Teacher's Christmas Cowboy (Trinity Falls Sweet Romance - Icicle Christmas #5)

Cora gazed around the village at the center of Trinity Falls, unable to keep herself from grinning like a child.

“It’s amazing,” Sylvester breathed, squeezing her hand.

They had parked around the corner and a few blocks down, hoping to have a spot that was easy to get out of when it was time to go. With snow on the ground, Cora was a little nervous driving at all, let alone with the Hometown Holiday celebration going on and people gathering on the streets. Now that she could see how much was going on today, she was glad they had.

The first couple of blocks of Park Avenue were blocked off so that residents could wander freely, and it looked like Columbia was closed off as well.

Candy cane decorations hung from the lampposts, and each shop window seemed to have its own holiday theme going. The Christmas cheer had been building up in town since Thanksgiving weekend, but it was spilling over today.

Shopkeepers had tables out in front of their shops, some with special Christmas items like handmade table runners and stockings, others with food and beverages being sold to support local charities.

Snow was piled high between the sidewalks and the street, though it had been carefully cleaned off everywhere else.

And that was a good thing, because there were happy people greeting each other everywhere Cora looked.

The local real estate broker finished shoveling a path between the street and sidewalk to give easy access to a table for the autism foundation that was selling cookies out front of his shop. While Cora watched, he immediately began shoveling a path from the street to the sidewalk in front of the shop next to his as well.

“Hot cocoa?” a lady offered from one of the tables, as Cora and Sylvester stood there taking it all in.

“We’re meeting someone, but we’ll definitely be back,” Cora promised the lady.

“It smells so good,” Sylvester said quietly, not exactly complaining or begging.

“There’s no way we’re leaving without hot chocolate,” she told him. “Especially when they’re raising money for a good cause like the homeless shelter in the city. And we can’t forget to have cookies. But what if Grandma wants some, too? We should meet up with her first.”

“And Jared,” Sylvester said right away.

She nodded, pressing her lips together.

It was all she could do lately not to think about Jared, especially the moment in her kitchen when she was sure he had been about to kiss her. Just the thought of it sent a tingle of awareness down her spine.

Since that night, when she had told him he could put a gate in the fence, he had been working feverishly on the house.

Sylvester now had a wall of beautiful built-in bookshelves. Jared had taken careful measurements and the next afternoon he’d brought in pre-cut and sanded wood so that there would be no sawdust to aggravate Sylvester’s asthma. She was pretty sure his dad must have helped with that part—there was no way he’d had time to tackle a project that size on his own when he was spending most of his days over at Big Jim’s helping the other volunteers and making sure there was always coverage, so little Jimmy wouldn’t be tempted to skip school.

Little Jimmy was doing so well now that he was back in classes and looking well-rested again. And Big Jim had greeted them with a huge smile when she came by with Sylvester earlier in the week to go over notes with little Jimmy again.

Jared had continued to come over and work on the house, even when they got a real snowfall earlier in the week—enough to stick and for Sylvester to play in. When Sylvester’s homework was done, Jared would take a short break and the two of them would run outside and build a snowman or have a snowball fight.

Jared was careful not to push the boy to run too much in the cold, and when Cora said it was time to come in, he encouraged Sylvester to listen without any protests.

Last night, Jared had finished touching up the last of the paint on the patches he’d sanded down. Though there were a few more little things he had mentioned that he could do, she thought he was only stalling, or maybe offering her an opportunity to stall.

Once he put that gate in, the only reason to come see her was because he wanted to. And the only reason for her to open the door was because she couldn’t imagine what her life and Sylvester’s would be like without him.

There would be nothing left to call it but courtship. The idea made her stomach clench and her heart melt like the honey in her tea.

A few days ago, Jared had told Sylvester about all the fun stuff at the Hometown Holiday celebration, and asked them if they wanted to all go together, and of course they’d said yes. It was only afterward that Cora had a chance to realize how much it felt like a date.

Then, naturally, Ginny had called to find out where they were going to meet up today. Of course Sylvester’s grandmother planned to see him today in town and told him all about it on the phone.

Sylvester told her right away that they were meeting Jared here, too.

It was already hard to think of dating when she hadn’t stopped loving Arthur. But to be here with Jared in front of Arthur’s mother seemed like it had to be something between thoughtlessness and cruelty.

Cora wondered what Ginny must think of her.

But there was no use fretting any more. She would find out soon enough.