Page 17 of A Season of Second Chances
When Alana's plate is clean, she jumps up. "Can I go now?"
"Go ahead, sweetheart. Be good for Carol."
Alana takes off toward the kitchen, and suddenly Winter and I are alone. The dining room has cleared out, and it's just us at this table.
"Come here," he says softly, standing and pulling me up with him.
Before I can respond, his mouth is on mine. The kiss is different from last night, hungrier and more urgent. His hands slide into my hair, and I grip his flannel shirt, pulling him closer. When we finally break apart, we're both breathing hard.
"I've been wanting to do that since I woke up this morning," he admits, his forehead resting against mine.
"Me too," I whisper, then grin at him. "Actually, I have something to show you."
His eyebrows raise, a smile spreading across his face. "Yeah?"
"I took the liberty of doing something last night. After I left you." I grab my laptop bag from where I left it next to my chair. "Do you have a few minutes?"
"For you? Always."
We settle back at the table, and I open my laptop, pulling up the mockup I created. "So I looked at Cedar Lodge's current social media presence, and I think there's a lot of room for improvement. I put together a sample campaign to show you what could be done."
I watch his face as he scrolls through the mock posts, the content calendar, the engagement strategy. His expression goes from curious to amazed.
"Joy, this is... this is incredible." He looks up at me, his eyes wide. "How did you do all this in one night?"
"I couldn't sleep," I admit, shrugging with slight embarrassment because he seems so impressed. "And I was inspired. Your lodge, Winter, it's special. But your social media doesn't reflect that. You're not reaching the audience you could be reaching."
He scrolls through more of the mockup, shaking his head in disbelief. "The current person I have doing this clearly isn't cutting it. This is professional level stuff."
"It's what I do," I say simply. "Or what I did. What I'm good at, anyway."
Winter sets the laptop down and turns to face me fully. "I want to offer you a job."
My heart skips. "What?"
"I'm serious. I need someone who knows what they're doing with social media and marketing. Someone who understands the vision for this place. Someone who cares about it." He takes my hand. "I think that someone could be you."
"Winter, I don't know what to say."
"Don't say anything yet," he says quickly. "I want you to think about it. Really think about it. This isn't just about us, about what's happening between us. This is about you and your career and what you want for your life. But I'm telling you right now, if you want this job, it's yours."
Tears prick my eyes as I realize he's giving me everything I didn't know I wanted. "You don't even know my salary requirements."
"I don't care. We'll figure it out. I know what good marketing is worth, and this?" He gestures to the laptop. "This is worth a lot."
"I need time to think," I say, my voice shaky.
"I know. Which is why I want you to wait until the day after Christmas to give me your answer. By then they'll have the road clear, and you'll be able to leave if you want to. Until then, let's just enjoy our time together. No pressure, no expectations. Just you, me, and Alana having a good Christmas Eve and Christmas Day."
I lean forward and kiss him softly. "That sounds perfect."
"Good." He stands, pulling me up with him. "Now, how about we go see what kind of chaos Alana and Carol are creating in the kitchen? I have a feeling we're going to need to supervise."
As we walk toward the kitchen, his hand finds mine, our fingers intertwining. Through the doorway, I can hear Alana's laughter and Carol's patient instructions about cookie cutouts.
For the first time in ten years, I'm not thinking about what I left behind or what I'm running toward. I'm just here, in this moment, with these people who are quickly becoming more important to me than any job or career ever could be.
Maybe that's the real gift this Christmas? Not the job offer, not the second chance, but the realization that what I've been searching for all along has been here, waiting for me to come home.
