TINSEL’SJINGLEBELLFESTIVAL IS DEDICATED TODANE ANDAMANDA,WHO RISKED IT ALL TO FIND PEACE BUT FOUND LOVE ALONG THE WAY INSTEAD.
“Instead?” Dane says as he tucks an arm around me and presses a kiss to my hair.
“Our grandparents all still insist the peace is temporary,” Lorelei says with an eye roll at her own grandmother.
“Like Esme says, they can fight it out in the afterlife,” he replies.
Grandma Vicki squeaks.
Grandma Opal glares at him.
He tucks in a smile, but his eyes can’t hide how amused he is. “Feud’s over, ladies. If another family wants to start one, that’s their business. But we’re only coming back if you agree to get along.”
He doesn’t mean it. We’d both miss Lorelei and Esme and my mom and his dad too much.
But our grandmothers don’t know that.
They eye each other.
“Same time on Tuesday?” Opal says to Grandma Vicki.
“Unless my goiter’s acting up.”
“Clearly, I meant ifmygoiter isn’t acting up too.”
They sniff at each other.
But they also smile.
Almost.
Close enough, anyway.
“Any more surprises here?” Dane asks Lorelei.
She grins. “Of course not.”
No sooner have the words left her mouth than a rousing chorus of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” erupts behind us.
Someone hands me a hot cocoa. I pass it to Dane, and he trades me for a fruitcake log.
“You get me,” I whisper. “I love you so much.”
He just smiles.
And that’s all I need.
Bonus Epilogue
Chili, a.k.a. the world’s laziest dog
We’re back hereagain.
You’d think after three trips already since last Jingle Bell Fest, my pets would be tired of coming to Tinsel, but no.
We’re hereagain.
It’s cold.Again.
