“That, and the fact that Mel beat Steven bloody with a table lamp.” She giggled and tension finally released its grip on me at the sound.
“Now, that’s something I wish I could have seen,” I replied honestly. Melody wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with. She took after Grandma Trixie in more ways than one, but as her big brother, I also took some prideful ownership in how she was able to react in that scenario.
“Now, can we go back to normal, please?” Oh, I was in trouble. With that look on her face, her big round eyes, she could have asked me for the moon, and I would have found a way to package it up and give it to her.
“Yes, of course. I’m sorry.” I nuzzled her nose, and she giggled.
Letting go of my hands, she turned around to grab something out of a box and then whipped back holding it over her head.
Laughing, I took her face in my hands. “Oh, Stella, the mistletoe isn’t necessary. If you want a kiss from me, all you ever have to do is ask.”
She was about to say something, but I crushed my lips against hers with a force I’d been craving since the moment I saw her in that airport but felt like she was too fragile to take her in that way. Now I knew her strength, and if she could handle my broodiness, then she could handle the force of my lips against hers.
“Incoming!” someone yelled just as a snowball hit the side of my arm and broke apart, getting fresh snow in our faces.
I growled and glared at the source of our disturbance, but Stella just broke out into a big, beautiful laugh at the sight of my snow-covered beard.
Turning to the yard, we saw Garrett, Patrick, and his toddler son, Casper, making snowballs with the biggest mischievous grins on each of their faces.
Garrett pointed at Casper like it had been the curly haired two-year-old with the aim of a pro pitcher.
“Ooh, they’re going to get it.”
Game on. Garrett started the war, but I was about to finish it.
“NO-BALL IGHT!” Casper yelled with all his might, and the laugh that broke out of Stella sounded freer than I had ever heard it before.
“You heard him! Let’s go!” Stella grabbed my hand and pulled me into the yard, and I realized there was nowhere I wouldn’t have followed her.
We hurled snowball after snowball at each other, our stomachs sore from laughing by the end of it all. Melody and Olivia ended up joining us, and when Patrick picked up Mel and tossed her in a snowbank, I thought she would have his head. But the laugh that escaped her startled me and was so genuinely happy that I couldn’t find it in me to be mad at the sight of my best friend’s arms around my sister.
We stayed outside until our fingers and toes were cold. The pink that dusted Stella’s nose and cheeks was prettier than the colour of the most gorgeous rose I’d ever seen.
The next day, Stella and I walked hand in hand as we exited the post office on Main Street. She had an affinity for the wedding photos that hung in there, and although I had seen them countless times, this was the first time I imagined what my own wedding photo might look like. Who would be in it? My entire adult life, I never envisioned that as being in the cards for me, it wasn’tsomething I wanted or a goal I tried to obtain. But now, with Stella in the picture, everything felt different.
Everything looked different, too, while we walked down Main Street as the entire town had transformed into our own rendition of the North Pole. Every storefront featured sparkly lights and colourful decorations. Stella’s eyes darted around like a kid in a candy store, desperate to take it all in without missing a thing.
Christmas in Love was incredible but being able to witness Stella experience it all firsthand was indescribable.
As we made our way to Cupid’s Cup to pick up some holiday drinks, I searched for every piece of mistletoe I could find—not only to kiss her, but to show the whole town of Love that she was going to be mine.
Christmas in Love was straight out of a holiday rom-com. And Ilovedit.
I spent the morning at The Warm Hug with Olivia. She had given her bookstore the most amazing atmosphere by decorating it from top to bottom, bringing holiday novels to the display tables that were front and center. The sitting areas had new candy cane themed blankets and pillows, and there were little nutcrackers and gnomes on every shelf you looked at. She completed the look withthreeChristmas trees in the small space, all of which were from Hart and Heart Logging. Which should really be called Hart and Heart Christmas Tree Farm for the months of November and December.
By the time Calvin picked me up from the post office, Olivia and I had read so many Christmas novellas that just the look of my burly lumberjack made me swoon.And the fact that he asked if I wanted to go and try some of Melody’s new holiday drinks?Yes, please.I would happily be a guinea pig for Mel’s coffee any day of the year, but you could especially count me in when things like peppermint or sugar cookie were included in the name. Move over, pumpkin spice, it was now my time to shine.
Calvin pulled me across the street to stand under the awning of Love in Bloom with a big goofy smile on his face.
“What are you doing?” I couldn’t help but laugh at his playful expression.
He answered me by trailing his eyes upward to the mistletoe hanging above our heads.
“I thought you didn’t need an excuse to kiss me?” I eyed him, throwing his own words back at him.
“Oh, I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let the opportunity pass by when it presents itself.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing myself up on to my toes to reach him and kiss him hard. Slipping his arms around my waist he tightened his grip and then swung me around, only setting my back down when my giggles broke our kiss. He grabbed my hand and guided me next door to Cami’s thrift store, Something Old, Something New.
