Page 51 of Christmas Cove

“I’m going to ignore your pity party for the moment and get to work on problemnumero uno.” Poppy slammed her notebook shut and put her hand out. “Give me all your notes.”

America was taken aback by Poppy’s demand and promptly handed over her computer. “Everything you need is in theC.Covefolder on the desktop. It’s not much.”

“It’ll be enough.”

“Are you going to Mr. Janowitz now?”

“Not until I have something to add.”

Poppy left the office and shut the door behind herself, leaving America in the quiet solitude of her own mind. Only, her brain wasn’t quiet at all. How could she be so stupid? Falling for the mayor, and promptly sabotaging any hope of a relationship with him before she had a chance to tell him how she felt was not in the plan.

What she really wanted to do was to pick up the phone and call Leo. She wanted to apologize for her harsh words. Taking her cell phone from her pocket, America scrolled through her contacts to Leo’s number. Her thumb hovered above his name. In truth, she didn’t know what she would say, even if by some miracle the call actually went through and he picked up.

Poppy burst through the door, her red hair half falling from a claw clip on her crown and sporting a wide smile. “I’ve got it!”

“What did you get, Poppy?”

“Here.” She placed the laptop in front of America and opened the screen. “I wrote a kind of ‘wanted’ ad for Christmas Cove. I’m putting it in the teaser for next week’s issue that’ll go out tomorrow.” She stood over America’s shoulder. “I figured, after all that stuff you said about how great Christmas Cove used to be, that somewhere, there might be a few people who want to move back.”

“I had that same thought,” America sighed and shut the screen. “I just don’t think that someone can pick up their whole life and move on such short notice. I appreciate this, though.”

“Well...” Poppy took the laptop. “Since you don’t have a better idea, I’m sending this out anyway. It can’t hurt. Plus. I thought that if Leo saw how hard you were trying to help, that he might. I don’t know...forgive you?” she shrugged.

“You’re right. It won’t hurt anything. Thank you, Poppy.”

“You know, in all the time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you so unsure. You’re different. Like somehow you left a piece of yourself behind in that town, or with its mayor,” Poppy teased.

America didn’t respond. She did feel changed. For the first time in her adult life, she understood what it really meant to want someone else’s happiness more than her own. Leo was kinder to her than she deserved. Even following her embarrassing plea to leave as soon as she had gotten to town, he had only thought of her needs and wants, and delivered to her a Christmas tree of her very own, while she had only wanted out.

If it weren’t for the tiny tree in the corner of the living area, decorated with one strand of mini lights and a few ornaments, she would have left and never looked back. Closing her eyes, she pictured the cabin in her mind, walking around the sofa and plopping down with a glass of white in her hand, Leo knocking on the door.

Knocking on the door? Her eyes flew open at the sound. Behind the glass, Mark stood holding a plate of cookies wrapped in red cellophane with a ribbon tied around. As she looked distantly at the tall, forty-something with gray speckled hair and bushy brows, she couldn’t remember why she had ever liked him in the first place. The memory of swooning whenever he would come by or pay her a compliment seemed a million miles away now.

She motioned for him to enter. “Are those for me?”

His brow knitted together and formed one large caterpillar across his forehead as though he had no idea of what she was talking about.

“The cookies?” she said.

He looked down at the object in his hands and tilted his head.Did he even know he had been carrying the plate? she wondered. Her head followed his cocked gaze and then righted again.

“Oh, these. No. Someone left them in the break room, and I figured they were for me.”

“Why would you think that?” she asked and bit back a laugh.

“People are always leaving little gifts for me around the office,” he said with no hint of awareness.

“Are you certain that you aren’t just taking things that don’t belong to you?” America asked.

He seemed to ponder the idea for a moment and then grinned. “Nope.”

For the first time, she saw the man as he truly was. Daft. Handsome, completely unaware of his privilege, yet somehow utterly self-absorbed. Infatuation is a funny thing that distorts the world around it. If obsession twists one’s thinking, then it was also possible that all the feeling she had for Leo were a lie.

The butterflies fluttering in her belly told a different story. Leo made her feel excited and happy, and she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so free with her time or heart. She knew now that she had never felt any of that for Mark. In fact, she had never felt anything for him personally. She realized that it was his confident demeanor and his friendly vibes that she had been in awe of, not to mention his engaging writing skills.

Her admiration could find a place to stay, but in that moment, she simply let go of the fangirl she had once been.

“What can I do for you, Mark?” America packed up her bag and grabbed her coat as she spoke.

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