Brenda Harlen - Merry Christmas, Baby Maverick!

She nodded. “I’m a copy editor.”

“Oh.”

And that seemed to exhaust that topic of conversation.

“It was good to see you, Trey.”

“You, too.”

She started past him, relieved that this first and undeniably awkward encounter was over. Her heart was pounding and her stomach was a mass of knots, but she’d managed to exchange a few words with him without bursting into tears or otherwise falling to pieces. A good first step, she decided.

“Kayla—wait.”

And with those two words, her opportunity to flee with her dignity intact was threatened.

Since she hadn’t moved far enough away to be able to pretend that she hadn’t heard him, she reluctantly turned back.

He took a step closer.

“I wanted to call you,” he said, dropping his voice to ensure that his words wouldn’t be overheard by any passersby. “There were so many times I thought about picking up the phone, just because I was thinking about you.”

Her heart, already racing, accelerated even more. “You were thinking about me?”

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you since we danced at the wedding.”

Since we danced?

That was what he remembered about that night?

She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Under other circumstances, it might have been flattering to think that a few minutes in his arms had made such a lasting impression. Under her current circumstances, the lack of any impression of what had come afterward was hurtful and humiliating.

“I really do have to go. My boss is expecting me.”

“What are you doing later?”

She frowned. “Tonight?”

“Sure.”

“I’m going to the movies with Natalie Crawford.”

“Oh.”

He sounded so sincerely disappointed, she wanted to cancel her plans and agree to anything he wanted. Except that kind of thinking was responsible for her current predicament.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you around,” she said.

He held her gaze for another minute before he nodded. “Count on it.”

She walked away, knowing that she already did and cursing the traitorous yearning of her heart.

* * *

Trey helped finish unloading the truck, then headed over to the boarding house. He arrived just as his grandmother was slicing into an enormous roast, and the tantalizing aroma made his mouth water.

“Mmm, something smells good.”

Melba set down her utensils and wiped her hands on a towel before she crossed the room to envelop him in a warm hug. “I was hoping you’d be here in time for dinner.”

“I’d tell you that I ignored the speed limit to make sure of it, but my grandmother would probably disapprove,” he teased.

“She certainly would,” Melba agreed sternly.

“In time for dinner but not in time to mash the potatoes,” Claire said, as she finished her assigned task.

His grandmother let him go and turned him over to his cousin, who hugged him tight.

He tipped her chin up to look into her brown eyes. “Everything good?”

“Everything’s great,” she assured him, her radiant smile confirming the words.

“Levi?” he prompted, referring to the husband she’d briefly separated from in the summer.

“In the front parlor, playing with Bekka.”

“It’s so much fun to have a child in the house again,” their grandmother said. “I can’t wait for there to be a dozen more.”

“Don’t count on me to add another dozen,” Claire warned. “I have my hands full with one.”

“At least you’ve given me one,” Melba noted, with a pointed glance in Trey’s direction.

He moved to the sink and washed his hands. “What can I do to help with dinner?” he asked, desperate to change the topic of conversation.

“You can get down the pitcher for the gravy.” Melba gestured to a cupboard far over her head. “Then round up the rest of the family.”

Trey retrieved the pitcher, then gratefully escaped from the kitchen. Of course, he should have expected the conversation would circle back to the topic of marriage and babies during the meal.

“So what’s been going on in town since I’ve been gone?” he asked, scooping up a forkful of the potatoes Claire had mashed.

“Goodness, I don’t know where to begin,” his grandmother said. “Oh—the Santa Claus parade was last weekend and the Dalton girl got engaged.”

The potatoes he’d just swallowed dropped to the bottom of his stomach like a ball of lead. “Kayla?”

His grandmother shook her head. “Her sister, Kristen.”

Trey exhaled slowly.

He didn’t know why he’d immediately assumed Kayla, maybe because he’d seen her so recently and had been thinking about her for so long, but the thought of her with another man— engaged to another man—had hit him like a physical jab.

He’d been away from Rust Creek Falls for months—it wasn’t just possible but likely that Kayla had gone out with other guys during that time. And why shouldn’t she? They’d spent one night together—they didn’t have a relationship.

And even if they did, he wasn’t looking to fall in love and get married. So why did the idea of her being with another man make him a little bit crazy?

“Who’d she get engaged to?” he asked, picking up the thread of the conversation again.

“Maggie Roarke’s brother, Ryan,” Claire said.

Trey didn’t know Ryan Roarke, but he worked with his brother, Shane, at the Thunder Canyon Resort. And he knew that their sister had moved to Rust Creek Falls the previous year. “Maggie’s the new lawyer in town—the one married to Jesse Crawford?”

His grandmother nodded. “She gave up her fancy office in LA to make a life here with Jesse, because they were in love.”

“I thought it was because he knocked her up,” Gene interjected.

Melba wagged her fork at her husband. “They were in love,” she insisted.

“And five months after they got married, they had a baby,” Gene told him.

His wife sniffed—likely as much in disapproval of the fact as her husband’s recitation of gossip. “What matters is that they’re together now and a family with their little girl.”

“Speaking of little girls,” Trey said, looking at his cousin’s daughter seated across from him in her high chair. “I can’t get over how much this one has grown in the past few months.”

“Like a weed,” Levi confirmed, ruffling the soft hair on the top of his daughter’s head.

Bekka looked up at him, her big blue eyes wide and adoring.

“No doubt that one’s a daddy’s girl,” Claire noted.

Her husband just grinned.

“Speaking of Kayla Dalton,” his grandmother said.

“Who was speaking of Kayla Dalton?” Gene asked.

“Trey was,” Melba said.

“We were talking about Bekka.”

“Earlier,” Melba clarified. “When I mentioned the Dalton girl got engaged, he asked if it was Kayla.”

“Hers was just the first name that came to mind,” Trey hastened to explain.

“And I wonder why that was,” his grandmother mused.

“Probably because he was up close and personal with her at Braden and Jennifer’s wedding,” Claire teased.

“Anyway,” Melba interjected. “I was wondering if you were going to see Kayla while you’re in town.”

“I already did,” he admitted. “She walked by the community center when we were unloading the truck.”

His grandmother shook her head as she began to stack the empty plates. “I meant, are you going to go out with her?”

“Melba,” her husband said warningly.

“What? Is there something wrong with wanting my grandson to spend time with a nice girl?”

Claire pushed away from the table to help clear it.

“Kayla is a nice girl,” Trey confirmed. “But if you’ve got matchmaking on your mind, you’re going to be disappointed—I’m not looking to settle down yet, not with anybody.”