Page 45 of Christmas Cove

“Yes.” America clapped and rubbed her fingers together. “I was wondering if you—”

“Stop right there, America.”

America began to protest, but closed her lips tightly. She shifted away from him from embarrassment and grabbed the door handle to leave.

Leo’s hand covered hers on the latch and pulled her back towards himself. She locked eyes with him and searched for his meaning through the confusion in her mind.

“America, would you like to accompany me to the Countyline Christmas dance tomorrow evening?” Leo said with a smirk.

“Yes. I would love to go with you.”

“I haven’t danced in quite a while. These boots might be a little rusty,” Leo warned.

“I think you’ll be all right.”

“Pick you up at seven?”

America nodded and opened the door, afraid that if she looked back at Leo again, she would want to stay right where she was, beside him. “See you then,” she said and made for the cabin’s front door.

CHAPTER25

Leo got nearlyzero sleep that night. After dropping America at the cabin, he proceeded to his home a couple miles away. Laying in the dark, with only a few stars to light his window, his mind tossed between the two things tugging at his heart: America and the Cove.

How had America breezed into his life, into his town, and shaken him so? Her dark hair and joyful eyes teased him, but she also made him feel hopeful and not alone anymore.

But her time in Christmas Cove was temporary. He had known that from the start. She was on assignment, one that didn’t include falling in love with the mayor. He was certain that wasn’t on the agenda. But there was something in how she looked at him, how at-ease they were with each other, how she pushed him outside his quiet and uneventful comfort zone, and how he wanted to be with her always, that told him not to take the chance meeting with her for granted.

Could he ask her to stay?

If he did, would she even want to?

These were questions he needed an answer to before he allowed his heart to form any new connections to her. The dance was the perfect setting for him to gauge her true feelings.

But Leo was dealing with so much more than just a crush on the city girl.

Even with the biggest and most over-the-top Christmas celebration that he and America could pull together, there was little chance the Cove would magically get enough residents by the deadline.

Everything changed since hearing the news of the incorporation. He was the mayor. The only mayor the Cove had, and the only person standing in the breach against the takeover, and he knew he was in over his head. His last-ditch attempt to bring back Christmas and stop his town from dying all together was feeble at best, and foolish at worst.

He and America had gotten the town’s hopes up, their joy was starting to return, and things felt less gray than they had only days earlier. The change was evident on Main Street, where the neighbors had put out even more decorations and lights. There were more twinkling lights and shiny ornaments than he’d seen for a long time. Did those people think it was a fool’s errand?

With the hours ticking by, Leo had a choice to make. He could put everything into finding a way to save the Cove, or he could let the takeover go ahead.

Would it be so bad if Elizabethtown facilitated the necessary functions of the city? The Cove would always be the Cove, even if it was a tiny corner of an empty lake turned grassy plain. They could still have Christmas their way. They could revitalize with new industry, like becoming a retreat destination, just like he and Pa had discussed.

Leo spent the day in his drafty office at the town hall, making phone calls and scouring old contracts, looking for any way out of the agreement with Elizabethtown. His eyeballs felt like they were bleeding from having read so many legal documents. After hours and hours, he was no closer to a solution than he had been the day before.

He needed a break, and seven o’clock couldn’t come fast enough.

The black antique phone rang at his desk.

“Hello?”

“When exactly were you planning on telling me about the incorporation?” a voice Leo knew all too well scolded.

“Hi, Pa. Who told you?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m calling to find out what the plan is,” Edwin said, as though he was answering to a superior officer.

---