Chapter Nine

Bo

I tugged at the neck of my sweater. “I can’t believe I’m wearing this in public.” Or at all. What was Izzy thinking when she bought this thing? Better yet, what was I thinking when I put it on?

“Come on, it’s not that bad.”

I looked down again for good measure. Yeah, yeah, it was. “On the contrary. Mine is that bad. You clearly had it out for me when you picked this up for me. I jingle as I walk, Izzy. I feel like a cat with all of these bells.”

She laughed. She actually laughed at me. Could you believe the nerve of her? I eyed her, my eyes thin slits as I waited for her to say something.

“They didn’t have a lot of options. Plus, it’s an ugly Christmas sweater party, everyone wears something tacky, it’s kind of the whole point. You’re worrying about this too much.” She took a step and then turned back to wait for me.

Meanwhile, I took in her red and green sweater with a gold, three-dimensional bow on her chest. “Even you’re wearing a less ridiculous sweater,” I said, trying to get her to see reason.

“Oh, please,” she started, “it’s fine and we look sillier just standing outside. Let’s go in. Look, the Martins just arrived.” Her eyes were drawn just beyond me.

I turned to get a load of the couple, not that I knew who the Martins were. He was wearing one strung with Christmas lights. Ones that actually lit up, not fake ones like on my tree. I pitied the guy on the arm of his wife, smiling at us as he passed us by on the walkway.

“See, that thing lit up,” Izzy said, her voice low. “Yours could’ve been much worse, Bo.”

“Yeah, well, any worse and I definitely wasn’t wearing it.”

“Can we go in now?”

“Fine, but I’m not playing any ridiculous games, so just forget about it right now,” I warned her and tugged at the neck of my sweater again, looking around. With all the cars outside, I knew it would be a packed house. That meant it’d be warm and this sweater was already suffocating me.

“Who said you had to?” she asked coyly.

I raised an eyebrow. I doubted she wasn’t expecting me to play games. As we stepped inside, I surveyed the full house.

Meanwhile, she obviously wasn’t done teasing me, because she pointed out, “Now, they have boxes and bows, wreaths and even a roast beef, so try not to steal any of it.”

I turned to look at her, not sharing in her amusement. “Because I’m a grinch, I get it. Ha, ha,” I said in mock laughter. “You know, you should do stand-up.”

Pleased with herself, she raised her shoulders and tilted her head, smiling so intensely that her cheeks looked like those of a chipmunk. “Thank you.”

Turning my attention from her, I looked around again. Izzy was right, the whole town practically turned up for this party. Being an outsider myself, I didn’t recognize anyone, so when the man with the lit up sweater stood nearby holding a drink, I stepped over to him.

“Mr. Martin, is it?” I asked, leaning forward. When he nodded, I introduced myself. “Bo Grant.”

He smiled. “I know who you are. It’s a small town, remember,” he said, amusement in his voice.

Small town, that was right. I nodded. “I have to ask. Is it remote controlled?”

Laughing, he nodded and slipped the handheld remote from the pocket of his pants. “Yeah, isn’t it great?”

“Great,” I repeated, smiling and nodding, figuring I might as well speak their language. What was that saying—when in Rome?

* * *

Izzy

Look at him. Look at the way he just walked away and started talking to Mr. Martin and then several others. It was nothing short of a miracle.

Not that he couldn’t pick up a conversation with strangers, but that he wanted to.

At this Christmas party.

With people who were definitely not his kind of people.

Now before you go getting your feathers up, I could say that because I was one of these people—small town folk. At least that was what we were to people like Bo, those from the Big Apple and all that. Not that we walked around with straw in our teeth, but to us community mattered, neighbors, friendships, and Bo had made it plenty clear that those weren’t his things. He just didn’t get it.

So to see him now, sitting with several of Jesse’s friends in the living room, drinking a glass of eggnog. . . I could hardly believe it!

Belle came over and bumped my shoulder, breaking me from my reverie. “Why do you keep staring at that handsome man? Go over and talk to him,” she encouraged.

Naturally, she made me smile. Belle was one of the sweetest, if not sassiest people I knew, but she really wasn’t one to stay up-to-date on town gossip. She worked for herself, running an antique shop where she stocked and repaired old treasures, so if it didn’t come through her shop, she simply had no idea about it—Bo included, it seemed. “That’s Bo. He came with me, actually. He’s Louie’s best man from New York,” I explained.

She nodded, her blonde bun going up and down with her head. “Oh, that’s right! So that’s Bo, huh? He’s cute. I like the beard, makes him look gruff. If you came together why aren’t you with him?” she asked, her head angled as she studied me. “Clearly you want to be over there with him. It’s written all over your face.”

What was it with everyone? “It’s not. I was just thinking how the big city guy could actually mesh with our small town.”

She hummed, taking a sip of her drink. “Mmhmm. Maybe those thoughts are really more about how you wished he’d stay and that’s why you care whether he meshes well.”

“Stop,” I insisted. “That’s not what this is.” And my face better get on board if it kept giving off the wrong kind of looks.

“If you say so.”

“I do.”

* * *

Bo

Christmas bingo. Two words I never thought I’d say together in my life and yet here I was actually playing it. So sue me, I went back on my word and participated in playing a game. A Christmas one, nonetheless. But what else was I supposed to do? Be the only one not playing? That seemed silly.

And the truth was I wasn’t hating bingo. In fact, I thought I was rocking it.

I elbowed Izzy next to me, who missed one, and pointed to the square. “Carolers,” I whispered, smiling at her.

In a daze, her eyes glazed over, and she looked up and over at me. “Huh? Oh, yeah.” She swiped her marker across the square. “Thanks.”

I nodded and quickly marked off another one on my boards as Jesse called it. One more to go and I’d win.

Then he pulled another strip of paper from the bowl. “Reindeer,” he called, but I didn’t have it, so I checked Izzy’s because for all intents and purposes, I’d sworn she checked out. She smiled at me when I marked her board, and all I wanted to do was know what was going on inside that head of hers. I would’ve thought this would be right up her alley.

“Bingo!” someone sitting on the floor by the fireplace called out and jumped up.

Man, so close!

Everyone started standing and Phil walked over to me. We’d been talking earlier, he was a nice guy. “Who would’ve guessed a city slicker like you would be so into Christmas bingo,” he joked. “I saw you checking your boards like your life depended on it.”

“Turns out I like bingo.” I laughed at his expression and slapped him on the back. “Come on, let’s get another glass of eggnog. Another thing I never would’ve thought I’d like.”

“Good, I want to hear more about that business you were talking about investing in.”

Nodding, I followed him over to the kitchen and swiped a peppermint brownie on my way past the dessert table. “You got it!”

* * *

Izzy

Putting aside the fact that I was falling down a rabbit hole, I didn’t think I could stop myself even if I wanted to.

I knew I’d been denying it to quite literally everyone that said I was interested in Bo, but maybe they were right. Well, obviously they were right because every time I was around him, it was starting to become more difficult to ignore this feeling that I got. It was like I wanted to be noticed by him, wanted him to see me and smile, something he rarely did around anyone else.

It wasn’t fair for me to be feeling this way—neither to him nor myself. I couldn’t be catching any feelings for this man. He belonged in New York and wouldn’t be happy in a town like this, and I loved this town and couldn’t see myself anywhere else.

Ugh, but if that was the case, then why couldn’t I stop this nagging feeling in my chest, this giddy feeling I got whenever he looked at me tonight? And what was that about during bingo? I’d never have thought that Bo would look at me that way, but he did. He looked at me like I was special to him, like I mattered to him.

Maybe I was overthinking it, I thought, but then I couldn’t stop replaying the moment. Forget the fact that he was actually playing one of the very games he refused to play. No, it was all about the way he was acting—his smile, the little looks he sent my way. Like when he whispered the word “carolers” to me.

Maybe he didn’t even realize he was doing it.

Maybe he didn’t notice the mixed signals he was sending me.

But it was driving me nuts trying to figure out this. . . this. . .

“Izzy,” Bo’s voice broke me out of my reverie. I turned and watched him stand behind me, his arms wrapping around me. “It’s chillier than usual. What are you doing standing out here? You could get sick before the wedding.”

I didn’t need to look at him to see the concern on his face because I heard it in his voice. See, this was what I was talking about. It was like Bo wanted everyone to see him as some sort of beast, some man to not feel comfortable around. But people were. I was. I was so undeniably comfortable around him.

Sure, he had this icy exterior, but when you got to know him, really got to see within, there was nothing that was stopping me from wanting to know even more about him, everything about him, really.

I cleared my throat and did what I’d been doing best, masking my feelings, burying them deep down. I lifted my chin and tried to act casual, like his arms being around me had no effect on me whatsoever. Not that he’d notice anyway, though, because he was too busy being upset about where he was, the time of year, and why he was here. No doubt he was doing this because he was loyal to Louie, but besides that, please, the entire notion of a wedding was something he disliked. Need I remind you of the cake tasting?

He belonged in New York where he could work tirelessly at a desk in an environment he knew and appreciated. I was right before, and I needed to remember that—it was useless of me to feel anything for Bo because it wouldn’t go anywhere.

“You should head back inside, then. You wouldn’t want to catch a cold before the wedding and show up as Rudolph.” I tried making a joke, but I didn’t have it in me to actually deliver it properly, so it fell flat.

He squeezed my sides and peered over my shoulder, looking at me. “ We should go inside.”

Geez, the way he said that one little word—we. My heart was confused. As if almost on instinct, I leaned my head back on him, but it lasted barely a millisecond before he pulled away, leaving my body cold from the lack of his touch, and my head to bob backward before I caught myself and stood up straight again, turning to face him now.

His look was all the reminder I needed to stop myself from misreading the situation. He shoved his hands in his pockets and seemed to regain his composure (read: grumpy demeanor) as he stood opposite of me. “So what’s going on? You seem off.”

Of course, that he picked up on. Give him twenty minutes and maybe, just maybe, he’d pick up on the fact that leaving me hanging when I went to lean into him left me feeling like a grade-A idiot.

I plastered on a phony smile, though, not wanting to get into the thick of things with him. “What do you mean? I’m happy as ever.” That was believable, right?

He cocked a brow, clearly not buying it. “I’ve seen you smile a million times before. I know when it’s forced.”

I licked my lips, not liking how well he could read me. “Well, you’re wrong.”

Neither of us said anything, just stood there. Until finally, Bo announced, “All right, well, I’m going inside.”

“Okay.” Don’t let the door hit you on the way in, I thought to myself, as he turned to leave.

Geez, why was I acting like this? Oh, that was right, because I didn’t know how else to act since I only seemed to want one thing right now—his arms around me again. And we both knew that wasn’t happening.

Hating myself for somewhat losing myself and my usual cheery outlook, I took a deep breath in and then exhaled before stopping him. “Thank you for coming with me tonight.”

He didn’t turn around, just replied from the doorway, “You’re welcome.”

Knowing he was only going to walk away at this point, I turned back around, looking out toward the street, at all the cars that were out there. So many people had shown up to this party and it only reminded me how foolish I was being. Yes, Bo was. . . special, but he was also not from around here and had no intention of calling Silver Springs home. I needed to remember that. What I had here was also special. This place was my home.

It was all this wedding planning, it was starting to get to me, causing me to be confused. I needed to get my emotions in check and stop my feelings from getting away from me, so as I stepped through the door and shut it behind me, I tried my hardest to leave it all behind, too.