He pointed a finger at Regina. “Behave till I get back.”
“No promises,” she said, while her inner voice squealed over the phrase till I get back.
He shook his head, a slight curve to his lips. “Out of towners, man.”
Over the next several minutes, a Christmas carol was sung by the crowd, the middle school band struggled through a trumpet-heavy rendition of “Silent Night” that was anything but silent, and then everyone leaned forward as one as they waited for the tree to light up. The effect was breathtaking. Twinkling lights lit up the ornaments and tinsel, and as if the universe was punctuating the night, fat flakes of snow began floating down.
Santa Claus rode in on a sleigh—from the area the woman had indicated he always came in from, so evidently Emmett had cleared up the parking disaster. The children surged toward the jolly old elf, and in spite of the chaotic state of her life, their excitement washed over her, giving her that tingly, Christmas sensation she hadn’t experienced since she was a kid.
“Looking for Regina?” Callie asked Emmett as he glanced around the area.
“I’m doing my job,” he said. “Making sure that everyone peaceably disassembles.”
“Sure.”
You didn’t get to his position without being able to observe a lot at once, and sure, Regina was on the list of things he wouldn’t mind seeing right now. Most likely she’d gone back to the B&B already, the cold too much, even with that boa constrictor scarf.
For the first time in a long time, he’d been enjoying one of the festivities, right before getting a reminder of why he disliked them. Talk about drama. Over parking, even though most of the lots didn’t have lines, and the ones that did, people took as a loose suggestion. Technically, everyone who’d been parked in the grassy area where Jack left his truck had been parked illegally, but no one seemed to care about actual laws, only tradition.
Just another night in Friendship.
Only then he spotted Regina, and it wasn’t another regular night. Of their own accord, his legs took him closer to her. “Hey,” he said when he reached her.
“Hey. Not sure how warm it is now, but I grabbed an extra, just in case you hadn’t had a chance yet.” She extended a cardboard cup, along with a doughnut wrapped in a napkin. “And cliché or not, it’s a shame to pass up doughnuts—if I were a cop, that’s what I’d arrest people for.”
Was it sad that it was probably the nicest thing anyone had done for him in a while? Sure there was the general friendliness that abounded here, but this was a deeper level, one that said she’d noticed.
“Thank you.” He juggled the doughnut in his left hand and sipped the hot chocolate. Lukewarm but still good. “How’d you like the ceremony?”
“It was beautiful, and for the first time this year, it actually feels like Christmas. Admittedly, I was a tad disappointed in the lack of fisticuffs over pulling the switch.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t feel like Christmas until someone gets punched in the face,” he said, and she laughed. “It means I was doing my job.”
“Oh, so now you’re taking credit for the whole thing?”
“Basically.” Had he stepped closer? Or had she? The lights from the tree lit up her face with a soft glow. He wanted to tug her scarf down a couple of inches so he could see the smile lifting her cheeks instead of simply knowing it was there.
“Before I forget, I assume you’re responsible for the fact that my car no longer looks like Cupid threw up on it?”
“Can’t take all the credit. Your drinking buddies helped.”
Another laugh. “Drinking buddies. Never had those before. Honestly, I was a bit antsy all day, trying to figure out what to do with myself. Usually my days are cram-packed with meetings and spreadsheets and reports, and without a long to-do list … well, I’m trying to live in the now a bit more, but it still feels weird.”
“I find the people who live in the now are the ones who end up in jail.”
She tilted her head. “Is that supposed to be encouraging? Because if so, I’ve gotta say, it needs work.”
“The truth’s the truth, no matter how you dress it up. Not that I’m saying you should schedule every second of every day.”
“How much of your life is planned out?” She was definitely the one who moved closer this time, and the scrutinizing scrunch of her forehead made him way too self-conscious, another emotion he hadn’t experienced in a long time. “You don’t seem like a go-with-the-flow guy, but you don’t seem like much of a planner either.”
“Hard to plan when you don’t know what people are gonna get themselves into. Mostly I just plan to go to work and deal with issues and perceived disasters as they inevitably arise.”
“There’s the Grinch making an appearance again.”
“If the green shoe fits, I’ll go ahead and wear it.”
She glanced down at his boots.