Page 110 of Mad About Yule

That earns me a kiss, and I drag it out into a long, luxurious moment. When she pulls back, she’s a little starry-eyed.

“Now for your second present.” She passes over a thin package maybe two-by-two feet square, blushing in a way that makes my heart rate speed up. “I did promise you.”

“Is this—?” I don’t finish the rest, just carefully peel back the Christmas tree wrapping paper to reveal a work of art.

She painted that night we had a campfire in the canyon. The perspective shows our backs, bundled in abstract blankets on the snowy ground, looking up at the starry indigo sky. Everything from the glow of the campfire to the curl of smoke winding up through the trees brings out a visceral memory of that night.

“Sweetheart,” I breathe. “You are magnificently talented.”

I’m being completely sincere, but she breathes out a laugh. “So you like it?”

“I guess I appreciate art, after all.”

“Aw.” She leans in for a kiss. “Only mine, though, right?”

“Probably, yeah.” I reach down and grab the big box holding her second gift. “We were thinking along the same lines.”

She gives me a questioning look but tears into the wrapping paper. Inside the box, the gifts are nestled in thick butcher paper. She carefully unrolls the first one, and gasps when she finally sees it.

“Are these all—?” She sets the little house on the kitchen island and makes quick work of unwrapping the other four. Her eyes shine with tears, but her smile tells me I did well. “I can’t believe you made these for me.”

In another minute, five little buildings stand before us, miniature versions of the Winter Wonderland Hope designed. They’re about a tenth the size of the ones we’d made for the festival, perfect for a mantelpiece display.

“I thought you might like a version just for you.”

She throws her arms around me and peppers kisses over my neck and jaw. “They’re beautiful. I can’t believe you did this.”

“I painted the base colors, but there’s room for you to paint the front details and make them magical.”

She pulls back, her face just a breath from mine. “Is it cheesy if I tell you thatyou’remagical?”

I tug her closer to me. “That’s the best kind of cheese.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I kiss her on the nose. “Merry Christmas, boss.”

EPILOGUE

HOPE

Six monthslater

Is it weird to find driving attractive? Because the way Griffin drives through the outskirts of town sends shivers up my spine. Maybe it’s his confidence in knowing exactly where he’s going. Maybe it’s how safe I feel with him at the wheel. Maybe it’s the way his T-shirt sleeves strain against his biceps.

It’s a mystery.

“Lila asked me to send her photos from our hike. I told her she can’t use me to farm content for her, but she didn’t like that answer.” She’s taken on Sunshine’s part-time position handling events, but she’s angling for a full-time tourism job. “She’s going to have to actually get dirty with the adventuring company if she wants to prove she can appeal to outdoors enthusiasts.”

Lila and the outdoors don’t mix, but she’s determined. We’ll just have to wait and see if she’s determined enough to rough it on one of their five-day hikes, or if she’d rather keep stringing together part-time jobs.

“I bet she’ll take them up on the offer. She’s tenacious. It runs in the family.”

He swings his eyes my way, and my whole body reacts. It’s a perpetual side effect of being with Griffin—he does the smallest thing, and I light up. I don’t make the rules, I just revel in them.

“Oh, I’m tenacious, all right.” I bounce in my seat like I’m prepping for a boxing match. “I’m going to knock this mountain out.”

Griffin laughs, my most favorite sound in the world. He’s far more outdoorsy than I ever will be, but I’m learning to like some of the same things he does. Not fishing—he can keep the early mornings and lingering smells between him and his brother. But we take a lot of walks in the beautiful places he knows best. I swear, he’s catalogued them all, and never fails to take me to a new gorgeous river, lake, or hillside view every time.

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