This time of year always filled him with nostalgia and once again he found himself thinking about being able to share it with Vivian. She’d told him she wouldn’t be going home for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year and he had to admit that having her to himself at such a special time was something he was very much looking forward to. He was fully cognizant of her warnings about her brief stay in Marietta and had zero problems promising her he wouldn’t fall in love because he wasn’t looking for love, either.
He’d never been looking for it. Reuben had always figured if it happened, it happened, but that he’d know it as soon as he met the woman in question. Like his parents had apparently done. And if it didn’t happen, that was okay, too.
But, in the interim, he could spoil Vivian a little and introduce her to the joys of a Marietta Christmas.
Right now, however, he had to stop off at Copper Mountain Chocolates so his boss could spoil his woman—or at least get back into her good books. Sheriff Walton had apparently forgotten their wedding anniversary yesterday and his wife was pissed which, somehow, today, had become Reuben’s problem. His boss needed some make-up chocolates picked up, and Reuben had scored the task.
He didn’t feel disloyal to Vivian doing it—he’d brought enough Delish chocolate these past three weeks to keep them solvent for a year—but he was annoyed that his boss was using him as some kind of rookie errand boy. Still…he took in some deep cleansing breaths of mountain air. There were way worse things about his job.
A sudden chilly wind on his neck had him turning up the collar of his thick, department-issue jacket and hunching into its folds. Overnight snow had been falling up on higher ground all week—Copper Mountain was looking all snow-capped and majestic behind the dome of the courthouse—and more was forecast for early next week down lower, which meant Marietta would probably be blanketed at some point.
Reuben liked snow. He liked watching it fall and loved walking in it when it was all powdery and crunchy beneath his feet. He liked the blinding whiteness of a fresh fall too, especially beneath a blue, blue sky with the frozen crystals glinting and dazzling like diamonds in the sunbeams. He just didn’t like it when it melted and got slushy and dirty and the roads became slippery and dangerous with black ice and idiots who had no idea how to drive in those conditions ended up in ditches or worse…
Mostly, if he was honest, Reuben preferred summer. But winter was inevitable in Montana so there was no point bitching about it.
What he liked most about the coming of the snow and winter was when Miracle Lake, which pooled at the foot of Copper Mountain, froze over. It didn’t take much of a temperature drop to accomplish considering it wasn’t that large and the fact it froze solid for several months made it a popular spot for families to hang out in the evenings and on the weekends.
He liked lacing on his skates and getting there first thing in the morning, not long after the sun rose, before anyone else had disturbed the surface. He liked being out on the ice by himself, the shushing of his blades echoing around the lake as the woods loomed large around him, the trees dark sentinels reaching for the sky. He liked the sting of cold air on his face and the feeling that he was the only person in the world.
But this year, he couldn’t wait to take Viv for a spin on the ice. Especially when she’d admitted she’d never skated on anything but a rink. There was something wild and free about skating on an iced-over lake, something visceral. Something hard to understand unless personally experienced.
And he wanted to be the one to show her.
Reluctantly pulling his ungloved hand from his pocket, Reuben reached for the door of Copper Mountain Chocolates, which was also sporting a fresh, plump wreath embellished with their signature Christmas truffles which were wrapped in bright red foil. So deep in thought was he about the lake and Viv he hadn’t seen the person coming from the other direction also reaching for the door. It was a woman—or at least he assumed it was in a purple-striped, earflap knit hat with what looked like kitten ears.
“I’m sorry, ladies first.” He gestured and then, when she looked up at him, he blinked. “Clem?”
Clementine was back?
She’d been gone for a while and she’d always planned on being home for Thanksgiving but that was still just over a week away and he had no idea how she could be back and he not have known.
Her face brightened and her pink chipmunk cheeks puckered even further as she smiled her big smile that made her so popular with the kids at the library. “Reuben.”
She threw herself into his arms, hugging him so tight he thought she was going to squeeze the life out of him. “Hey, Clem, it’s good to see you,” he said into her knitted cap—something he was used to given she was a foot shorter than Reuben.
And it was good to see her. He hadn’t gone this long without seeing her in three years and he’d missed her, he realized. But there was no regret. No gnawing ache or desperate need to beg her to come back or hell, even to jump into bed with her.
There was…affection. And yes, love. But the kind of love that came with deep and abiding friendship over many, many years.
That was it.
Compared to how he felt about Vivian…it was like chalk and cheese. And wasn’t that curious as hell given the disparity of time he’d known both women?
“Oh God it’s sooo good to see you, too,” she said. “I missed you.”
Her words were so damn heartfelt a niggle of worry pecked at the base of his brain. “Everything okay?” he asked.
She pulled away and glanced at him, taking in his frown. “Of course, you big dork,” she dismissed with a half laugh. “It’s just kinda weird not having you around is all.” Then she slugged him lightly to his upper arm. “Are you okay?”
Reuben didn’t even have to think twice about that. He’d never been more okay. “Yeah. I am. I really am.”
“Not according to my mother.”
“Ah.”
“She thinks you’re an unholy mess who has totally lost his damn mind. That’s a direct quote by the way.”
He grimaced. “Excellent.”
“Apparently the woman you cheated on me with has now set up shop and is not only trying to run Sage out of business but has you trapped in her femme fatale web.”
Reuben laughed out loud. It was so absurd. But if he had to be wrapped up in any woman’s web he’d choose Vivian’s any day. As long as she was wrapped up with him. “That seemed to be the most popular version.”
“Oh God, Reuben. I’m so sorry. I told our mothers that wasn’t the way it went down.”
He waved it away with his hand like he was flapping away an annoying little gnat. “You and I and the femme fatale—” she laughed at that and so did he “—know what happened. Everybody else isn’t important in this equation.”
“Still, it’s not fair to you. Or her. Want me to take out a full-page ad in the paper?”
Reuben chuckled. He could just imagine that. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary. Vivian’s not letting a little thing like town gossip get her down.” She’d already figured out a way to get Marietta inside her shop. He expected she’d conquer the world next. “Now, tell me, how was the trip?”