Believe.
He did believe in love. Didn’t he?
He thought he did. For a moment, he thought he actually had love. Or at least the start of it with Bella. But…
Maybe he didn’t believe.
Or at least not enough.
A few minutes later, he put the truck in park outside the fire station and killed the engine.
Before he could open the door, Santa Roy stopped him. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“What?” Jeremy shook his head. “You’ll see what you can do about what?”
“Your Christmas wish.” He winked again at Jeremy and opened the door.
Before Jeremy could stop him or ask him how he even knew what his wish was, the man had slipped out the door and was gone, leaving Jeremy to stare after him.
Chapter 11
She was late.
She looked at the glowing lights on her dashboard for what felt like the hundredth time and back outside to the snow-covered pavement ahead of her. It had started snowing at some point during the afternoon while she was in her apartment changing, and it was only coming down heavier with every passing moment.
Bella normally loved a snowy Christmas Eve. But normally, she wasn’t late.
It didn’t matter how fast she drove—and it couldn’t be too fast, given the conditions—she was never going to make it on time.
She tugged at the red sparkly dress, trying in vain to get more comfortable with the skintight fabric wrapped snug around her body. She knew she looked good. Damn good. The dress was the perfect choice for a Christmas Eve gig where all eyes would be on her.
But as a driving outfit…not so much.
She hadn’t thought about that when she made the turn off the freeway that would take her toward the mountains, and away from downtown and the gig that would change her life.
She hadn’t thought about much as she’d taken that exit.
Only that it was the right thing to do.
It was the only thing to do.
Kyle had been right about one thing: when she’d first started out in her career, she really didn’t believe in herself. She had no idea what she was capable of. How talented she was and how far she could go. But he’d been wrong about everything else. She didn’t need him to be successful. She never had. That had been her mistake.
She’d forgotten who she was, what she was capable of, and, most critically, what was really important.
That’s why she’d taken the exit. Because everything that mattered was two hours away, in the mountains in Glacier Falls. And she was going to be late for the big Christmas Eve dinner at the firehall. But at least she’d get there.
As long as the snowstorm didn’t get any worse.
Bella clenched the steering wheel and focused on the road ahead of her. The headlights of the car made the driving snow coming at the windshield look like a scene from a Star Wars movie. It was almost impossible to see, but she’d driven in poor conditions before. And there was no turning back now, anyway. Driving through a snowstorm was the least of her troubles. If she didn’t get there in time, she’d miss everything. Maybe even her chance to tell Jeremy how she felt.
Assuming she hadn’t already missed that chance.
Judging from the piles of dishes, empty platters of food, and the happy laughter all around him, dinner had been a huge success, and Jeremy was exhausted.
He’d smiled and laughed along with his friends and neighbors as he’d served the platters of food. And for a few minutes, when he sat down to eat himself, he’d even managed to forget about Bella and her notable absence.
If his friends had noticed, they mercifully hadn’t said anything. Or more likely, Stephanie had briefed them on the situation. For once, he didn’t care whether everyone in town knew his business. Not if it kept them from bringing it up out of pity for him. The last thing he felt like was talking about the woman he’d been so sure had been more than a holiday fling.
Fortunately, the conversation centered around what everyone else was up to. Hope and Levi’s plans for the baby who was due in a few months, the winter weddings that were to be held for the first time at Ever After Ranch, how Brody Morris and his new wife Sarah were going to handle the increase in business from catering the wedding and running Birchwood restaurant. Sarah’s daughter, Rory, chimed in that her Christmas wish was a little baby brother or sister, and everyone laughed—except Brody and Sarah, who stared at each other with wide eyes. Stephanie told the group about some scripts she was entertaining and then shocked everyone when she casually mentioned that she’d bought the old fishing camp on the edge of town. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with it yet, but it was going to be perfect.
Jeremy could only shake his head and laugh because he had no doubt that it would be. Stephanie had a way about her of making things work out perfectly.
He excused himself as Damon started to talk about some new investments he was considering.
He loved his friends, but pretending was getting harder by the moment. What he really needed was a shot of whisky and a reality check. Bella had only been back in his life for a few weeks, hardly anything he should let ruin the holidays. Better to know where he stood early on before he invested too much time, only to have his heart broken later.
At least, that was the advice he’d give a friend. Too bad he didn’t believe it.
“You did a great job tonight, Jeremy.” Katie appeared next to him in the kitchen with a stack of dishes.
“Thanks.” He turned away, busying himself putting cling wrap over the leftover platters. “That means a lot.”
“Are you okay?”
He stopped. Katie was probably the last person he wanted to talk to about how he was feeling. Sure, she probably knew him the best out of anyone, given their on-again/off-again relationship since high school, but that was also why it felt strange. Besides, he’d just started to do a good job fooling himself that it was all for the best that Bella had left. Or at the very least, he was trying to fool himself and that had to count for something.
“I’m sorry she left,” Katie said before Jeremy could answer. “But that doesn’t mean—”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He shut her down before it could go any further.
But Katie was not one to be deterred easily. “Yeah, I got that. But maybe you should.”
He turned to look at her then. There was nothing but care and concern on her face. “Katie, really, I—”
“Look.” She held up a hand to stop him. “I’m not going to force you. All I’m going to say is that sometimes things aren’t as black and white as you’d like them to be. There’s a whole lot of gray in life, Jeremy. And take it from someone who knows—sometimes it’s hard to see through all of that gray to what’s really in front of you. It’s not always that straightforward, that’s all I’m saying.”
He let her words sink in and, to his surprise, didn’t reject them out of hand. He nodded slowly but didn’t offer anything more.
“Don’t hide in here all night, okay?” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before heading for the door. He watched as she turned around again. “It’s Christmas. And you never know what the magic of Christmas can bring.”