After the float carrying Santa and Mrs. Claus went by, Caleb and the other horseback riders came through town. Although there were quite a few riders, Ava’s attention riveted to Caleb. He looked so handsome in the saddle.
His eyes snagged hers and a massive smile crossed his face and he waved for all he was worth.
Ava’s heart swooned. She could hardly wait until the parade was over and they could hang out together again.
The parade ended in a parking lot several blocks from the town square. Caleb had left his truck and horse trailer there, and after he loaded up Charger, he wandered back along the parade route searching the crowd for Ava.
But there were so many people he couldn’t find her.
A happy mob had gathered around Zach and Suzannah as they climbed down from the float and headed over to the stage. Later in the day there would be a live band playing Christmas classics and he intended on bringing Ava here for the dance.
“Hey there, cowboy,” a familiar voice said from behind him.
Caleb turned to find Ava standing there wearing blue jeans, a green-plaid long-sleeved shirt, and cowgirl boots. She’d braided her hair into two pigtails and she looked all of eighteen. His heart melted.
He loved her and that’s all there was to it. Had loved her since he was fourteen years old. Come heck or high water, he would make this relationship work. He’d give her head and follow wherever she led. He was through with trying to control things. Overplanning had always been his Achille’s heel, and it was time to let go of the reins and just let life take him on a grand adventure with her.
“Oh, look,” she said, pointing at the stage. “Something important is happening over there.”
Caleb turned to see Santa go down on one knee in front of Mrs. Claus.
“I think Zach’s proposing to Suzannah!” Ava exclaimed.
Wow! He knew Zach and Suzannah had been seeing each other. Heck, everyone in town was talking about it, but he hadn’t realized they were this serious.
Ava moved over to slip her arm around Caleb’s waist as they watched their friend open a ring box and present it to Suzannah.
With tears in her eyes, Suzannah nodded, and then Zach was kissing her, and the crowd had surged forward.
Caleb stepped back, getting out of the way. He’d offer his congratulations later in private.
“You and Zach are close. Did you know about his?”
Caleb shook his head. “Nope. It’s news to me.”
“It’s so sweet! I’m so happy for them both. Zach and Suzannah deserve all the happiness in the world.” Ava gave a joyous sigh.
Caleb was about to ask Ava if she wanted to grab a breakfast taco from the food truck when her cell phone buzzed.
She pulled it from her pocket and glanced at the screen, then looked up at Caleb. “Do you mind if I take this call? It’s from one of the places I sent my resume out to.”
“Go ahead.” He forced a smile, but inside his gut twisted and a hollowed sensation dug a hole in his heart.
“Thanks.” She answered the phone, plugging up her ear against the hubbub surrounding them.
Watching her, a sense of impending doom washed over Caleb.
Her expression went from eager to elated in two seconds flat. She mostly listened, nodding occasionally and answering “yes” many times. Then she finished with, “I’m looking forward to it. Thank you.”
Caleb clenched his jaw, jammed his hands into his jean pockets, and braced himself for news he did not want to hear.
Ava ended the call and looked up at him. “I got the job if I want it.”
He forced himself to smile and say, “That’s wonderful news.”
Anxiously, she bit her lip and shifted her weight. “There’s just one problem.”
“What’s that?” he asked, trying to stay as nonchalant as possible.
“It’s in Singapore and they need an answer by Monday.”
Chapter 10
“Monday?”
“It’s short notice and I’ll have to cut my trip home short. That messes with the time we have together.”
The news that Ava’s job offer was in Singapore was a sharp kick in the teeth.
Staring at her, Caleb felt as if he were being pulled backward through a long, dark tunnel and his heart ripped out by the force.
“It’s my dream job,” Ava was saying, her face animated in a way he hadn’t seen since she left for Paris a decade earlier.
She started listing off all the ways it was the opportunity of a lifetime, but she sounded tinny and far away and his mind couldn’t fully process what she told him. The gist he gleaned—terrific pay, artistic freedom, liberal benefit package. The only thing that stuck in his mind and held was a single word.
Singapore.
“Caleb?”
“Huh?” He blinked at her.
She was standing there on the sidewalk, people leaving the parade weaving their way around them. “Did you hear me?”
He nodded, even though he hadn’t. “Congratulations, Ava. I know this is an opportunity of a lifetime.”
“It is.” She nodded. “Singapore will be a bit more challenging on our relationship than if I’d gotten the jobs I’d applied for in Costa Rica and Canada but—”
“How long is that flight?” he asked. “Sixteen hours?”
She winced. “I’m not sure. Twentyish.”
“So you really couldn’t be any farther away from Kringle in the entire world.”
“I know it sounds daunting—”
“No hopping on a plane for a quick weekend trip home.”
“We’d have to—”
“Ava,” he said. “Just stop.”
She gulped visibly. “Stop what?”
“Trying to make this work. You are who you are. I have no right to ask you to be someone else for my convenience.”
“Cabe, what are you saying?” She looked so distressed it was all he could do not to take her into his arms and tell her they would work things out.
“I’m saying we’ve had an amazing time this week. The best time I’ve had in a very long while, but—”
“I’ll work on my flaws,” she said. “I’ll curb my impulsiveness. I’ll—”
“You won’t.”
“Please give me a chance to prove myself. I—”
“Ava,” he murmured her name.
“I will—”
“Ava, please let me say what I need to say.”
She shut up and fixed her gaze on him, her eyes beseeching. “I’m listening.”
“You’re impulsiveness isn’t the problem. Your ability to have spur-of-the-moment fun is part of who you are and it’s why I love you. You are uniquely you, Ava. You don’t make excuses. You grab life by throat and live it with gusto and I admire you so much for that. No, the problem isn’t who you are. The problem is one of simple logistics. We can’t build a life together while you are living ten thousand miles away. I was kidding myself to think it was possible.”
Ava stared at him openmouthed. “You l-love me?”
“You know I do. There’s been no one else for me, Ava, and I’ll always have deep feelings for you. There’s nothing like one’s first love. There simply isn’t. But it’s time for me to stop hanging on to a dream. After seeing Zach ask Suzannah to marry him, it spurred me to face up to what I’ve been feeling for the last ten years. I’ve been lonely and waiting for you to wise up and come home to me. That was foolishness on my part. It’s time for me to let you go. I want a wife and kids, the whole white-picket-fence fantasy, and you don’t.”