To Caleb’s way of thinking that was a weird thing to say when the surprise Marjorie was hiding from Ava wasn’t a pleasant one.
“Mom, what have you got up your sleeve?” Ava asked.
“Go, have a great lunch.”
“I—”
“Your mother has spoken.” Caleb tipped his hat to Marjorie and extended his arm to Ava, not really expecting her to take it, but she did and darn if he didn’t thrill to it.
He led her outside. A few parishioners still gathered on the lawn chitchatting. It felt good having her on his arm, and he noticed more than a few heads turned to watch them. Ava was in heels, so he took the steps slowly, keeping a firm grip on her arm.
She sighed.
“What’s that about?” he asked.
“You know Mom is getting ideas about us.”
“She’s not the only one. Zach Delaney stopped by to see me yesterday, and he was asking nosy questions about us.”
“Uh-oh. Zach is the least gossipy person in town besides you. If he’s in on this, we’re in trouble.”
He shrugged. “Small excitement in a small town. People love a wonderful story of high school sweethearts reunited. It gives them something to talk about.”
Ava disengaged from his arm, turned, and looked at him. She was standing so close that he could see the sprinkle of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
Ducking her head to hide a pink flush staining her cheeks, she said, “I guess everyone thinks we’re getting back together.”
“They can think what they like. We know the truth.”
“Have people been warning you against me?”
“Something like that.”
“Really?” She sighed again. “I’m so very sorry for hurting you. I was young and thoughtless.”
It surprised Caleb that she’d brought it up. He figured they’d leave the past buried as they had every other time she’d come home. For a second, he considered telling her that she hadn’t hurt him, but then he was truthful.
“I know you didn’t mean to do it,” he said in the kindest voice he could muster. “I know you had to do what was right for you. It was unfair of me to expect you to be on board without considering what was best for us both.”
Her eyes glistened in the sunlight. “Thank you for saying that. For being so understanding. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I really didn’t. At eighteen, I was eager and wide-eyed. There was so much I wanted to do in life. I felt like I couldn’t achieve my dreams if I stayed here. My genuine mistake was getting too close to you. I knew I needed more than Kringle could offer and I also knew you were a man anchored in Kringle soil.”
Ouch. Was she unintentionally calling him a stick-in-the-mud?
“You did what you felt you needed to do. I understand and I got over it. And for the record, the joy of being with you, even for just a few years, was worth any pain, Ava.”
Her mouth turned down and her eyes looked so sad. “It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?”
“Something like that.”
“Why did you kiss me back the other day?”
Her question caught him off guard. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure how he wanted things to go with Ava, but he knew one thing. He was still deeply attracted to her.
“I wanted to.” That was as much of an answer as he had.
“Should I apologize for kissing you?” She flipped a strand of hair over her shoulder and shifted her weight, rocking on the balls of her feet, her high heels grinding slightly on the concrete sidewalk.
He readjusted his Stetson and studied her. “No, but for the record, I read nothing into your kiss. I understand that you’re impulsive. I know it means nothing.”
Her face scrunched up and her voice wavered. “It doesn’t?”
“Does it?” He wasn’t sure what response he’d expected from her, but it wasn’t the one he got. He would have thought the last thing she’d want was to get involved with him again.
“Do you think that maybe…we could…” She cleared her throat and curled the fingers of both hands into her palms.
“Pick up where we left off?”
Her eyes widened and she nodded.
“I haven’t changed,” he told her. “I still love Kringle. I like being settled. I like the town, the community, the people. I have everything I need right here.”
“Everything?” she asked.
He eyed her. “Well, maybe not everything, but I’m only twenty-eight. I still have plenty of time to find love, get married, and raise a family.”
“I’m the one who’s changed,” she said. “I realize now what I threw away.”
“I’m glad for your personal growth.” It took everything he had in him not to whisk her into his arms, kiss her for all he was worth, and tell her he’d just been waiting for her to wake up and realized where she belonged.
In Kringle.
With him.
But he couldn’t do that and not just because a good percentage of the church’s patronage was staring at them.
Caleb ached to believe that she’d changed and that she was sincere. But deep down, he wasn’t sure. The only thing he was sure about was that he’d never gotten over Ava Miller and he wasn’t sure he ever would.
A small, soft smile crossed her sexy lips. She reached over to caress his face. “Question is cowboy, what do you want?”
“I want to go to lunch with you, Ava Miller.”
And so they did.
Chapter 6
Once they settled into a back booth at the Kringle Kafe, Ava gave a jaunty wave to people she knew—which was most everyone.
The place had changed little over the years. The color scheme was new, and it looked like they’d reupholstered a few of the booths, but mostly, it was the same as it had always been—gossip central.
“Hey, this is just like old times,” Sandy, the waitress, said as she handed them menus. “Caleb and Ava together again.”
Ava’s pulse skipped. Oh dear, coming here was clearly a mistake. They were stoking the rumor mill. She’d been away too long if she’d forgotten the blinding speed of the Kringle grapevine.
After Sandy took their orders and walked away, Caleb looked across the table at Ava and raised one bemused eyebrow. “How long do you think it will take for news of this meal to saturate the town? An hour? Two tops?”
She laughed. “I suspect most everyone will know what we ate before we even start eating it.”
Caleb swept off his Stetson and settled it into the bottom of the chair beside him. “Does it bother you? We could leave.”
“I have nothing to be ashamed of. I’m having lunch with my neighbor; what’s wrong with that?”
“A neighbor who was once your high school sweetheart.”
“Granted.” She grinned.
“A neighbor whom you broke up with the day before the wedding.” His tone was mild, to show he wasn’t holding a grudge.
“Better than the day after.” She rested both palms on the table, her menu between the frame of her hands, and listened to the sound of her blood whooshing through her ears. She was so sharply aware of him—his wry smile, his heavenly masculine scent, the way his gray eyes missed nothing.