The answer was too short to be satisfying. "Were you evercloseto being engaged?"
"Iwasn't."
"But what abouther?What didshewant?"
His mouth tightened. "That's a question for her, not me."
"But you were together for almost three years," I persisted. "That seems like plenty long enough to know what you wanted."
Just then, his cell phone dinged in his pocket. With a low curse, he pulled it out and took a quick look before saying, "Sorry, but I've gotta go."
Was he truly sorry?
Or had the phone provided him with a handy escape?
Either way, I was all too aware that his schedule today was incredibly tight, so instead of hassling him, I merely asked, "But what if she comes back?"
He stood. "Just call me. I'll be here in thirty seconds." And with that, he turned and headed toward the rear of the house.
A moment later, I heard the back door open and shut.He was gone.
As for myself, I made a beeline for the kitchen.If nothing else, at least I had eggnog.
Chapter 40
Harper
The reception was just like I had envisioned. The caterer had dropped off loads of finger foods in festive warming trays. There were little meatballs, bacon-wrapped smokies, and stuffed mushroom bites that were truly spectacular.Everyone said so.
And even though my house was small, it felt like the perfect size – big enough to hold everybody milling through it, but small enough to keep things nice and cozy.
Nearly seventy people had been invited, but with so many circling back and forth between the Christmas village and my house, we never had more than twenty inside at a single time – at least not so far.
How things would end up, I could only guess.
With so many people wanting tours of the nearly completed project, Bryce and I were taking a divide-and-conquer approach. He spent most of his time at the Christmas village while I spent most ofmytime at the house, greeting new arrivals and keeping everything flowing.
Now, three hours into the event, I had probably spent less than ten minutes in Bryce's company. This wasn't how I had envisioned it, but it was smart. I mean, sure, it would have been more festive if Bryce had spent more time at my side, but this was a business function, not a date, so his absence was totally understandable.
Or at least, that's what I kept telling myself.
He wasn't avoiding me.
He was just being a gracious host, that's all.
As far as the thing with his ex, we hadn't had a single moment to discuss it further – not with the flurry of last-minute preparations for tonight's event.
For obvious reasons, I was finding it incredibly hard to relax. The whole night, I'd been looking over my shoulder, wondering if Natalia would darken my doorstep with her long shiny hair and ginormous suitcase.
Where had she ended up, anyway?
Probably, I didn't want to know.But Ididwant to tell Bryce that the mayor was looking for him. She'd wandered into the house maybe fifteen minutes ago, having missed Bryce on the other side of the fence.
With a smile, I told her, "Hang on. I'll go find him for you."
I wove my way through the crowd gathered in my living room and headed toward the rear of the house. As I left through the back door, I couldn’t help but smile again at the festive Christmas lights that we'd strung up to help revelers find their way.
My smile didn't last. It faded to nothing the moment I reached the gap in the fence.
