Page 10 of Wish You Faith (Christmas Sweethearts #1)

CHAPTER FIVE

S andwiched between the SSLR collection of buildings and the beaches leading to the roaring Atlantic Ocean, the seaside garden was an irregularly shaped gem fenced in by live oaks and ferns.

In the middle of the garden was a patch of grass where they’d set up a temporary fire pit to roast marshmallows when the sun went down.

Evan had been here before when Grandpa had been alive.

The nonagenarian had passed away happily surrounded by family and his precious grandchildren.

His oceanfront condo was still there on Founders Row, but it was unoccupied.

Grandpa had left instructions in his will so Mom and Dad couldn’t sell it.

They didn’t have the heart to sell it anyway, because of the memories.

Memories that had faded into sepia light over time.

Now Evan was back on Tybee Island, but his mind was on the present and future, not the past.

They were a couple of hours away from sunset. The sun was still up in the sky. Even with the wind whipping in from the Atlantic, Evan didn’t need his winter jacket because the temperature was sixty degrees in the afternoon on this first Monday of December on Tybee Island.

He was fine wearing a charcoal-colored sweatshirt layered over a t-shirt, but he thought it needed a pop of Christmas color, so he wrapped his red-and-green checkered Burberry cashmere scarf around his neck.

It had been a gift from Connor several Christmases ago.

Yet another reminder of his family ties on the West Coast.

Sooner or later, he’d have to go home to Seattle and confront his family about his career.

Right now he had no idea where he was headed.

Until he knew, he had nothing to say to his parents, who had hoped that his Master’s in Business Administration might have helped him ease into the Vice President position at Cavanaugh Shipping, when Connor became the President.

Mom and Dad wanted to take a half-year world cruise and leave the business to their two sons.

Evan didn’t feel particularly rebellious about his decision to walk away from the family business. The much-needed break would give him time to think and consider his options.

If only he had factored in an unexpected variable in his flowchart: Rosie Hamilton.

From the first moment he’d seen her at the greenhouse, he’d been instantly attracted to her. Whether it was love at first sight or not, he had no idea. All he knew was that he was drawn to her and he didn’t want to pass up this opportunity to get to know her, and…

Someday he wanted to marry her.

It felt crazy. How could he know so quickly that she was the one?

Must pray more about this.

He recalled the lunch episode, when they had fled the tree farm—well, fled from Travis, to be more accurate. Evan had held Rosie’s hand when they dashed from Sonya’s hammock to the delivery truck outside the greenhouse.

As he recalled, her hand was warm and she didn’t pull away from him until they made it to the truck. What did that mean? Was she interested in him too? Or did she think that they were only running away from Travis, and not toward each other?

Rosie might not know that Evan was attracted to her to the point of wanting to spend the rest of his life with her. However, if he came right out and told her that he was in love with her, it might scare her off—just like Travis had ruined his chances with his loud and public overtures.

What?

What am I thinking about?

“Hey, daydreamer!” someone shouted.

When Evan registered that it was Rosie’s voice, she was already standing in front of him.

“Not a lot of hours left before dinner,” she said. “Can we hurry along? What are you doing standing by the wheelbarrow?”

Thinking about you.

He dared not say it to her face because he didn’t want her to run away from him. Would she? He had only known her for a few days.

Maybe it wasn’t love at first sight. Maybe he was simply lonely. She had smiled at him, and he didn’t feel alone anymore. Maybe that was it.

“Ah…” Evan looked down at the wheelbarrow in front of him. It was empty. He had forgotten what he was doing with the wheelbarrow. Stress sometimes did that to him.

Stress?

What was he stressed out about?

“You were taking the wheelbarrow to the storage shed. Remember?” Rosie asked.

She was still wearing the Christmastown Tree Farm apron. Her candy cane patterned winter sweater was tied around her waist.

“Yes. I forgot.” Evan scratched his head.

“After you store away the wheelbarrow, take a five-minute break.” Rosie waved to someone and went to talk to him.

Evan watched her chat happily with the man who looked like he just came out of college. He was tall and had curly hair.

And Evan felt a pang of…jealousy?

Say it isn’t so.

There was no way to prevent men from talking with Rosie, especially since she was the tree farm manager. Many employees and volunteers and seasonal workers came and went through Christmastown.

However, Evan wanted Rosie to prefer him over all others.

It was hard for him to fall in love first. Rosie probably had no idea that he’d lost his heart to her.

He rolled the wheelbarrow away, silently praying for God to show him what to do next. He feared losing Rosie before anything even happened between them.

She had allowed him to hold her hand back at the tree farm.

She hadn’t said anything about it afterwards.

Perhaps to her holding hands was nothing.

After all, some Christians held hands with strangers when they prayed at some churches.

Evan recalled his grandparents requiring everyone to hold hands when they prayed over their meals.

Still, holding hands might mean nothing to Rosie. However, it meant a lot to Evan. It meant acceptance and welcome.

Ah, he was probably reading too much into it.

He drew a deep breath and filed this morning and early afternoon away into a “think about this later” mental file folder.

He left the wheelbarrow in the toolshed and then returned to the garden. Rosie said he could take a break. He sat on a wrought iron bench and watched Rosie and the man with her join a group of Christmastown workers wearing red caps as they lined the stone path with candy cane lights.

Rosie was smiling and laughing. Evan didn’t think she was putting on a show as they all clapped happily when they tested the motion sensor lights and music.

Rosie looked around, spotted Evan, and motioned for him to join them.

Was his five-minute break over? He ambled over there.

“Check this out. Step forward.” Rosie pointed to the stone path.

As Evan walked on it, sensors played “Away in a Manger.”

However, when Rosie jogged past the sensors, the music that filled the afternoon air was “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.”

“Interesting.” Evan turned around. “So the music changed according to the speed of the walker. If you’re strolling, it plays one type of music. If you walk faster, the music is more upbeat.”

“Right, so the time signature is mapped to walking speeds.” Rosie seemed happy that they had done this.

“Did SSLR pay for all these?”

“Yes and no. SSLR gets a discount for letting us test new things at Christmastown. All these are free because we’re innovating,” Rosie said. “This motion-activated Christmas caroling is the invention of our resident electronic expert, Daryn Newbury, who works at the Christmastown warehouse.”

A colleague.

“He also runs the sound system at Riverside Chapel on Sunday mornings,” Rosie added.

Oh. So she knew him from church.

“Plus, he’s reviving the Christmastown Carolers, which Cyrus started informally three years ago when he took a group of people to sing Christmas carols at Amy’s apartment. Isn’t that romantic?”

Romantic?

Not a word Evan wanted to hear Rosie say in front of another man—especially one who wasn’t wearing a wedding band, like this man right here.

As Evan shook Daryn’s hand, he realized that he wasn’t a college kid. He only looked like one from afar. Maybe it was his haircut or something. Standing face to face, Daryn looked like he was in his early thirties. Perhaps this was what people meant by “boyish good looks.”

Rosie pointed to the trees and other parts of the garden. “All those lights are annual lights and SSLR paid for them.”

“And all this time, I thought you just worked in the tree farm,” Evan said to Rosie.

“While Christmastown warehouse handles indoor decorating, our tree farm actually handles everything outdoors—plus provides live plants as needed indoors.”

“So the decorations change yearly?”

Rosie nodded. “No two years are exactly alike.”

“Oh.”

“Hey Rosie, thanks for helping us today,” someone said. “Otherwise, we’d be shorthanded with two people out sick with colds.”

“It’s going around. Wash your hands.” Rosie laughed. “Seriously, I’m glad to help. Takes me out of the tree farm from time to time, you know?”

Evan had counted more than nine people working at Christmastown Tree Farm. Seven were here this afternoon. That left Lorenzo and one employee back at base.

He had only seen nine employees plus a bevy of volunteers at the tree farm. Turned out that the rest of them were at client sites, installing outdoor decorations such as this motion-activated Christmas caroling.

“On that note, we’re done for the day. Are we tired yet?” Rosie asked.

They all nodded.

“It’s only Monday, so we have a whole week left to go. Good job, everyone.” Rosie clapped. “If you’re staying for dinner at the cafeteria, no vouchers are needed. Pay at the door on your way in. No, it will not be reimbursed because it’s after hours and our work for the day is done here.”

No one complained.

Evan thought this was a good group of people.

“Those of you coming back to see the garden at night and to roast marshmallows, remember to be back here in the garden at six o’clock. That’s roughly forty minutes after the sun sets.”