RaeAnne Thayne – A Mistletoe Vow: A Cold Creek Christmas Story / Falling for Mr December / A Husband for the Holidays (страница 22)
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.
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?
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.
Though she had a hundred things to—including finishing the paint job on the backdrop for the little stage they had rigged up—she sat down at the table near the refreshment booth where they were playing.
“You did so well today. All of you.”
“Thanks,” Louisa said. “It’s really fun. I hope we do it again next year.”
Not unless Hope found some other sucker to be in charge, she thought again.
“I’ve had lots of fun, too,” Olivia said. “Thanks for inviting me to do it.”
“You’re very welcome. How are things going at your great-grandmother’s house?”
As soon as she asked the question, she wished she hadn’t. It sounded entirely too much as if she was snooping. She might as well have come out and asked when they were leaving.
“Good, I guess. We have two more rooms to do. My dad said we’ll probably go back to California between Christmas and New Year’s.”
She tried to ignore the sharp pang in her chest. “I’m sure you’ll be glad to be back in your own house.”
“You’re lucky! You can go swimming in the ocean,” Louisa said.
“Sometimes. Mostly, it’s too cold, except in summer.”
“And you can go to Disneyland whenever you want,” Joey added.
“No, I can’t,” she protested. “I have to go to school and stuff.”
They talked more about the differences between their respective homes. Olivia was quite envious that they could ride horses and go sledding all winter long while the other children thought California was only palm trees and beaches.
While the seasonal staff of The Christmas Ranch started arriving and getting ready for the busiest day of their season, the children continued their game, and Celeste sat at the table next to them working on a drawing for a complicated part of the stage she was hoping Rafe could help her finish later that day.
Finally, about forty-five minutes after practice ended, Flynn burst through the front doors looking harried. “Sorry I’m late. I was taking a load of things to the county landfill and it took longer than I expected.”
“Don’t even worry about it. The kids have been enjoying themselves. Haven’t you?”
“Yep,” Barrett said. “’Cause I won Go Fish three times and Joey and Olivia both won once. Louisa didn’t win any.”
“Next time, watch out,” his sister declared.
Flynn smiled at the girl, that full-fledged charming smile Celeste remembered from when he was a teenager. She had to swallow hard and force herself to look away, wondering why it suddenly felt so warm in the lodge.
“How was practice?” he asked.
“Good,” she answered. “Great, actually. Everyone worked so hard.”
“I can’t wait for you to see the show, Dad,” Olivia declared. “It’s going to be
He looked vaguely alarmed. “Is that right? Will I cry, too? I’d better bring a big hankie, just in case.”
She giggled hard, then in the funny way kids have, she looked at Barrett and Louisa and something in their expressions made her laugh even harder, until all three were busting up. Their laughter was infectious and Celeste couldn’t help smiling.
* * *
Flynn gazed at the three children, certain he was witnessing a miracle.
This was really his daughter, looking bright and animated and...happy.
This was the daughter he remembered, this girl who found humor in the silliest things, who was curious about the world around her and loved talking with people. He’d feared she was gone forever, stolen by a troubled man who had taken so much else from her.
Seeing her sitting at a table in the St. Nicholas Lodge, laughing with Celeste and her niece and nephew, he wanted to hug all three of the children. Even more, he wanted to kiss Celeste right on that delicious-looking mouth of hers that had haunted his dreams for days.
Her smiling gaze met his and a wave of tenderness washed over him. She had done this. He didn’t know how. She had seen a sad, wounded girl and had worked some kind of Sparkle magic on her to coax out the sweet and loving girl Olivia used to be.
Her smile slid away and he realized he was staring. He drew in a deep breath and forced himself to look away.
His gaze landed on a piece of paper with what looked like a complicated drawing. “I didn’t know you were an artist.”
She looked embarrassed. “I’m
He studied her sketch, then took the paper from her and made a few quick changes. “That shouldn’t be hard,” he said. “You just have to build a frame out of two-by-fours and then use something lightweight like particle board for your screen. If it’s hinged and connected there, it should be solid and also portable enough that you can store it somewhere when you’re not using it.”
She studied the drawing. “Wow. That’s genius! You know, I think that just might work. Can you just write down what supplies you think it might need? Rafe will be back from Jackson Hole shortly, and I can put him to work on it if he has time.”