Christmas in Bayberry

Whoever it was wasn’t going away. Kate tossed the cloth in the sink, wiped off her hands and crossed to the door. When she swung it open, she was surprised.

“Carrie, what are you doing here?”

Carrie, wearing a midnight blue satin dress with crystals embedded on the bodice, ran her gaze over Kate’s black yoga pants and sweatshirt. “That’s what you’re wearing to the dance?”

“Of course not.” Kate opened the door wider. “Come in.”

Carrie stepped inside and closed the door against the cold winter evening. “A little dark in here, don’t you think?”

“I was in the kitchen cleaning.”

“And you forgot about the time?” Her friend wore a surprised expression. Everyone knew the Candlelight Dance was the absolute biggest event of the year. No one forgot about the dance.

“I’m not going.” Kate turned and returned to the kitchen.

Carrie followed, hot on her heels. “What do you mean you’re not going? If it wasn’t for you, there wouldn’t even be a dance. You have to go.”

Kate shook her head as she wrung out the dish cloth to wipe down the stove. “It’s not a good idea. I don’t want to ruin everyone’s good mood.”

“Is this about Wes? I heard through the grapevine that he went back to New York.”

Kate shrugged. “He completed his work. It was time for him to leave.”

“Just like that, he’s gone?” When Kate didn’t respond, Carrie asked, “He’ll be back, right?”

Kate shrugged again. She didn’t want to have this discussion. Not at all. “I don’t know.”

“Didn’t you ask him?”

She lowered her gaze as she tried to keep her emotions in check. She swallowed hard. “I didn’t talk to him. He left me a voicemail. He sounded like he was in a big hurry.”

“Did you tell him you wanted him to stay?”

Kate scrubbed extra hard, making the stovetop gleam. “I don’t want to talk about him.”

Carrie sighed. “Hiding from your feelings isn’t going to help.”

Kate stopped cleaning and turned to her friend. “I’m not hiding. He’s the one who left.”

“Yes, but did you ask him to stay?”

“No. His career is in New York. He’s going to be an assistant vice president. How could he skip out on that? I knew what I was getting into. He never said he’d stay.”

“But things have changed between you two. You love him. And he loves you.” When Kate started to protest, her friend held up her hand. “You can’t deny it, because it’s obvious to anyone who sees you two together.”

Did everyone think that? Was her love for Wes that obvious? For so long, she’d been denying it to herself. Had she denied it so thoroughly that Wes couldn’t see it either? Did she need to tell him?

Kate worried her bottom lip as she considered what her friend had said.

“Kate, you need to call him. Tell him.”

“I don’t know.” Would it change anything? “I need time to think.”

“You two belong together. You’re just fighting the inevitable. He’ll be back. Just wait and see.”

Her friend was so confident that it made Kate want to believe her. Maybe she should call him. It wasn’t as if they’d parted on bad terms. If nothing else, they could catch up on what was going on with each other—his work and her…her dance. He was bound to ask how it had gone. What would she tell him?

“I’ll call,” she said. “But not yet.”