Page 98 of The Holiday Heartbreaker

“Super glad we decided to go out,” he said.

They walked to his truck and got inside.

“It’s out toward the coast. Right on the ocean. Really pretty.”

“Oh. That’s even more exciting,” she said.

“Yeah, the Garrets have kin over there. That’s where Wolf met his wife. You haven’t met Wolf yet, not formally, I don’t think.”

“I don’t think so. I would definitely remember meeting somebody named Wolf.”

“Yeah. People tend to remember him. Women especially.”

“Well now, Brody. I’d say you sound a little bit possessive there.”

She didn’t know what pushed her to say that. Normally, she would be too insecure to say something like that. She was a woman whose husband had left her for another woman. Who had gotten that other woman pregnant. She hadn’t had the highest sense of self-esteem for the past few years.

“Hell yeah,” Brody said, and it thrilled her down to her toes. “If Wolf weren’t happily married I wouldn’t let him within a ten-mile radius of you.”

“That’s extremely unenlightened.”

“I never claimed to be. Though I have to say, I’ve never been particularly possessive before.”

“I make you feel possessive?”

“Whatever this is... For as long as it is... It’s different.”

Her breath hitched, her heart speeding up.

“Yes,” she agreed, looking out the window as they pulled off the dirt road onto the main highway.

The road to Copper Ridge was beautiful. The dense trees and the ferns beneath them were dusted with ice and snow, which faded as they made their way toward the coast, where the weather was just a little bit milder. They made easy conversation, this time not about groundbreaking things, like her real name or his father. Just about little things, like favorite desserts and foods, but she realized that there were deep truths underlying those topics as well. Because neither of them had had a traditional family, and the things they enjoyed were revealing. From her particular delight in real orange juice instead of powdered juice or Kool-Aid, to the chocolate chip cookies that his brother’s friend Charity made.

“I can still remember that first time I had a cookie like that,” he said. “Fresh-baked and warm, right out of the oven. I think I was twenty-five.”

“Really? You never had a homemade cookie before then?”

“No. Back then, we didn’t do the town hall meetings or anything like that. Back then, things between the families had grown pretty contentious. So during our childhoods... We didn’t share things the way that we do now. Hell, now I get baked goods more often than I should.”

“It must’ve been very different here, the generation before you guys.”

“Very different. A hell of a lot of narcissists were running this place. And now... Well, there’s the Kings. And their whole thing. I wouldn’t say anybody is particularly close to them, and they tend to be more insular than the rest of us. But... It’s still better. Still different. We take care of each other. We are family. All of us.”

“I love that. Especially as somebody who had spare little family growing up. I’ve depended on other definitions of family. Extended family. I’ve depended on different ways that you can build something good. Even off of a foundation that isn’t.”

He shrugged. “I guess that’s what we do.”

“People are kind of amazing,” she said softly. “We do just keep hoping. We do just keep trying.”

He cleared his throat. “Yes.”

Right then, they pulled off the highway and turned onto a narrower street. And she could see the ocean, out to the left, gray and vast. And before them was the most adorable town she’d ever seen. The buildings bright white and merry cranberry colors. Lights and greenery all over the place. There was a big banner strung across the street that proudly proclaimed Victorian Christmas Weekends every weekend until Christmas. There were carolers walking down the street wearing period dress, and she rolled down the window so that she could hear them singing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” The wind was cold and biting, but milder than it had been inland. The air was damp with that salty tang that let you know you were near the sea. She let her head fall back against the seat, and she smiled.

Of all the things she had imagined for herself this Christmas, this wasn’t one of them. But it was a lot better than she had thought it would be. A lot better than she had thought it could be.

She spotted a bakery, and was instantly interested in that.

“I think we should go get some cookies,” she said.

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