Christmas in Bayberry

The longer he was in this small town, the more he understood why he remembered Bayberry more fondly than the other places he’d lived as a kid. They tried so hard to balance their work and play here. It was too bad his family hadn’t stuck around. He wondered whether he’d have been able to escort Kate to the Candlelight Dance if they had.

He remembered as a teenager how he’d had every intention of asking her to the dance. He was only in junior high at the time, so asking a girl to the dance was a big thing. A huge thing. Every time he’d thought of asking her, his hands had grown clammy and his stomach had churned. And so he’d put it off again and again.

Finally, he’d waited so long that it was the week before the dance and his father announced that they were moving—again. Wes had put up a fuss, telling his parents he didn’t want to move. But they’d told him he didn’t have a choice.

He’d shouted that life wasn’t fair and his mother had concurred. After his father had left the room, she’d confided in Wes that she wished they could stay in Bayberry too. The people were so nice and she’d made a great friend in Kate’s aunt. He’d tried to persuade his mother to stay here with him while his father worked elsewhere, but she told him that families stick together through the good and the bad.

“Wes, did you hear me?”

He blinked and focused on Kate. He didn’t have any idea what she’d said. She frowned at him.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s get out of here. Besides, I want to pick your brain.”

“Kate, I can’t.”

“Aunt Penney will be very upset if you’re not there. She has a thing about people working overtime on special occasions, and the tree lighting is a very special occasion.”

“But—”

“No buts. Come on. The office is officially closed. Besides, if you don’t come with me, your Christmas wish won’t come true.”

Immediately his thoughts turned to the promotion. It was what he needed to put everything right in his life. Once he had that promotion, he’d be happy. Maybe he could move to a place that accepted pets. His thoughts turned to Rascal. But by then the puppy would be adopted—

“Wes, we don’t want to be late.”

The eagerness on Kate’s face was his final undoing. She was right. The work would be waiting for him. He rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the stiffness from leaning over the desk for hours. He had been in early that day and he’d insisted on eating lunch at his desk.

And now that he had warmer clothes, walking to Bayberry Square wouldn’t be miserable. In fact, with his new warm boots, coat, cap and gloves, he had barely noticed the weather when he walked to work that morning.

“Okay. Let’s go.” He closed his laptop and started to clean up his desk.

“Oh, leave it be.”

“I can’t. It’s a mess.” He always cleaned up his work area at the end of each day.

“But it’s your mess. Your work mess. Leave it and it’ll be all ready for you in the morning.”

“How do you figure?”

“Well, you would spend time cleaning it up tonight. And then when you come in Monday morning, you’ll have to put everything back where it is now to work with it. Isn’t that right?”

He’d never thought of it that way, but she was right. He did arrange his work stacks in the morning. Even though it felt wrong to leave a mess, he got to his feet, grabbed his laptop and slipped it in his messenger bag. His gaze was still on the mess on his desk. He didn’t know if he could just leave it be. It went against his sense of status quo.

“Come on.” Kate shoved his coat at him. “It’ll be fine. I promise. There won’t be anyone here to notice, either. Everyone has already left for the tree lighting. And if we don’t hurry, we really will be late.”

He swallowed hard. “I don’t know.”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door. Then she got behind him and gave him a push out the door. “Who knew someone so young could be so set in his ways?”

“This from the woman who has all of these holiday traditions.”

“Hey, traditions are good.” Kate pulled the door shut behind her. When he stopped and turned back, she braced her arms across the doorway. “There’s no way you’re getting back in there tonight.”

He slipped on his coat and slung his messenger bag across his chest, with an amused look at Kate. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

She nodded. “Very.”

He shook his head and smiled. “I suppose I can leave it for one night.”