Page 37 of Wish You Faith (Christmas Sweethearts #1)

Rosie nodded. “Then we all slept. Your mom was in the guest bedroom, so her assistant slept in the living room. She woke us up at one o’clock in the morning and we went to the airport.”

“No wonder you’re tired.” He was still holding her hand.

“We didn’t leave Savannah until two in the morning for the five-hour flight. By then my sleep was so broken that I couldn’t sleep much.”

“Did you have a good nap while I was at the meeting?” Evan caressed the back of Rosie’s hand.

“This couch is very comfortable. I fell asleep shortly after you left—while I was praying for you.”

Rosie was honest, and unabashedly so. Evan liked that character trait of hers. What was there to hide, after all? God already knew everything.

“That means you slept a good three hours.” Evan pointed to his watch. “It’s lunch time.”

“Already?” Rosie sat up. Touched her hair, loose around her shoulders. “Is my hair messy?”

“No, it’s fine. What would you like to eat for lunch?”

“Where do you usually go?”

“There’s a cafeteria downstairs that’s available for workers in this office complex.”

“Let’s go there then.”

“You’re so practical.” Evan pointed to the window. “It’s not raining outside. I was thinking that we could go to Pike Place and have lunch while looking at the harbor.”

“How much time do you have?”

“I’ve collected so much overtime that it matters not if I take two hours for lunch or take the entire afternoon off.”

“I hear you. Same for me with overtime hours.” Rosie rubbed his arm. “You’ve worked hard. Let’s do what you want to do—as long as we don’t break company rules.”

“Pike Place is not too far. We can easily walk there in ten minutes.”

“Oh good. I wore my walking shoes.” Rosie pointed to the rug where her shoes were, between the sofa and the coffee table.

She sure had a funny way of describing things.

Evan smiled. “You came prepared.”

“I thought I’d have to park somewhere and walk to your office, but your mom’s driver dropped me off.”

“Nice of her.”

Rosie put on her shoes. “I need to run to the ladies’ room first. Give me a few minutes.”

“Take your time. We’ll leave whenever you’re ready.” Evan went back to his desk. “Just ask any of the ladies outside and they can tell you where the restroom is.”

“You mean I can’t ask a gentleman?” Rosie teased.

“Ask whoever. I don’t care.” Yes, he cared. He surprised himself by being jealous of who Rosie talked to, but he tried to contain it.

Rosie was his fiancée. He’d already won her over.

However, they weren’t married yet. Until then, could Rosie change her mind if she had a better offer?

What better offer?

Evan chided himself for the imaginary nonsense that spewed into his thoughts.

Maybe the lack of sleep was doing a number on his thought process.

If he were jealous of the men that Rosie talked to, then he’d be driving himself to the ground because Rosie talked to many customers at the tree farm and to employees at Christmastown. Oh, and also people at church.

When Rosie returned, she had tied up her hair in a bun. Her face looked fresh, as though she had just washed it.

She picked up her crossbody purse, still on the sofa. “I’m ready.”

“Let’s go.” Evan held Rosie’s hand as they went down the elevator to the first floor.

As soon as they opened the glass doors leading to the sidewalk, he heard the hustle and bustle of the Central Business District, the business heart of Seattle.

Surrounded by skyscrapers around them and cloudy skies above, Evan thought of the laidback lifestyle of the smaller coastal city of Savannah, the slower pace at the tree farm, the quieter riverfront…

Then again, this job he had at Cavanaugh Shipping had enabled him to provide for Rosie’s mom a place to stay at SSLR. He hadn’t done anything for Rosie per se, but he knew that she appreciated what he’d done for her mom. It made a lot of difference.

“A bit chilly.” Rosie zipped up her goose down coat.

“I think it’s in the upper forties. Chilly.” Evan also zipped up his jacket. “Nice coat you have there.”

“Yep. Mom bought it for me. I think it will last long after she’s…” She paused. Cleared her throat. “…gone, I mean.”

She had said it. Evan was impressed at her fortitude. He reached for her hand and held it. Her hand was warm. He started walking and Rosie followed him on 4 th Avenue.

“The last time I was here, it was overcast like that, but it didn’t rain,” Rosie said.

“When were you here?” Evan knew that he would have a lifetime of discovering Rosie and the first twenty-nine years of her life.

“Some years ago before Dad died. We went on a cruise to Alaska, so we flew into Sea-Tac and then took a shuttle to the Port of Seattle to hop on the cruise ship. When we disembarked after seven days, we stayed another two days to check out the city.”

“Nice. So you’ve been to Pike Place.”

“Yes. I love the flowers there. Unfortunately, we couldn’t buy any because we were flying home the next day, and it was inconvenient.”

“When do you go home to Savannah?” Evan asked, but it pained him that they would be apart once again.

“Originally, we were going home tomorrow because I have to teach Sunday school, as you know. Since the plane left late, Mom and Mei ended up chatting, and you know what? Mom invited Mei to church on Sunday, and she said yes.”

“What?” Evan stopped walking. “Please repeat that.”

Rosie did.

“Are you kidding me?”

“I meant to tell you this morning, but you had to go to a meeting, and then I fell asleep and forgot all about it until now.”

“Let me process this.” Evan was still stunned. “Your mom invited my mom to my church and she said yes. Are my ears deceiving me?”

“I know, right? It was God all the way.”

He hugged her. “Wow. This is an answer to prayer. Which church?”

“Your church, of course. We’re here in Seattle, right?” Rosie waved her hand in the air.

“A miracle. Connor and I have been trying to invite her to church for years. She says no every single time except twice a year.”

“Yeah, you told me. You know, sometimes the hardest people to reach for Christ are our family members. They know all about us—our good side and our bad side. After seeing all that, some might not want to be saved.”

“Goes to show how important our personal testimony is.”

“I agree. However, it also shows how forgiving God is when Christians mess up.”

“That too.”

Rosie motioned for him to keep walking. “We need to eat lunch and then get you back to work, sweetheart.”

“Sooo… Does that mean you’re going to stay here until Sunday?”

Rosie nodded. “I found someone to teach in my place on Sunday morning.”

“Good. We get to go to church together again.”

“Your mom invited us to spend the weekend at her house. That’s where we went this morning after landing. I showered and changed before I came to see you at your office.”

Evan was listening so intently to Rosie talking that they missed their turn at Union Street. “No worries. We could keep walking and make a left at Pike Street.”

“Same distance probably.”

“Not much difference. We need the exercise.”

“This city reminds me of Atlanta,” Rosie said.

“Do downtown Atlanta sidewalks smell?” Evan didn’t want to go into details about why he said that.

“Actually, most of them don’t. However, Atlanta is a driving city, so I usually drive and park. I probably don’t smell the sidewalks as much, you know?”

“We walk a lot in Seattle.”

Rosie nodded. “I think it’s healthier to walk, to be honest. In Savannah, I drive a lot.”

“I know.” Evan remembered the days they carpooled. “I miss Savannah and I miss you.”

“I miss you too.” She wrapped her arm around his waist, and he put his arm around her shoulders.

They walked down Pike Street to the harbor.

“It’s going to be an uphill walk when we return to your office,” Rosie remarked. “The decline toward the bay right now is not steep, but I can feel it.”

“Maybe our sight is affecting our feeling because we can clearly see that we’re going toward water, which is at sea level. Does that make our mind automatically think we should be walking on a downward slope?”

“Maybe you have a point. Then again, back in Savannah, it’s all flat. Driving to the river, there isn’t any difference.”

They walked a bit, and the sky cleared.

“It doesn’t always clear,” Evan said. “Maybe you can come back again in the warmer seasons like July.”

“Will you still be here in July or will you be with me in Savannah?” Rosie flashed a smile.

Her eyes sparkled in the daylight. Those gray eyes which had first caught Evan’s attention. He wondered if their children would have gray eyes too, or whether those genes were recessive, being so rare and all.

Wait a second.

Children?

He caught himself. It was a good thing that Rosie couldn’t read his mind. Evan didn’t want to scare her with where his thoughts could go.

“Want to see the flowers first or shall we look for food first?” Evan asked.

“Food.”

“Are you very hungry? What would you like to eat?” Evan felt like a gentleman, asking his lady what she wanted to eat instead of making any decision for her.

“I don’t have any food allergy that I know of, so I can eat pretty much anything.

Since we’re on the coast again, I suppose there’s plenty of fresh seafood.

I can go for that. Or I can also go for a good steak, though I don’t usually eat that for lunch.

I’m cutting back on bread, but I always make room for sourdough.

” Rosie laughed. “Why don’t you surprise me?

I’m so happy to be with you today that I’ll eat anything—unless it’s bizarre. ”

They stopped at the entrance of Pike Place Market.

Evan didn’t know what overcame him, but he just wanted to hug Rosie. Perhaps it was because he’d had a hard time at work, and Rosie was his respite.

At the same time, he didn’t want to overwhelm Rosie. Putting his arm over her shoulders was enough, wasn’t it?

“What?” Rosie turned her face toward him. “Why are we stopping?”

He leaned down toward her. “I still can’t believe you’re here.”