Page 24 of A Moon Lake Christmas Hero

This version of community, of being neighbors, friends, a big, loud family—it felt almost magical.

I'd let the ebb and fall of conversations wash over me for the past hour while staring into the fire.

What had started as a casual gathering had evolved into an enormous bonfire. As soon as the sun settled, everyone moved their camping chairs around the fireplace, and there was a constant flow of people arriving, and saying hello.

I looked over to the group of men, who stood aside, huddled together around one of the barrel fires.

The tall, muscular man with an easy grin and dimples to die for had introduced himself as "Goofy." Despite his playful nickname, there was something sharp in his eyes, an alertness in the way he scanned his surroundings. And he wasn’t the only one acting and looking like that. The way he and the other guys who arrived with him moved screamed military training.

I made a mental note to ask James about them later. But for now I sipped on my hot cider and enjoyed the view.

Next to Goofy stood Peaches, a giant of a man who, despite his intimidating size, expressed so much warmth through his eyes and voice when he welcomed me that I was completely taken off guard.

Peaches was the perfect mixture between the Hulk and a teddy bear. His eyes lit up when Peter Fisher, Lisa's husband, and his colleague Belinda Graves joined our circle.

Peter immediately pulled Lisa into a hug and a kiss, which immediately led to whistling and teasing from everyone else.

A striking couple arrived next—Carter and Edith. Carter moved with the fluid grace of a predator, but his eyes softened whenever they landed on his wife. Edith carried herself with elegant confidence, but there was something nurturing in the way she immediately asked James about the twins, then went on to play with the kids.

The most intriguing pair and last one to arrive were Hawk and Birdie. He was older, with an air of authority that commanded attention without effort. Every guy treated him with a mixture of respect and admiration, while they treated Birdie, who arrived with him like a little sister.

Birdie, despite her delicate nickname, had a fierce gleam in her eyes that suggested she was anything but fragile. I’d overheard her mention something about sniper training earlier, and I nearly choked on my hot cider. But now I could kinda see it. She was savage, no-nonsense, and could stand her own in the circle of guys.

She instantly started flirting with Bailey, the tow-truck guy, which Hawk apparently didn’t find very amusing, even though he refrained from doing anything more than throwing daggers at the both of them.

The conversations flowed naturally, punctuated by laughter and the crackling of the fire. Stories of military service mixed with local gossip, and somehow, it all felt like home. These people, with their varied backgrounds and personalities, had created something special here in Moon Lake.

I pulled my attention from the group and focused on the couple, across the fire from me. Dorothy and Richard, the sheriff, were in a heated discussion with Claire, Edith, and Lisa, and the way they completed each other’s sentences made me smile. It was clear by the way they interacted they’d been together for a really long time. And cuddling his wife, he hit differently than he did when I'd met him yesterday.

Yesterday.

It had been just a day that I’d been here, and yet, I felt more involved, more at home, and included than I’d ever been before, no matter whether it was living with my parents again or before—going to college or moving into my first apartment.

It’d never felt quite like this.

I’d felt lonely, removed. Even though I never realized it. But compared to this, I’d been lonely for a long time.

“Up.”

I didn’t even need to look up to know it was him. James. His voice had been so intrinsically ingrained into my psyche. He’d left a while ago to help Jessie get the kids settled. As had multiple of the other fathers.

Which left most of the women around the bonfire talking.

It was gender roles reversed, which seemed unusual but also not. Wasn’t this what a true partnership was made of? To work as a team. To chip in, in whatever capacity was needed?

I couldn’t finish the thought because he didn’t wait for me to move; instead, he lifted me out of my chair as if I weighed barely more than a child, then settled down and pulled me into his lap sideways.

The chair creaked, and I squealed. “We’re too heavy.”

He shushed me, then chuckled with his lips against my temple. “No, we’re not. Trust me.”

Trust me.

Simple words, but suddenly my heart beat faster and my breath got stuck in my throat.

Trust me.

Could I do that?

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