Page 56 of Snowflakes and Sparks

“Yes. But by then, it was already too late. You were gone and I had to stay in Old Pine Cove for the Snow Ball. That’s where I found out Heather was the one who destroyed the store.”

I gasped. “What?”

He nodded. “I know, what a shitty thing to do, right? Diane confronted her in front of the entire town. She saw that Heather was wearing a feather earring which looked a lot like the one you found in the store. I hadn’t paid any attention to it, as she always wears three different earrings.”

“But Diane never set foot in the store. How could she know about the earring?” I asked.

“There was an article about the incident in the special edition ofOld Pine Cove Weekly. Hugo had included a picture of the “crime scene evidence” as he called it.”

“Right, Doug told me he was going to ask Hugo to do that.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe what a horrible person Heather is. Where is she now? What do we do?”

“Doug told me you could press charges, or, well, your boss could. And if you tell Kate about what happened, I don’t think they’ll want to hire Heather anymore.”

“There’s one thing I don’t understand, though. Why would she trash the store she was about to become the manager of?”

“I asked her the same thing,” Alex said. “She told me she was so jealous of you having it all, that she wanted to do something to hurt you. Heather always wants what she can’t have. I guess she didn’t think about the possible consequences, but that’s Heather. She thought she could waltz back into my life and continue as if nothing had happened. Suzie, I never thought I’d utter these words, but I’m glad she broke my heart and left me. If she hadn’t, I would’ve missed out on the chance to be with you.”

“How did you know I was here?” I asked. “Did you pay a fortune-teller to find out where I was?”

Alex smiled that knee-buckling smile of his. “No. I still had your password from when I saved you in the woods that night and used your account to locate your phone.”

“Smart move,” I said.

“I know you’re angry, and if you want to leave, I can’t stop you. But I do think that would be a big mistake.”

I stared into his eyes, seeing nothing but honesty in them.

“Do you want to try and make this work?” I asked.

“No. I don’t want to try. There’s no use in trying. I just want to do it. If that means moving so I can be close to you, then that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll apply to chef schools in L.A. right this second if you want to be with me. I love you,” he whispered, melting my heart.

“You do?” I grinned.

“I do. I love you,” he said. “I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you ten years ago. And I’m never letting you go again. All I need to know is… Do you feel the same?”

A big smile bubbled up inside of me.

“Come on, what do you say, Suzie?”

“Just kiss me already.”

And as Alex pulled me closer and kissed me with a determination and hunger I’d never experienced before, I just knew. He was the one. He loved me and I loved him right back.

“Merry Christmas, Alex. I love you,” I whispered in between his mind-blowing kisses.

“Merry Christmas, Suzie. Merry, merry Christmas.”

“Oh, it sure is,” I said with a grin.

I let my hands trail the length of his back and kissed him again. I didn’t know what was going to happen next, but one thing was certain. I was never going to let my Christmas miracle go.

Epilogue

Sixteen months later

As I opened the door to Alex’s house, I couldn’t believe I was in Old Pine Cove again. Only this time, I wasn’t planning on going anywhere any time soon. This time, it was permanent.

Alex had gotten his chef’s degree in L.A. while I gained experience as store manager of our L.A. brand. On the nights that Alex was working in a local restaurant to refine his skills, I stayed home and wrote. There was no use putting my dream of publishing a book on the backburner any longer.

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