Page 27 of A Pen Pal for Christmas

Grace chuckled. “Oh, no. You’re gonna stay here forever, huh?”

Wrinkling my nose, I scanned the square again before facing my friend. “Would that be crazy?”

“Um, you’re asking the girl who stepped away from her nomad life as a travel blogger to settle down here. I’m not sure you’ll get objectivity out of me.”

“Do you regret it?”

Grace shook her head. “Nope. Not only am I happy with Tommy, but I’m happy here, too. It’ll be a good place to raise kids. Give them the kind of life my parents didn’t know how to give me.”

“You guys will make great parents someday,” I said, surprised by how much I hated Grace’s parents even though I didn’t even know them.

I couldn’t imagine what it was like not to grow up in a loving home like I had. And though I tried to be grateful for it even in the moments when my family’s love was stifling, it was times like this that really reminded me how lucky I was.

“Any chance I can stay with you and Tommy when my reservation at the inn is up?” I asked, my eyes widening as the question popped out. I hadn’t even planned to ask it.

Grace reacted similarly. “Of course. For how long?”

“Until I find a place here in town. And a job so I can afford it, obviously. My savings isn’t going to last forever.”

“What about your apartment in Philly?”

I bit my lip. “I broke my lease when I came here. All my stuff is in my parents’ garage.”

“Fi,” Grace said, her voice cracking on my name as she placed a hand over my arm. “You were always planning to move here, weren’t you? This wasn’t just a Christmas trip?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. But either way, I knew I needed to get away from where I was. I’m a mess, I know.”

“No, you’re not. You’re… in your transitional era.”

I snorted. “Okay.”

If this was my transitional era, I hoped it would be a smooth one. And staying with Grace and Tommy would be great. I’d been getting the family discount at the inn, but I couldn’t stay there forever. Sure, it was about as much as I’d paid for rent at the apartment I’d let go of back in Philly, but it wasn’t like I could just become a resident and take one of the rooms away from the tourists who loved the place.

“Does Tommy know about any of this stuff with your apartment? I know you told him you quit your job—which he’s still super concerned about, by the way—but what about the rest?”

“Nope.”

Grace nodded once. “Well, you’re welcome to stay with us as long as you need to.”

“Thanks.”

Grace sighed and looked away, then she nudged my arm. “Oh, hey, looky there. Your knight in shining armor.”

I followed Grace’s gaze to see Hudson standing near the fountain, hands tucked in his coat pockets as he chatted with Nick and a man I didn’t know. The three of them laughed about something, but then Hudson’s eyes drifted to me like he’d been waiting to catch my eye.

“Did you know he’d be here?” I asked, trying—and failing—to sound indifferent.

“Everyone’s here,” Grace said with a shrug. Then she grinned. “But no, I didn’t. It’s a nice bonus, though, isn’t it?”

Before I could respond, I was distracted by the sight of Hudson lifting a hand in a short wave. I hesitated, but Grace didn’t, dragging me toward him with a mischievous gleam in her eye.

“Ladies,” Hudson greeted us in that warm, deep voice of his.

“Sofia, meet Jamie,” Nick said, gesturing at the other man they stood with. “He’s a firefighter, so I work with him when I volunteer at the station.”

Not only did Nick run the inn with his mom, but he was also a volunteer firefighterandspearheaded the set-up and break-down of the town’s annual Gingerbread Ball. With all of that plus his and Holly’s two kids to raise, I had no idea how he had time to stand out here for a scavenger hunt.

“Nice to meet you,” I said to Jamie as I shook his hand. And though there was no spark of heat at his touch, I did feel something when I briefly made eye contact with Hudson as I released Jamie’s hand.

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