Evergreens and Angels by Mary Manners Page B

resting a palm over her elbow. “I care for you very much.”
    “How could you, when you’re still involved with that—that woman ?”
    “We are not involved.” Dillon shook his head firmly. “Yes, we did our internship together and I won’t deny at one point I thought there might be something more to it than friendship. But there wasn’t, and we parted ways months ago, when the internship came to a close. She made it clear she could never live here in Clover Cove—even for me—and she headed back to New York. I came here—came home. That was the end of anything we might have shared, and that’s also the last I spoke to her—until last night.”
    “But I don’t understand why she said the things she did. She insinuated the two of you shared so much more.”
    “I suppose she was having second thoughts about ending it. But I wasn’t, Brynn. I’m not. Let me make one thing perfectly clear…I care for you as more than a friend. I care for you a lot. Honestly, I’m falling in love with you. I’ve waited years to see you again, and since the evening you arrived at the nursery in search of a tree I feel like everything’s come together. I feel something I’ve never felt before—something so strong and deep that it’s almost frightening. And it all has to do with you—with us. But none of that matters if you don’t trust me. Can you…do you?”
    “Oh, Dillon…” Tears leapt to Brynn’s eyes, spilling over to course down her cheeks. They shredded Dillon’s insides. “I thought I’d lost you, and I didn’t even know I had you to lose.”
    “You have me—all of me. If you want me, that is.”
    “Oh, I want you.” Brynn sniffled through her tears. “And I trust you. I truly do. But I just don’t know if I can stay here for good.”
    “Do you know that you can’t stay? Do you want to leave?”
    “No. But my job…and I threw away the paper Sarah gave me.”
    “We’ll get another one.”
    “But the job closes tomorrow.”
    “Then I suppose we’d better get on it.” Dillon brushed tears from her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “It’s OK, Brynn. We’ll work it out.”
    “I’m sorry for taking off last night, for not giving you a chance to explain. I should have considered how awkward the situation was for you, as well as for me. I should have—”
    “It’s done.” He drew her into his embrace and relaxed as she pressed her cheek to his sweater. “Don’t cry now.”
    The air kicked on, whooshing through the registers along the floor to set the mistletoe into a pendulum motion from where it hung in the doorway. A few berries remained, and with great care Dillon eased Brynn that way. She lifted her head, tipping her lips up toward his. The kiss was slow and gentle, his unspoken promise of all he felt for her, and of all he hoped for both of them.
     
     
     
     

Epilogue
     
    Christmas Eve dawned with a blanket of downy snow and the promise of more to come. Brynn wrapped the last of Janie’s gifts as a pickup turned into the drive.
    Dillon.
    A flurry of red caught her eye as he exited the driver’s side dressed in the Santa costume he’d borrowed from Wyatt. With a plump pillow firmly secured at his waist, the disguise was picture-perfect. A smile tickled the fringe of Brynn’s lips—Janie was sure to be delighted by her special visitor.
    Dillon bounded two stairs at a time, and she rushed to the door to let him in. Though the supply of mistletoe berries had been exhausted more than a week ago, she planted a kiss firmly on his lips. The pillow made contact difficult, and his snowy-white beard tickled, causing her to giggle like a school girl.
    “Wow.” Dillon gathered her in as best he could manage. “That’s quite the greeting. Let me head back down the stairs and make my entrance again.”
    “Merry Christmas Eve.” Brynn tweaked his beard. “You look fantastic.”
    “Thanks.” He patted his midsection. “All those oatmeal cookies of yours have taken