Page 44 of The Snuggle is Real
Each time there was an expense, I watched Mason pull out a credit card.
A credit card with his name on it.
I pulled him aside just before we headed out to the mysterious Light Maze.
“You’re using your own credit card? I thought?—”
“It’s a corporate card. I’ll be reimbursed.”
Is that really how this worked? I didn’t know what I expected. A voucher that saidfree treeon it? That was silly. If the foundation took monetary donations, they’d have funds at their disposal.
Apparently via credit card.
“Seriously, Ford,” Mason said. “You don’t want to know all the paperwork I deal with behind the scenes.”
I chuckled. “Probably not.”
Peppermint Bark yipped just as Charlie called out, “Let’s go! I want to see the lights!”
Mason raised his eyebrows in question, and I nodded. “Thank you again for this. She’s having a blast.”
“And what about you?” he asked as we headed across a field—in the opposite direction of the trees being farmed—to where an elaborate Light Maze had been set up.
“I’m not hating it,” I admitted.
Mason grinned. “Such a tough customer.”
Ahead of us, the Light Maze lit up the sky, and now I knew that it was exactly what it sounded like.
A maze of trees, shrubs, ten-foot-tall candy canes, six-foot-wide plywood greeting cards, and plastic and wood installations in the shape of cones and pillars—all lit up and blinking to the beat of music that played from loudspeakers.
“Wow. Okay. Now, I’m having a good time.”
Mason laughed and bumped my shoulder as Charlie ran ahead, Peppermint straining at his leash to follow.
“Finally, you’re impressed.”
There was no finally about it. As I followed Charlie, Mason, and Peppermint Bark into the maze—striding between two pillars wrapped in green lights—I knew it wasn’t the holiday display that truly impressed me.
But the determined spirit of one do-gooder who’d made me see the light, despite my stubborn pride.
CHAPTER 13
Mason
We wrestledthe Douglas fir through Ford’s front door while Charlie held Pepper’s leash. I wasn’t worried the dog would take off on her because he’d decided he liked this little human quite a lot.
It was too bad Charlie wasn’t staying for good, or I could suggest putting Pepper under the tree on Christmas morning. I wanted to see the little guy go to a good home.
We stumbled through the doorway and Ford veered toward a corner of the living room. He’d set up a tree stand and skirt, so all we had to do was get it into the stand and turn the screws.
It took a few adjustments to get the dang thing to stand straight, and then Ford turned it this way and that, trying to hide the worst of its gaps between branches.
It was a lost cause.
“Once you two decorate it, you won’t even notice,” I said, though I was pretty sure that wasn’t true.
Charlie looked up from her spot on the floor where she and Pepper sprawled. “Aren’t you gonna stay, Mason?”
