Page 16 of Connected By Christmas
“This is beautiful, you guys.” Bella takes in the cabin and all the updates we showed her through pictures.
“I give all the credit to Noah. He did an amazing job on the place.” I beam up at him as his arm comes around me.
“It was a beautiful place to begin with. I just gave it a little something extra.”
We give them a tour of the place and show them their bedrooms so they can unload their bags. Luckily, the layout was perfect for having guests and listing it as a vacation rental, so we didn’t have to change much of the structure.
The master bedroom is downstairs, along with a small office and a murphy bed for more guests. The loft has two bedrooms on opposite sides of the house with their own bathrooms, so everyone has privacy and their own space. The open area in the middle overlooks the downstairs, where we added a pool table and dart board for entertaining, along with a small bar and TV for watching sports.
“I can’t get over this view,” Sophia walks over to the windows covering the back of the house. The bigger mountains can be seen in the distance as the hills surrounding it are covered in snow-covered pines. “It’s like a winter wonderland out there.”
“It is beautiful,” Mav agrees. “It’s amazing what replacing small windows can do for a view. My favorite thing about our house is waking up to a gorgeous picture outside our back wall of windows every day.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Bella wraps her arms around his stomach. “I still have to pinch myself that we actually live there.”
“Who wants a drink?” Noah asks, going behind the bar. “Cole and Skye should be here in an hour from their skiing trip. Their flight will be landing soon. They were stopping by their place to change and unpack, so we have some time before dinner.”
Noah starts pouring the girls a glass of red and handing the guys a bourbon. Settling on the couch, I catch up with Bella and Sophia while the guys play a game of pool.
“Oh my God, that was so good. I can’t eat another bite,” Mav groans, pushing away his empty bowl.
“Emma’s mom would double the batch every time she made it so I could take it home and eat on it for days,” Skye smiles at the memory and meets my eyes. She’s been my best friend since kindergarten and has seen me at my best and at my very worst. I will always be grateful for her. When I lost my parents and went through a terrible breakup a short time later, she was my only light in the darkness I had surrounded myself in and made sure I found my way back.
She met Cole in high school, and the two blond beauties immediately hit it off. They have been together ever since. Everyone in our school had no doubt thatKen and Barbiewould stay together long after we graduated.
“She would have been the first to make a giant pot today for everyone.” Noah lays his hand on my thigh, and I give him a reassuring smile. Even though I miss them terribly, especially around the holidays, Noah always seems to have a way of taking the pain away and helping me breathe easier.
Cole looks at Skye, his blue eyes shining with excitement. Puzzled, I watch Skye try to contain her happiness. She’s never been good at hiding her feelings, and I immediately pick up on her mood change.
“What’s going on, you two? Skye’s about to bust out of her seat. I can feel her excitement from across the table.”
Laughing, Cole’s blue eyes find mine. “We wanted to wait and tell you in person.”
“You’re pregnant!” Bella sits up straighter and glances between the couple. I stare wide-eyed at my best friend.
“No,” Skye says, laughing. “I’d like to be married first before that happens.” She glances at Cole’s smiling face again before her bright blue eyes find me. “Cole’s getting transferred. We will be moving this summer.”
“What? Where? Please don’t tell me it’s further than Florida to Tennessee.” The hardest part about moving to Florida was leaving them behind. We visit each other as often as we can, but it’s not the same. I absently rub my belly, hoping my baby girl will get to see her Aunt Skye often.
“Well, it’s definitely not further,” he grins. “You are looking at the new firefighter for the Crystal Isle Fire Department.”
I blink, not quite believing what I’m hearing. “You better not be messing with me, Cole Benjamin West. I’m very pregnant, and you can’t mess with my emotions like this.” I glance atSkye, and she has the biggest grin on her face. “You’re moving to Florida?” I whisper. The excitement starts to flow through my veins at the thought of being able to see her every day just like we used to.
She nods her head and laughs as I jump from the table, catching me in a hug. I’m a blubbering mess as I cry happy tears. Everyone starts talking excitedly at once, and I hear Noah’s name being mentioned.
“You knew?” I wipe the tears from my eyes and stare at him, shocked.
“Who do you think made the call to the chief?” Cole asks me. “His friend from high school vouched for me because of Noah and I was instantly hired.”
“I know how bad you want them here, especially after the baby arrives, so as soon as I heard about the job opening, I immediately called my friend, Jack. My dad golfs with the fire chief, so it was an easy sell,” he shrugs.
I lunge at my husband and pepper his face with kisses. “You are so going to get lucky tonight,” I whisper into his ear, causing him to laugh. “Thank you,” I softly say.
“You're welcome.” He brushes back a piece of my hair and smiles. “It was so hard keeping that secret from you,” he chuckles.
“It was actually a group effort. Sophia was sworn to secrecy, too,” I hear Skye say. Whipping my head around, I see Sophia grinning widely.
“I may have mentioned Skye’s name to the school board at our last meeting. It just so happens they need a second-grade teacher next year.”
