Page 88 of The Wish List
Freya shrugged. “A couple hundred thousand.”
“Will you post about tonight to those followers?”
“Sure.”
“Would you be willing to post a link to the site we have set up for donations toward the community art program?” Avery’s eyes twinkled, and Freya realized she’d underestimated this woman’s understanding of how Freya could benefit her initiative.
“Of course.”
“Then you are officially my new best friend.”
Freya’s heart thumped in a happy rhythm at the idea of more friends. True friends. Ones who mattered and added to this unfamiliar sense of belonging that she wanted more than she would have thought possible.
She drew a deep breath and held it for a moment as if it would allow the feeling to stick. Then she nodded with a sincere smile. “I’d like that.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
BETHSATINher car at the curb of her mother’s house on Christmas Eve, just like she had a month earlier at the start of the holiday season, staring straight ahead as she hummed along with Mariah Carey.
All Beth wanted for Christmas was the weight of expectations and obligations to be lifted from her shoulders. Could she make a wish list for Santa and put that at the top of it?
The worst part was that so much of her worry and anxiety were self-imposed. Her sisters had already given her permission to leave, ostensibly taking up the torch of maternal responsibility so that she could be free to go after her dreams.
Only she couldn’t seem to allow herself to relinquish control. May wasn’t even to blame at this point. Yes, her mother had assumed Beth would help on the book tour without asking first, but that was to be expected. Beth had always made herself available to her mother without question.
Why would May assume things should be any different if Beth didn’t advocate for herself?
She could readily counsel Freya on reinventing herself into the person she wanted to be and give Trinity the advice to claim the life she wanted for herself and her son. When it came to her own wants and needs, she still didn’t know how to press for them.
A knock at the window made her startle, and she whipped around to find Declan stepping back, hands up like she was pointing a gun at him.
Doing her best not to look as freaked out as she felt, Beth opened the car door and stepped into the cold night. This part of the coast typically stayed temperate, even in winter, but a low-pressure system had stalled over the town, causing temperatures to drop to just below freezing.
The humidity made it feel at least ten degrees colder, and tiny ice crystals floated in the air. The forecast called for snow, and despite Beth’s tumbling emotions, she was excited about the prospect of a white Christmas.
“You good?” Declan asked, searching her face.
“More than you could ever know,” she sang with fake cheer.
“So not at all,” he said with a gruff laugh and pulled her close.
She went willingly, burying her face in his canvas jacket and breathing in the now-familiar scent of him—spicy, fresh and all male. “Christmas makes a lot of people feel weird. It’s not just me.”
“Until this year, I’ve done my best to ignore the fact that Christmas even existed. No judgment here.”
She appreciated that about him, the fact that she could say anything—be herself in a way she couldn’t even with her sisters—and still feel confident that he wouldn’t judge her for it. Maybe it was because she didn’t mean enough to him to worry over, but it still helped calm her nerves.
“It’s hard to ignore the holidays in a town like Magnolia.” She spoke into his jacket. “We kind of go all out.”
“You know the best part about this Christmas season for me?”
She leaned back and looked up at him. “Shauna’s baking ability?”
“Spending time with you. Making things special for you. I wasn’t expecting this, Beth. I never anticipated how you would change—”
“Beth!”
She looked over her shoulder to find her mother waving from the front porch. “We ready to decorate cookies,” May called.
