Page 51 of The Christmas Tree Farm

Bennett didn’t reply. He was getting tired of this book club and their knowing smiles and remarks.

‘Have fun, anyway!’ Jacob sang.

Bennett bundled the dogs into the car and watched as they drove away. The dirt parking lot was completely covered in several inches of snow now, but the car made it out and onto the road safely.

Bennett stood there, the snow seeping through his jeans, thinking about how he should leave, about how bad of an idea it was to go check on Kira, about how he was repeating patterns that had only made him miserable in the past.

But the thing about bad habits was that they were very hard to break.

ChapterFifteen

Kira was less than pleased that she had to untangle herself from her blanket pile to go answer the door. She was all hunkered down in front of the fire, ready to sit out the storm. She’d already called Iris and the few farm hands from Logan’s and told them not to bother coming today. So who could possibly be at her door?

She pulled it open to find a scowling Bennett on her porch.

‘Uh… Hi.’

‘Here.’ He pushed a rusty old snow shovel into her hands, like he was either mad at her or the shovel. She couldn’t tell.

‘Thanks? Bennett … what are you still doing here?’

His frown deepened. His cheeks were red from the cold and his pants were soaked up to the knee. What the hell had he been doing since she left him over an hour ago?

He blew out a long sigh. ‘I … well … the book club showed up.’

‘The book club?’

‘Yeah.’ He shook his head, sending clumps of snow tumbling off his hat. ‘I just wanted to make sure you had a shovel for the morning.’ He winced like this whole conversation was killing him.

‘Oh.’

‘And I brought some salt, too.’ He glanced down at the bag by his feet and then clearly noticed the shovel and bucket of rock salt that was already next to the door. The one she’d bought yesterday on her trip to the hardware store. ‘Christ. You already have one…’ He huffed a brittle laugh.

‘Yep. My first one. Bought it yesterday.’ She gave him a smile, but he still looked like a man in pain. ‘I even called Logan. He’s going to clear the parking lot for me tomorrow once he digs himself out.’ She probably didn’t need to tell him all this and she definitely shouldn’t feel as proud of herself as she was, but shewas. She was figuring shit out and … apparently, she wanted Bennett to know about it.

He nodded, still frowning, still not celebrating her ability to buy her own snow shovel.Rude.‘That’s good. Uh … I’m glad you have it under control.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I should go.’

Kira’s heart sank. ‘You can’t go.’

‘I really should.’ He gave her a grim smile. ‘You don’t need me here.’

‘So?’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘What do you mean, “so”?’

‘So, what if I don’t need you. What if I just want you to stay?’

‘Youwantme to stay?’ Why did he sound so damn incredulous about that? Like she couldn’t possibly want him to stay if she didn’t have odd jobs for him to do? Did he really think she was that shitty of a person?

She was a reformed shitty person! Or trying to be, anyway.

‘For safety,’ she said, still wanting him to stay. Wanting to show him that she wasn’t a shitty person anymore.

She gestured around them, the snow swirling past the porch. ‘The storm.’

‘It’s not that bad.’

‘Look, Buffalo Man, just because you’re not scared of snow doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. I can’t in good conscience let you drive off in this.’