Page 77 of Bad Boy Bachelor Christmas
“What doIwant you to do? Nothing,” she said hurriedly. “This isn’t about me. It’s about you and that overgrown idiot you have wrapped around your finger. If you see a future with him, maybe he’s worth fighting for. If not? Well then let him go. I can come visit you in the spring and we’ll both have walked away winners because we have each other now.”
I smiled. Her optimism had been my favorite thing about her when we first met.
“Are you smiling?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. Then this is where I’m going to leave you, because I don’t want to say anything that influences your decision. I love you, I’m here for you, and I trust you to do what’s best foryou. Nobody else.”
“Yes,Mom.”
“Oh, and for what it’s worth he looks like a miserable sack of bones lately.” Cami hung up the phone.
Still smiling, I looked back up at the ceiling as my head spun with thoughts about North—about how cold he’d been when he ended things with me, versus how sweet he’d been just the night before when he surprised me with a Christmas tree for the cabin.
Love.
After everything he’d been through and lost, did he deserve a bit more grace than I was giving him? We all made missteps along our journeys. It only made sense that this could have overwhelmed him and left him feeling like he needed an out.
Should I have fought harder not to let him take it?
My father knocked on the archway into the living room. “Penny for your thoughts?”
CHAPTER35
NORTH
Marge waddled over to me. She wore her red velvet Mrs. Claus outfit that she’d owned for several years now. It had a fluffy white collar full of silver glitter that tickled her chin, matching cuffs, and faux crystal buttons down the front of the jacket. Marge had always insisted that Mrs. Claus loved all things sparkly and that it added to the magic. I couldn’t fault her for that. She certainly looked the part.
“It’s a good turnout this year.” She put her hand on my arm and looked around, surveying the Maple Hill town square in all its Christmas glory.
The city officials and I had worked together over the past couple of months to pull tonight off. We’d brought in vendors to have a night market where people could sell handmade goods, baked treats, and all kinds of odds and ends for people to finish up some last-minute Christmas shopping. We’d also made sure there were food vendors, including a hot cocoa stand, a mac and cheese food truck, an espresso bar, and a sandwich truck with plenty of vegan and vegetarian friendly options.
Beyond the food and the market stands, we had live entertainment, a jazz band played on a stage to the accompaniment of the Maple Hill Catholic Church choir, who currently sang a lively rendition of “Little Drummer Boy.”
Children chased each other through the market and were scolded for throwing snowballs. Parents tugged tiny children behind them on miniature sleds. Family dogs stuck their noses everywhere they could, pausing and tugging desperately at leashes when they got close to food. Seniors who’d been picked up by volunteers from the Maple Hill Senior Home sang along to the choir while standing bundled up under space heaters. Christmas lights twinkled everywhere, and half-sucked candy canes littered the snow from where children had abandoned them in favor of games.
“I’d say it might be our best year yet,” I told Marge.
She gave my arm a squeeze. “How’ve you been, North? Really?”
“Good.”
She gave me that same wise, twinkly stare she used to give me when I was a boy and she knew I was lying about washing my hands before dinner. “Are you, or do you just want me to believe that? A little birdie told me you were going through some things and that you missed a certain someone.”
“Does that little birdie happen to have curly hair and a big mouth?”
Marge laughed. “Cami can’t help herself. In another life, I suspect she was a matchmaker.”
“Or a lawyer, always sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“You’re her friend, and so is Winter. Who says it doesn’t belong?”
Grumbling, I tucked my hands in my pockets.
Marge smiled an easy smile. “You don’t have to tell me anything, North. It’s okay. I just want you to know that I’m here for you if you did decide you wanted a listening ear. I could come up to the estate for an evening. It’s been a while since I enjoyed Maurice’s cooking.”
“He’d be happy to see you.”
