A Mistletoe Vow: A Cold Creek Christmas Story / Falling for Mr December / A Husband for the Holidays. RaeAnne Thayne
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there something I can help you with?” Celeste asked after her friend walked away. “Would you like a temporary card so you can check out materials? I’m sure that wouldn’t be a problem, considering I know where to find you.”
“No. Actually, we have another reason for being here.”
If she wasn’t mistaken, Flynn looked a little uncomfortable, which made her even more curious.
“Oh? What is it?”
He didn’t answer and Olivia didn’t say anything, either. Finally Flynn nudged her. “Go ahead.”
“It’s my birthday,” the girl began.
“I know. I think it’s great that you decided the library is the perfect place to celebrate a birthday. I completely agree!”
Olivia giggled a little. “No, we’re not celebrating my birthday here. I told my dad the only thing I want for my birthday is to have pizza.”
“Ooh, pizza. My favorite,” she said, though she was still mystified about why they might be at the library and why Flynn still looked uncomfortable. “Are you looking for a book on how to make pizza?”
The girl shook her head. “We’re going to the pizza restaurant down the street.”
“I can highly recommend it. It’s one of my favorite places.”
Olivia gave her a shy look. “That’s good. Because I want to have pizza with you on my birthday.”
She blinked, taken by surprise. “With...me?”
“Yes. That would be the best birthday ever. My favorite thing to eat and my new friend and the lady who writes such good Sparkle books.” She beamed as if the matter was settled.
“Don’t feel obligated,” Flynn said quickly. “If you already have plans, we completely understand. Isn’t that right, Olivia?”
“Yes,” the girl said.
Dinner. With Olivia and Flynn. She thought of a hundred reasons why she should say no. How could she possibly eat with these nervous butterflies racing around in her stomach? And she probably wouldn’t be able to think of anything to say and would look even more stupid than she felt.
All those reasons paled into insignificance. Olivia wanted to have pizza with her for her birthday, and Celeste couldn’t let her own social awkwardness stand in the way of making that particular wish come true.
“I would be honored to come help you celebrate your birthday. Thank you for inviting me.”
Olivia’s smile was sweetly thrilled. “She said yes, Dad!”
The sight of this tough-looking man gazing down at his daughter with such love just about broke Celeste’s heart. “So I heard. That’s great.” He turned to her. “What time are you finished with work?”
“Five-thirty.”
“Would seven work for pizza? We can pick you up.”
“I can meet you at the restaurant.”
“We don’t mind. Do you still live at the Star N?”
She knew he probably didn’t mean for that to sound pitiful, but she still had to wince. That wasn’t exactly true. She had gone off to Boise for her undergraduate work, then Seattle for her master’s degree. She wasn’t completely a homebody, even if she had jumped at the chance to return to her hometown library to work.
If she was living on her family’s ranch, it wasn’t because of any failure to launch, only because of the tragic circumstances of Travis’s death.
“I live on the ranch but not in the main house,” she told him. “I’m at the foreman’s place, the small log house closest to the entrance.”
“Perfect. Plan on us at seven.”
She was going out to dinner with Flynn Delaney and his daughter. This certainly wasn’t the way to get the man out of her head, but she didn’t see how she could refuse.
The truth was she didn’t want to anyway. She was both touched and flattered that sweet Olivia wanted to spend time with her for her birthday.
“Sounds good. Meanwhile, are you sure you don’t want to check out some books on a temporary library card? We still have a great selection of holiday books available. It’s the section there against the wall.”
“Can we?” Olivia asked her father.
“Just a few,” he said with a reluctant nod. “It might be tough to keep track of more than that while we’re clearing out Grandma Charlotte’s house.”
Olivia headed immediately toward the Christmas storybooks, leaving Flynn alone with Celeste—or at least as alone as they could be in a public library.
A few moms she knew were browsing through the children’s section with their toddlers, and she was pretty sure she caught more than one appreciative glance in his direction. As Frankie said, he was a hard man to overlook.
“Thanks for agreeing to come with us,” Flynn said. “It probably wasn’t fair to spring that on you out of the blue. I would have called first, but I didn’t have a phone number. I guess I could have found the number for the library, but I didn’t think about it until we pulled up.”
“It’s fine.”
“Seriously, you made her day. She has been asking me all afternoon if you could come to her birthday celebration. I didn’t want to disappoint her. It’s still pretty tough for me to deny her anything these days.”
She couldn’t imagine almost losing a child. The fear must have been overwhelming.
“I’m touched, if you want the truth. I don’t believe I’ve ever been anyone’s birthday wish before.”
A strange glint appeared in his gaze, an expression she couldn’t quite identify. After a moment he smiled. “Face it. You sealed your fate the other day when you showed up in person with a new book and a cute stuffed toy. You’re now officially the coolest person in town.”
She had to laugh at that ridiculous statement. “If that’s the case, you both need to get out and meet more people in Pine Gulch.”
Amusement crinkled the corners of his eyes. “We won’t be here long enough to move in social circles around here. Anyway, I think Olivia and I are both quite happy with those we have already met in Pine Gulch.”
Her heartbeat seemed to accelerate all over again at the teasing note in his voice. Her gaze met his and he was smiling at her with a warm look in his eyes that sucked away any ability she might have had to offer a semi-intelligent response.
To her relief, one of the moms came over to ask her a question about the puppet-book packages they lent out—probably more to get a closer look at Flynn, she suspected, than out of any genuine quest for information.
He moved away to join his daughter while she picked a few other books and the moment was gone.
* * *
He had to finish taking care of things at his grandmother’s house and get out of Pine Gulch.
As Flynn drove the short distance from Charlotte’s house to the Star N Ranch, he was aware of a low, insistent unease. This town was growing on him, sucking him in.
He had always enjoyed coming here as a kid to spend time with his grandmother. The setting was beautiful, nestled against the Tetons, with pine forests and crystal clear streams.
The pace here seemed so very different from his childhood home in Southern California, quieter, gentler somehow. Almost like a foreign country, without convertibles and palm trees and self-absorbed celebrities.
He always felt a sense of peace settle over him the moment he passed through the city limits into town.
He