Page 56 of Lighting Up Christmas

His heart still pounded. And by the way her pupils were dilated, her face glowing luminous and white in the light, her pulse frantic in her neck, she hadn’t yet recovered from the fright. But she could joke. And not berate him for sneaking up on her, which he hadn’t intended. He’d always walked quietly—he learned early not to disturb his mother, ever. Still, he didn’t imagine most women would see it that way.

And the total girl-in-a-slasher-movie scream was somehow endearing, although his ears were still ringing.

“I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow.”

“Wanted to beat the storm.”

She nodded. “We finished the farmhouse job, wired the greenhouse, installed the grow lights, and redid the lighting in here, as you can see”—she swooshed her arm wide—“and added two new fuses and four more outlets.”

“You were supposed to beat the storm home,” he said.

“Oops.” She nibbled on her lower lip. “You’ve got treasures in here, and I got greedy. Sophia wanted some lights for her booth at the Christmas market this coming weekend, but I haven’t had much time or enough materials to work on anything, and the bike and the tools just kicked up my creative spirit.”

“I’ll help you load these into your truck.”

“Okay, I’ll grab the bike if you don’t mind. I took pictures of everything I’m taking.”

“Take anything in here,” he said dismissively. Then he looked up. “Except my new lights. Love those.”

“Me too!” She lit up like the Christmas tree she’d somehow convinced him to create with her tomorrow—the reason he’d flown home early.

Jackson had been totally bewildered—why did he have to beat a storm? There was nothing at his home. No one waiting. Not even a cat or a fish needing to be fed. Zhang hadn’t told him about the Christmas tree decorating. Jackson would have read way too much into that. In college, he’d invited Zhang home to his parents’ house during holiday breaks, and even now invited him to Christmas dinner, but Zhang preferred to be alone. He didn’t have to guard himself. Pretend to fit in. He wasn’t comfortable. Besides, during the holiday seasons, work let up, employees went home and vacationed, and he could get a lot of thinking and work done.

Christmas had always been his most productive time.

Riley hefted the dirty, rusted bike that probably had decades of dust and who knew how many spiders, and grinned at him.

“This is going to be so cool.”

“Pretty sure you’re the only one who’s thinks that.”

“You just wait, Zhang Shi. I bet you’ll be in a bidding war for this Christmas tree bike.”

She was going to turn the bike into a tree. He looked at the rusted, battered, not old enough to be antique bike critically. But it was Riley. At this point, he was pretty sure she could do anything she wanted.

“Are we betting about betting?”

She cocked her head. “I think so.”

“What’s at stake?” He liked the way she thought. Unexpected. And he liked her honesty. She spoke her mind, and her myriad expressions broadcast her feelings as quickly as she seemed to feel them.

She had no hidden agenda.

They made the short dash to her truck. She tied the bike down and the bucket of tools. Then she jumped out of the truck’s bed and hit the snow, her boots making a deep tread mark that kept her from slipping on the mixture of snow and ice.

Her jacket was already in the truck, hung up on the hook. Even though it was not yet three in the afternoon, it was nearly dark. The wind clawed against their clothing and faces. The trees near his house tossed their branches about like middle school girls tossing their hair and rolling their eyes.

His stomach lurched uncomfortably—both with worry about the thought of her trying to drive nearly half an hour back to her house and with the alternative.

“Follow me.” The wind snatched the words from his mouth.

“What?”

“Follow me!” He pointed to the garage up by his house.

Riley looked at him and then the gravel road that had already disappeared. She looked up at the sky.

He took her elbow and bent toward her. Despite working all day, she smelled fresh like strawberries and coconut. Her soft hair tickled his mouth.

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