Damn it. Kira kept the fake smile plastered on her face. ‘Sure. Another time.’
‘And you’ll help me pick it out?’ His smile was back to teasing which at least meant the worry was gone.
‘I don’t know if I can live up to your perfect tree-finding standards.’
He held her gaze for a second before answering and Kira wished there was a dog or two between them to break the tension.
‘I think you’ll live up to them just fine.’
Chapter Six
Bennett had spent the last several days actually working and absolutely not thinking about Kira and her ancient radiators and if they should be making that hissing noise all the time and if the return pipe in the basement should be hot. Though he thought it probably shouldn’t be.
If he hadn’t been suddenly swamped putting out fires at work, he might have wandered back up to the farm one more time just to check that things were running smoother. But it was probably for the best that he hadn’t been able to. Watching YouTube videos of old men explaining steam heat every night before bed was already going too far.
He needed to stop. Kira hadn’t even asked for his help. Was it any wonder that his last year of dating had turned into him doing favors for women he barely knew? It was the energy he was putting out in the world. What did Aunt Dot tell him just the other day when he’d had dinner with her and Jeanie? Your vibe attracts your tribe. Well, apparently, Bennett’s tribe consisted of a lot of people needing favors. Bennett Ellis: free rides, moving services, and now, heating help. Maybe instead of a dating profile, he should just have business cards made up.
He was purposely ignoring the fact that Kira was different than any other woman he’d ever dated and that she hadn’t taken advantage of him at all; she’d barely let him in and had only begrudgingly let him help. And she was beautiful and interesting and maybe a little bit sad and a little bit lonely in a way he thought maybe he understood.
But he was going to keep ignoring all of that because he was only here for the month and he had no business chasing after a woman who he would only have to leave behind. Even though he was pretty sure the chase would be great.
He shook that last thought from his head and finished his walk. From the sound of drifting Christmas music and the glow of more twinkle lights than any town should ever own, he was nearly at the Dream Harbor Fifty-Third Annual Christmas Tree Lighting and December Holidays Extravaganza. Or at least that was the name written across the banner hanging over Main Street. According to his sister, this was Dream Harbor’s biggest event of the year and that was saying a lot because from what he’d heard, this town loved an event.
He couldn’t help the little kick of excitement in his chest. Even at twenty-seven, Bennett loved Christmas. How could you not love it? The cozy lights, the near constant intake of cookies, the secret thrill of finding the perfect gift. And this year, he was back on the East Coast, and it was actually cold. He loved it. His Christmas wish, if he was being honest and wasn’t a grown man, was for a snowy Christmas. There was just something magical about snow on Christmas.
His mouth hitched up just thinking about what Kira would have to say about that.
‘There you are!’ His sister’s voice rang out over the music and the general hum of the crowd. Jeanie had one of the first booths on the square. The little wood huts were lined up in a row, strings of white lights running from roof to roof.
‘Hey! How’s it going so far?’ he asked as he joined Jeanie in the Pumpkin Spice booth. There was already a line and Jeanie’s cheeks were pink as she handed free cups of cocoa to customer after customer.
‘It’s crazy! Do you see this crowd?’
He did. This end of Main Street had been closed off to traffic and was filled with people milling around, stopping at the booths along the way. It was already getting dark, even though it was only late afternoon, but the glow of the lights made everything cheerful and warm.
‘Do you want some help?’ he asked, even as he bumped into Logan who was filling cups. There wasn’t exactly a lot of space inside the booth.
‘No, no. We’re good. My baristas, Joe and Crystal, are coming to relieve us in about an hour. We’ll track you down then. They light the tree at six.’ Jeanie smiled at him. ‘Go enjoy the festival. Maybe buy your favorite sister a gift. I really liked the scarves at Bernadette’s handicrafts a few booths down. If you need a starting place.’
Bennett laughed. ‘Okay, noted. See you later.’
Logan nodded his goodbye in the middle of explaining to someone for the twelfth time since Bennett had been there that cocoa was free, all other drinks were three dollars, even though that same message was clearly written on the sign out front.
‘It’s right there, clear as day,’ Logan pointed down at the sign and the older woman at the window slapped a hand to her forehead.
‘Oh, would you look at that! If it was a snake it would have bitten me!’
Logan grumbled under his breath and Bennett stifled his laugh.
‘Good luck!’ he called as he ducked out of the booth and back into the chilled air.
He didn’t really have a plan of where to go first, so he decided to just let the crowd pull him along. Besides Jeanie’s booth, he spotted Annie’s bakery, at least five crafters selling handmade scarves, a soap maker, a candle maker, and an artist painting miniatures of the festival. And that was just what he could see in his first scan.
But it was the delicious smells wafting by that made up his mind on where to go next. Just past a crafter selling personalized ornaments and Christmas stockings was a booth with a giant waffle sign posted out front. The air around it smelled like waffle cones and caramel and the line in front was longer than any others. That was enough to convince Bennett that this was the place to be.
He got in line behind a figure in a familiar olive-green parka as he debated if buying personalized stockings for the dogs would be cute or one step too far, even for him.
Kira turned around, her face peeking out from her fur-lined hood. She narrowed her eyes when she saw him, and he couldn’t help but smile at her reaction. It made her scowl deepen.
‘Of course, you’re here,’ she said. He knew she was trying to sound like she was annoyed to see him, but he would swear he heard something else, too. Something that said she was glad to not be alone in the crowd anymore, like maybe she was relieved to have someone to talk to.
‘I think everyone in a fifty-mile radius is here.’
‘Well, I don’t need any rescuing at the moment so you can go on your merry way.’
Bennett raised an eyebrow as she tried to dismiss him.
‘How cocky of you to assume that I’m here to see you,’ he said.
Kira scoffed. ‘You’ve shown up at my house multiple times now. It’s not cocky, it’s just pattern recognition.’
He laughed and took secret pleasure in the fact that Kira bit down on her bottom lip to suppress her smile.
‘Actually,’ he said, peering over her shoulder. ‘I’m a big fan of’—he read the sign above the booth but there was no way that word was a real word—‘of these … waffles?’
‘Stroopwafels.’
‘What?’
