A Mistletoe Vow: A Cold Creek Christmas Story / Falling for Mr December / A Husband for the Holidays

“I’m glad they’re making a Sparkle movie,” Olivia said suddenly. Celeste had been so busy explaining herself, she hadn’t realized the girl had left the puppies on the floor of the stall and rejoined them. “I can’t wait to see it.”

Flynn smiled at his daughter with that sweet tenderness that tugged at her heart. “We’ll probably be back in California, and you can tell everyone else at the movie theater that you actually had the chance to meet the real Sparkle and the women who created the fictional version.”

“I guess.” Olivia didn’t look as excited about that prospect as Celeste might have expected. In fact, she appeared downright glum.

Why? she wondered. Was the girl enjoying her time in Pine Gulch so much that she didn’t like thinking about their eventual return to California?

“Maybe we could come back and see the movie here,” Olivia suggested.

“Maybe.”

Celeste felt a sharp little kick to her heart at the noncommittal word. They wouldn’t be back. She was suddenly certain of it. After Flynn sold his grandmother’s house, he would have no more ties here in Pine Gulch. She likely would never see him or his daughter again.

This was why she needed to be careful to guard her heart better. She already hurt just thinking about them leaving. How much worse would it be if she let herself take that leap and fell in love with him?

He stood up and wiped the straw from the back of Olivia’s coat where she had been sitting on the floor of the stall.

“We should probably take off,” he said. “You need to tell Celeste thank-you for bringing you out here to meet Sparkle and to play with the puppies.”

“Do we have to go?” she complained.

“Yes. It’s late and Celeste probably has to work at the library tomorrow.”

She nodded and was suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of fatigue. The day had been long and exhausting, and right now she wanted nothing more than to be in her comfy clothes, cuddled up with her animals and watching something brainless on TV.

“Okay,” Olivia said in a dejected voice. “Thank you for bringing me down here to meet Sparkle and play with the puppies.”

“You are very welcome,” Celeste said. “Anytime you want to come back, we would love to have you. Sparkle would, too.”

Olivia seemed heartened by that as she headed for the reindeer’s stall one last time.

“Bye, Sparkle. Bye!”

The reindeer nodded his head two or three times as if he was bowing, which made the girl giggle.

Celeste led the way out of the barn. Another inch of snow had fallen during the short time they had been inside, and they walked in silence to where his SUV was parked in front of the house.

She wrapped her coat around her while Flynn helped his daughter into the backseat. Once she was settled, he closed the door and turned to her.

“Please tell your family thank you for inviting me to dinner. I enjoyed it very much.”

“I will. Good night.”

With a wave, he hopped into his SUV and backed out of the driveway.

She watched them for just a moment, snow settling on her hair and her cheeks while she tried to ignore that little ache in her heart.

She could do this. She was tougher than she sometimes gave herself credit for being. Yes, she might already care about Olivia and be right on the brink of falling hard for her father. That didn’t mean she had to lean forward and leave solid ground.

She would simply have to keep herself centered, focused on her family and her friends, her work and her writing and the holidays. She would do her best to keep him at arm’s length. It was the only smart choice if she wanted to emerge unscathed after this holiday season.

Soon they would be gone and her life would return to the comfortable routine she had created for herself.

As she walked into the house, she tried not to think about how unappealing she suddenly found that idea.

Chapter Nine (#u2f75bc29-2f75-5a37-b22e-990bf425a700)

She didn’t have a chance to test her resolve, simply because she didn’t see Flynn again for longer than a moment or two over the next few days.

At the Thursday rehearsal, he merely dropped Olivia off and left after making sure to give Hope—not Celeste—a card with his cell phone number on it.

She supposed she should take that as some sort of progress. From what she gathered, he hadn’t let Olivia out of his sight since the accident. She had to feel good that he felt comfortable enough with her and her family to leave the girl at The Christmas Ranch without him.

On the other hand, she had to wonder if maybe he was just trying to avoid her.

That really made no logical sense. Why would he feel any sort of need to avoid her? He wasn’t the one who was developing feelings that could never go anywhere.

Still, she had to wonder, especially when he did the same thing Saturday morning for their final practice before the performance, just dropping Olivia off as most of the other parents had done.

She should be grateful he’d brought the girl at all, especially when he obviously wasn’t thrilled about the whole thing.

It was too bad, really, because Olivia was a natural in front of an audience. She seemed far more comfortable onstage than the other children.

The performance was nothing elaborate, a rather hodgepodge collection of short Christmas skits mixed with songs and poems, but considering the few practices they’d had, the show came together marvelously.

When they finished the second run-through Saturday morning, Celeste clapped her hands.

“That was amazing!” she exclaimed. “I’m so proud of each one of you for all your hard work. You are going to make some people very, very happy next week.”

Jolie Wheeler raised her hand. “Can we take the costumes home to show our moms and dads?”

None of the costumes was anything fancy, just bits and pieces she and Hope had thrown together with a little help from Faith and a few of the parents. “We need to keep them here so we can make sure everyone has all the pieces—the belts and halos and crowns—they need for the performance. When you take them off, put your costume on the hanger and everything else in the bag with your name on it in the dressing room. Remember, you will all have to be here at five thirty sharp so we can get into costume and be ready for the show. We’ll have the performance first, and then you are all welcome with your families to stay for dinner with our guests, if you’d like. There should be plenty of food for everyone.”

“Then can we take the costumes home?” Jolie asked.

She smiled at the adorable girl. “We need to keep them here just in case we decide to do another show at The Christmas Ranch next year.”

“Rats,” Jolie complained and a few others joined her in grumbling. What they wanted to do with a few hokey costumes, Celeste had no idea, but she had to smile at their disappointment.

“You’ll all just have to be in the show next year so you can wear them again,” she said.

Not that she intended to be part of it, even if Hope begged her. Writing the little show had taken her almost as long as a full-fledged children’s book.

“Thank you all again for your hard work, and I’ll see you Tuesday evening at five thirty if you need help with your hair and makeup.”

The children dispersed to the boys’ and girls’ dressing rooms—really just separate storage spaces that had been temporarily converted for the show. She cleaned up the rehearsal space and supervised the pickup of the children.

Finally, only Louisa, Barrett, Joey and Olivia were left. They didn’t seem to mind. Indeed, they had gone to the game drawer Hope kept in her office to keep the children occupied when they were hanging out at the lodge and were playing a spirited game of Go Fish with a Christmas-themed deck of cards.