Page 60 of Loving Luna

I nodded, mindlessly as I thought about all the Christmas magic I’d personally seen take place here over the years. And it wasn’t just Christmas either. Halloween, Valentine’s Day, heck, even Star Wars day had seen their own brand of Rawhide miracles. Maybe Ranch magic was just a thing that existed year round. And maybe, after everything, Luna and I deserved our share.

Ignoring the seed of doubt I couldn’t quite shake, I leaned forward. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

Three hours later, I was driving home from the city with a beautiful pink diamond ring in my glovebox, praying I wasn’t making the biggest mistake of my life by plotting to ask the woman I loved to love me back, forever.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Drake

“Come on, Daddy!” Luna called out from by the front door, dressed in a red sweater dress I’d never seen, and bouncing excitedly. “We don’t want to be late!”

I’d just gotten off work and barely had enough time to change into the green sweater and jeans Luna had insisted I wear, and scarf down a sandwich. The sweater was itchy and not at all my style. I wondered where she’d even gotten it, as I squinted at her. Her pink hair was done in soft curls that fell halfway down her back; it looked longer than normal. Extensions? Her outfit was different than anything I’d ever seen her wear either. The red sweater dress fell almost to her knees and though she’d paired it with her usual fishnet stockings and combat boots, her thick chunky jewelry had been replaced with delicate silver snowflakes dangling from her ears and another on a thin silver chain around her neck.

I frowned as I looked at her and tilted my head to the side. “Where did you say we were going again? A tree lightingceremony? I don’t remember seeing that on the Ranch schedule anywhere.”

Luna’s eyes widened for a minute, and an expression I couldn’t quite place flashed across her face before it quickly disappeared and she shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe something the Littles threw together. But it’s there now, and I wanna go. It’s supposed to be, like a whole big thing, and we’re supposed to be making new Christmas traditions together. You said it was important, but too much to think about, so here’s one we can have that you can put barely any effort into. All we have to do is show up.”

I looked at her earnest, excited expression, and listened to her words, remembering my mother’s and sighed. The truth was, aside from planning some Christmas Eve magic for the two of us that may or may not include a proposal, I really hadn’t been able to force myself to work on creating any memories or traditions. I’d had the idea in my head that we should probably get a tree and decorations at some point, maybe even some stockings, but just having the thought seemed to take a lot out of me, especially now that I was back to work.

I sighed. Maybe tomorrow. We both had the day off and Luna’s classes were on break until after the new year and I wasn’t scheduled for a shift at the Dungeon despite it being a Friday and one of my regular shifts.

For now though, Luna was right. This would probably be a fun night, it was something we could do together, a memory that could easily turn into a tradition and if Luna was right and the Littles had something to do with it, it was sure to be a good time. Eli and Georgie were the Ranch’s regular event planners but they regularly employed the help of their Little friends, and nothing they did was ever on a small scale.

“All right,” I agreed, as if there were ever any choice. “But put on a coat and hat and gloves for goodness sake. It’s freezingout. Do you know how many people have informed me that you showed up at the lodge the other day without a coat, with your face all red, looking like you were two seconds away from becoming our very own snowperson?”

“Shhhh.” Luna pressed a finger to my lips. “We don’t talk about that.” But she smiled and let me help her into her coat and slid on the hat and gloves I’d ordered for her after finding out she didn’t know where hers were. “Come on, Daddy, we’re going to be late.”

“Isn’t that the whole thing? It’s called fashionably late? Making an entrance?” Luna was always about making an entrance.

But in response to my teasing, she shook her head emphatically, stomped her foot and tugged on my hand. “Not this time. C’mon, let’s goooo.”

“Okay, okay, okay.” I quickly donned my own winter garb and let her all but drag me from the apartment.

As we shut the door behind us, I stuck my hand in my pocket and realized the ring box was still in there, and I’d never gotten around to stashing it after I’d bought it. Oh well, as long as I didn’t give Luna my coat all would be fine.

“So where is this tree lighting thing anyway?” I asked, turning to head toward the main Ranch building, or maybe the Big House.

“The park,” Luna answered, pulling me in the opposite direction.

“The park? At the Ridge? Where are they going to do it there? The park at the ridge was basically just a big field in the middle of the employee houses. It had a few benches, and a couple trees, and a swingset and slide for the kiddos, but other than that, it wasn’t anything special yet, and none of the trees would work as Christmas trees. I shrugged, figuring it must be one of those deals where the “tree” ended up being entirely made of lights.

I changed direction and headed to the parking area to get my truck. When we got to the park it was already filled with people. Lights had been strung up on every house and all the light poles, between the trees, and even around the benches.

Booths filled the field, and a makeshift stage had been constructed dead center. There was even a fleet of honest to goodness reindeer dressed up in Christmas garb, with jingle bells and poinsettia neck wreaths, and red ribbons woven through their antlers. Everywhere I looked was Christmas galore, telling me that putting this shindig together had been no small feat. What I did not see however, no matter where I looked, was a tree.

“Where’s the tree?” I whispered to Luna “What’s going on? How are they gonna have a tree lighting without a tree?”

“Look! Sadie and her friends are dressed up as elves!” Luna cried, pointing, and also, very pointedly and very obviously ignoring me. “They’re so cute! Oh and is that Master Derek as Santa?”

“It looks to be, yes,” I murmured, with a frown. I’d sat in the man’s office for an hour only three days ago and he’d not mentioned one word about this event. Curious.

“Luna!” Hayleigh, Wren, Georgie and Daisy ran up to us, chattering excitedly, and pulled Luna away before I could stop them.

“Hey!” I cried after them. “We’re here on a date! We’re supposed to be making memories and traditions. Me and Luna! Not Luna and you all!”

Luna just looked back over her shoulder, tossing her head as she laughed and allowed herself to be dragged away.

“Well, this is bullshit,” I muttered under my breath, my Christmas spirit quickly deflating despite the jolliness all around me.

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