Mistletoe Hero

Quinn followed her gaze. “Isn’t that—”

A squeal of tires interrupted her question. Although the pickup hadn’t been going that fast, Gabe had apparently decided at the last minute to make the left-hand turn.

“He’s coming toward us,” Quinn whispered.

Arianne nodded, watching wide-eyed as he navigated the crowded parking lot and finally rolled to a stop a few feet away from them.

He crooked his finger out the open window and beckoned toward them. Under other circumstances, Arianne might have scoffed that she wasn’t the type who could be summoned like that, but there was no chance she would deny her raging curiosity. Both women exchanged puzzled glances and walked forward.

After Arianne’s last meeting with Gabe, he’d seemed more likely to peel out in the opposite direction than pursue her. Unless he’d deduced her plans to follow up with him later in the week and was making a preemptive strike, she couldn’t imagine what he wanted to discuss.

“Hi, Quinn.” Gabe called out a relaxed greeting that ignored Arianne entirely. Except that his gaze was locked with hers.

“H-hi.”

He continued in that same easy tone that didn’t match the banked intensity of his eyes. “Your friend tells me that you could use a hand. With the fair.”

Quinn couldn’t quite mask her surprise; Arianne didn’t bother trying. Her mouth fell open. She’d planned to wear him down, but she hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly. Damn, I’m good.

“That’s right,” Quinn said. “The fair’s October 24, and we would appreciate any help you can give us getting ready.”

“Two weeks,” Gabe muttered, almost to himself. Then he nodded. “I should be able to make that work.”

Make it work? Was he still talking about the festival?

Recalling the times her mom had used a good meal to coax conversation from reluctant men, Arianne invited, “Why don’t you join us for breakfast and we can talk about the fair some more?”

“No. Thank you,” he added with a polite nod toward Quinn. “Got groceries in the back.”

“We won’t keep you then,” Quinn said.

Speak for yourself. “Quinn, would you mind putting our names down for a table? I’ll be there in just a second,” Arianne promised.

Quinn nodded without hesitation, but Arianne knew her friend would be full of questions once they were alone. As soon as Quinn walked away, Arianne’s gaze snapped back to Gabe, his pull on her practically tangible. She sighed inwardly. Why are the hot ones emotionally unavailable?

“I’m glad you’ve changed your mind about the fair,” she said. “When did you decide to help?”

“About three minutes ago,” he said. “I was on my way home, thinking about something you said the other day.”

“Yeah?” She went tingly and warm with pride.

He stared through his windshield. “You asked why I stayed.”

She’d suggested that maybe he felt, deep down, as if he owed something to the town. Maybe he was ready to extend an olive branch. Naturally Arianne would help. It was far past time for Gabe Sloan and the citizens of Mistletoe to—

“So I’m leaving,” he said on an exhale.

“What?”

He nodded, his expression calm and inching closer to happy than she’d ever seen. Even if he still hadn’t smiled.

“I’ll help with this fair—why not? It’ll be like my parting gift,” he said wryly. “And then I’m getting the hell out of Dodge.”

“SO WHAT’S THIS I HEAR about Gabe Sloan trying to run down my sister in the Dixieland parking lot?” Tanner Waide mock-growled as he stepped inside the supply store on Monday morning.

Arianne paused in the act of stocking the register drawer with bills and coins, glancing toward the door that led to the private office in back. “Shh! You know better than to make dumb comments like that with Mr. Overprotective on the premises.”

Tanner approached the counter, chuckling. “Please. You actively seek out opportunities to provoke Dad into worrying so that you can argue with him about how capable you are.”

“Hey.” She shot him an indignant look. “You forget, I matured during the years you were away from Mistletoe. I don’t intentionally pick fights.” Sometimes they just happened to occur in her vicinity, usually because others were having a hard time seeing reason.

Her older brother raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

“Did you stop by just to harass me?” she wanted to know.

“No, I promised David I’d come by to go over some first-quarter projections.” Although Tanner, who’d formerly worked as a financial bigwig in Atlanta, wasn’t a full-time employee of the family store, he did help with their books.

“David’s running late,” Arianne said. “Apparently the baby had a very fussy night.”

Tanner set down his briefcase. “Guess I’ll have a cup of coffee while I wait and harass you after all. So…anything going on between you and Gabe Sloan?”

“Yes, I asked him to help set up the fall festival and he agreed.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s all very tantalizing. Are people still so suspicious of him that they’re paying attention to his every conversation? Because we spoke at a public place in broad daylight. I can’t imagine that makes for very interesting gossip.”

Cocking his head to the side, Tanner regarded her thoughtfully. “Actually, I heard about it when I ran into Shane McIntyre at the gas station this morning, and I’m pretty sure his interest was in you, not Sloan—but your wildly defensive attitude is intriguing.”

“Oh.” She looked down, not sure what to say. Maybe it would be better to keep your mouth shut for a change of pace.

“It’s funny,” Tanner added, “but when you got angry about people being ‘suspicious’ of him, you sounded almost as overprotective as you accuse Dad of being.”

Could Gabe use someone to speak up in his defense? Her parents had tried to shield her young ears from the initial gossip, so other than being peripherally aware of the Templetons’ deaths and Gabe’s rumored connection, Arianne was vague on details. Who had Gabe been friends with when he was in high school? Had anyone stuck up for him? Had Mr. Sloan tried to shield his only child?

“Ari?”

“Sorry, not a morning person.” She pointed toward the back office. “Better bring me some of that coffee, too.”

He gave her a knowing, lopsided grin. “Was that your way of dismissing me?”

“I always said you were the smart brother.”

“What’s that make me?” David asked, once the copper bell above the door had heralded his arrival. “The good-looking one?”

Tanner snorted. “Out of sympathy for your rough night, I won’t even point out how ridiculous that statement is.”

As their older sibling got closer, Arianne saw just how uncharacteristically rumpled he was. David had tucked his wrinkled shirt into khaki slacks but had forgotten his belt. His brown hair, while still shorter than Tanner’s, had outgrown its normal cut and there were dark circles under his Waide-blue eyes. But even the lines of fatigue on his face couldn’t erase his obvious joy at being a parent.

“Got new pictures of my niece?” Arianne asked. It had become their morning ritual.

He tossed her his cell phone, which she caught one-handed. “Took one right before I left. She looked…Angelic is the only word for it.”