A Perfect Christmas Surprise: Kringle, Texas Book 3 Read online

  Ava was finding it increasingly hard to breathe deeply. “No.”

  “I see. But you’ll find another job soon.”

  “No doubt.”

  “Forever footloose and fancy free,” his eyes and voice softened.

  “Forever,” she echoed.

  “The thing I love most about you is the thing that pulls you away from me,” he murmured.

  Love. He’d said the word love in connection with her? Could Caleb possibly still love her after all these years? After she’d broken his heart so badly? She felt like a prisoner who’d gotten an unexpected parole.

  He took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled slowly. “I suppose there’s a part of me that always hoped you’d return home for good.”

  “I’m not planning on staying in Kringle, Caleb.”

  “I know,” he said, and he looked so sad it shattered Ava’s spirit. “But I’m okay with a long-distance relationship if that’s what it takes to hold on to you.”

  Literally, he could have knocked her over with an ostrich feather if he’d had one.

  “Y-you’d be open to that?”

  He reached across the table and took her hand. “For the first time in ten years, I think we’re finally on the same page. Neither one of us is dating anyone else. We’re both willing to give each other space to be who we truly need to be.”

  “I-I don’t know what to say.” Say nothing. Do a happy dance. Stunned by the development, she did nothing.

  “Let’s not say anything. Let’s just enjoy being together.”

  “And feeding the rumor mill.” Ava chuckled and nodded at Sandy, who was surreptitiously taking a picture of them with the cell phone she’d pulled from her pocket.

  “It gives the town gossips a thrill.”

  “So, we’re dating?”

  “Let’s not label anything beyond a fresh start.”

  “Fresh start?”

  “Fresh start.”

  She jumped from her side of the booth and landed on his side of the table and extended her hand with a grin as wide as his own. “It’s nice to meet you, Caleb Sutton.”

  Caleb shook it and tugged her closer. “It’s nice to meet you too, Ava Miller.”

  It was such a lovely moment, but to appreciate it, Ava had to shove aside the niggling voice at the back of her brain that whispered, now where do you go from here?

  Chapter 7

  “What are you doing after this?” Caleb asked as he left two twenties on the table to cover their bill and a twenty-five percent tip for Sandy.

  “I’m plastering downtown in Home for the Holidays posters. I’ve already gotten permission from town hall. Wanna help?”

  “Absolutely.” He settled his Stetson on his head and led the way to the front door.

  “Great. Let’s go get the flyers from my car.” She headed toward her parents’ second car that she borrowed whenever she came to visit.

  “First things first.” Caleb took her elbow.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, delighted by a surprise. She loved surprises.

  He tugged her into the alleyway, out of sight from passersby. “Here.”

  She glanced around at the cobblestone path leading behind the buildings. They were alone. “Why?”

  “This.”

  Without another word, Caleb pushed his cowboy hat back on his head, gathered Ava into his arms, and kissed her.

  He kissed her just like he had in the old days, hot and passionate, except with more confidence and experience. It was the kind of kiss that made her toes curl and her mind go blank to anything and everything except the feel of his lips on hers.

  She sank against his chest, absorbing his heat, her entire body coming alive beneath his lips. Oh, how she’d missed kissing him!

  They kissed and kissed and kissed and she felt sixteen all over again and madly in love for the very first time.

  At last, he tenderly pulled back and smiled down at her.

  “Wow,” she whispered, fingering her lips. “That was some kiss.”

  His grin expanded. “It was some kind of kiss.”

  Her gaze searched his, and she saw a gentle light in his eyes that yanked on her heartstrings and sent her mind whirling. What if?

  What if she gave up roaming? What if she came home for good? What if she and Caleb…?

  “Is it as good as you remembered?” he asked.

  “Fishing for compliments, Sutton? That’s not your style.” She laughed and lowered her voice. “But for the record? The years have refined your kissing technique.”

  “I do my best to stay up on all the new kissing techniques,” he said. “It’s a global world these days.”

  “That it is.” She dusted her palms together, trying to disperse her gathering desire for him. This development was new and fantastic, but it had scary consequences she wasn’t ready to deal with. “Let’s go put up those posters.”

  “Let’s do it.” He offered his arm and she took it without hesitation, aching to be as close to him as she could.

  They went to her car and got out the posters. Ava divided the stack and gave half to Caleb.

  He studied them. “This is a terrific poster.”

  “Thank you.” She beamed.

  “The event is going to be outstanding with you at the helm and the shelter really needs clearing out.”

  “That’s so nice of you to say.”

  “You inherited your parents’ passion for helping.” He paused and a faraway look came into his eyes.

  “What is it?” she prodded.

  He shook himself and blinked. “Could I offer a small suggestion about the event? I know you don’t like to plan. I honor your process, but I do fret.”

  Ava cloaked a smile. He was looking after her. That was so sweet. When they’d dated, he always planned and scheduled everything. Ava appreciated his concern, but she wished he wouldn’t worry so much. She knew he liked to plan things down to the last detail, and in fact, more than once when they’d been young, his need to overthink situations had caused disagreements.

  Although, to be fair, not any more than her tendency to follow her whims had.

  She liked to go with the flow, to see where the moment took her and not plan out every detail. Being spontaneous made life more exciting, but she knew it made Caleb uncomfortable.

  Some people in town believed she’d thoughtlessly stomped on Caleb’s heart and cavalierly took off for Europe. But it hadn’t been like that. She’d begged him to come with her. Caleb was the one who said no. He was the one who’d told her to go off and find herself.

  And she had.

  “Worrywart,” she teased. “What’s on your mind?”

  “Have you thought about crowd control?”

  “Crowd control?”

  “In case you draw in a lot of potential adopters.”

  “This is Kringle.”

  “And this…” He held up the posters. “Is attention grabbing. You could have people coming from Fort Worth and beyond.”

  “You think?”

  “It doesn’t hurt to think about crowd control. The interior front office in the shelter is a ten-by-fourteen-foot space. Get six people in there and you have a crowd.”

  He made a good point.

  “I’ll take your concerns under advisement, but I’m sure it will be fine. I have a few volunteers coming over that day, and I’m sure we can handle whatever mad mob descends.” She couldn’t suppress her smile.

  “Don’t laugh,” he said. “I’m serious. It’s better to be overprepared than underprepared.”

  “Caleb, I really don’t think crowd control will be a problem. Finding suitable homes for shelter pets has always been a challenge.”

  “You never know. Your posters could change all that. People may flock to adopt a pet.”

  “We should be so lucky. Speaking of posters, let’s go hang these and see if we can’t rustle up the need for crowd control.”

  Caleb grinned and shook his head. “Okay, but I still say you need to p
lan for overflow.”

  “Fine, fine, you win. I surrender. What do you suggest?”

  “First, mark off a perimeter in the field around the shelter for extra space for parking.”

  “Done. I’ll get on that as soon as I return home.”

  “I can get one of my ranch hands to spray paint the grass where visitors are allowed to park if that helps.”

  “Good idea. Sure. I’ll take all the help I can get.”

  Ava thought about the small parking lot in front of the shelter. She’d never really considered it before, but the three parking spaces were pretty limited. Rarely did they have more than one or two potential adopters at a time, so they’d needed nothing bigger.

  Caleb had a point. If even a few more cars showed up, there would be no place to park.

  She tapped her chin. “You might be right. We need additional parking.”

  To his credit, Caleb didn’t gloat, although she suspected he wanted to.

  “Go ahead. Admit it,” she said, tucking the posters under her arm and hitting the ‘lock’ button on her car remote.

  He backed out of the parking space and headed toward Kringle. “Admit what?”

  “You were right, and I was wrong.”

  “It’s not about right and wrong, Ava. It’s about having an effective event. That’s all I want. I’m not trying to tell you how to run your business.”

  “Good.” She grinned.

  They headed down the sidewalk together, a comfortable silence settling between them.

  Caleb was one of the few people she could spend a chunk of time with and not feel compelled to chatter. His presence calmed her. Not only was she sexually attracted to him, but she genuinely liked him as a person, and she enjoyed being around him. He was the salt of the earth. A man you could count on.

  She stopped at the crosswalk on the corner.

  She pulled a staple gun and a roll of heavy-duty tape from her purse. “Which one do you want? Take your pick.”

  “Look at you.” He laughed. “Planning ahead.”

  “Watch out, Sutton,” she teased, shaking the tape roll in his face. “I’m not the same sweet little girl I was ten years ago.”

  “You were never sweet.”

  “Point made.” She waggled her head from side to side and sent him a comical grin.

  He burst out laughing. “Heavens above, Ava,” he said, surprising them both. “I’ve missed you.”

  Oh, Caleb, I’ve missed you too!

  Since Kringle’s downtown wasn’t that big, it didn’t take long for them to work their way around the town square. All the local businesses that opened on Sunday agreed to let her put a poster in their windows. Ava noticed how store owners would eye her, then Caleb, and look back at her again. No one came right out and asked if they were a couple, but she knew the question lay on tips of tongues.

  Caleb went into the ice cream parlor to put up a sign while Ava ambled through the door of the bakery, Kringle Kakes. The owner, Mike Honeycutt, greeted her with a great big smile. Mike had known both her and Caleb in high school, although he’d been a couple of years behind them.

  “Hey, Ava, are you here to order a wedding cake?” Trust class clown Mike to be the first one to make a joke.

  “Nooo,” she said. “I was thinking of ordering a funeral cake for you if you keep up this line of questioning.”

  He laughed again. “I’m just messin’ with you.”

  Ava stood in the middle of the bakery, holding the posters, her thoughts a jumbled mess. Marriage? To Caleb? She hadn’t been looking that far into the future. Marriage talk gave her the heebie-jeebies. Sure, she was glad to see Caleb again, and heartened that they were working through their past issues. She definitely wanted to date him. But marriage?

  Well, that just felt too darn nice, didn’t it?

  “Um, do you mind if I hang this poster in your window? It’s for an adoption event we’re having the day after the parade.”

  “Home for the Holidays, I heard.” Mike grinned and wiped his hands on a kitchen towel. “Sure thing. Happy to help.”

  She placed the sign in the window and headed for the door.

  “Let me know when you want to put down a deposit on a wedding cake,” Mike called.

  “You’ll be the last to know.” She chuckled to show she wasn’t the least bit thrown by his ribbing. “Thank you for letting me hang the poster.”

  “No problem, Mrs. Sutton.” Mike chortled.

  As the cowbell over the door jangled, Ava groaned. Welcome home to Kringle.

  “Guess what,” she told Caleb when they reconvened at her car.

  “What?”

  “Apparently, we’re getting married.”

  “No kidding.” He pushed his Stetson back on his forehead and propped the toe of his boot on the curb. “First I’m hearing of it.”

  “Me too.”

  He shook his head. “This town. You gotta love it.”

  “All kidding aside,” Ava said. “We can’t let this town run our lives.”

  “I agree completely.”

  “I’m happy being home. Whenever you come into the room, I feel lighter, safer, but at the moment, I’m not interested in anything more than dating. Is that all right with you?”

  He just looked at her for a long moment, and then said, “My thoughts precisely.”

  “You agree?”

  “We shouldn’t jump into anything. Let’s take things nice and slow. Test the waters. See if we really want to flame the embers.”

  “Yes, yes, slow, slow,” she said, but her throat was scratchy, and her chest felt tight. Was she coming down with a cold?

  Or could it be she was actually more into Caleb than he was into her?

  “Hey,” he said. “I just remembered I have a can of orange spray paint in the back of my truck. What say I follow you back to the rescue and mark off the extra parking spots so that’s one more thing off your plate.”

  “What?” she teased. “You don’t trust me to handle it?”

  “Just an offer.” His shrug was casual, but the heat in his eyes was anything but.

  “To go out your way for me? Why?”

  “Peanut,” he said with complete sincerity. “I’d go to the ends of the earth for you.”

  * * *

  Caleb guided his truck behind Ava’s compact as they headed back to the rescue.

  Something had changed with Ava while they’d been hanging up posters. Based on his own experience, he’d be willing to bet that people in town had asked her about them as a couple.

  It had freaked her out a little. Heck, it had freaked him out a little too. It had devastated him when she’d broken off their engagement, and he really didn’t want to go through that again.

  But dang, he wanted to try.

  Just as Ava pulled to a stop at her parents’ house, the door to the shelter opened and a panicked-looking young man with a ponytail came running out, flagging Ava down. Caleb recognized him as one of the shelter volunteers, Devon Crocket.

  He parked, got out, and ambled over to where Devon waited for Ava to emerge from her car. Caleb watched her in the afternoon's glow, admiring the way her hair curled around her shoulders. She had such beautiful hair, and his fingers itched to run through the silky stands.

  Now that he was closer, Caleb could see that Devon held a tiny Chihuahua in the crook of his arm.

  “Your parents aren’t home from church yet, and I’m panicking!” Devon exclaimed. “Juliet threw up several times. I think she might have swallowed a bug,” he said. “There are bug guts in her cage.”

  Ava took the Chihuahua from him. “Do you know what kind of bug it was?”

  The young man shook his head. “I didn’t see it when it was alive. I only noticed what she left of it when I went to feed her. Ick! There're body parts strewn all over her cage.” Devon shuddered. “I guess I’ll have to clean it up.”

  How big was this darn bug? Caleb wondered. Devon was prone to overexaggeration.

  “I hope i
t wasn’t poisonous,” Ava fretted. “Ladybugs can cause ulcers in dogs and—”

  Devon shook his head. “It was way too big for a ladybug. Those guts are everywhere.”

  The kid made it sound like a crime scene.

  “Stink bugs can cause gastrointestinal distress—”

  “Eew! Eew!” Devon slapped his palms over his ears.

  The young man was a bit of a drama king. Caleb nipped this ridiculous guessing game in the bud.

  “I’ll go inspect the bug guts,” Caleb offered. “And clean up the mess.”

  Devon pressed his palms together in front of his heart. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

  Ava rubbed the Chihuahua’s head. “So, little missy, why did you eat a bug?”

  Caleb chuckled. The little dog was wagging her tail and looked as happy as could be, and she leaned up to give Ava puppy kisses.

  Ava dodged the dog’s tongue. “No, little lady. You’re not allowed to kiss me with bug lips.”

  “Good to know,” Caleb said.

  The dog seemed fine now to him. When he went back to the Chihuahua’s pen, he found click beetle viscera. Juliet had had a high old time tearing the insect to bits. The mess was trivial, and Caleb cleaned it up in one swipe with an antibacterial wipe. The other dogs had barked their heads off as soon as he’d come in.

  “You guys make a good alarm,” he told them as he headed to the office. “Too bad you weren’t able to scare away the bug.”

  Devon and Ava were in the office. Ava had plopped down on the couch while Devon paced the small space.

  “Look who is already feeling great!” Ava waved at the Chihuahua scampering around without a care.

  Caleb laughed and sat next to Ava. Their knees touched and she didn’t move her leg away.

  Juliet jumped into Caleb’s lap and gave a fierce little yap that said, pay attention to me.

  “Juliet, it’s nice to meet you. I just cleaned up what you left of the bug. A thank you is in order.”

  Juliet plunked down on his thigh and sized him up. She must have decided she liked what she saw because she curled right up and closed her eyes.

  “What kind of bug was it?” Ava asked. “Cockroaches carry intestinal parasites. If it was a cockroach, I should take Juliet in to see Chloe.”