worked like a well-oiled machine. Rory took one side of the sleigh. Shannon took the other. Because Rory was walking backward, Finley directed their steps. When they had the sleigh set up, they brought the reindeer out and lined them up them in front of the sleigh. Shannon arranged small red and green floodlights around the big plastic sleigh and turned off the huge spotlight.
Multicolored lights twinkled around the porch. Santa’s sleigh sat in a flood of red and green light. Finley jumped up and down, clapping her hands. Shannon looked extremely pleased that the decorating was done. And he was feeling downright jolly himself. Now that the work was done, they could play. So he reached down, grabbed two handfuls of snow, patted them into a ball and threw it at her.
She turned just in time to see it and ducked. “Hey!”
“Hey, yourself.” He reached down again, grabbed more snow and tossed it before she could react. This snowball thumped into her thigh.
Finley screeched with joy and bolted behind Santa’s sled for cover.
Shannon brushed idly at the snow on her jeans, glanced over at him and casually said, “You want a war?”
He motioned with his hands for her to bring it. “You think you can beat me?”
Rather than answer, Shannon bent, scooped snow and hurled a snowball at him. He dived behind an available bush. But that only gave Shannon time to scoop up two more handfuls of snow and heave them at him.
She was good. Fast. Having been raised in snow country, she seemed to have a system down pat. And Virginia boy that he was, he didn’t quite have the technique she did.
The battle lasted no more than five minutes and ended when he saw Finley shiver.
Walking out from behind the bush, he raised his hands in surrender. “Finley’s cold.”
Shannon thwacked one final snowball into his chest. “You lose.”
“Hey, I’m from the south. Considering that we get about two snows a year, I think I held my own.” She laughed.
And his heart did a small dance. He’d been correct. She’d missed all his smiles and cues because she was focused on decorating. But things would be different now that they were done.
When he reached the porch steps, he caught Finley’s hand and slid his other arm across Shannon’s shoulders. She immediately slid out from underneath it.
Running up the steps, she said, “I’ll make cocoa!”
Finley scrambled after her.
But Rory stayed at the bottom of the steps. What the heck was going on here? He wasn’t so bad at reading signals that he was misinterpreting Shannon’s. She felt something for him. He knew she had. He frowned. Had. Maybe had was the operative word? Maybe they’d had fun over the weekend, but she didn’t feel anything more, anything deeper?
WALKING INTO Raleigh’s Department Store the next morning, Rory had the unshakable feeling that whatever he and Shannon had been feeling for each other over the weekend, it had slipped away.
Disappointment lived in his gut. But with his gloved hand wrapped around Finley’s much smaller hand as they walked through the brightly decorated store, he reminded himself that he had a child who was his first priority and a potential store purchase that was his second. Sure, Shannon was the first woman in two years to catch his eye, but she clearly wasn’t interested.
He had to be a man and accept that.
He walked into Shannon’s office with Finley in tow and she jumped off her seat. “Finley! I’ve got a great day planned for us.”
He should have been happy that she was so eager to amuse his daughter while he worked, except he had the weird feeling that their roles had flipped. She now liked Finley more than she liked him.
Which was cute and nice, but he felt like last year’s handbag. A must-have when it was in style, totally forgotten now that it was old news.
Finley skipped over. “What are we going to do?”
“Well, first I have to get some work done. But that should only take me a couple of hours. After that I thought we’d go outside and stroll through the park. So you can see a bit of the city.” She glanced at Rory. “If that’s okay.”
If her eyes shone a bit, it was over the prospect of having fun with Finley. Not because she was happy to see him, or tremblingly aware of their chemistry.
“Sure. It’s fine.” His heart beat hollowly in his chest. There was no more doubt in his mind. If she’d ever felt anything for him, she’d rejected it. He took off his topcoat, hung it on her coat tree, walked over to Finley and stooped down in front of her. “You be good for Shannon.”
She nodded. “I will.”
Shannon rounded her desk. “I’m sure she will, too.”
Rory peeked up at her. Her pretty black hair spilled around her, a tumble of springy curls. Her blue eyes sparkled with happiness. She was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. And she was sweet. Nice. Smart. Fun.
An ache squeezed his heart. He’d lost her even before he’d had a chance to fully decide if he wanted her.
Realizing that was probably for the best, he gave Finley another reminder to behave then headed for the accounting department. An examination of the books confirmed what he’d suspected from looking at the annual statements she’d sent him. Raleigh’s Department Store made a lot of money even when her dad ran it. But profits had leaped when she’d taken the reins.
At noon, he ambled back to Shannon’s office suite. Wendy wasn’t at her desk, so he walked back to Shannon’s office, only to discover Shannon wasn’t there, either. With a sigh, he strolled to the window and gazed out. The city below bustled with activity. Silver bells and tinsel on the streetlamps blew in the breeze. The gazebo in the center of the little park looked like it was wearing a white snow hat. The city was small, comfortable. It would be a good place to raise a child. And, if he bought this store, he’d need to spend so much time here for the first three or four years of ownership that it might be a good idea to move here.
“She’s happier than I’ve ever seen her, you know?”
Wendy’s unexpected comment caused his heart to jump. He spun from the window. “Excuse me?”
“Shannon. The past few days she’s been happier than I’ve ever seen her. She came back from South Carolina broken. Genuinely broken.” Wendy paused for a second, then shook her head. “Whatever her husband did to her, it was devastating. She doesn’t talk about it, but she didn’t have to. It was easy to see he broke her.”
Indignation roared through him. He’d like to find the bastard and give him a good shaking.
“Then you came along. Spent that snowy weekend with her and she came in that Monday different.” She smiled. “Happy. Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.”
He
