Page 6 of A Collier First Christmas
I looked at the time and frowned. It was too early for people to show up. I opened the door trying to remember if there was a package being delivered or something, only to find my best friend, Sydney, standing there with one hand on her hip and a baby on the other as she glared at me.
“What?” I asked.
“You want to go all out for Christmas now? Couldn’t you have thought of this, I don’t know, like months ago? Have you lost your mind?”
I grinned, then stepped out and hugged her.
“I know, I know, but I didn’t think about it months ago. I thought about it today as I was holding Cammie and it hit me that this is going to be her first Christmas, Syd. I need it to be extra special.”
“But she won’t even…”
“Don’t you tell me she won’t even remember it, because she will. I’m going to make sure of it as I document every second of this holiday.”
Sydney groaned as she pushed past me into my house and set little Hunter down on the playmat in my living room.
“I love you, Lily, but you’ve lost your mind this time.”
I snorted. “Like that’s never happened before.”
Sydney and I had a long, rather candid history. She was my mate’s first love. If I hadn’t shown up when I did, Thomas would certainly have mated with her instead. Still, I’d befriended her before I knew anything about that and when she realized that Thomas and I were true mates, Sydney had bowed out gracefully and supported me every step of the way.
Two years ago, she met her own true mate. Luke Larken was Alpha of a rival pack, a small group of wolves that had once given allegiance to Collier. They had been struggling for quite some time. He and Thomas had managed a treaty that merged the two packs back together. Luke was now Beta of Collier Pack.
It hadn’t exactly been an easy two years, but we were finally at a point of peace and life was good in Collier Pack. As Pack Mother I was proud of that fact too.
Sydney had been stripped of her title of Pack Mother with the merger. It was a role she’d been groomed for since she was in diapers. Everyone had expected her to be Collier Pack Mother. When she mated Luke, she’d been Larken Pack Mother. But now, she didn’t carry that title anymore.
She always told me she was fine with it, but it had never sat well with me. As sort of my own way of making it up to her I employed her for just about everything.
Every party. Every pack run. Every event in Collier Pack, Sydney and I had planned and executed together. She could huff and complain until she was blue in the face but at the end of the day, we both knew this Christmas would be no different.
After fussing over her son and ensuring he was content to play on the floor with some of Cammie’s toys, Sydney settled onto my couch, pulled a notebook and pen from her bag to begin our planning.
This was a normal routine for us.
I grinned. “I knew you’d love it.”
“I didn’t say that, but I also know you’ll attempt to do it with or without me and we both know what a disaster that would turn out to be.”
I laughed because it was true. I had wonderful ideas but struggled with execution. Sydney struggled to come up with original ideas or even think outside the box, but her organization skills were impeccable. When Sydney set her mind to something, she made it happen. When I set my mind to something, it was going to happen too, just with the use of a whole lot of extra hands and resources, like Syd.
“Before the potential committee shows up this afternoon, I want to go over your thoughts and then cull half of them to get to a practical list that we can agree on.”
“Fine. Ready?”
She sighed. “Go ahead.”
“Giant Christmas tree in the center of town, complete with a tree lighting ceremony.”
“That’s probably fine.”
“Of course decorating all over town. I know we have some decorations we’ve used in the past, but I want more. Bigger andbrighter. And you’re a store owner, maybe you could decorate your front window for Christmas.”
“I already do that,” she said under her breath.
“And then encourage everyone else to as well,” I continued as if I hadn’t heard her.
“That’s not a bad idea. So far so good.”
