2. Kenzie

2

KENZIE

K enzie pulled up at the Co-op Grocer’s, feeling pleased to get a spot so close to the side entry doors. She remembered the summer they had added the big button that operated the side door for easier wheelchair access. She’d never thought that button might come in handy for her own use, but she would certainly be glad for it now.

Getting out of the car and reaching back in for her crutches and her bag was a challenge, but she managed without too much trouble.

She was allowed to drive with the boot on her left foot, but it made her a little nervous, and she hadn’t driven in forever. Now that she was standing safely on the sidewalk, she stopped and took a moment to look around and appreciate the town.

When she was a little kid, she had assumed that every town had pretty candy canes hung from the lampposts at Christmastime, and that all shop owners got excited about the season, putting up lights, pine bough garlands, and holly wreaths.

A little time in the world outside Trinity Falls showed her that wasn’t the case. And now that she was home, she was determined to enjoy every bit of the town’s holiday spirit.

Though she longed to walk around the village, she knew shopping might wear her out when she had to navigate using crutches and a cart at once. So, she satisfied herself with admiring the beautifully creative window display at the Co-op, and the sweet Santa and reindeer opening oversized fortune cookies that had been beautifully painted on the front window of Bowl of Joy next door.

Thanksgiving had barely come and gone, and already Trinity Falls village felt like Christmas. Soon, she would be getting her exercise in by walking around town in the evening to admire her neighbors’ displays too.

Humming a tune to herself, Kenzie headed over to where the carts were and tried to figure out how to proceed. She could walk with both crutches, or push the cart with both hands, but walking and pushing at the same time was going to be tricky.

After thinking it over, she decided to put one crutch in the cart while she kept the other under her left arm and used the cart to support part of her weight with her right hand.

It was slow going for her, but hopefully shopping in the morning on a weekday meant it wouldn’t be crowded and she wouldn’t slow anyone else down too much.

She pressed the big button and smiled when she saw the glass door glide open. But she frowned when she realized how much time it might take for her to get in and worried that the door might close again before she, the cart, and the crutch made their way inside.

As she did her best to hustle for the door, a familiar face peeked out from inside and lit up.

“MacKenzie Forrest,” Lucy Webb called out happily. “Hang on, let me help you.”

“Lucy,” Kenzie said, smiling as her friend came out and grabbed her other crutch out of the cart.

Lucy was wearing a Co-op shirt. Kenzie knew that Lucy had gotten a job here in high school, but hadn’t realized she was still working at the grocery store now.

“Here you go,” Lucy said, handing her the crutch. “You need both of these. I’ll push the cart and grab your stuff for you.”

“Are you on break or something?” Kenzie asked worriedly.

“Nah,” Lucy said. “But it’s my job to take care of customers, so taking care of you is definitely what I’m on the clock for.”

“Why do I feel like you have a great boss?” Kenzie asked.

“Because I do,” Lucy said with a serious expression. “And I think I might just be taking his place when he retires.”

“Congratulations,” Kenzie told her, meaning it. Her own recent promotion to principal dancer had meant the world to her, even if she’d only been able to enjoy it for a short time .

“Thanks,” Lucy said. “I’ll miss the busy nights and weekends, but the hours will be better for my daughter.”

“Your daughter ?” Kenzie echoed, amazed.

“She’s the light of my life,” Lucy said with a smile. “Next time I bump into you when I’m actually on break, I’ll overwhelm you with photos.”

Kenzie let Lucy lead the way inside with the cart while she followed on her crutches.

“Oh, wow,” she said, looking around.

“Yeah, we’ve made some improvements since the last time you were home,” Lucy said proudly. “My personal favorite is the café area by the windows, but the local artisans’ section is pretty cool too.”

Kenzie had noticed the big, beautiful window out front but hadn’t seen all the tables set up near it. Even this early on a weekday morning, a few of the tables were filled.

Three of the town’s VIPs, Betty Ann Eustace, Shirley Ludd, and Ginny Davies, sat at the best table, talking, sipping coffee, and picking at a plate of danishes. It seemed to her that the three retired women had always been responsible for organizing most of the wonderful events and fundraisers that happened in town. For all Kenzie knew, they were planning another one right now.

“ MacKenzie Forrest ,” Betty Ann called in her warmest, most regal tone.

“Go on,” Lucy told her. “I’ll follow.”

Kenzie headed over, trying not to bump anyone. It was strange taking up so much space with the crutches.

“Hello, Mrs. Eustace,” she said when she arrived. “And Mrs. Ludd and Mrs. Davies. ”

“You’re quick on those things, young lady,” Betty Ann said, indicating the crutches with her eyebrows raised slightly. “We were all very sorry to hear of your injury.”

“Oh, thank you,” Kenzie said, feeling a little starstruck that the matriarchs of Trinity Falls had followed her career in any way.

“Will you be helping out at your grandmother’s place?” Shirley asked hopefully. “When you’re feeling better?”

“For now, I just have to heal up,” Kenzie said. “Then I can figure out what’s next. But I’ll definitely be there to visit.”

The three ladies nodded approvingly.

“Well, we won’t keep you unnecessarily on your feet, dear,” Betty Ann told her. “But if you get restless around the house, you’re welcome to help out with the raffle or the town newsletter we’re thinking of starting.”

“Yes, we always have plenty of things you can keep busy with sitting down,” Ginny told her with a friendly wink.

“And we’d love your company, dear,” Shirley told her. “You can tell us what it was like to perform in New York City.”

“Thank you,” Kenzie said, feeling genuinely honored.

“Your grandmother has my number,” Betty Ann told her, nodding by way of a dismissal.

Kenzie swung herself over to the Christmas section beside the café and waited for Lucy to catch up.

“Wow,” Lucy said. “They’ve never asked me to volunteer before.”

“It’s just a pity invitation,” Kenzie said. “But I might actually take them up on it. Why shouldn’t I be a town VIP-in-training? I can’t help my grandmother with teaching or loading sets in and out yet.”

Lucy laughed and they headed down the milk aisle together.

Kenzie knew she should be ashamed of herself, especially since she was with Lucy, but she loaded up on all the calorie-laden snack foods she had been dreaming about since she was twelve and had to start eating like an athlete.

She also grabbed a few sensible things that she could make for meals. It was lovely to see so much nice fresh produce even in wintertime. She got plenty to make salads, chicken soup, and even a roast with root vegetables.

“It’s gotten expensive here,” Lucy told her apologetically as they stood in line.

“It’s gotten expensive everywhere,” Kenzie said. “I’m just glad that my roommates found someone to take my bed in New York, so I don’t have to pay rent while I’m here.”

“Did you say your bed ?” Lucy asked, looking horrified.

“Well, yes,” Kenzie laughed. “New York is expensive. I was sharing a one-bedroom with four other people.”

“How?” Lucy asked.

“We had two sets of bunk beds in the bedroom,” Kenzie told her. “And then Katya had a bed in the dining room.”

“Wow,” Lucy said.

“Ballet dancers don’t get paid much,” Kenzie said, shrugging. “We were just happy to live close to the theatre. Some of the other dancers had to take buses in from New Jersey.”

“You must really love to dance,” Lucy said as a lane opened up and she headed for it.

“I did,” Kenzie said, her eyes going automatically to her foot.

“I’m so sorry,” Lucy said worriedly. “I didn’t mean to?—”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Kenzie assured her. “I got to do a lot of dancing, more than most people, and hopefully this isn’t the end.”

Lucy smiled at her, clearly relieved.

“Lucy, I need your eyes on something,” someone called out, sounding aggravated.

“Oh, it’s Mrs. Stinson,” Lucy said quietly.

Mrs. Stinson had been a fancy old lady in a fur coat who loved nothing more than complaining even back when Kenzie was a child.

“Go on and help her,” Kenzie told Lucy. “I’ve got it from here.”

“Are you sure?” Lucy asked.

“I just have to pay and then get from the door to my car,” Kenzie said. “What could go wrong?”

“ Lucy Webb, ” Mrs. Stinson called, louder this time. “ I can see that you hear me. ”

“See you around,” Lucy said apologetically as she headed off.

Check-out went well, thanks to another young woman who was in line behind her and stepped forward to help get Kenzie’s things onto the carousel.

“Thank you so much,” Kenzie told her.

“It’s nothing,” the lady said, smiling. “My mother-in-law has my kids today, and I honestly don’t know what to do with myself.”

Kenzie would have stopped to chat, but she was starting to feel the bone-deep sleepiness that sometimes settled over her these days when she left the house for an extended period of time.

She threw her right crutch into the cart with her bags and headed slowly out to the parking lot again.

After navigating her way down the ramp and managing to hold onto the cart, she finally made it to the car. She even got the back open on her third try without falling over. But when she went to transfer the first bag of groceries from the cart into the car she had a little trouble getting it in just right without spilling the contents everywhere.

And when she went to grab for the next bag, the cart had rolled away from her. It was headed down the slight incline, straight toward a pickup truck that was just pulling in.

“Oh, no,” she said to herself, moving for it automatically, and then realizing she couldn’t run.

She couldn’t get far at all, since her other crutch was in the cart.

“ Look out ,” she screamed when she realized the pickup’s engine had just cut off. She had been panicked that the cart would hit the truck, but what if the driver got out and was hit by it instead?

She shuffled down toward the truck as fast as she could on one crutch, but she knew her efforts were futile. She would never make it to the cart before it made impact.

Sure enough, she was barely halfway there when the cart hit the truck, making a nice loud bang, then bouncing back and smacking into it again before finally coming to rest.

Kenzie’s heart was in her mouth as she hobbled closer, trying to assess the damage.

Before she had a chance, the door of the pick-up flew open.

“ What kind of overgrown child just lets their cart go in a parking lot? ” a deep voiced exploded out, followed by a big body.

Exhausted, ashamed, and feeling exactly like a pathetically overgrown child, Kenzie opened her mouth to apologize but a sob came out instead.

Mortified, her whole face was instantly wet with tears that had begun streaming from her eyes like she was some sort of human fountain.

“I’m s-so-sorr-sorr-sorry ,” she wailed. “ I’ll p-p-pay for the damage .”

The big, blurry figure took a step back, hands raised slightly.

“Hey,” he said more gently. “Don’t cry.”

But the tears were coming fast and hard and it was all Kenzie could do to keep standing there. She hadn’t even cried like this when she got hurt. But she was just so tired of feeling helpless…

The big man was moving now, going over to her cart, most likely to see whether she had left a big ugly dent on his truck and then yell at her some more .

Instead, he held out her other crutch to her.

“Th-thank you,” she sniffled, her tears finally slowing. She raised her right elbow to try and wipe her eyes.

The figure in front of her cleared as she did, and she realized who it was.

Aidan Webb.

Mal was right, he certainly was grumpy these days. Although in fairness, she had hit his truck with her cart.

But no one could say he was any less handsome than he had been back in school. Even though he was a couple of years ahead of Kenzie and Mal, she had spent her fair share of time mooning over him. And now, his broad shoulders and muscular chest formed an even more impressive triangle with his narrow waist. And his almost-black hair and pale blue eyes still gave him the air of a dark prince from a fairy tale.

“You shouldn’t put that in the cart if you need it to walk,” he told her flatly, eyeing her crutch.

In all the times she had fantasized about what it would be like for gorgeous, popular Aidan Webb to come up and talk to her, this had never been how it played out.

She tried to pull herself together and think of a wicked comeback.

But, to her horror, the tear fountain erupted again, and she found herself crying like her heart was broken.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Aidan grumbled. “Don’t cry. I’ll help you with your stuff.”

Somehow, him breaking and being a little nicer only made her angrier with herself, which in turn made her cry harder.

“ B-b-but your truck ,” she whimpered .

“This truck is probably older than you are,” he muttered. “Look at it.”

She wiped her eyes again and glanced over.

Now that she was really looking, she could see that the truck was definitely an older model, with plenty of nicks and scratches. There was mud around the wheel wells, too. It looked like the kind of vehicle that was used for hard work, not for show.

“See?” Aidan said impatiently. “No harm done. Now, come on.”

He had already grabbed her cart and was pushing it up the slight incline of the lot without even looking at the new scrape in the paint it had left behind.

Well, if he could ignore it, then she could too. Kenzie moved as quickly as she dared to catch up and was amazed when she saw him grab a bag from her cart to put it in the car.

“You don’t have to do that,” she told him a little breathlessly as she joined him.

“It’s fine,” he said gruffly.

He feels bad for yelling at me, she realized in disbelief.

He reached for another bag and when she realized which bag it was, she died a little death of embarrassment. The entire thing was full of sweet cereals, fruit roll-ups, and chocolate pudding cups. And Aidan Webb was looking into it with a frown.

“My son likes pudding cups too,” he said, surprising her. “How old is your kid?”

“Five,” she lied, surprising herself. Kenzie was normally a very honest person. This mean-spirited grump must have really gotten into her head .

“Oh yeah?” he said, turning to her like he was about to ask whose class her kid was in or something.

“No,” she admitted miserably. “I don’t actually have a kid. All that stuff is for me.”

He studied her for a moment, his eyes narrowed.

Kenzie braced herself for him to go ballistic on her.

Instead, the right side of his mouth quirked up in an expression that looked almost like the beginning of a smile.

“You going to be okay getting home?” he growled, tearing his eyes from hers as he put the final bag into the car.

“I’m fine,” she said. “I live nearby.”

He paused for a moment, looking down at her. There was something inscrutable in his expression and she lost herself for a moment, trying to read what was written in his steel-blue gaze.

In spite of everything, she felt a little pull of attraction and a voice in the back of her head wondered if he felt it too, and suddenly wished she knew what he was thinking.

But he turned away and headed back to the sidewalk before she could figure it out, snapping her right back to reality.

It was probably just some condescending advice about grocery cart etiquette, she told herself, as she slid her crutches into the car one by one. It’s lucky I couldn’t hear what he was thinking, or I’d probably just start crying again.

She felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment that she’d let the big, handsome bully make her cry. Twice .

As soon as she got her bag into the car, she lowered herself into the driver’s seat and let out a sigh of relief.

All she had to do now was drive home and unload the car. Then she could collapse on the couch and watch a Christmas movie, just like she had done last night, and probably would every night until her cast was off.

But now I’ll have pudding cups, she thought to herself, feeling her usual good cheer flowing back into her chest. I’m not going to let this get me down. And nothing really happened, anyway.

Actually, if she thought about what he had said instead of how he said it, he had been pretty nice about things. He hadn’t made a big deal over the damage, and he’d even helped her with her stuff.

She turned on the radio and smiled when she heard Fats Domino singing about how he’d be home for Christmas . She had forgotten all about it, but of course the local station still played all Christmas music from Thanksgiving through New Year’s.

Her heart was feeling light again, and she found herself looking forward to getting home and having a cozy day.

But she still checked her mirrors and waited until Aidan Webb had disappeared from her sight before she backed out of her spot.