‘Does Julia know about this?’
‘She transferred the lease to me.’ I circle a button. ‘Given you’re funding the renovations, I probably need your consent too.’
He tips up my chin. ‘Who told you I was funding them?’
‘Audrey said you’d mortgaged your property. Why?’
He grumbles about Audrey. Then he says, ‘I wanted you to be tempted. The longer you stayed in Summerfield, the more time we’d have to get to know each other.’
‘Do you want me to move in here?’
Smiling uncertainly, he puts strands of hair behind my ear. ‘You could live with me.’
‘One home would be better than two.’
His eyes are shining. ‘Three Cows Farm will be your home too.’
‘What about tonight? I’d arranged to spend Christmas with Keith Urban but he’s with Anna.’
‘You wouldn’t want to wake up alone on Christmas morning.’ ‘It wouldn’t feel right.’ I kiss his smiling mouth.
Chapter 22
Cameron paces in front of my ute as I collect pyjamas, toiletries and clothes from the cabin. When I double back, he groans.
‘What’s the matter?’
He looks at his phone. ‘It’s after eleven. I have less than an hour to give you your present.’
‘You said it wasn’t a present.’
‘It is and it isn’t.’
‘It’s only Christmas Eve. Why can’t you give it to me tomorrow?’
‘I don’t want to ruin all our Christmases by pissing you off on our first one.’
I look past the cabin to the golden moon that hovers above his house. ‘As this will be our first Christmas together, I want to go back for my ornaments.’
His eyes narrow. ‘Run!’
It only takes a minute but when I return, he’s standing at the open door of the ute. Clearly, he wants me to jump in immediately, but when I hold out my hand, he stills. ‘You like them?’
The dove, the cow, the rosella and the glass ball. ‘It didn’t feel right to leave them behind.’
With a fingertip, he traces one of the snowflakes on the ball. ‘You drew these in class.’
‘You remembered that?’
‘You’d be shocked at how much I remember.’
‘Where did you find it?’
‘At the gift shop in town. As soon as I saw you, I knew how I felt.’
I flatten my hands on his chest, feel the beats of his precious heart. ‘I don’t want you to feel guilty about the roundabout—that’s something else important to get out of the way before Christmas. I know you wouldn’t have been involved, and what you said after-wards doesn’t matter.’
My hands rise and fall as he takes deep breaths. ‘What do you remember?’