“Della! You’re looking wonderful.” Mary Alice gently hugged her.
“Thank you, honey, I’m having a good day.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“Seems there’s a lot of Christmas going around this week. My doctor called me in on Monday to say my insurance approved a new electronic pain relief doohickey.” She lifted the hem of her long skirt to reveal some kind of device strapped to her calf. “I don’t have any idea how it works, but I’ll just say thank the good Lord that it does. I haven’t felt this good in years!”
“It’s a Quell. I’ve read about those,” Chad said. “It uses intensive nerve stimulation to activate your body’s natural pain blockers.”
Della gave him a curious look.
“Chad’s a doctor,” Mary Alice explained.
“I reckon I’ll have to remember that to tell my grandson. He wants to be a doctor himself when he grows up, so he’s curious about all kinds of medical stuff.”
Mary Alice opened the back hatch. “Well, there are a few things in here that he’s going to especially love.”
They began offloading packages from one vehicle to the next.
“Will you be okay getting everything inside on your own?” Chad asked.
“I will. It’s gonna stay in the trunk until Isaiah’s gone to sleep Christmas Eve. He won’t go pokin’ in there. Then I’ll sneak everything in.”
Chad pulled out a card and handed it over. “If you need any help, don’t hesitate to call. I’m very goo
d at sneaking.”
She has no idea, Mary Alice thought, watching Della accept the card and bat her eyes at Chad like a much younger woman.
“Well, thank you, Dr. Phillips.”
He smiled. “Just Chad.”
They chatted for a few more minutes, before wishing each other a Merry Christmas. Della climbed back in her car, and Mary Alice and Chad watched her drive away.
“Her insurance didn’t approve that thing, did it?” Mary Alice asked.
He just shrugged. “It’s a small town. I know her doctor.”
And that just did it. Mary Alice had fallen into serious like with Chad on their scavenger hunt at Applewhite Farms. She’d fallen into lust in his kitchen. But it was that simple, selfless gesture that would mean so much to a family he didn’t even know that had her falling in love with him.
Her stomach pitched and heart began to race. This wasn’t like Judd. That had been a gradual slide, a natural growth of affection over time. This was more like a free fall without a parachute, a prospect made all the more terrifying because she didn’t know if he could or would feel the same after how she’d treated him.
Linking her hands together to still the trembling, she lifted her eyes to his. “Can we talk?”
They got hot cocoa at The Daily Grind—the good kind with whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup on top—and took it out to the green. Wishful had rolled out its holiday finery weeks ago, and as the sun set, twinkle lights lit up every street lamp, wreath, Christmas tree, and store window. As a rule, Chad loved this time of year. He loved, too, this town he’d decided to call home. But it was impossible not to admit that he loved it more when he was with the woman at his side. The woman who looked vaguely queasy.
“I’m really sorry, Chad. I know I said that already, but it bears repeating.” She looked off toward the fountain, both gloved hands wrapped around her to-go cup. “I have prided myself on being so level-headed and well-adjusted about my breakup with Judd. I know, on every logical level, that it was the right thing to do. When he married Autumn, it hurt, but deep down, I wasn’t really that surprised. It just confirmed what I’d already known. And I thought, okay, this is it. Nothing can hurt me more than this.” She inhaled a breath and looked at him. “Turns out I was wrong.”
Chad waited, though he was pretty sure he already knew what she was going to say.
“Running into them that day, finding out they’re pregnant—it was like, ‘Hey, you know those things I said didn’t want? Yeah, I lied. I just didn’t want them with you.’ And that’s stupid, because it wasn’t like that. Not when we were together, and not after. I’m not still in love with him, and I don’t want those things with him anymore. But it just…cut me to the quick because it was right there for me to see, the whole time we were together, and I refused to see it. I felt stupid and hurt, and my first instinct after was to come find you.”
He grimaced. “Talk about crap timing.” He knew that pain and understood it. “I’m sorry you saw what you saw. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me.”
“That’s the thing. You knew something was wrong, and you came to find me. And instead of responding to that, I put all my feelings of hurt and grief and betrayal on you and lashed out instead of listening. You didn’t deserve that. I’m ready to listen now, if you’ll still tell me.”
Chad led her over to a bench beneath one of the enormous oaks that dotted the green and pulled her down. He should’ve told her this story long before now. Still, even after all these years, it was hard to get started. He sipped at his cocoa, giving himself a few extra moments to pull together his thoughts.