Page 41 of A Gingerbread Romance

Tim and Luke nodded to agree.

“Thanks. We are.”

“Way to listen to your little brothers,” said Luke with a tip of his beer against Jonathan’s mug.

“Every now and then I’ll take your advice,kiddos.” He grinned.

Luke and Wade laughed.

“So, what’s next?” asked Tim. “You guys talk about how you’re going to work it out, with you living in Baltimore?”

Jonathan nodded. “Yeah, I’ll come out and see her every week or two, and vice versa. It should be all right.” Or so he hoped. He’d actually thought of renting the apartment he was currently in, long term, because her grandmother would soon return from her trip, and they wouldn’t have as much privacy at her house once she did. His short-term rental there would soon be up, but was that putting the cart before the horse? He didn’t want to scare Greta by moving things along too quickly.

He cleared his throat, chastising himself for, once again, allowing his Carla baggage to board the train.

Greta was not Carla. She was nothing like Carla. She was loyal, honest, and caring, and would probably be happy if he leased himself an apartment full-time here in New Haven Falls. It would show her he was committed.

“That’s the spirit,” said Tim. “Just give yourselves time. It’ll all work out.”

Wade excused himself from the guys when Rhonnie waved him to the kitchen—something about the appetizers—so Jonathan, Tim, and Luke wandered over to see how the women were faring.

“Hey, guys,” Chloe said as they approached with a grin toward Greta, “I was asking Greta what she likes to do on her time off, and she mentioned cross country skiing. She said you guys might take the trail that leads out to the falls after Christmas, Jonathan?”

“Yeah, we’ve been planning on it.” He smiled warmly at Greta. He was eager to go there with her.

“I invited them to tag along,” said Greta. “Would you mind if they joined us?”

Jonathan shook his head. “Oh, wow! Not at all. You guys want to come?”

“I’d love to,” said Luke.

Chloe nodded eagerly. “I love that waterfall. I’ve never been there on skis, though. Only in the summer.”

“It’s beautiful in winter,” said Greta.

“I thought you preferred downhill, bro’,” said Jonathan with a hand to his brother’s shoulder.

“I do, but I used to do a lot more backcountry routes in Colorado. I miss that. Cross-country is the next best thing.”

Jonathan nodded. “Cool. Let’s do it then.” He looked at Greta. “Can you take a few hours off of work sometime next week?”

She nodded. “Yeah, sure. Tuesday would be best for me. Would that work?”

“Definitely.” Jonathan smiled and put a gentle hand to her back.

Luke and Chloe nodded.

“How about you guys, Tim? You want to join us?”

Tim shook his head. “Oh, I wish I could, but the boys keep me busy during their winter break when I’m not working. I’m going to take them ice skating this weekend, if any of you uncles and aunts would like to come.”

Jonathan nodded, as did the others. “Keep me posted.”

“Hey, Uncle Jonathan,” said Tim’s son, James, tugging at his sweater with a wide smile, “we brought our model planes. They’re all finished. Do you want to come see how they turned out?”

Ethan showed up behind him, just as eager.

“Sure, guys! Lead the way.”

---