Page 4 of Nate
“You must be Nate.” She smiles, and it’s enough to melt every bit of bitterness inside me. Her smile is absolutely intoxicating.
“Please, come inside. Do you need any help with your bags? Surely that isn’t your only suitcase…” I glance at the one in her left hand and look up to see the car that brought her pulling away.
“The rest of my luggage is supposed to arrive in a couple of days.” She walks into my house. “I just packed enough for a few days so that I didn’t have to drag it all through the airport.”
“Smart.” I nod and take her bag. “Come, I’ll give you the grand tour.”
The grand tour isn’t much. I show her my kitchen, dining room, living room, the main bathroom, the master bedroom, and finally arrive at the last room at the end of the hallway.
“You have a very nice place.” She stops to look at the family photographs on the wall in the hallway. “Is this your family?”
“Yep.” I nod. “Every living Mistletoe and a few who aren’t with us anymore.”
“Your mother must have had her hands full.” She looks at the photo of our entire family. “Six boys?”
“We didn’t make it easy for her.” I laugh under my breath and motion to the guest room. “You’re in here. I know it isn’t much. I don’t have that many guests.”
“Oh, okay.” She watches as I put her suitcase on the bed and then glances down the hallway toward the master bedroom. “I guess I just assumed…”
“Well, I didn’t want to assume…” I can feel the awkwardness in the air.
“This is perfect.” She smiles and walks into the guest room.
I feel like a teenager stumbling my way through my very first date. I’m not really sure how this is supposed to work. Should I have put her in the master bedroom? Is she offended that I didn’t? We are supposed to get married.
But we’re not married yet. We’re certainly not in love. Maybe I should’ve looked at her picture before she arrived because it would’ve given me time to prepare myself. I don’t know what any of my brothers did. Mom might not have even given them the same option. Perhaps she offered it to me because she knew I would be absolutely dumbstruck when I laid eyes on my gorgeous bride-to-be.
“I’ll let you take some time to get settled in. I was just about to make some lunch. Are you hungry?” I take a step toward the door.
“A little.” She turns to me and nods. “I ate some peanuts on the plane.”
“Well that’s certainly not a meal.” I shake my head. “I’ll go whip something up.”
My mom sent over some of her world-famous chicken salad yesterday. Snow-Valley-famous at least. Too bad she didn’t send over any of her fruitcake or brown sugar bourbon. I wouldn’t mind a little of both right now, although it’s a little early for the latter. My mom probably wouldn’t send me home with a whole bottle anyway.
I get two chicken salad sandwiches made just in time for Catriona to walk into the kitchen. The sight of her takes my breath away for the second time. I fumble over my words as I get the plates to the table and pull out her chair.
This is going great. I was so worried that I wouldn’t like the girl who showed up on my front porch that I didn’t even think it could be me who wanted to impress her instead of the other way around.
Now I’m trapped in an intoxicating smile, and I don’t know how I’m going to avoid falling head over heels before the sun goes down.
Catriona
Idon’tknowwhatI was expecting when I walked up to Nate’s door, but I wasn’t prepared to see a tall mountain of a man who made me want to melt into a puddle the first time I laid eyes on him.
I guess they really know how to raise them in Snow Valley, because he’s hot-as-sin and looks like he was chiseled from a fantasy. He definitely looks a little rough around the edges, just like Holly Huckleberry said, but I wouldn’t turn a guy down just because he has a few tattoos. He certainly doesn’t seem to be a metrosexual man-baby like the guy I almost married turned out to be.
“This is really good…” I take the first bite of my chicken salad sandwich. “Did you make this?”
“Nah, my mom made it. Don’t worry, if I tell her you like it, she’ll never stop making it for you.” He looks down and laughs under his breath.
“I can’t wait to meet her.” I nod. “She must be a very interesting woman if she ordered mail-order brides for all six of her sons!”
“The agency told you all about that, huh?” He picks up his sandwich. “I’ll admit, I was a little shocked when she broke the news to me. I think we all were.”
We continue eating, and Nate tells me the whole story. Holly Huckleberry told me some of it, but he fills in the rest of the details. Nate was in full agreement with buying the town, but he wasn’t that enthused about marrying someone he didn’t know.
That’s somewhat comforting. I had hesitations myself. My roommates thought I was crazy. My mom told me I had lost my mind. My father, who normally doesn’t raise his voice, actually yelled at me on the phone. Nonetheless, I made the decision that I felt was right for me.
