No, no, no.
“He actually does have a connection with Mountain Springs! Noelle, I think that you might have gone to school with him. It’s Connor Greene!”
Julianne’s husband, Ben, and Becca’s husband, Corbin, high-fived each other. Cory pumped his fist and said, “Yes!” Most of the kids were jumping up and cheering, even though— except for maybe three or four of them— they had no idea what they were cheering for. They were just excited about group excitement. Jack looked to Noelle to gauge her reaction, while all five sisters looked at each other. The four of them had the same wary expression on their faces that Katie knew she wore.
Actually, hers was much more than wariness. She wasn’t even sure what it was, because a mix of many emotions was swirling through her. None of them good. All of which made herfeel both tense and twitchy at the same time. And, oddly enough, made her jaw feel tight.
Her dad continued talking, although a little more cautiously, as if trying to figure out the mix of positive and negative emotions he was sensing. “He practiced with the team today, and I had a good chat with him after, where I explained about going to a town to do Christmas events for a video. He seems like a good guy. I asked him about his Christmas plans, and he was really feeling bad that he wouldn’t be able to go home for Christmas because of the storm coming in and the lack of flights.”
Katie mentally crossed all her fingers and toes, silently hoping that the next words out of her dad’s mouth wouldn’t be what she could guess they would be.
“So, I talked to your mom, and we decided to invite him to stay with us over the three-day break they get for Christmas.”
And there it was. The person in all of her high school— all grades included— that she liked least of all was going to be invading their family Christmas.
“So, Katie, I guess it was a good thing that your plans for a teammate for this activity fell through because I have someone else for you to partner up with.”
“What?” Katie nearly shouted as a knock sounded on the front door. “Dad, please tell me that you didn’t invite him to come tonight.”
“Why? I thought it would be a great chance for the two of you to get to know each other before you have to start filming him. It might make it easier to, you know, dig deep in your video and show the real Connor. Since he’s new to the team, it’ll give fans a chance to connect with him more. Oh, and there’s the man of the hour right there!”
Katie’s dad held out his arm and she turned to see the tall, muscular man who had crashed into her at the department store.
This was a nightmare come to life.
He’d started strolling into the room looking plenty confident, but as his eyes roved the room, his stride became more hesitant. It seemed like he was gathering puzzle pieces and slowly snapping them together. And then his eyes fell on Katie, and she could swear that she could actually see color leaving his face. His feet shifted ever so slightly, and she could tell at that moment that a part of him wanted to turn around and leave and that all of him was suddenly regretting saying yes to her dad’s offer.
Instead, though, he walked all the way up to her dad, shook his hand, then shook her mom’s hand and thanked them for inviting him.
Her nerve endings seemed to tingle at seeing both the strong, confident walk and the slight show of vulnerability. Why? Why? Why wasn’t her body getting the memo that she didn’t like him? This man was a jerk in high school. Why the fluttering?
It was probably because when he knocked into her at the department store, he had twisted to make sure he fell first, protecting her. She was just feeling that. Protection appreciation. Nothing else.
Her dad started introducing him to everyone. When he got to Noelle, Connor said, “We went to high school together, right?”
“Yep. We had U.S. History together for the first half of our junior year.”
Connor kept a smile on his face, but Katie could see the wince behind it, too. Then her dad motioned to her. “And this is my daughter, Katie.”
Connor shook her hand, but the guy’s face was pretty easy to read, so she could tell that he was racking his brain, trying to figure out if he knew her in high school.
“You don’t remember me, do you?”
“From last night?”
She ignored the raised eyebrows from practically everyone else in the room. “No, from high school.” She paused when there was still no recognition in his expression. “I was a freshman at that Christmas dance.”
Connor didn’t ask which one— they both knew which dance she was referring to. It was a low blow to bring it up, but also, it was oddly satisfying to see the look on his face.
Connor dipped his head a bit and scratched the back of his neck. “I’m really sorry about that.”
Her dad didn’t seem to know which dance they were talking about, and she didn’t expect him to. He had five daughters, so there were alotof school dances. She could tell that he sensed the awkwardness yet needed to press on anyway. “I’m glad you’re here and have been introduced— again, apparently— because Katie, here, is the videographer that is assigned to you for the Christmas player promotions I told you about earlier today.”
The new expression that crossed Connor Greene’s face? That one was even better.
four
CONNOR
