Christmas Romance (The Best Christmas Romance of 2016): The Love List Christmas (11 page)

Chapter Five

The sluggish day moved as fast as molasses in January as more snow fell outside Que Syrah Syrah. With the weather being awful, only one customer came into the shop. Since Tegan had left that morning for a few days out of town, the place seemed extra quiet. After almost nodding off to sleep once, Kady had to turn on the radio to keep herself awake.

She propped her hands under her chin and looked out the window, watching snowflakes drift down and cover the ground in a blanket of white. In a few hours, those inches had piled higher, and Kady began to worry. It was less than six-miles back to her mom and dad’s house, but her car had nearly bald tires, and she knew that they would be no good for driving in the snow. The radio predicted six more inches, so it was bound to become worse.

There was a jingle of the bell over the front door making her jump. She spun around to find Editon shaking the snow off his hat and coat like a big dog.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. Kady held her voice steady but in reality, she was relieved to see another human being…especially a six-foot plus hunky one.

“We have a date tonight, right?” He pulled his hat off and wadded it into his hand.

“I figured because of the weather you would call it off. Besides, it’s not evening yet.”

“The weather is bad out there. There is a lot more snow than they had originally predicted. I wanted to make sure you were all right here at the shop and to tell you the bad news that there’s a tree over the main road.”

“How am I going to get home?” she asked more to herself than to him.

“It’s going to be at least a few hours until it’s cleared and the road reopens.” Unzipping his coat, he walked toward her.

Kady bit her lip. “I was just looking around the shop and thinking about a worse case scenario. There are wood benches and a few quilts in the back. I guess I could stay here.”

“Why don’t you come with me? My house is just about a half-mile from here.”

“I can’t. The shop is still open for a few more hours, and I can’t leave early.”

He frowned. “I don’t think anyone is coming out in this storm.”

“Well, if they do, I need to stay—” Kady was half-way through her sentence when the lights went out. She finished with, “Open. Wow…it’s dark in here. And I’m not sure if there are any flashlights.” She could barely see Editon who stood a few feet from her a few feet in front of her. Even though it was late afternoon, the storm made it as dark as night. “I don’t want to move. Iʼm afraid I might break something.”

He stepped closer. “I have an idea. I remember seeing a table of candles to our right.”

“Yes, there is. But those are candles for
sale,
not for power outages.”

Slowly, he moved away. In a few moments, a lighter sparked that he held and then he lit two candles. He came back toward Kady and handed her one. He lifted a twenty-dollar bill up and dropped it on the checkout counter. He chuckled. “I’m buying a few right now to get us through this pinch, so don’t worry about it.”

“You don’t need to do that,” she protested.

“We can’t stumble around here in the dark. I’m a problem-solver.”

“I see that.” She had to laugh. It was silly to buy fancy scented candles to light the darkness, but what else could they do?

“What was that about keeping the shop open for a few more hours?”

Kady tried to muster up a protest, but the temperature in the small space was already dropping, and she shivered. “You’re right again. It would be meaningless to stay open
and
freeze to death. You’ll cover for me and make sure that Tegan knows that the power went out?”

“Of course,” he answered. Lit by the glow of the candlelight, Editon’s handsome features were more pronounced.

“But if the power is out here, won’t it be out at your house too?” she asked.

“I have a generator, Que Syrah Syrah does not.”

“Okay…you win.
And
you have something warm to drink?” she asked hopefully.

“How does hot chocolate with spray can whip cream and homemade chicken noodle soup sound?”

“It sounds like possibly the best meal in the history of the world.” She grinned, happy that Editon was the one who came to rescue her.

Kady snuggled down into the seat of Editon’s pickup and further under the blanket he’d laid over her lap to keep her warm. She rubbed her hands in front of the truckʼs heater.

She looked out the window and watched the wipers try and keep up with the heavy falling snow. “Can you see?”

“Good thing I know this road like the back of my hand. It would be difficult for someone who didn’t to even stay on the road.”

“No kidding.” Kady gripped the seatbelt a little tighter. “You said you live close by?”

“There’s my house.” He pointed to a enormous log cabin in the distance as they crept down the driveway.

“That’s your house?” She tried to keep the shock out of her voice.

“Sure is. I built it myself.” He pulled the truck up to the house and hit the garage opener. Waiting until the door slid open, he inched the truck into the open spot. Then he jumped out, - came around and opened her door. She followed him inside. “I’m going to start a fire. Make yourself at home.”

Kady set her purse on the concrete mahogany-stained counter and checked out the large kitchen. A six-burner gas stove with double ovens sat on one side of the room. Expensive copper chef pans hung above the island casting a warm glow off the sheen.

“Do you like to cook?” she asked.

“I do. I’m getting pretty good at it the more I try new things.”

“This is the kitchen of my dreams.” She turned in a circle taking in the twenty-plus foot ceilings with open wood beams over the living room. Native American art and woven blankets adorned the walls.

She came to stand beside him, as he knelt beside the hearth. “This house is amazing. How many square feet is it?”

“It’s about twenty-five hundred upstairs and about the same—maybe a little more—downstairs. The lower level isn’t finished yet, getting closer, but not complete. It took me over eight years to build this much. I work on the rest when I can.” When the flame ignited in the fireplace, Editon stood and brushed bark off his hands. He looked at her and his brow furrowed. “Is something wrong?”

“Your home isn’t at all what I expected. I thought you were a handyman.”

“I am, and I told you I was a handy man. I like to build things and always have a project going. I have a few large things that are going to keep me busy for the next few years.”

“But, how can you afford a house like this? Vine Grove isn’t what you’d call the millionaire capital of the world to have an income for a house like this.”

He laughed. “I’m going to make us that hot chocolate, and we can talk more.”

After the teapot had whistled Editon poured the hot water into two cups. “Would you like a little Baileyʼs Irish Cream in yours?” he asked.

“Sure.”

He stirred the cups, handed her one and followed her back to the living room. They sat on the floor in front of the fire. Kady laid her cup down and then warmed her hands in front of the flames.

“This was a great idea. My hands were turning into ice at the shop.”

He took her hands, rubbed them with his, and then blew a warm breath on her fingers.

“Are you going to tell me how you live in a mansion?” she asked with a chuckle.

“It’s not a mansion…I was planning on the house being much smaller, but I was bored, and I kept building. When I graduated from high school and turned eighteen, I became eligible for my grandmother’s tribe’s money. She is a part of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Tribe. I guess, fortunately, it’s one of the richest tribes in the country. She takes pride in our heritage and even named us. My name means, standing as a sacred object.”

“She’s not from Washington State?”

“No. My family moved here from Minneapolis. That’s where she lives. Anyway, she gets her tribal money which is over a million and a half a year.”

Kady’s cup stopped halfway to her mouth. “Did you say million?’

He nodded. “Since Nahko and I are fifty percent Shakopee, we get a share too. After high school, I went to visit Grandma for a few months but liked Washington State better. I moved back to Vine Grove to be with Nahko and our parents. A short time later, Mom and Dad were killed in a car accident.”

“I’m so sorry.” Kady placed a hand on his.

“It seems now like a long time ago. I bounced around here, wasted a lot of time and brain cells. Mainly, I sat around playing video games and smoking dope. Not a time I’m really proud of. I was finally a popular kid in town when I had a perpetual party going on. That was until my grandma showed up on my doorstep. She was not going to have me waste my life
or
our tribe’s money. That was not what it was for. She put her foot down and told me she didn’t care where, but I was going to college. The tribal money covered a scholarship so I picked Stanford and acquired a master’s in business.”

“A masters…wow. We were both in California at the same time, and we never saw each other.” She shook her head in disbelief.

“I didn’t know where you had gone, or I would have looked you up.”

“Except that, I was in night classes at a community college while you were at Stanford.”

“All education is good. I was fortunate with the opportunity. After college graduation, I came back to Vine Grove. I studied the stock market and made worthy investments in small start-up companies who are not so small any longer.” He laughed. “Grandma also told Nahko and me that she would share her wealth if we would help her make the world a better place. Use this money for good, she told us. This is what we have been trying to do.”

“Your brother owns a bar. How does that fit in?”

“Yeah, well that’s bending the rules a bit, but it makes him happy. He tries to keep the regulars out of trouble, and he likes being social. He spends the rest of his time helping the community here and around the world as I do.”

“Does everyone know about your money?”

“No. Very few.” Editon shook his head. “I don’t invite many people out to my house…mainly only women who are stranded in snowstorms.” He pushed up on his hands and stood. “I’m going to heat up the soup. I’m starving, what about you?”

“I
am
hungry,” she admitted. She hadn’t thought about it until he mentioned it and now her stomach growled in protest.

Kady sat on a stool at the kitchen counter and watched Editon move easily around the kitchen. He was so different than the other men she’d spent time with. He was laid-back and happy-go-lucky. Such a nice change from the sulky guys with baggage she seemed to end up dating. She and Editon weren’t really dating, but this was a date,
right
? Even if it was fueled by a snowstorm and started a few hours early, he’d still asked her out.

He toasted sourdough bread and placed a slice on each plate with a steaming bowl of soup and fresh butter. They went back into the living room and sat again by the fire. Making small talk through dinner, they caught up on each other’s life and the parts they’d missed out on over the years. Editon cleared the plates and put the extra soup away as Kady called home to tell her family what happened.

He put another log on the fire. When he turned, Editon saw her shiver. “I wish it were a little warmer in here. The generator doesn’t seem to keep things running at a hundred percent, but the fireplace should start kicking out good heat soon. Come here.” He scooted closer and pulled her against him. He whipped a wool blanket off the couch and wrapped it around them. “Nothing works better than body heat.” He grinned with adorable boyish charm.

“You mentioned that you would be busy with projects coming up. What are you working on?” Kady let herself be enveloped in his warmth. It seeped into her bones and soothed her.

“Nahko and me—well, mainly me—are building a large community center outside of town. Originally, we were going to build it on tribal land, but we came up against blockades.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“Nahko and I decided that it needed to be open to all the people in the community and not just the tribe. This area, except for the wine industry, experiences some pretty severe economic struggles. The local kids need a place to go after school. A safe place. And not just the kids. The elderly and everyone in between.”

“That’s great…
wow
. Really great. If there had been a place for Noah like that in California, we might not have had these problems.”

“That’s what we want to see.” Editon gave an understanding nod. “Most kids aren’t bad, they’re bored. When they are bored, they get into trouble. Keep them busy and there are fewer problems.”

“True.” Kady watched the flames of the fire reflect in the dark of Editon’s eyes. “I think that it may not have been so bad that I came home to Vine Grove.”

“I’m thinking that too.” Editon reached out and ran a thumb down her cheek. “I’ve got a terrible confession. I’ve been debating if I should say anything or not.”

“You’re married?” Momentary panic gripped her.

“No…” He chuckled. “I haven’t been a saint, but I’ve never found anyone special. The night I saw you at Nahko’s bar all my old feelings flooded back. I had such a crush on you in school.”

“Really?” Kady was surprised.

“Oh yeah…like a lost puppy. I would follow you around about ten paces behind just to be in the same space as you. A little stalkerish, I know. Back then I didn’t know what that was.”

Kady took his hand and rubbed the back with her fingers. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“You would have never gone out with someone like me. I was a shy geek. You were so pretty…perfect.”

“Perfect? Hardly. I didn’t know what I wanted at that age. I thought Tad. I wanted Tad…and Tad was a loser.”

“He gave you Noah.”

“You’re right. The only good thing Tad ever did. I wonder how different my life would have been if I’d stayed in Vine Grove and had Noah?” Kady wondered.

“What ifs are the bane of our existence aren’t they? I try and let things go. Look ahead and turn the what-ifs into a future question.”

“You have a point.”

“I’m a problem solver, remember. But, I do have another problem, and I’m not sure what the right answer is. I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first night I saw you again at the bar.”