Page 90 of Just One Kiss

"Nope. Blueberry waffles are my thing. And you made 'em the best."

"I had a lot of practice perfecting those waffles for you." She paused. "I think it was Kelly who liked the chocolate chip pancakes."

"I'm sure they'll be good enough to eat and no reason to mention her mistake," he said easily. Tyler had always been the peacemaker, probably because she'd protected him from a lot of the really bad stuff, so he didn't have the same memories that she had.

"No reason to do that," she agreed. "Not with everything else going on."

"Is there any news about Kelly beyond the texts you've sent me?"

"Only that she was spotted at a convenience store on the road to Black Falls. Adam wanted to know if I had any idea where she was headed. I told him we camped there a few summers, but that was in Butterfly Canyon, and there aren't any cabins there. Anyway, the police are doing everything they can to find her."

"Good." He grabbed his bag. "I brought a few presents this year. I know we don't usually exchange, but once I heard about Brett and that you'd gotten a tree, I thought we'd need something to put under it." He paused, as his gaze moved to the tree. "Looks like you beat me to it. There are already presents there."

She was actually surprised to see those presents. "Mom must have wrapped some of mine. Or she bought some of her own." A warm memory ran through her head. "Remember how she used to hold off on wrapping our presents until the night before Christmas? She wanted us to wake up Christmas morning and think the presents were from Santa."

"I remember that. I'd go to bed with just one present under the tree, and the next morning there would be five or six."

They exchanged a smile at the shared memory.

"This is going to be a good Christmas, Hannah," Tyler said with an optimistic note in his voice. "Kelly will make it home."

She wanted to believe that. "If Kelly comes home, it would be the first time in fifteen years that we're all together."

"I can't believe it's been that long. This has to be the year."

"I hope so." She sent up a silent prayer that they would get the miracle they needed. But at the moment, that felt like an impossible dream.

* * *

Four hours later, Hannah felt like one part of her impossible dream was coming true. They didn't have Kelly back, but the rest of the family was becoming closer. Brett, her mom, Tyler and she had had an incredible day. After breakfast, they'd taken a walk into town to pick up groceries for Christmas dinner, and to drop off presents at charity organizations. They finished their errands with lunch at Chloe's café, and when they'd gotten back to the house, they'd decided to build a snowman. She couldn't remember having this much fun as a family since her dad had died.

Brett's childhood joy and innocence awakened something in all of them, but especially her mother, who seemed like a completely different person. It was quite amazing. Maybe her mom would be able to remain sober and present in all their lives.

Tyler, too, had turned into the fun-loving kid she remembered. He seemed to enjoy letting go of the stress of law school to build a snowman with Brett. When they were finished, she ran inside the house, grabbed a red scarf, and came back to drape it around the snowman's neck. Then they all stood back to admire their work. It wasn't a snowman that would win any awards, but it was still pretty good.

"Can we build another one?" Brett asked.

She smiled at his never-ending energy. "It's time for you to take a nap."

"I'm not tired."

"Well, you'll have to try to get a little sleep."

"Is Santa coming tonight?"

"Yes, he is," she said, as she grabbed his hand and took him into the house.

Her mom and Tyler followed, and they all tossed their coats and gloves onto a big pile on the chair by the stairs.

"I'll put Brett down for his nap," her mother said.

"Are you sure? You've been doing a lot of the heavy lifting," she said.

"It's past time for me to do that." Her mother turned to the little boy. "Come on, Brett, I'll read you a story before you go to sleep."

As her mom and Brett went upstairs, she and Tyler made their way into the living room, flopping down on opposite chairs.

"That was fun," Tyler said. "Even though at times it felt like we'd entered some alternate universe with Mom. But I'm not complaining."

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