12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Jamie

"Thank you so much for your time, Jacob! The pictures you showed us are perfect." Evie beams at him. "Sean and Jessica are going to love it!"

"Not as much as we are," Jacob chuckles. "It's not every day that we get someone of Sean's celebrity status for an event in our small town. The publicity will help us get future events for years."

"Probably longer." I turn to glance at Evie, and my heart skips a beat as my eyes capture hers. She quickly looks away, and I turn to Jacob. "Sean loves hyping up any company he has a good experience with. Being that this is an event for his upcoming wedding, expect him to talk about it whenever someone asks about his wedding at a new movie premiere or interview."

"True, look at him and BattleBron Tech."

"Oh yeah." Jacob smiles at Evie. "I hear him talk about them and the good work they do for veterans all the time. Love how they helped Liam with his emotional support dog and his job at Wilderness Warriors."

"My brother is pretty amazing!" Evie gushes.

"So we are all set for the Saturday two weeks before Christmas, at four." I switch the conversation back to the party details. "There will be five fire pits and two hot cocoa stands around the ice rink."

"And mistletoe," Jacob says as he points toward the two entrances of the rink. "Sean called earlier and said to make sure there is plenty of mistletoe."

A blush crawls up Evie's face for the third or fourth time since we've been here. Gosh, she's adorable. I can't take my gaze off of her, and she refuses to make eye contact, which tells me she knows I'm looking at her.

My eyes fall to her lips, and I think of my missed opportunity under a different mistletoe. You can be sure I won't make the same mistake again if given another chance.

She forces a smile and tightly says. "Of course he did."

I can't stop laughing, earning myself one of Evie's now signature glares, which has me laughing even harder.

"That brother of yours is all about the romance." Jacob chuckles.

"That he is," Evie shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "Thanks again, Jacob. Please let me know if you need anything. The best place to reach me is at the bakery."

"Will do, Evie." He extends his hand to Evie and then to me, a smile stretched across his face. "I'm looking forward to it."

We wave and then head back to the parking lot.

"Sean and Jessica are going to love this so much." Evie's initial annoyance at Sean and Jessica shoving us together is gone as the excitement of planning this event takes hold.

I don't say anything as I stick my hands in my coat pocket and let a small smile creep on my face. I can feel Evie's eyes on me, and glance up. When my eyes meet hers, she quickly looks away. Her cheeks flushing.

I follow her to her car door. "Your car is over there." She points, worry lining her expression.

"I know," I say, continuing to follow her. She unlocks the car and puts her hand on the handle, only to bump into mine. She pulls her hand away like she's been burned.

"What are you doing?" Her eyes are wide.

"Opening your car door for you." Every nerve ending in my body lights up as I feel how close her body is to mine. I can smell the subtle hint of vanilla lingering from the baking she was doing earlier.

With how determined she was to get to her car, I'm pretty sure she had every intention of just waving goodbye and driving off as quickly as possible. But I wasn't about to let that happen. The last two hours talking about love and weddings have made me want to show her that when I told her I was in love with her yesterday, I meant it.

That means doing whatever I have to do to win her back, even when she acts like she doesn't want to be around me.

She freezes and just stares at me. The corners of my mouth lift up. Wow! I just want to lean in and kiss her, but as much as I want to, I'm not going to. Right now, she's like a deer in headlights, and me moving too fast will have her skittering off.

I have to be patient, so I force myself to stand still.

"Thank you." She looks away and slides into the front seat. She puts her keys in the ignition but I still don't close the door. "Jamie?"

When her eyes meet mine, I hear her breath catch. My grin spreads further across my face. And my heart races.

"Nothing. I just wanted to look at you one more time before I closed the door." With one last smile, I gently close the door and get into my car. Before backing out, I turn to look at her one more time.

She's staring at me with her mouth hanging open. The grin on my face turns into a full-blown smile that makes me think my cheeks might crack.

I think this went pretty darn well toward thawing the ice between me and Evie.

"The extra mistletoe was a nice touch." I hear Sean and Jess laugh on the other end of the phone.

"It was my idea." Jess giggles.

"Okay, seriously, what have you done with my sister?"

"Jess has always been passionate." I can hear the grin in Sean's voice. I also know that if I don't interrupt them, they will start kissing again. The constant affection would be annoying if it weren't my best friend and sister, but it is my sister and best friend.

"Okay, okay. Can you please stop the kissing? These group calls with my sister about my love life are bad enough. Knowing the two of you are kissing on the other end is almost more than I can take." I hear Jessica's phone ring in the background.

"That's probably Evie calling. She's not happy about the matchmaking." Jess laughs.

They both laugh before I hear Jess answer her phone.

"You're really going to love the event at the ice rink, Sean. Jacob had everything you said you wanted, and he's going all in," I say as I try to distract myself from the fact that Jessica is on the phone with Evie right now. "Though I think we need to change up the mistletoe."

"What? You don't think everyone having to kiss when they get on or off the ice is a good idea?" Sean's voice echoes throughout my car.

"Nope. It's overkill." I can hear Sean groan on the other end of the phone. "Plus Evie will never get on the ice."

"Oh, good point! I'll talk to him about changing up the locations; it's not a big deal at all." He brushes it off like that's a minor detail. "What did Evie think?"

My lips turn up as I recall her face when she initially met up with me. "Besides her being upset about the whole matchmaking thing?"

"What gave it away?" Sean asks, genuine surprise in his voice, and I laugh out loud.

"Meetings with your manager and Jess' publisher out of the blue?! Come on! Did you really think she wouldn't find that suspicious?"

He chuckles. "I guess Jessica and I could've tried to get more creative."

"Yeah, that would've helped just a bit." I roll my eyes, the smile still lingering on my face. "But overall, it wasn't bad. She still has her guard up, but there are moments I can feel she's letting it down."

"Does she know you know what's happening?"

"I'm not sure." It's a good question. Honestly, I'm not sure it would make a difference to her if I did know. Just the fact that it's happening has her annoyed.

"She knows I'm not opposed to it." I smirk, finally answering, and then change the subject. "Jacob is excited to have the great Sean O'Connell planning an event at his location. He intends to make sure that everything is perfect."

"I have no doubt," Sean responds. "How are you really? Are you okay?"

"I'm just worried." I run my hand through my hair and blow out a big breath. "What if I've ruined everything, and your sister never forgives me?"

"Then you move on." Sean's easy words are not what I expect to hear, and my heart falls to my stomach. "But we're only in the second act, dude, so there isn't any need to panic yet."

My lips lift at the corners with Sean's movie analogy, and I take another deep breath. He's right; I just got back home. And considering the conversation we had before I left was that we were over, things could be much worse.

I know she's torn and confused about me being home and expressing feelings. Who wouldn't be? I can see her fighting her feelings for me in every interaction we have together. I can't blame her for not wanting to get hurt again.

I know the feeling; it's why I left like I did.

The truth is I'm scared too. But this time, I am more afraid of losing her forever. It feels like I'm hanging over a cliff with no safety net to catch me. However, I'd never forgive myself if I didn't put myself out there like this. I'll take falling over quitting any day. Ending things with Evie was the most idiotic thing I've ever done.

If things don't work out this time, it won't be because I let anyone doubt that the woman for me is Evelyn O'Connell.

"Thanks, Sean. I'll talk to you later."

I hang up the phone, and my stomach swirls. If Evie doesn't take me back, I may be looking for work that keeps me permanently out of Willow Falls. But I refuse to think about that right now.

Evie can be mad or scared. It's my job to make sure she knows exactly how much I regret leaving her like I did. That means acting like someone I've never acted like before.

This means being the man Evie has always deserved. A man who can be open with his feelings; be vulnerable. And that terrifies me, but not as much as losing her does.

Evie is worth doing whatever it takes.