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“That doesn’t mean you have to pay.”

“It so does mean I’m paying.”

“Mara.”

“Gabe.”

His bear gave an unhelpful chuckle. She wanted to give us something. Let her.

So he let her pay. Not because he couldn’t have argued longer, but because of the small pleased look on her face while she did it.

As she put her card away, Gabe shook his head at himself. It still felt wrong to him. For Mara it was right, so he swallowed his pride. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And if it’ll make you feel better, you can buy me a cup of hot cider at Harvest Lights.”

“Agreed.”

A few minutes later they stepped outside, and the cold caught at Gabe immediately after the warmth of the restaurant. Mara shrugged into her jacket and looked back through the windows at the dining room, at the candles and the bar and the people still eating.

“That was really good.”

“Yeah. It was.”

She turned to him. “Ready for Harvest Lights?”

Gabe looked at her in the glow from the restaurant windows, with her breath showing and her hair loose and the whole evening still ahead of them. Dinner had been good. Better than good. And the night wasn’t over yet.

“Absolutely.”

CHAPTER 9

Mara

By the time Mara and Gabe reached Harvest Lights, the moon had risen above the mountains.

It hung bright against the dark sky, catching the tops of the trees and turning the distant ridgeline silver at the edges. Ahead of them, the entrance to the trail glowed with lanterns, their light spilling across the ground and picking out the reds and golds of the fallen leaves.

Mara slowed. “Oh, this is beautiful.”

“It is.” Gabe stopped beside her and looked at the trail as though he were seeing it properly for the first time. “Every year somebody says it’s a lot of work for one night, and every year they all show up and do it again.”

People were making their way beneath the lights in small groups, coats zipped against the cold, voices carrying softly through the night. The trail disappeared between the trees ahead, marked by lanterns that seemed to float in the darkness.

Mara stood for a moment taking it in. She could see the work behind it if she wanted to, from the placement of the lights to the way the entrance had been kept open enough for people to gather without blocking those already moving onto the trail.

But for once she didn’t feel the need to look for any of it. She wanted to see the lights, and she wanted to walk beneath them with Gabe.

A curl of steam rising from a small stand nearby caught her attention, followed almost immediately by the scent of apples and cinnamon.

“Hot cider,” Mara said.

“I believe I owe you one.” Gabe was already moving toward the stand. “Let’s get one now. It’ll keep you warm as we walk the trail.”

“I’m not going to argue.” Mara could already feel the cold creeping beneath her jacket. She would prefer to have Gabe’s arms around her. But a hot apple cider was second best.

They joined the short line, standing close enough that the sleeve of his jacket brushed hers when somebody moved past behind them. Mara didn’t step away, and neither did Gabe.

When they reached the front, the woman serving poured two cups from the steaming urn. Gabe paid and handed one to Mara.