Page 76 of Just Add Mistletoe

Malcom’s gaze didn’t leave her face, his smile appearing. “You’re definitely my girlfriend, then. I’m not bringing my parents out here with us being just friends.”

“Does this feel like just friends?” she asked, pressing her mouth at the edge of his. “Or this?” She kissed the other side of his mouth.

“No,” Malcom said in a rasp, his hold tightening. “It feels like I’m the only man you’re ever going to look at again.”

Lori laughed, then kissed him straight on the mouth.

By the next day, after spilling the beans to her friend group, and Malcom making a phone call to his parents, Lori was wondering what she’d gotten herself into.

Yeah, she still felt it was a good thing to officially meet Malcom’s parents. Her growing relationship with him would benefit, and hopefully it would get his mom to stop daydreaming of that woman Penny. Yet . . . what was that saying? Be careful what you wish for?

Because they were now planning to come to Everly Falls in two weeks. Right in the middle of the holiday season. At least it would give her time to prepare . . . as well as plenty of time to worry about every little thing.

Her phone buzzed with a new round of texts as she sat in her parents’ old kitchen. The place had new counters and new flooring now.

Is this a record for you, Lori?Brandy wrote.Have you ever met the parents of a man you’ve been dating?

Not that I can remember, and there aren’t a lot of men to remember,she wrote.

He is so in to you,Stephenie texted.I mean, he does whatever you ask him to.

Golden retriever,Julie added.I should know. I married one.

Laughing emojis were exchanged.

Well, he needs to tone that down,Lori wrote, half-serious.I made him dinner last night, and you would have thought he’d glimpsed heaven.

Wait! He came over last night?Brandy texted.Details and pics if you have them.

There are no pics! I need to get back to decorating now.Lori left them all hanging. She shouldn’t have said anything because she didn’t want her friends to get the wrong idea. But what would the wrong idea be? That she liked Malcom more and more each day? That every moment with him seemed better than the last?

She was really, truly, in a relationship, and it was hard to wrap her mind around it sometimes.

Lori headed into the living room of her parents’ house. She’d already set up the artificial tree, and now all she had to do was decorate it. Digging through the boxes she’d hauled from the attic, she found herself wading through memory lane. Apparently her parents had never thrown away one Christmas craft or decoration. When they’d moved, they’d sold stuff she didn’t want or they hadn’t wanted to take with them.

But they’d left the boxes of seasonal decorations in the attic, with Lori intending on taking them to the store one day and sorting them. That day had come. Going through each box, she thought back to her childhood memories. She really had grown up in a great family, and she had always been grateful—but even more so lately.

She wanted that for Malcom too—some peace in his family. She hoped that when his parents came, he’d find that. And if they didn’t like her right away, that was okay. There was time. And Lori didn’t mind the wait. She realized, for the first time, that everything to do with Malcom would be worth the wait.

Their relationship had felt both fast and slow. But mostly, it felt natural. Like things were progressing how they should. Malcom was respectful of her time, and he always asked her opinions. He didn’t shy away from telling her his own thoughts, and sharing his own desires.

Which made him a gem of a person.

Mostly, Lori realized, of all the things she felt grateful for—in the here and now—she was grateful for Malcom.

The rumble of a truck outside pulled her from her thoughts. Lori climbed to her feet and parted the drapes to look. It was Malcom’s truck, and it wasn’t even sunset. Had he finished early today? Or was there some problem at the job site?

He surely knew she was here because her car was parked at the curb.

She reached the door and opened it just as he stepped onto the porch. A memory—no, a future possibility—rolled through her mind. What would it be like to share a home together? To greet Malcom each night after both of their jobs were finished for the day? To share their meals together. To unwind and talk about their day? To not have to say goodbye to each other at night?

Was that what she wanted? Withthisman?

Her heart whisperedyes,and her brain agreed.

THERE WERE STILL TWO MORE weeks until Christmas, but Everly Falls was in the throes of the holiday. Each night, community events abounded, and tonight, there was a hot chocolate cook-off—or boil-off?—at Lori’s shop. Restaurant chefs and bakery shop owners and regular home cooks had all entered the contest. Fifteen of them, Lori had said.

And Malcom was one of the judges. He enjoyed chocolate and sweets and hot chocolate, like most people. But to be ajudge? He wasn’t sure why he agreed to such a plan. Oh yeah. Because anything that Lori asked of him, his immediate response wasyes.

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