Page 25 of Stay this Christmas
“Seemed important.”
My still-tangled heart confirmed it.
I leaned closer, my voice a whisper. “He just apologized for all of that.”
“Just now?”
“Yeah.” I sat back, toying with my fork. “And I kind of ran away.”
He nodded, dipping one of my fries in ketchup before popping it in his mouth. “Bold choice.”
His easygoing attitude about the whole thing helped me relax some. Hard to stay wound up about it with Jed remaining firmly unruffled.
“I don’t know how to be around him anymore. It’s been over ten years. Can we be friends? Does it even matter anymore that we dated? Is it weird that I still care?”
Would not addDoes he actually want me back?to the list. That question would crack open a Pandora’s box I wasn’t ready to face.
“You’ll figure it out.”
I blew out a laugh. “I like your confidence.”
He grinned again, and I swear, the woman at the table across from us fanned herself.
“I hear it’s one of my better features.”
I shook my head at him. “Okay, my pity party’s over. Thanks for listening.”
“Anytime, Harper. Folks do call me the Love Doctor.”
I snort-laughed at that. “I don’t even want to know.”
He just smiled mysteriously, as if he were made of secrets. Mostly naughty ones.
“What’s new with you, Love Doctor?”
He wiped a napkin across his mouth, some of his teasing fading out.
“Not much new. The orchards are put to bed for the winter, so I’ve got plenty of downtime right now.” He shot me an exaggerated nervous look. “Why, what did June say?”
“Not a lot. Just that your dad wants you to take over the farm.”
“That little gossip.” He grinned again. “That’ll probably happen in the next year or so. Pop wants to retire from thinking about worm spray and crop yield. Mostly, he wants to spend time with Marilyn.”
June and Jed’s mother had passed away a couple of years ago, and their father had recently started seeing someone new. The scenario had been tough for June at first, but she and Marilyn worked together now, so safe to say she’d made her peace with her father dating again. The times I’d seen them together, my uncle and his new lady love couldn’t have looked happier, holding hands and sharing sweet little moments together.
Geez. My sixty-something uncle had a more exciting dating life than I did.
“Looks like we’re the last hold-outs in the family,” I said, a little unfairly looping Jed into my circle of sadness. “The last singletons of the Evans-Webb clan.”
He pressed his palms together in front of his chest, turning his eyes to the ceiling. “Praise the Lord above.”
“You really don’t mind it? Being alone? Or…whatever?”
Wasn’t sure what to call it. Jed hadn’t been shy about dating around since he’d been home from the Army, never settling on any one woman long enough to introduce to the family, but he seemed happy that way. Certainly, the man saw no rush to head down the aisle. I didn’t know all the details, but I didn’t think he’d had a real relationship in the almost three years since he’d been home.
I hadn’t, either, but pretty sure we had different feelings on the matter.
“I don’t know any other way to be.”
