“Forever footloose and fancy free,” his eyes and voice softened.
“Forever,” she echoed.
“The thing I love most about you is the thing that pulls you away from me,” he murmured.
Love. He’d said the word love in connection with her? Could Caleb possibly still love her after all these years? After she’d broken his heart so badly? She felt like a prisoner who’d gotten an unexpected parole.
He took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled slowly. “I suppose there’s a part of me that always hoped you’d return home for good.”
“I’m not planning on staying in Kringle, Caleb.”
“I know,” he said, and he looked so sad it shattered Ava’s spirit. “But I’m okay with a long-distance relationship if that’s what it takes to hold on to you.”
Literally, he could have knocked her over with an ostrich feather if he’d had one.
“Y-you’d be open to that?”
He reached across the table and took her hand. “For the first time in ten years, I think we’re finally on the same page. Neither one of us is dating anyone else. We’re both willing to give each other space to be who we truly need to be.”
“I-I don’t know what to say.” Say nothing. Do a happy dance. Stunned by the development, she did nothing.
“Let’s not say anything. Let’s just enjoy being together.”
“And feeding the rumor mill.” Ava chuckled and nodded at Sandy, who was surreptitiously taking a picture of them with the cell phone she’d pulled from her pocket.
“It gives the town gossips a thrill.”
“So, we’re dating?”
“Let’s not label anything beyond a fresh start.”
“Fresh start?”
“Fresh start.”
She jumped from her side of the booth and landed on his side of the table and extended her hand with a grin as wide as his own. “It’s nice to meet you, Caleb Sutton.”
Caleb shook it and tugged her closer. “It’s nice to meet you too, Ava Miller.”
It was such a lovely moment, but to appreciate it, Ava had to shove aside the niggling voice at the back of her brain that whispered, now where do you go from here?
Chapter 7
“What are you doing after this?” Caleb asked as he left two twenties on the table to cover their bill and a twenty-five percent tip for Sandy.
“I’m plastering downtown in Home for the Holidays posters. I’ve already gotten permission from town hall. Wanna help?”
“Absolutely.” He settled his Stetson on his head and led the way to the front door.
“Great. Let’s go get the flyers from my car.” She headed toward her parents’ second car that she borrowed whenever she came to visit.
“First things first.” Caleb took her elbow.
“Where are we going?” she asked, delighted by a surprise. She loved surprises.
He tugged her into the alleyway, out of sight from passersby. “Here.”
She glanced around at the cobblestone path leading behind the buildings. They were alone. “Why?”
“This.”
Without another word, Caleb pushed his cowboy hat back on his head, gathered Ava into his arms, and kissed her.
He kissed her just like he had in the old days, hot and passionate, except with more confidence and experience. It was the kind of kiss that made her toes curl and her mind go blank to anything and everything except the feel of his lips on hers.
She sank against his chest, absorbing his heat, her entire body coming alive beneath his lips. Oh, how she’d missed kissing him!
They kissed and kissed and kissed and she felt sixteen all over again and madly in love for the very first time.
At last, he tenderly pulled back and smiled down at her.
“Wow,” she whispered, fingering her lips. “That was some kiss.”
His grin expanded. “It was some kind of kiss.”
Her gaze searched his, and she saw a gentle light in his eyes that yanked on her heartstrings and sent her mind whirling. What if?
What if she gave up roaming? What if she came home for good? What if she and Caleb…?
“Is it as good as you remembered?” he asked.
“Fishing for compliments, Sutton? That’s not your style.” She laughed and lowered her voice. “But for the record? The years have refined your kissing technique.”
“I do my best to stay up on all the new kissing techniques,” he said. “It’s a global world these days.”
“That it is.” She dusted her palms together, trying to disperse her gathering desire for him. This development was new and fantastic, but it had scary consequences she wasn’t ready to deal with. “Let’s go put up those posters.”
“Let’s do it.” He offered his arm and she took it without hesitation, aching to be as close to him as she could.
They went to her car and got out the posters. Ava divided the stack and gave half to Caleb.
He studied them. “This is a terrific poster.”
“Thank you.” She beamed.
“The event is going to be outstanding with you at the helm and the shelter really needs clearing out.”
“That’s so nice of you to say.”
“You inherited your parents’ passion for helping.” He paused and a faraway look came into his eyes.
“What is it?” she prodded.
He shook himself and blinked. “Could I offer a small suggestion about the event? I know you don’t like to plan. I honor your process, but I do fret.”
Ava cloaked a smile. He was looking after her. That was so sweet. When they’d dated, he always planned and scheduled everything. Ava appreciated his concern, but she wished he wouldn’t worry so much. She knew he liked to plan things down to the last detail, and in fact, more than once when they’d been young, his need to overthink situations had caused disagreements.
Although, to be fair, not any more than her tendency to follow her whims had.
She liked to go with the flow, to see where the moment took her and not plan out every detail. Being spontaneous made life more exciting, but she knew it made Caleb uncomfortable.
Some people in town believed she’d thoughtlessly stomped on Caleb’s heart and cavalierly took off for Europe. But it hadn’t been like that. She’d begged him to come with her. Caleb was the one who said no. He was the one who’d told her to go off and find herself.
And she had.
“Worrywart,” she teased. “What’s on your mind?”
“Have you thought about crowd control?”
“Crowd control?”
“In case you draw in a lot of potential adopters.”
“This is Kringle.”
“And this…” He held up the posters. “Is attention grabbing. You could have people coming from Fort Worth and beyond.”
“You think?”
“It doesn’t hurt to think about crowd control. The interior front office in the shelter is a ten-by-fourteen-foot space. Get six people in there and you have a crowd.”
He made a good point.
“I’ll take your concerns under advisement, but I’m sure it will be fine. I have a few volunteers coming over that day, and I’m sure we can handle whatever mad mob descends.” She couldn’t suppress her smile.