Christmas at Evergreen Inn by Donna Alward Page B

do at the inn today while it’s empty of guests.” It was the best excuse she could come up with on a moment’s notice. “But I’ll meet you at the church tonight.” There was no way she’d get out of the Christmas Eve service. It was tradition, even more than the oyster stew.
    â€œAre you okay? You sound congested.” There was worry in her mom’s tone. “With the storm and everything, maybe you’ve been working too hard. I know you were swamped.”
    She prepared to lie for the second time in five minutes. “Just a bit of a cold, I guess. Nothing major.” Just going through an emotional hurricane, she thought, closing her eyes and shaking her head a little. She sighed inwardly. Were men really worth all this trouble?
    Then she thought of how Todd had looked at her last night, and it stole her breath, even now. She wished she could say they weren’t worth it …
    â€œLainey? Are you still there?”
    â€œYes, of course. What did you say?”
    â€œI said you should take something and go have a nap instead. Do you want me to bring over some soup or tea or something?”
    The last thing she wanted was her mom here. She’d comment on the dearth of decorations—a move that Lainey was already regretting—and then she’d start her well-meaning prying into what was going on. Lainey really didn’t want to spill her guts today, and her mother was terrifyingly good at getting to the bottom of trouble. It was a mom thing, Lainey supposed.
    â€œNo, I’m fine, really. I’ve got stuff here anyway. I’ll make some mint tea and take a nap, okay?”
    â€œIf you’re sure…”
    â€œI’m sure. And I promise I’ll see you tonight.” One good thing was that she knew Todd was on shift tonight. He’d told her he worked so other guys could spend the time with their families. She could go to church and not worry about running into him at all. Then she’d come home and wallow all she wanted.
    Hell, she’d faked being okay often enough over the past year that getting through tonight was no big deal. A little makeup, a deep breath, a pasted-on smile and she’d be good to go. He’d never know how deeply he’d hurt her by his little disappearing act.
    â€œAll right, honey. I’ll see you later, then. And I’ll save you some stew.”
    Her stomach rolled thinking about it, a by-product of her emotional distress and the fact she’d had coffee and nothing else this morning. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll see you later.”
    She hung up the phone and sat back against the cushions. This was what she had to look forward to, then. A quiet, terribly empty day ahead of her, followed by an hour and a half of community togetherness and holiday spirit and ending with going to bed alone again.
    Merry flipping Christmas.
    *   *   *
    In Todd’s experience, working on Christmas Eve generally went one of two ways.
    Either he got a lot of calls, or things were quiet. But tonight had been a mixture of both. He attended a small car accident where someone was rear-ended at a stop sign, and responded to a report of a suspicious person which turned out to be nothing more than someone waiting for a drive who was late. Calls through dispatch were few. He’d learned that the night before Christmas found most people in a peaceful, happy frame of mind. Of course there was a smaller percentage that was unhappy, stressed, and angry, and sometimes that didn’t turn out so well for those families. He always dreaded responding to a domestic disturbance, but even more so at the holidays. As much as he’d like to think that sort of thing didn’t happen in and around Jewell Cove, of course it did. This morning’s call being a prime example. He would have avoided it altogether if Jamie Wright hadn’t called in with the flu.
    He kept his radio turned down low as he parked