Page 17 of Love, Lies and Sleigh Rides
Fallon’s lips still pressed together. Now she avoided his eyes. Her hands were in her pockets as she looked toward the door. Was this conversation making her uncomfortable? Probably, especially since she’d already talked his mother into riding in a truck.
“I’ll let you two have some privacy,” said Fallon, laying a hand on his mother’s arm. “We’ll talk later, Elaine.”
Kade waited until Fallon disappeared through the front door.
He turned back to Elaine. “So, what’s been keeping you from getting it fixed?”
She took a deep breath. “Honestly, we’ve just been overwhelmed. Keeping up the farm, teaching classes, the summer art shows. Not to mention watching Kyah and Della when Jeannie and Tim need a break. Which I wouldn’t pass up for the world, I might add.”
He could see the stress etched in the lines on Elaine’s forehead.
“Let me help with the festival. I can do whatever you need me to do.”
“That’s really what Fallon is here for.”
“But it sounds like she wants to change things. Pops told me earlier she suggested moving the parade route from Main Street to Mill Street. What’s that all about?”
Elaine cocked a brow and looked away.
“I thought PR people work on getting the word out? Not messing with logistics.”
“Kade, honey. At this point I’m willing to let her run with it. Let’s just see what other things she comes up with when we meet on Monday.”
“I’m coming to that meeting.”
Elaine gave him a weary smile. “I’m sure that will be fine with her and Agnes.”
He’d forgotten about Agnes DeLina being involved. “She’s still at the chamber?”
Elaine rolled her eyes. “Yes.”
As much as he disagreed with having an outsider in charge of the festival, he understood how Fallon might be a buffer between his mother and Agnes. An underlying tension still ran between their families, some of which he took a little responsibility for.
“I’m going to head out to the barn to take a look at the sleigh.”
She gave him a quick hug. “I’m sorry, Kade. I know this is disappointing. That old thing is important to you.”
“Yes, well, it sounds like more important things have begged for attention around here.”
She released him but kept her hands on his shoulders and gave him a little shake. “I’m so glad you’re home.”
Kade smiled down at her. “Buttering me up again.”
“I’m being sincere.”
“I’m happy to be home too. I want to help around here as much as I can.”
Kade found his coat and headed out the side door. The empty space where Fallon’s car had been parked offered a stark reminder that she was probably mad at him for butting in. The news about the sleigh had surprised him. He’d overreacted and was sorry for it.
He and his father had refurbished the old sleigh that had sat covered in dust and bat droppings in one of the barns since his father’s grandparents were alive. Kade was still in grade school and his brothers not yet born when his father hauled the sleigh from the shadows and out into the light of day. It had looked miserable, Kade remembered.
Waiting to be rescued.
His young self imagined his great-grandparents riding in it, wearing the top hat, fur muffs, and woolen coats he’d only seen in the grainy black-and-white photos in the family albums. He tended to romanticize things, he knew that.
Another notion eighteen-year-old Kade would have laughed at.
Twenty years older and a little wiser, he liked to think. The idea of home and all the traditions he’d grown up with—and scoffed at—held huge appeal now. It took going away and traveling the world to open his eyes. And that sleigh embodied what he’d missed.
