Dawn Temple - Moonlight and Mistletoe

Stop that. Celebrate now, fall apart later.

Plastering her parade smile back on her face, she paused inside the gym’s double doors. Her breath caught in her throat.

Beautiful.

A rotating disco ball hung from the center of the room, where the ceiling soared to twenty feet. Colored lights danced all through the huge room. Boughs of mistletoe hung from every imaginable spot and fully decorated Christmas trees were scattered throughout.

Overhead, thousands of plastic stars twinkled. It was like standing under a winter night’s sky without dealing with the cold weather.

The festival spirit began to take root as she mingled. Everyone she spoke with said it was the best festival ever. Of course, they said that every year, but still, having played such a public role this year, Shayna couldn’t help but bask in all the compliments. Under any other circumstances, she’d feel like the belle of the ball.

She certainly looked the part. Like most women in town, she’d splurged on a new outfit for tonight’s party. The sequined red gown fit like a dream. The thigh-high slit running up her right side drew the attention of every man in the room.

But the only man whose attention she was interested in was probably already back in sunny California. Small towns being what they were, Kyle’s absence made him a hot topic, and it seemed as if everyone had asked about him at least twice already.

If she weren’t such a big chicken, she’d have told them he wasn’t coming because she’d run him off. Instead, she hemmed and hawed, telling them she wasn’t sure about his plans. The truth, yes-but not exactly an honest answer.

She lowered her guard for a few minutes when Lindy and Travis showed up with Danny and his family. Danny, who looked stellar in a black pin-striped suit and gold vest, immediately asked her to dance.

“Still okay?” When it came to looking out for those he cared for, the man was like a dog with a bone, and she loved him for it.

“A little shell-shocked, but hanging in there.”

“Heard from Kyle?”

“Nope.” Her feet stumbled. “He’s gone.”

Danny covered her misstep flawlessly. “You sure about that? He told me he had stuff to take care of, then he would catch up with you after the parade.”

His words perked up her hopelessly devoted heart, but she refused to drop her guard completely. “Guess he meant Monday, during business hours.”

“It didn’t sound to me like he had business on the brain.”

“What else could it be? Wrapping up this case is crucial to his career.”

“I saw the way he looked at you, sweetie. That man was not thinking about his career.”

“Those steamy looks were just chemistry.”

“If memory serves, sex-no matter how good-doesn’t make a man go all moony. My money says he’s as much in love with you as you are with him.”

This time she didn’t stumble. She came to a dead stop, ignoring all the other dancers. “It’s that obvious?”

“Yep.” Danny grinned, pulling her back into the music’s flow. “You both practically vibrate when the other gets close.”

“If that’s true, then where is he?”

The music ended. Shayna stepped slowly out of Danny’s arms and joined the applause for the band.

“Over there,” Danny whispered near her ear, pointing toward the side entrance. Her stomach dropped to her knees. Even across the vast gym, seeing Kyle again, dressed in a dark suit and red-and-gold tie, nearly knocked her socks off.

Every muscle in her body quivered with the desire to run to him and throw her arms around his neck, but her injured pride refused to cooperate. Still, as she worked the room, her progress did take her slowly but surely in his direction.

Finally they stood face-to-face, off to the edge of the crowd. “You look amazing,” he said.

“Yes, well, as head volunteer, it’s expected.”

“Shayna, we have important things that need to be said. In private. Things I tried to tell you last night, before you distracted me.”

“Distracted you? Is that what you call it? Funny, I had a whole different phrase for it.”

“Please. Give me five minutes, so I can explain what happened earlier.”

The band wound down their final song of the set, and the sudden quiet made the room seem larger, louder somehow.

“This is not a good time.” She felt as jumpy as the last cricket in the bait bucket. Which made this whole mess worse since she was scheduled to speak during the intermission.

Mayor Evans took the stage, leaving her only a few minutes to compose her nerves. Kyle tried again. “Shayna-” A burst of applause interrupted his plea, and warned her she’d been introduced.

Gritting her teeth beneath a wide grin, she forced herself to calmly ascend the steps. “Thank you, Mayor Evans, and thank you, Holcombe County. Without you, none of this would be possible.”

She smiled wider and applauded the crowd, who applauded right back. As she looked out into the sea of mostly familiar faces, snippets of her memorized speech flashed inside her brain, along with memories of this year’s festival, images of Kyle, as Santa and as himself. The words she’d planned lodged in her throat as she watched him approach the front of the stage.

He stopped directly in front of her. The festive lighting’s ambient glow played tricks with her vision, making her think for a moment she saw love burning in Kyle’s eyes.

Surely that was just wishful thinking, right?

Unconcerned about the five hundred or so people milling around them, he announced, “I have something very important I need to tell you, Shayna.”

She cupped her hand over the microphone-not that she needed to bother. The huge room was suddenly as quiet as church on Monday. “I’m kind of in the middle of something here,” she whispered through clenched teeth. “Can’t this wait?”

“No.” Forgoing the risers, he stepped up on center stage, right next to her. “Every time I try to tell you something important, you cut me off. I’m tired of waiting.”

Flustered, she blinked out at the wide-eyed crowd. It seemed as if everyone she knew was out there, holding their breaths, dying to hear what Kyle had to say.

This was a little too small-town-in-your-business even for her. “Not here, Kyle. Give me five min-”

“Right here, right now.” He took her shoulders and turned her away from the crowd, leaving her no choice but to meet his gaze. Vivid, honest emotions swam in his bright blue eyes.

Hope, joy and longing sprang to life in her heart, and this time she did nothing to hold them back. “I was afraid you’d gone back to California.”

His hand cupped her jaw, his thumbs caressing her bottom lip. She could feel the speed of his pulse. “I told you I wasn’t going anywhere.”

A tug on her skirt startled her. One look at the unspoken words in Kyle’s eyes and she’d forgotten all about the crowd surrounding them. Following the pressure on her hem, she looked down, where Tommy Hunter stood next to her, pointing up.

“Mistletoe, Miz Shayna. You know what that means.”

The fire in her face could have melted snow. Shayna tried for the coward’s way out, reaching for Tommy’s thin shoulders. “No! Not me. Kiss Mr. Kyle.” He jumped off the stage and scurried back into the crowd.

Mortified, she snuck a peek at the crowd, praying no one had heard the child’s command. No such luck. Everyone seemed to be smiling and glancing between the sprig of greenery hanging from the ceiling and the couple on the stage.

“Come on, Anderson!” Someone in the crowd-someone who sounded an awful lot like Danny Robertson-shouted. “Kiss her.”

The room swelled with chants of, “Kiss, kiss, kiss.”

Not certain her heart would ever beat steadily again, Shayna faced Kyle.