Percy’s gaze turned speculative. “I haven’t much bothered with Christmas since she passed.”
Oh, that made her heart hurt. She loved Christmas so very much. She couldn’t fathom not celebrating at all. “I know it can be difficult. My first few Christmases after my Nana passed were really hard. I get my love of the holidays from her and it simply wasn’t the same without her there, in the middle of everything. But my sister and I always make her special iced butter cookies, and it brings her a little closer to us.”
He went silent, his face shuttering, and she wondered if she’d gone too far. Maybe the loss was still too raw for discussion of traditions. Or maybe the fact that he had no one left to share those traditions with made his situation totally different.
When Percy straightened, his jaw set in a stubborn line, she expected a Thanks, but no thanks. Instead, he nodded. “You know what? You’re right. She’d be disappointed I haven’t kept things up without her. Let’s do it up big. Pull out all the stops.”
Hannah beamed. “I’d be absolutely delighted to do that.”
“You’re gonna need some help. I’m not as agile as I used to be—damned bursitis. But Ryan here is more than capable. He can be your assistant.”
“I can do what now?” Soldier Hottie—Ryan—lost that flat expression and unfolded his arms.
“Help haul things out of the attic, string the lights, carry in the tree. It’s gotta be a live one. My Janie wouldn’t stand for anything else.” There was some kind of challenge in the gaze Percy fixed on him. “You did say you wanted to help out.”
Why did she think there was something more to this whole thing than the simple words implied? “I don’t want to be a bother.”
“No bother at all, young lady. We could both use a little Christmas spirit in our lives.”
For just a moment, Ryan’s jaw tensed, as if he wanted to argue. Instead, he flashed a wry smile at Percy. “I guess you’ll have to hand over the keys so I can go pick up the tree.”
“Sorry, I think you mean ‘we’,” Hannah interrupted. “You’re not picking out a tree without me.” Because, damn, if she was going to get the chance to really pull out all the stops, she was gonna make this house a Christmas showstopper.
“My mistake.” The wry smile turned genuine as he shifted his attention to her.
The punch of it nearly knocked her off her feet.
Oh, I am in deep, deep trouble.
Percy let out a rusty chuckle. “Oh, my Janie would’ve liked you. I’ll go get the keys.”
If anybody had asked Ryan last week what he’d be doing today, the very last thing he’d have imagined was wandering a Christmas tree lot with a woman who’d clearly escaped from the set of one of those Hallmark Channel Christmas movies his mother loved so much. Between her unwavering good cheer and the candy-cane-striped scarf and hat, Hannah was a walking, talking holiday card. It should’ve been annoying. Nobody could be that happy and have even a toe still dipped in the real world.
But she’d made Percy smile. Hell, she’d made him smile, even if it was at his own expense because Percy was playing matchmaker. Just what would his Elf Girl say if she knew about that? And why the hell was he thinking of her as his? They were nothing to each other but two people helping out his uncle.
As they reached the end of the row, she lifted her hand in a wave to the guy handling the money. “Hey Jace.”
The guy grinned. “Back again?”
“Yep!”
“How many trees have you decorated?” Ryan asked.
“This is my fourth one this week, in addition to three storefronts on Main Street.”
“We ought to be giving you the frequent shopper discount,” Jace told her.
“I’m coming after one of the big ones this time. I need at least a ten-footer.”
“Those will be down this way. C’mon.” Jace leapt up.
Ryan wondered whether his Mr. Helpful streak was due to her having been here several times already or because they had a thing. They were on a first-name basis after all. And why should that bug him? He had no claim on this woman.
“Where’s Tara tonight?” Hannah asked.
“It’s the last week of rehearsals before The Nutcracker, so she’s at the studio. Ginny is crazy excited.”
“I bet she is! She’s been talking about it since this summer to everybody that’ll listen.” Hannah glanced toward Ryan. Well, more like his shoulder. “Tara is Jace’s fiancée. Ginny is her little sister.”
Was he supposed to say something about that? He didn’t know these people.
Hannah turned her attention back to Jace. “When are you making Ginny your sister in law?”
“It’ll be official in May.”
So no thing with Hannah. Not that it mattered one way or the other. It was just idle curiosity. Info gathering, in case Ryan decided to get his flirt on. Just to remind himself that he still knew how.
“You’ll find all the ten feet and up trees along this row.” Jace glanced at the family of five that spilled out of a minivan. “Do you need help checking things out?”
Ryan stepped up. “I’ve got it.”
“You just let me know when you find the one you want.” He wandered off to help the newcomers.
“How you wanna do this?” Ryan asked.
Hannah kept her focus on the trees instead of him. They were arranged loosely in open stalls, each one leaning against the framework. “If you could just pull out the ones I point to and hold them up so I can check whether the trunk is straight and assess the fullness, that’d be great.” A blush suffused her cheeks as her gaze slid away.
What was that about?
She pointed to one. He slipped his hand through the branches and grasped the trunk, tugging it vertical.
“Crooked.”
He put the tree back and grabbed the next one she pointed to. As she studied the fall of the branches or whatever, he asked, “So are you gonna tell me who asked you to do this?”
She made a gesture for him to spin the tree. “Can you keep a secret?”
Given his entire career involved covert operations, he kinda had a lock on that. “Yes.”
“The woman who had the idea was one of Percy’s wife’s best friends. She’s a widow herself and she knows Christmas is the hardest time for him, so she wanted to do something that would maybe help with that.”
“That’s a helluva nice thing to do.” Was Wishful just that kind of community or was he so far removed from kindness that any of it surprised him?
“It is,” Hannah agreed, pointing to another tree. “But I kind of wonder if there isn’t maybe a little crush involved.”
“Yeah?” Maybe Ryan would get the chance at a little payback effort in the matchmaking department. Unlike him, Percy could really use it.
“I could be wrong, but there was something in her eyes when she asked me. I don’t know. She wanted to remain anonymous, so I’m not gonna mess with that and you shouldn’t either.”
He wasn’t making any promises there.
“So how exactly are you related to Percy? Miss—the woman who hired me led me to believe he didn’t have any family.”