Page 26 of The Christmas Cottage
She had just never made time for it before.
As she browsed through the items, picking up an eggnog-scented bath bomb for herself, she saw a lovely gift box of bath salts sitting next to the small pile of bath bombs. It had fourseparate scents—cranberry orange, peppermint, vanilla pecan and apple cinnamon—and she thought that Mabel would love it. She purchased it and the bath bomb, just in time to hear Imogen telling Katie that it was fine if she went and got in line for the apple bobbing game.
Vanessa turned around with her bag in hand, about to suggest to Imogen that they get something to eat from one of the food vendors while Katie was bobbing for apples, when she saw Jackson walking toward them.
“Fancy meeting you here.” He grinned, taking a sip from his cup of what smelled like hot apple cider with cinnamon. “Out soaking in the holiday cheer?”
“Imogen and Katie invited me to come out with them,” Vanessa said with a smile.
“Is there anything like this back in San Francisco?” he teased lightly, and Vanessa found her smile widening a bit.
“I’m sure there is,” she said with a small laugh. “But I haven’t ever made the time to check it out. So this is a first for me—since I was a kid anyway. And I don’t really remember coming to this as a child. Maybe they hadn’t started it up yet.”
“Enjoying yourself?” Jackson took a sip of his apple cider, and Vanessa had to admit that out here like this, he was even more handsome than at the diner. His apron was gone, and he was wearing a thick forest-green fisherman’s knit sweater, with brown pants and heavy boots, that stubble on his jaw a bit thicker.
“I am,” she said, and she was surprised to find that it really was true. Despite the noise, and crowds, and all of this being completely out of her comfort zone, she really was having a good time. More than she would have thought, even.
“Good.” Jackson grinned. “I’m glad you’re getting into the Christmas spirit. You can never have enough of that, you know.”
“That seems to be Fir Tree Grove’s motto.” Vanessa laughed. “Speaking of Christmas spirit, I’m sorry my grandmother roped you into playing Santa for her event. I didn’t know that was coming, I promise. She has a way of guilting people into things,” she added, remembering how she’d ended up back in town in the first place. “She told me when she called that she just wanted me to come visit for the holiday, and then when I got here I found out she’d hurt her wrist and needed help.”
Jackson chuckled. “Knowing Mabel as long as I have, I’m not even a little bit surprised by that. But as far as playing Santa goes—” he grinned at her. “If I’m going to be forced into it, at least Mrs. Claus is easy on the eyes.”
Vanessa couldn’t remember the last time she’d blushed. Maybe back in college, at some point. But that statement from Jackson couldn’t be anything other than a subtle flirtation, and she felt her cheeks begin to heat as he looked at her from over the rim of his cup of cider.
She had no idea what she was meant to say in return. She didn’tdothis—flirt with men, especially not attractive, rugged-looking men in small towns who made her heart feel strange in her chest and her face go red. But fortunately, she was saved just then by Katie running back up, along with her mother right next to her.
“Katie wants to get an elephant ear,” Imogen said, sounding slightly out of breath. “Oh—hi, Jackson. Nice to see you.”
“Nice to see you too,” he said, and Vanessa knew she wasn’t imagining that he sounded different speaking to Imogen than to her. Hewasflirting with her, but she didn’t know what she was meant to do about it. It wasn’t as if she were going to be in town all that long, and a holiday fling with the local diner owner hadn’t been on her to-do list.
“Do you want to join us?” Imogen asked. “We’re going to go get Katie her treat, and then maybe grab some food. One of the vendors has stew, and it smells so good.”
“I’d love to,” Jackson said easily, falling into step next to Vanessa as they headed to the vendor with the funnel cakes and elephant ears for Katie’s treat. “She’s going to be spinning like a top after all that sugar,” he said with a laugh as he finished his cider and tossed the cup into the trash, and Vanessa laughed as well.
“She already had a cup of hot cocoa with extra sprinkles too,” Vanessa said, and Jackson winced dramatically.
“No sleep for her or Imogen tonight, I imagine.”
“What brought you out tonight?” Vanessa asked as they waited on Imogen and Katie. “Just mingling, or did you need to finish some holiday shopping?”
Jackson shrugged. “A little of both. I don’t think I’ve missed a single year of the holiday market since it started. It’s just so… festive. Everyone out and about, enjoying the season and each other—there’s so much joy in the air. It feels good to be a part of it. Don’t you think?”
Vanessa paused, really thinking about the answer to that question for a moment. “It does,” she said finally, and she found that she really meant it. She’d come out because Imogen had asked her to, and she’d have felt bad saying no, but she really was having a good time. She could feel that joy in the air that Jackson was talking about, that Christmas cheer, and it was lifting her spirits. “I’m really glad I came out.”
“I haven’t seen Mabel around,” Imogen said as she re-joined them, handing Vanessa a bowl of thick, spiced beef stew, steam curling off of the top of the bowl. “Did she decide to stay in tonight?”
“I think she was working on some last-minute inventory before the big Christmas shopping days,” Vanessa said, taking amouthful of the stew as she blew on it to cool it down. “I offered to stay and help, but she said it wasn’t too taxing, and that I should go and have fun. I think she thinks that I don’t do that often enough,” she added with a laugh.
It sounded a little self-conscious as it came out, because it was true. Shedidn’thave fun, hardly ever. And now that she was letting herself try it out, she was beginning to realize just how much she’d missed out on.
“Maybe she’ll come join us later, if she’s not too tired. She loves the Christmas market,” Imogen said with a smile. “Sometimes she has a booth, although I’m not surprised she didn’t this year, with her wrist being hurt.”
“Speaking of that—” Vanessa frowned. “Do any of you know how she actually hurt it? She told George that she hurt it getting something off a shelf on a rickety ladder, but then later she said to me that it was picking up a box, which turned into that shereallyhurt it picking up the box from the shelf while on the ladder. Is that what you heard?”
Jackson frowned too. “She said something to me about tripping over some boxes from a shipment, and twisting it when she grabbed the counter to catch herself.”
“That’s odd.” Imogen looked between the two of them. “It’s not like Mabel to be so cagey. Maybe she’s just embarrassed about getting hurt.”
