Page 48 of Tacos & Toboggans
“Yep. Wait, I could make some for dinner tonight. I know I said pizza, but—”
“Spanish rice is always the answer!” I exclaimed, which made her break into laughter.
“As long as I can use your kitchen,” she clarified. “The one in the cottage isn’t big enough.”
“Mi casa es su casa,” I promised, hugging her hand to my chest for a moment. “Do you know where we’re going? I feel like we’ve been walking for a long time. Should we turn around?”
“Right before we get to the good part?” she gasped. “We’re right where we’re supposed to be. Hidden at the back of the property is a very special tree. It’s been waiting in the wings, should something ever happen to the tree at the park. With each year that passes, though, I think that ship has sailed. I’m not sure even Magic Cameron could figure out a way to move a tree this size to the park without it, or someone along the route dying.”
“It’s that big?” The question was dubious since I’d seen the one at the park.
“Not as big as the real OG yet, but darn close. See for yourself.”
We broke through the trees that lined the path, and there in the clearing was an evergreen tree that gave the one in the park a run for its money. “It’s gorgeous,” I said, walking toward the blue spruce. “This has been growing here longer than Cameron has been alive.”
“Only by a hundred years or so,” she teased. “When he bought the property, he decided to protect it and nurture it just in case it was ever needed.”
“Are those lights?” I asked, gazing up at a netting that hung on the tree.
“Solar lights,” she answered with a nod. “He and Stephan put them up the year he decided to propose to Becca on Christmas Eve. He left them there, so now he brings his sleigh rides out here and uses the clearing to turn around. That way, everyone can see the tree. On Christmas Eve, after the event in the park, we all come out here on the sleigh and celebrate with him for his birthday.”
“His birthday is Christmas Eve?”
“Yep. He shuts the farm down and sends everyone to the park for the night to spend it with their families.”
“I have a question. Do they have an honorary turner off-er on Christmas Eve?” I asked jokingly, and she glanced at me as though I had two heads.
“We don’t turn the lights off on Christmas Eve. Do we look like monsters?”
Laughter escaped, and I hugged her for a moment, just wanting to feel her warmth against me and be grateful that she hadn’t been upset with me for withholding information from her. “No, you absolutely do not look like a monster. With the glow of the sunlight streaming down, you’re my very own Spanish goddess.”
She rolled her eyes and was about ready to say something, probably something snarky, when I covered her lips with mine. I kept it light, tentative, gentle, waiting to see if she wanted it as much as I did. Her lips were cool but heated quickly, and then her arms came up around my shoulders, breaking the moment of stillness and bathing us in the newness of our exploration filled with promise. Every brush of our skin was an invitation, a question, until we answered it with a deeper yearning in silent communication. The tentative exploration became a fervent dance of lips and tongues as the flames of passion ignited in the cold November day.
My lungs burning, I eased back on the kiss until our lips fell apart, and we could inhale a breath of the crisp air.
“Wow,” she whispered.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” I agreed as I smoothed a finger across her cheek.
“That was unexpected.”
“It’s a beautiful day, you’re a beautiful woman, and I thought it might be more welcome today by this tree than next Friday night next to the one you’ll have lit up.”
That made her smile, so I ducked my head for another short kiss before I pulled her against my chest. I didn’t want to see the look in her eye telling me that it was our first and last kiss. Instead, she tipped her head up to meet my gaze. What I read in hers wasn’t disdain or pity. What I read in hers was acceptance and desire. It was the look I’d searched for over the last nine years of my life and never thought I’d find. When I lowered my lips to hers again in the sunshine of a newseason, for just a moment, all the complications drained away and left us with nothing between us but hope.
Chapter Sixteen
I walked into the diner, and before I could catch anyone’s attention, someone called my name. A glance at booth six showed me familiar faces. When I waved, I noticed my hand was still shaking from that kiss at the farm. They motioned me over, which left me little choice but to join them, even though I wasn’t sure how I’d get through a discussion with my brain replaying our kiss on repeat. I walked toward half of the girl gang. Heather, Addie, Mel, and Ivy were sitting in a booth, sipping coffee and eating rolls.
Ivy jumped up as I approached and pushed me toward the booth. “Sit, I’ll get you a snack.”
Opening my mouth to say I was fine was futile as she was gone before I got a word out. She left me with little choice but to plop into the booth next to Mel, who put her arm around my shoulders.
“Are you okay?” she asked, the other women eyeing me closely.
“Fine, fine,” I promised, leaning my head against hers for a moment. “Where are the littles?”
“The dads took them to the park for one last play before the snow falls,” Addie answered.
