Page 7 of Getting Wrapped Up

“I’m telling you, it’s like falling into the North Pole here,” Phoebe said. She unloaded her cart onto the conveyor belt at the checkout and smiled at the cashier. She’d had Tiffany in class last year.

“So who’s the guy?” Kate finally asked.

Yes, who indeed? The most eligible bachelors in town forever had been the Bennett boys, but Travis was definitely no longer single, and TJ was way too grumpy to give a girl a nice sweet Christmas.

Which left…

Phoebe felt her smile spread. He was perfect. He was sweet, cute and romantic but wouldn’t take it too seriously if Phoebe told him her friend was in town for only a few days and for the formal. Hell, he’d probably love to romance Kate, have a fling and then say goodbye.

“His name is Tucker Bennett,” Phoebe told her.

She heard Kate take a deep breath. Phoebe held her breath, waiting for Kate’s decision.

“I can be there in a couple of days.”

Phoebe breathed and grinned. “Awesome. This will be so fun. We can make cookies and go for a sleigh ride and—dammit.”

Tiffany looked up, startled.

“What?” Kate asked.

Phoebe swiped her debit card through the machine and sighed. “We’re going to be out of town for the next few days. DC parties.” She frowned. “Hey, why aren’t you going to DC to the parties?”

“I backed out,” Kate said. “Told my boss that the holidays bring up lots of negative emotions and I couldn’t handle the parties. He and his wife are going. He’s actually thrilled.”

Phoebe hated the idea of Kate staying in California. She was afraid if Kate got her takeout and got the movie marathon going there would be no getting her out of her apartment, not to mention on a plane. “Come anyway. I can give you directions to the house. We leave a key under the ceramic frog next to the porch.” She had no problem saying that out loud in the middle of the grocery store. The few people in Sapphire Falls who did lock their doors had similar ceramic creatures near their porches sitting on their spare keys. “You can come, make yourself at home, enjoy the tree and fireplace. You can watch Netflix here. We’ll be home in a few days and it will all be good.”

Kate was quiet for a long moment.

Phoebe nodded when Hunter, the kid who was bagging groceries, asked if she wanted him to carry her bags to the car.

She was opening her trunk for Hunter when Kate finally said, “That sounds really nice.”

“Awesome. This is going to be the best Christmas, I promise.”

Kate laughed. “Well, it wouldn’t take much.”

Chapter Two

If a hundredof Santa’s elves had eaten too many Christmas cookies and thrown up all over, the town square in Sapphire Falls would have been the result.

Levi sat behind the wheel of his rented Maserati coup and stared.

There were four Christmas trees, one on each corner of the square, fully decorated. There was a gingerbread house—big enough that three or four young kids could fit inside. There was a life-sized sleigh. At least a dozen five-foot plastic candy canes lined the sidewalk. Plastic ornaments in various shapes, all about the size of car tires, hung from the branches of the non-evergreen trees in the square. A gazebo with a huge throne-like chair and a banner that readWelcome to Sapphire Falls, Santaoccupied the center of the square. And, no shit, there was a penned-in area next to one of the trees that had two real, living, breathing reindeer munching on hay.

As if even Mother Nature was conspiring for a perfect Christmas scene, there was also a slight dusting of powdery white snow over everything.

“Holy sleigh bells.”

He’d fallen into a fricking Christmas card.

Just like Joe had said.

His brother had used words like idyllic and quaint to describe the place, and he’d sent photos of town events that Levi had, in all honesty, thought were fake. Levi knew it was a small country town that prided itself on its welcoming, homey feel. But…wow.

He parked the car in front of the grocery store and got out. It wasn’t hard to find the businesses in Sapphire Falls. They were all clustered around the square. A block away from the square in any direction took you into residential areas. The one exception was south of the square. A block off of the grassy area was the main highway that went past Sapphire Falls, and along the highway was a gas station, the Come Again bar and the little strip mall area that housed several local businesses, including a homemade furniture shop, a card and stationary shop and Scott’s Sweets, a candy shop and bakery.

Overhead, Levi heard the soft strains of Silver Bells and he glanced up. He couldn’t find where they’d hidden the speakers, but he did see that there were indeed silver bells hanging from the lamp posts that dotted the street in both directions.

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