Lydia's Pine Harbor Christmas, стр. 11

By morning, the mood between them had thawed, no doubt aided by the steady flow of customers that kept both booths busy. Christmas music played throughout the market, and the weather, although cold, cooperated with clear, sunny skies. Even Marco was beginning to feel the holiday spirit. When Theo suggested they all get lunch from a barbecue booth a few aisles down, Marco volunteered to go pick up their order.

When it came time to take Lydia’s order, she said, “Oh. No thank you, nothing for me.”

Marco said, “You’ve got to eat.”

She averted her eyes. “I’ve got other plans.”

He raised an eyebrow then turned to take care of a customer.

Shortly after Marco returned with the lunch, Theo and Allie ducked behind their awnings to eat and Bryce appeared at Lydia’s booth.

“I’m on duty for a few minutes more.” She said it quietly, but Marco had stepped outside of the booth to readjust the garland placement, which happened to place him in an optimal location for overhearing. It couldn’t be avoided.

Bryce, as cheerful as always, said, “No problem. I’ll just check out some of this craft beer next door.”

Great. Five minutes of tortured politeness followed, during which Marco answered far too many questions about craft beer. For a guy who didn’t brew his own, Bryce had an unnatural interest in hops. Marco had just about lapsed into a coma when Allie and Theo returned from their lunch break. Bryce quickly bought a four-pack of beer, left it in Lydia’s booth, then swept her away for an enchanting Christmas ramble through the picturesque market. Meanwhile, Marco ducked behind the booth, sat on a cooler, and scarfed down his lunch all alone.

That gave him time to himself to think through the whole Lydia thing. He’d been so busy all morning with customers that he hadn’t been able to. She and Bryce looked happy together, which should have been good for Lydia. She deserved to be happy. If Bryce makes her happy, who am I to object? Yet he did. In so many areas of her life, Lydia had excellent taste. She’d chosen Marco as a friend, for one thing. But Bryce wasn’t quite up to par. Marco couldn’t say why. He just felt something was off.

After analyzing the situation from all angles, he concluded that he was just being overprotective, like any brother would be. Still, he would keep an eye on Bryce. Someone had to, since Lydia’s mother seemed to be asleep at the wheel. She was too much in love herself to see beyond her rose-colored glasses to what was really going on with her daughter. Or perhaps she was just happy to see Lydia dating. Marco had never known her to date—not that she couldn’t have. She’d mentioned something about dating, but that was way in the past. There was nothing to keep her from dating. She was cute, smart, and more fun to be with than anyone else in their small community. Her problem was that she was too good for anyone that might have shown interest in her. She deserved someone special—which Bryce was not. That guy had his work cut out for him just to make the cut into average.

By the time Marco finished his lunch, he had determined that the best course of action would be to step back from Lydia’s life, which, come to think of it, had already been the plan. She didn’t need two men in her life, and besides, Marco had become way too closely involved. In doing so, he had broken his own rule where women were concerned—not that Lydia was a woman. Well, she was, but she wasn’t a woman he was involved with, at least not romantically. They were friends. Why is this starting to get so confusing?

Bryce and Lydia returned from their lunch date hand in hand. Don’t they look precious? Ugh. Marco busied himself rearranging the stock while Theo rang up a customer. Unfortunately, he could only do so much work in a tiny beer kiosk also manned by his brother, so he managed to stay well aware of what was going on next door. Apparently, more people liked buying beer than buying art and needlework, because the Gallery’s booth had enough of a lull for Bryce to lean over the counter, chin on hand, and chat up Lydia. Isn’t she on the clock? She must have some work to do. But Allie seemed unperturbed. She was too easy on her employee. If it were up to Marco, he would have sent the guy packing.

After what felt like hours but was, according to Marco’s watch, twenty minutes, Bryce finally left. That guy needed a hobby. He had too much time on his hands.

Almost immediately after Bryce left, the two booths were deluged by post-lunch shoppers and latecomers. By the time it let up, it was almost time to close for the day. Not much was left to do after Marco had used the excess energy he’d whipped up from his irritation with Bryce to get things in order. Allie and Lydia locked up their booth almost as quickly.

Theo and Allie would have plans, of course, which meant they would all have to walk out together. Lydia walked beside Marco in silence until they were nearly at the entrance gate. “Marco, what’s wrong?”

He hadn’t expected directness. In truth, he had assumed she was blissfully unaware of his state of mind. “Nothing’s wrong. I’ve just been working all day.”

“Oh really?” She mocked him, sweeping her hand over her forehead for dramatic effect and whined. “A whole day of work. That must be so hard.” Just in case he couldn’t tell she was being sarcastic, she seemed to feel the need to roll her eyes to drive home the point.

For all of the thought he had put into the situation, the best response he could come up with was a shrug.

Lydia stared for a moment then shook her head. “If