Page 1 of Secret Santas and Holiday Dances

Chapter 1

“Okay, get in, drop the meat, get out. Right?”

Grace Montgomery shivered in the frigid morning air. Small flurries of snow drifted through the light of the street lamps, and she grinned at her cousin, Jesse Young. Jessie crouched beside Grace in an I’m-about-to-sprint pose, holding a twenty-pound frozen ham with a big red bow on it behind a long row of holly bushes. They’d been squatting there for five minutes while Jessie worked up her nerve.

It was all Grace could do to not bust out laughing. The last thing Grace had expected of her witty, fun-loving cousin, who delighted in doing anything absurd, was that she’d be nervous of a simple doorbell ditch.

“Do you want me to do it?” Grace asked, her breath crystallizing in a puff of air around her face.

Jessie shook her head and pulled her green beanie tight over her ears.

“No, no. I got this. I got this.” Jessie stared through the spaces in the bushes, across the front yard, and up to the bright red front door of the Howard’s home, but still didn’t move.

Grace briefly considered taking a seat to save her knees while Jessie plucked up her courage, but slush covered the ground and would soak her leggings through in seconds.

Jessie faced her. “How many times have you done this?”

Grace shrugged. “A few.” It was December seventh, so she’d done it seven times. Of course, it hadn’t been a ham every time. She’d taken a turkey to one family, a gift card to another, and a whole Christmas tree to another. That’d been tricky. She’d had to drop it at their house at two in the morning. Dragging it from the roof of her rusty, eggshell blue Volkswagen to their front door had been a lot harder than she’d expected.

She’d gotten home an hour later, sapped and needled, but it’d been worth it to see that family the next day, mom and dad and three kids, grinning from ear to ear.

“This is so stressful,” Jessie said. “How do you know they need a ham?”

“I heard them talking in Harold’s Market last week,” Grace said. After they’d checked out, she’d simply asked the teller what their name was, did an online search, and found them. She drove by a few days later to be sure it was them, and then added them to her Secret Santa list.

Everyone on her list got there in different ways, some she learned about recently, and others were ones she’d put on her list over the last five months since she’d moved here after graduating college. She’d only been to the town twice, and for a grand total of three months combined, but when she thought of home, this was it. Not the stuffy, grandiose apartments she’d grown up in in New York.

She always loved Secret Santa, and the idea seemed a good way to entrench herself in this little town as much as possible. So, she’d started saving her pennies to make sure she could afford such a grand scheme.

She didn’t have much of a prerequisite for people to get on her list, either. Some really needed the help, although the citizens of Harvest Ranch did a great job of taking care of one another, and had a willingness to help that Grace found refreshing. She’d spent most of her life around people who only thought of themselves. And some people on her list were just people she wanted to do something nice for.

Grace pulled her phone from her pant pocket and looked at the time. “It’s almost six, Jessie. They’ll be getting up soon. It’s now or never.”

“All right, fine.” Jessie straightened her spine. “I’m gonna do it.”

Jessie had caught Grace trying to hide a present at their cousin’s honey shop yesterday morning. Allie and Jo weren’t due in until eight, so Grace had gone at seven to drop of the gift—a vintage Winnie the Pooh and Honey Pot sketch she’d found online and had framed that was possibly the most adorable thing she’d ever seen.

Grace hadn’t expected Jessie would arrive at Winslow Books, the shop directly north of Sticky and Sweet, that early. Jessie had seen Grace sneaking around, saw the present, and had put the pieces together. Grace was the elusive Secret Santa that everyone in Harvest Ranch had been talking about the last week. For her silence, Jessie had demanded to come along for the ride this morning.

The last thing Grace needed was the entire town figuring out what she was doing, so she’d caved.

Now, seeing Jessie’s excitement, Grace was so glad she’d brought her.

Jessie took a deep breath, pulled the ham tight to her chest, and ran. She reached the porch, propped it against the siding by the door, then gave Grace a thumbs up.

A motion sensor light turned on, and Jessie froze.

Grace stood and waved at her to run. A light inside flicked on, and Grace sucked in a breath as Jessie peered over her shoulder.

“Run!” Grace whisper-yelled.

Jessie took off like a commuter train in New York. She rounded the hedges in a full sprint, not stopping or slowing for Grace to catch up—but Grace was fast and caught up moments later. The creaking of a door opening, a “hello” called into the morning air, then a squeal of delight followed by “Henry, there’s a ham!” met their ears just as they rounded the corner.

They reached Grace’s Bug and stopped to catch their breath.

Grace patted her cousin on the back. “Good job, Santa.”

Jessie hunched over her knees and started laughing. “That,” gasp, “was the silliest,” gasp, “thing I’ve done in a long time. I can’t wait to tell Alex.” Jessie had recently married Alexander Young, the former Hollywood actor, and real estate mogul. He was the nicest guy, and Grace was so happy for her cousin.

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