Looking at this handsome stranger brought to the surface long dormant feelings, which caused her heart to flutter as she glanced into his beautiful kind eyes. That was all it took, a glance. The unaccustomed emotion stunned her for a few seconds, and she quickly shook it off, hoping the others hadn’t noticed even though she felt the heat rise to her cheeks.
She smiled faintly and nodded. "If you’d like, Caleb," she answered softly. "I’d love to have you join us."
"Thank you. I would like to join you," he replied. "I haven’t gone looking for a Christmas tree in a long time, not since..." His voice trailed off.
Tom slapped Caleb on the back and said quickly, "Good. I can use the help loading the tree."
Rachel witnessed the sorrow in Caleb’s eyes, which left as quickly as it had come. She felt a pang of sadness for him, remembering what Kate had said about the sudden death of his wife. Holidays must be extremely difficult for him. She couldn’t imagine what pain he was experiencing and prayed she’d never have to. She hoped Caleb could find some joy in sharing the rest of the day with them. He’d certainly given the children joy today in his role as Santa, and she assumed he received even more in return, watching the children’s excited faces. Hopefully that helped to ease some of his pain.
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