Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Aiden set his hammer down for a moment, cracking his knuckles as he looked around the nearly-finished roof. It was past eight on a Saturday, the town mostly quiet except for the sounds of a live band drifting over from Rockridge Grill, and he was still up on the roof. He reckoned he could have come in and finished up in the morning, instead of being out in the evening cold, but they were too close to being finished for him to reconcile it. Better to finish up that evening, since Blake had been willing to stay, and get a full day off tomorrow.

Blake shielded his eyes from the floodlights as he came around, carefully making his way across the roof toward Aiden. "The place looks great." He crouched down, fishing out a handful of nails to start on a few more of the shingles. "Really pulled this together in hardly any time at all."

"Couldn't have done it without such good help." Aiden grinned at his friend. Blake Monroe had been working with him since he'd returned to Evergreen Heights from Albany, and they'd picked back up as if no time had passed at all. It was good to have friends like that, he thought, as he started back in on the shingles as well. Friends who just picked up and carried on, and kept the closeness that you'd had before, regardless of how long you'd been gone. But Evergreen Hollow was good at that. The slow pace and tendency to hold onto the past was viewed as a bad thing by some, but he always saw it as a means to hold onto what mattered. A little time at the trade school in New York hadn't changed anything.

He'd been able to come right back home with no problem at all. Everything had effortlessly felt just like it always had, and there was a real comfort in that.

"I think you were right. We'll finish it up tonight and be good to go." Blake had a satisfied look on his face as he surveyed the rooftop. "Bethany will be happy about that."

"She will." Aiden rubbed a hand over his chin. "The ladies will be able to move all their loot for the festival planning inside in the next day or so. They'll really be able to get the ball rolling then."

Blake glanced at him. "Have you had a chance to make any plans for the festival? Any idea what you might get up to?"

Aiden shook his head, nailing down another shingle. "I never was much for all the festivities. It's a good thing for the town, and I'm no Grinch, but it's a bit crowded and loud for my taste. I usually take a spin around and then go tuck in by the fire, you know that."

"Why were you trying on that reindeer costume at the grill if you're not into all the festivities?" Blake gave him a sly look. "Sounded like you might have a little extra Christmas spirit in you this year."

"How on earth did you hear about that?" Aiden asked, exasperated. He set down the hammer, shaking his head. "I can't believe?—"

Blake shrugged. "Word travels, man. You know that." The sly tilt was still on his face. He was clearly getting a kick out of it too.

Aiden just rolled his eyes, refocusing on the roof. He knew all too well how right that was, when it came to a small town. No one sneezed without someone else knowing about it. There was good and bad to that too—it meant everyone could rally for each other when times were hard without anyone having to ask for it, but sometimes it meant being in other people's business when someone didn't need to be. And sometimes it meant a single embarrassing moment could follow a person around.

He was still glad that Nora hadn't seen him in it. She might hear about it—likely, she would hear about it—but he told himself that didn't even matter. She wasn't going to remember him from their days in high school—there was almost no chance of that. And he didn't have any reason to care one way or another, he reminded himself.

Aiden shifted down, getting onto the ladder to work on the finishing touches for the edge of the roof. Just as he got himself settled, he heard the door below open, and the sound of feminine voices wafting through.

"Who's there?" Blake called out, and a laugh drifted up.

"Anybody home?" Melanie Carter's voice drifted up—Aiden recognized it. He stopped into her coffee shop now and again—usually he made his own at home, but a good cup that someone else had brewed didn't go amiss now and again. And she had some of the best coffeecake he'd ever tasted, so he treated himself every once in a while.

Blake laughed. "Just a couple of guys finishing up some work. You're welcome to stay and watch. Who you got there with you?"

"Oh, Nora's here." Melanie said it off-handedly, as if it wasn't of any real consequence, and to Blake it probably wasn't. But Aiden felt his foot slip as he jerked in place, nearly slipping in his surprise. He hadn't expected Nora to walk out of the building. It almost felt as if he'd summoned her, just by thinking about her.

Which, of course, was a foolish thing to think, just like every other thought he'd had about her since he'd spied her sitting on The Mistletoe Inn's porch.

In fact, any thought he had about her was foolish, because he was very certain she wasn't sparing a single thought for him, nor had she ever.

"You all right, Aiden?" There was real concern in Blake's voice—he must have seen Aiden almost slip—and Aiden waved a hand quickly to fend it off. He was fine, and he didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to himself. Better to not have to deal with any conversation. He peered down at the shingles, pretending to be intensely focused on how they lined up along the edge of the building's gutter.

"They've put so much work into restoring this place," Melanie enthused from below, talking to Nora. "That storm just really tore through the town. No one was prepared for it. My place had some damage to the gutters and the flower boxes, and the door was almost taken clean off the front of the general store! But this building really got the worst of it. Absolutely wrecked the roof."

"Well, you'd never know now," Nora murmured, and Aiden felt an unnecessary flash of pride. He really shouldn't care if Nora thought he was doing good work or not, but the idea that she'd noticed and approved sent a warmth through him.

"I can tell that they made some improvements too, while they were at it. Long overdue, really, but needing to repair the roof was as good an excuse as any. I bet that was your idea, wasn't it, Aiden?"

Aiden winced, hearing his name. So much for staying hidden up here on the ladder.

"Those shingles look different too. Sturdier than what was there before. And that scallop on the edging along the side of the roof—that's so charming. Was that your idea too? I can't imagine Blake came up with it."

Melanie's voice was sweetly teasing, but Aiden had to bite back a sigh. She clearly wasn't going to let his silence go, and it gave him no choice but to descend the ladder and join the conversation.

When his boots hit the snow, he saw that Nora's back was to him. She was looking around, Aiden noted, and she seemed a little disinterested in all of it. Her expression, when he caught sight of her profile, seemed bored.

He couldn't blame her, really. He remembered that Evergreen Hollow had always seemed to be too small and boring for her, back when they were growing up. She had always talked about going off to college and what city she'd move to, with bigger dreams and plans than a small town like this could contain. It would have been more surprising, really, if she'd taken an actual interest in any of this. Why would she care about the event center that hosted a festival that she couldn't care less about? He was sure she was just tagging along with Melanie and being polite.

"How quickly do you think we can get the materials for the festival moved in?" Melanie asked, shoving her hands down into her pockets. "Maybe tomorrow evening? Or is that too soon to start with finishing cleaning up in here?"

"Hmm." Aiden tried to think, but it was difficult to focus with Nora standing a foot or so away. He'd had a timeline for when the ladies could take the space back over in his head earlier, but it seemed to have flown away, and there was no getting it back. He scratched the back of his neck, brushing away some wood chips. "I think tomorrow night will probably be fine."

Nora tilted her head, giving the space another once-over. "Does anyone have an extra generator for all the lights?" she asked suddenly. "At the planning meeting, it sounded like they were planning to put up a ton of them. This place is kind of small. You wouldn't want to blow a fuse. That would really put a damper on things."

Melanie shrugged, glancing at Aiden. "Is there an extra generator?"

Aiden cleared his throat. Nora had turned to face him, and his thoughts felt a little muddied. "We do," he said finally. His gaze flicked down to the navy scarf wound around her neck, tucked into the collar of the expensive-looking peacoat she was wearing. He questioned how warm a coat like that actually was, but he couldn't deny that she looked cute in the scarf. It was a thicker, bulkier wool than the rest of her clothing, and it was tucked up beneath her chin, her dark hair spilling out over it.

She was always pretty, back in high school. He'd noticed it then, for sure. But at some point between graduation and now, she'd gone from pretty to beautiful. It felt hard to take his eyes off of her.

Nora didn't appear to be having the same problem. She looked at him, and Aiden waited for her to say something, but there was no hint of recognition in her face or voice. No inclination that she remembered who he was.

He wasn't sure if that was a relief or a disappointment.

Aiden turned back to the ladder, intending to leave the rest of the talking up to Blake. Company or no, he intended to finish the roof tonight, and get some rest tomorrow. Whatever else they had to talk about, it wouldn't require his input.

He couldn't help listening though. Nora was asking about the size of the space, if there was room enough in the back for keeping food hot, or if someone would need to go back and forth from the grill throughout the day. She mentioned something about a hot cocoa bar, which sounded like a nice idea, but she was concerned with the space for outlets to once again—keep everything warm.

It surprised him that she was giving it any thought at all. She was clearly home for the holidays, sure, but that didn't mean that she needed to have any input about the festival. No one would have blamed her for just taking a back seat and showing up with her family on the appointed day—or maybe not showing up at all. The festival was really a resident and tourist thing, and Nora was neither of those.

He reminded himself, as Nora asked about decorations and whether or not they avoided anything fragile with so many children, that she worked at some fancy ballroom back in Boston. He didn't know much about what she did now, but he'd heard that through the grapevine at least. She probably couldn't help herself, thinking about the details at any venue she was in that happened to be hosting an event.

When Melanie said their goodbyes, the sounds of two sets of boots crunching off in the snow toward a waiting car, Aiden couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. That had gone better than he'd thought, at least.

"That new girl seems to be a good businesswoman," Blake said thoughtfully, climbing down from his own ladder to put away some of the tools. He hadn't gone to high school in Evergreen Hollow, so he didn't recognize Nora. Aiden didn't particularly feel like catching him up. "Not a bad looking one either," he added wryly.

Aiden didn't say a word, focusing on putting the final touches on the roof, but inside he couldn't deny that Blake was right.

Nora Stoker had grown up to be a very fine-looking woman, indeed.