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  Mark responded in a way that made her think he was attracted to her as well. They spent the whole evening surrounded by her family, but she was so focused on him that the others had faded into the background. She watched every move and expression he’d made, feasted on his smile, and savored every tone and inflection of his voice. Every detail that she learned about him was committed to memory, and every word he spoke to her was filed away to be gone over again and again when she was alone. The only thing that distracted her had been the clock, ticking away dispassionately on the wall.

  When the time had come that Mark could no longer delay leaving, their goodbye had been stilted and awkward. Without a moment alone, there hadn’t been anything that could be said between them, and Ashley had been certain that she would never see him again. She’d no more considered that he might move to Forest View than that he might help colonize the moon.

  When she’d returned to school, struggling through finals and projects, she’d forcefully put him out of her mind – at least until she’d closed her eyes in bed every night. Half of the time, she’d wished that she’d never met him – had never had that one day to spoil so many to come because he would never be part of them. She’d tried not to think about him too much, but one little fragment of hope that she would someday see him again had been enough to afflict her with pesky daydreams of maybe’s and what if’s.

  Amazingly, she had seen him again. Of course, imagined herself looking better than she had that morning.

  Now that she’d seen him again however, she didn’t know how she should act around him. She wished they could pick up where they’d left off, flirting and having fun together, but she had no way of knowing if he even wanted to. In the three weeks since she’d first met him, he’d become such a symbol of everything she wanted but couldn’t have, that it was difficult to see him in any other light.

  By the time she had hashed this all out in her mind, she had finished dressing. Standing in front of the mirror, she smoothed the shirt she’d put on. Made out of a silky jersey knit that fell flatteringly over her curves, it was her absolute favorite thing to wear. It was a gorgeous royal blue and had a little gather at the neckline that gave it a feminine touch. Pleased with how she looked, she began to dry her hair. Soon, the steady hum of the hair dryer and the hot air cleared her mind and helped her to relax.

  When her hair was dry, she carefully straightened it with a flat iron, turning the ends slightly under. She would have loved to stop there, but going without makeup wasn’t an option today. Her hair and eyes were dark brown, but she had very fair skin so it was always difficult for her to put makeup on without looking like a clown. She decided to go for her usual natural look, but she couldn’t resist doing something special with her eye makeup. Her almond shaped eyes, with their long curly lashes, were her best feature so she highlighted them with bronze eye shadow.

  Looking at the results of her careful work, she felt her spirits rise. She didn’t look too bad. Now that the initial shock of seeing Mark was wearing off, and she looked decent again, she was beginning to realize how great it could turn out to be to have him living so close. She may not have much of a chance to date him, but it was a hundred times more likely than before.

  She walked down the upstairs hall to where it opened up to a view of the living room below. A railing ran the length of this overlook and continued down the carpeted stairs. She stopped there to see if Mark was back yet, but she only saw Kayla and the baby. Andrew was cooing happily as he played on the rug in front of his mom with a teething ring held tightly in one little fist. As she came downstairs and joined them, Ashley couldn’t help but envy the simplicity of Andrew’s life.

  “Hey there, Ashley. You look like a new woman. I like your shirt,” Kayla said.

  “Thanks. My confidence needs a boost,” Ashley said as she sat next to her on the couch.

  “Happy to help. So, let’s talk.”

  “Um…’bout what?” she asked suspiciously. Kayla was the next best thing to the sister she’d always wanted, but if Kayla had joined her mother in what she suspected to be a matchmaking campaign, she would step carefully.

  “Like, what do you think about Mark moving here?”

  Ashley felt herself flush, but she was determined not to give herself away so easily. She needed to prepare herself to face questions and teasing. After the way she’d acted around him at Thanksgiving, they were probably all speculating about how she’d react to him now. It was understandable, but not exactly welcome. She only survived their teasing at Thanksgiving because she hadn’t expected it to ever be an issue again. “I hope he likes it here,” she answered calmly. “It’s pretty crazy that he took that job here, huh?”

  “Well if you think it was only the job that brought him down here, you’re either crazy or in serious denial.”

  “What do you mean?” Ashley hated herself for asking.

  “Well, girl, if you don’t remember Thanksgiving, I do. There was enough chemistry flowing between the two of you to set off sparks. Even your Dad noticed. Then, not a week later, he moved all the way down here from Idaho. Since then, I bet he’s spent more time in this house than his own.”

  “What does that prove? I haven’t even been here.”

  “No, but your mom has plenty of pictures of you hung all over this house, and I’ve noticed that he likes to look at them when he comes over.”

  Ashley groaned. “Well that’s fabulous, since I look terrible in some of them.”

  “You don’t look terrible in any of them.” Kayla argued until Ashley looked hard at her with one eyebrow up. “All right, in some of them, you are a little chubbier than you are now,” Kayla conceded, “But you’ve always had the same beautiful eyes and pretty smile.”

  Ashley barely registered Kayla’s compliment, knowing that her sister-in-law’s opinion would be biased. “I don’t suppose there’s much point in making Mom take them down, is there?” she asked, still thinking about the pictures taken during her awkward years.

  Kayla agreed that there wasn’t and said, “He probably won’t look at them so much now that he can look at the real thing.”

  “I don’t know why he’d want to.”

  “Ashley, you way underrate yourself. Why wouldn’t he?” Kayla demand, frustrated. “I think he’s crazy about you, and so does your mom.”

  Ashley was struck by a sudden suspicion. “By any chance, did Mom tell Mark that the house next door was for rent?”

  “Of course. She practically negotiated the terms for him while he was packing up his stuff in Idaho.”

  “Oh that’s great. I’ll bet she already has us married off in that crazy head of hers.”

  “Don’t worry. She’s stopped short of planning the honeymoon.”

  At the mere mention of the word, Ashley’s face turned as red as a poinsettia. “What on earth am I going to do? And what about Mark? I bet he had no idea what he was getting into. He probably just thought she was a nice woman who wanted to help him out. He couldn’t have known the trap she was laying for him.”

  “I don’t see how he couldn’t know. Your mom isn’t exactly being subtle about it. But I wouldn’t worry about it. There has to be a reason he’s spent so much time getting to know your family.”

  “Who says I’ve got anything do with it? Maybe he’s lonely.”

  Kayla laughed and replied, “Ashley. Come on. Maybe he likes to have somewhere to hang out, but it’s not like he would have a hard time finding a date if he was bored and lonely.”

  “For all I know, he is dating someone.”

  Kayla shook her head. “That kind of thing would get around pretty fast, and he sure hasn’t shown much interest in any of the girls at church – though the same isn’t true the other way around!”

  “I’ll just bet.”

  “Anyway, I do know that he broke up with his girlfriend before he moved down here.”

  The thought of another girl made Ashley’s stomach feel funny. “I didn’t even know he had one.”
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  “Had one being the operative phrase,” Kayla pointed out.

  “And how do you know all this?”

  Kayla laughed. “He and your mom talk all the time without worrying too much about who hears them.”

  “What do they talk about?”

  “Oh, lots of things, but your mom finds plenty of opportunities to talk about you.”

  “Good grief. What am I going to do?”

  “I don’t think he minded, and I don’t think it will be too long before he’s completely fallen for you.”

  “You’re nuts,” Ashley informed her.

  “Maybe, but this is the most fun I’ve had in years. I wish I could have seen your face when you first saw him. Your mom says it was priceless.”

  Ashley threw a pillow at her, but the impact didn’t even interrupt Kayla’s laughter much less stop it. She saw a hole in Kayla’s reasoning though. “If they talk so much, why did Mark seem surprised that I didn’t know he’d moved here?”

  That did give Kayla a pause. “Well, maybe he assumed that your mom would have told you, but it never actually came up between them. She probably didn’t tell you so that you wouldn’t freak out about it.”

  “Yeah, that worked out great. So now, I’ve embarrassed myself and I’m still freaking out.”

  “She probably didn’t want to distract you from your studying.”

  “That’s a valid point. I’m so embarrassed though. He has to know mom is trying to set us up. I won’t be able to relax all Christmas.”

  “Well, technically, that shouldn’t be a problem. He’s flying back home to spend Christmas with his family. A lot can happen between now and then though. Just relax and be yourself. You didn’t do so badly at Thanksgiving, you know. By the way, have you finished your Christmas shopping?”

  “Thanks for saving me the trouble of changing the conversation. No, I haven’t. Why? Do you have something you want me to get you?”

  “No, no. It’s just that I still have a ton to do and I’ve completely run out of ideas for Justin and your parents. After eight years, deciding what to get them is a challenge. I was hoping you could go with me.”

  “Sure. It sounds fun. When do you want to go?”

  “How’s Monday? The local news is predicting a winter storm for Wednesday night and I would hate it if I didn’t get my shopping done. We can’t go today when you’ve only just gotten here. Your mom would kill me, and she’s my babysitter so we have to keep her happy. Besides, she’s probably not the only one who wouldn’t appreciate it if I stole you away – if you know what I mean.”

  Ashley rolled her eyes at Kayla who was wiggling her eyebrows up and down suggestively. “Come on. Stop it. If you want me to go with you, don’t upset me. Monday’s great.”

  Chapter 3

  Troubles Will Be Miles Away

  A few minutes later, her dad came in carrying a large plastic tub. Ashley hurried to relieve him of it saying, “I thought you weren’t supposed to be carrying anything heavy.” He handed it to her without a word and chuckled when she realized how light it was.

  “I think that the only things in there are a tree skirt, stockings, and a few garlands. Your mom is the one that probably needs a hand.”

  Just then, her mom came in carrying a stack of boxes that was teetering crazily. Kayla came and helped Ashley take the boxes from her and set them down safely.

  Ashley looked through the boxes to see what they held and said, “I wondered where the rest of the Christmas decorations were.”

  “I wanted to wait until everyone was here to help. Besides, most of this is for the tree. We got them out just in time too. I think I heard the truck pull up in the driveway.”

  Ashley went to the living room window and pulled back the curtains to check. Sure enough, her Dad’s old truck was sitting in the driveway, the last puff of exhaust dissipating in the cold air. She could distantly hear the slamming of the truck doors and excited squeals from the kids to come see the tree. Everyone headed outside except Ashley.

  She stayed behind to watch from the window, too shy to face Mark. She watched him lean over the side of the truck and untie the ropes around the tree. When he was done, she noticed that he was searching the front yard and porch as if he was looking for someone.

  Don’t start imagining it’s you.

  After a few minutes, Becca came bouncing into the house looking for her. “Come see the tree, Ashley. It’s taller than Mark!”

  Ashley laughed at her expressive face, so adorable in her enthusiasm. She was hesitant to face Mark, but she knew she had to eventually anyway so she followed her outside.

  Ashley stopped to stand by her dad on the porch, but Becca ran down to the tree. After only a minute, Ashley wished that she’d grabbed her jacket because the air was cold despite the bright afternoon sun. Everyone was busy complimenting Daniel on the tree, but they were soon informed by Becca that she had been the first to see it. An argument sprang up, and apparently they were rehashing an old disagreement because Mark said in a firm but kind way, “Ok, you two argued all the way home, but it doesn’t really matter does it? I think we’d better get the tree inside so that everyone can see it standing up.”

  They agreed to this and forgot their argument. They both wanted to help carry the tree in though, so Kayla had to hold them out of the way while Mark lifted the tree out of the truck and carried it towards the house. Ashley was impressed that he was able to manage it on his own, because she could tell it was heavy. He wasn’t going to have an easy time maneuvering a very full seven foot tree through the door and into the living room though.

  “Do you want to stop, and tie the branches down?” Ashley’s dad asked Mark.

  “Nah, let’s get it in. I think it’ll fit fine. Is the tree stand ready?” he asked, pausing on the porch steps.

  “Oh goodness. I forgot,” Ashley’s mom replied, flinging her hands up to her face. “It’s still in the box. I’ll go get it out.”

  By this point though, the tree was completely blocking her way so Ashley said, “I’ll get it, Mom.”

  She remembered seeing it in the boxes her mom had brought in, so it only took her a few seconds to find it. It took her several minutes to get all the pieces put together right however, so she barely had time to put the tree stand down on the floor in front of the large picture window.

  When Mark brought the tree in, a cold breeze swept in behind him and filled the air with the fresh, woodsy scent of the recently cut tree. Thankfully the doorway was wide, so he got the tree inside with no problem. He even managed to swing it around into position without knocking anything over, though Kayla had to grab Andrew and put him safely out of the way. It quickly became apparent, however, that he was going to have trouble getting the tree into the stand.

  Ashley’s dad came over to help direct it into the stand, but they were still having trouble so she said, “Here, let me help.” She laid down flat on her stomach and wiggled forward under the low branches of the tree, where the scent of the tree was so strong that the air felt thick as she breathed it in. She had to take a second to smooth down her hair that had gotten caught in the dense foliage, and she knew that her rear end was fully exposed to anyone who happened to look down at it.

  This was a great idea.

  Trying to ignore her difficulties, she went to work and directed the trunk into the stand. While Mark and her dad continued to hold it, she tightened the bolts part way and asked, “Is it straight?”

  “Perfectly,” she heard her mom call from across the room.

  Ashley finished tightening the bolts, and thankfully pushed out from under the tree. If wiggling in under the branches hadn’t been glamorous, wiggling back out was even less so.

  Once she was mostly clear of the branches, she swung around into a sitting position and blindly grasped at the pair of hands being held down to her. She was a little unstable so she wasn’t much help, but she was pulled swiftly to her feet anyway. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and saw that it had been Ma
rk helping her up.

  She looked up at him, now just inches away from her. He smelled like pine, cold air, and exhaust, a curiously appealing combination. He was smiling down at her, but she only had a moment to enjoy it before she realized that in letting him haul her up like a sack of potatoes, he would now know how much she weighed. She moved away, barely repressing a groan. A moment later, she realized that her shirt had been pulled up a little and tugged it back down over her waistband, hoping that Mark hadn’t seen.

  “What kind of tree is it, Mark?” Ashley’s mom asked. “I doesn’t look like a fir tree.”

  “No, I couldn’t find any fir trees that were the right size, or that didn’t have any bare spots. The tag on this tree said it was a Scotch pine. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “No. I think it’s beautiful.”

  “Good. I thought it looked nice. Plus, the kids wanted this one.”

  ”I want to put the lights on,” Rebecca told her grandma.

  “Well, honey, we’ll see about decorating the tree later. We should wait until Shawn gets back from work anyway. He wanted to help. Right now, we need to eat some lunch.”

  It was obvious that Becca wanted to argue, but before she could, Daniel said, “I’ll eat your lunch if you don’t want it.”

  This changed her focus immediately. “No. I want it.”

  Before a fight broke out, Kayla stepped in and said, “There’s plenty for both of you. Now, tell Mark thank you and go wash your hands.”

  “Thank you and go wash your hands,” Daniel said to Mark, barely missing his mom’s swatting hand as he ran to the bathroom.