Page 72 of Christmas Comeback


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“Hi, Maureen.” Kasen offered me a stilted hug.

“Let me introduce you to Will. He’s a friend of James’s.”

The two men shook hands, and Will’s expression revealed he knew exactly who Kasen was. It made sense that James had told his friend about Marley’s former long-term boyfriend.

“Hey, man,” Will said.

They dropped their arms. Not knowing how else to fill the ensuing silence, I asked Kasen, “How have you been? Still doing the graphic design thing?”

“Yeah. It’s been going pretty good, I guess.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I’m glad I struck out on my own a few years ago.”

“Nothing like being your own boss,” Will piped in. “No worries about having to work for a dipshit.”

Kasen’s posture relaxed a bit in the face of Will’s easy charm. “Amen.”

A second later, something pushed hard against me, and I got shoved into Will from the side.

“What the—” I looked down to find a tiny, three-year-old human tornado hugging my lower leg.

Katy appeared a few seconds later, calling out as she ran after her daughter, “Rosie! For Pete’s sake. Can you please, for all that is good in this world, take it easy!”

Turning to me with an apologetic glance, Katy hoisted her son Braxton onto her hip. “I am so sorry, Maureen. I promised her a hot chocolate, and she assumed that meant we were getting hot chocolate right this instant and raced off.”

“No harm done,” I assured her.

She kneeled in front of her daughter. “Please apologize to Maureen.”

Rosie looked at me and back at Katy. Her face screwed up. I braced myself.

“I…don’t…wanna!” the little girl wailed, shaking her head aggressively, loosening her pigtails. “Can’t make me!”

I realized how necessary the jeans and flannel button-downs truly were to Katy’s sanity. She looked ready to keel over. Even with her parents and the whole town supporting her, single parenthood was still a struggle.

Just when it appeared Katy might join her daughter in a crying jag, Kasen reached out to pull the boy from her side.

“Come on, little man,” he said gently, clearly familiar with the toddler. “How about we go look at the pretty tree while your mom gets things sorted with your sister?”

Braxton stuck three fingers in his mouth and extended his other arm eagerly toward Kasen.

“That was nice of him,” I said.

“Yeah,” Katy agreed, running a soothing hand along Rosie’s back as the girl sobbed into her chest. “Kasen’s been coming into The Landslide a lot lately, and I’ve had to bring the kids in for my shifts when no one can take them. He always invites them over to color at his table, or sometimes he’ll read to them. Last week, he taught Rosie how to play tic-tac-toe.”

“He comes in alone?” I asked, looking over at where Kasen had lifted Braxton onto his shoulders to get a closer look at the decorations. Will stood near them, offering Katy and me some privacy.

“Sometimes he’s with his parents. Occasionally, a friend. I don’t want to make it sound pathetic or anything. He’s not the only bachelor in town who prefers the cooking at The Landslide.”

“Good point.”

“And I’ll take all the help I can get.” Katy exhaled heavily.

After a few minutes, Rosie calmed down, and the men found their way back to us. Will pulled off his gloves and shook them.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I grabbed the post by the tree before I realized it was soaking wet.” He sniffed. “Luckily, it appears to be spilled cider and not something more…questionable.”

Braxton giggled as Will crossed his eyes.