Page 37 of Moonlit Harbor Nights

“Hey, Noelle!” Amy sang cheerfully into the intercom. “I need you to come out to the lobby for a sec. I’ve switched your next appointment to Chip, but you’re getting paid for it anyway.”

Dean could hardly make out Noelle’s muffled and confused-sounding response.

“There’s something far more important that just came up,” Amy said, winking at Dean.

He offered her a watery smile in response, but he was worried about how Noelle was going to feel about the whole thing.

A second later, Noelle stepped out of her office. She was wearing pale pink scrubs, and her hair was pulled back into anattractive ponytail. Dean’s heart skipped a beat when he saw her, and she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him.

“Dean is here to talk to you, Noelle,” Amy said sweetly. “Like I said, it’s very important.”

Noelle gave Dean a knowing look, but she didn’t argue. “We can go inside my office, Dean,” she said, gesturing to the door, which had glittery hearts hanging on it.

Dean swallowed. He didn’t want to sit with her in her office, having some kind of strained, formal conversation. He wanted a more casual, romantic setting for the talk he wanted to have with her.

“How about we go for a walk?” he suggested. “It’s a beautiful day outside. A little chilly, but the snow is nice. Fresh air sound good to you?”

She shrugged. “Sure. Fresh air sounds good.” She offered him a small smile. “Let me go get my coat.”

She disappeared into her office, and he kicked himself for not bringing along coffee or cocoa or something for them to sip while they walked. It would have been a good gesture, he thought, something that showed her how much he cared about her. Then again, the last time he’d brought treats to her office, she’d thanked him briefly and then told him she needed to get back to work. Maybe goodies weren’t enough to show his appreciation for her anyway.

She appeared a moment later, bundled up in her coat and a matching hat, scarf, and mittens—all a cheerful pink.

“Bye, Amy,” she said, waving to the receptionist. “I’ll be back before my next client.”

Amy waved back, looking as proud as if she’d just managed to reunite Romeo and Juliet.

Dean and Noelle stepped outside into the lightly falling snow. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his coat as he fell into step beside her. He glanced at her a few times as they starteddown the sidewalk, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was looking straight ahead, as if she was waiting for him to speak first.

His heart sank as he took in her expression. It was clear that there was some kind of wall between them now. She had always been so sweet and energetic toward him, but now her demeanor was hesitant and almost cold.

“How’s your day going?” he asked.

She glanced at him for a moment, and then shrugged. “It’s going fine. Not a lot of clients today.”

He knew that ordinarily, she would have made some joke about how now she had even fewer clients than she’d expected because of the switch that had been made, but instead she just got quiet. He thought about making a joke himself, but then decided not to. The result was that there was a prolonged, awkward silence between them.

“That’s good,” he said finally. “I hope you’ve been having a relaxing day.”

“Oh, not really.” Noelle forced a smile. “But thanks for saying that.”

He was about to ask her why her day hadn’t been relaxing, but at that moment, Alexis and Grayson drove past in their car and honked loudly.

“Hey, you guys!” Alexis shouted from the window. “Enjoy the snow!”

“Thanks, Alexis!” Noelle called, for a moment appearing just as friendly and happy as usual.

Dean held back a sigh. It was clear he needed to talk with his girlfriend about everything that had been—or, hadn’t been—going on between them.

She deserves my time and my care,he thought to himself.I’ll make sure she knows how much I want to give her those things.

He and Noelle turned a corner and found themselves in the center of town. The little white gazebo in the middle of the town square was quaintly dusted with snow, and offered a pleasant refuge from the weather.

“Would you like to sit in there for a while?” Dean asked, gesturing to the gazebo. “Are you too cold?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m okay. We can sit there for a little while.”

He tried to think of something to say, and finally blurted out, “Cool,” feeling like a tongue-tied middle schooler.

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