Page 54 of A Spell for Midwinter's Heart
Rowan snorted. “A ballerina? Me? Not with this center of balance.”
A crooked smile upturned one end of his mouth. “You know how to dance.”
When had he ever seen her dance? She supposed they’d attended the same dances in high school, where she, simply by virtue of being willing to dance unself-consciously, might have come off as knowing how, but they’d occupied distinctly separate territories.
“My version was…interpretive dance,” she said. “But I loved the story.”
“Isn’t the story just a string of nonsense to justify the dances?”
With a shrug, she said, “I’m a fan of beautiful nonsense that makes you feel things.”
“Hmm,” he said, face sticking in the half smile.
She led him into a narrow side room, where more displays were stuffed cheek by jowl. A rounded cherrywood cabinet contained a nutcracker wearing a crown of holly and a flowing robe, clearly fashioned after the Holly King.
“This is my other one.” She stared at it. The nutcracker’s resemblance to the Holly King impersonator she’d met at SeaTac was uncanny, and she recalled their conversation, the way he had challenged her, with a shiver.
Was it possible that he hadn’t been an impersonator? And if he wasn’t, did that mean that one of the season’s most powerful spirits had taken a stake in the future of Elk Ridge?
A tremor of possibility ran down the length of her spine. What all magics were at play here?
Gavin wandered over to another cabinet, admiring a highly polished single-tone wooden nutcracker—one of the oldest in the collection, explained a placard. It was bare of paint and didn’t have the distinctive stylistic appearance of most commercial nutcrackers. Instead, it was a highly realistic old man’s head. His beardswept out in front of him in a fork to form the base, providing the foundation for the “cracker,” and a tall, pointed cap extended above his head dramatically.
“I think this is my favorite.” He studied the plaque. “It’s really old.”
“Insightful review.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s different from every other nutcracker here. It’s entirely its own nutcracker.” His eyes landed on her face, and her stomach gave a flutter.
“Well, we’re not actually here to look at nutcrackers; maybe we should…” Rowan indicated a box bench by the window with a nod of her head.
“Just so.”
Settling in, she ran her hand along the surface of the smooth old wood. Gavin joined, settling in close. Very close—as the warm flush of her body pointed out. If she were to only shift to the side by centimeters, their legs would press together.
He rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands at his front. Dark eyes slid her way, serious. “We need to talk about what you saw yesterday.”
Oh no.
He had seen her at the inn. Did he think she was some kind of weirdo, getting her jollies spying on them?
She thrust a hand onto his and said, “Look, I am so sorry. I know it was weird for me to be there. I wanted to talk to you about the festival, but you guys took off from the restaurant, and I followed you—” Her voice cut out at the growing confusion on Gavin’s face. “But that’s not what you’re talking about, is it?”
“No…” He shook his head, straightening. “What do you mean, you were following me?”
“Last night. You and Hayleigh. At the restaurant and then…the inn. What areyoutalking about?”
“I was talking about your mom’s store. The Goshen Group reps. The inspector…” His face crumpled in realization. “You saw Hayleigh and me outside the Crescent.”
She nodded, stomach bucking uncomfortably. “Yes.”
He pieced his words together. “So, you saw…” Her glare sufficed as confirmation. “Itwasn’twhat it looked like.”
“So, you twodidn’tkiss? It was all a trick of the light?”
His brow creased in frustration. “No, we did. Butshekissedme.”
“You didn’t exactly push her away.”
