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“Yes,” I said.

“Not sure it’s yours to give.”

“If it was,” I said.

“And you can have winter.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I accept.”

His eyes were crinkly on the edges from his smile.

“Will you tell me where you’re taking me?”

We were driving up some hills, and I was glad the weather was decent because even though I loved winter, I didn’t love to drive on icy, winding roads. They made me nervous.

“We’re almost there,” he said.

He slowed down and turned onto a gravel road. A big KEEP OUT sign was nailed, slightly crooked, on a post by the road. A house loomed to our right, but he kept driving.

“Are we trespassing?” I whispered.

“Do you think whispering will help if we are?”

“It felt like a sentence that needed to be whispered,” I said at a normal volume.

“No, we aren’t. That is my grandma’s house. This is her land.”

I twisted in my seat to get a better look at the house. It was hard to see in the dark; only a porch light and a string of Christmas lights revealed sections of it. The car turned a corner and the house disappeared from my view.

“Didn’t your grandparents used to live in your house?” I asked. “I thought they moved into a retirement community.”

He smirked as though me knowing things about him, about his family, meant something. “Yes, but those are my dad’s parents; my abuela and abuelo do live in a retirement community in Mountain Glen. This is my mom’s mom—Grandma Jean.”

“I thought your mom was from Denver.” Again, I knew too much about him but not enough—and I was curious.

“She is. But her mom followed her here several years ago, after my grandpa passed, so she could be closer to us.”

“That’s nice to have her close.” Mom’s parents had passed away a long time ago, and Momma’s parents were snowbirds—they spent half the year in Arizona to stay warm.

Ryan stopped the car. Out the windshield, stretched before me, were the lights of Cherry Ridge. I couldn’t see details from this distance, but they were the colors of Christmas. The whole town lit up like a big Christmas ornament.

“It’s impressive, right?” he said.

I nodded, my eyes not leaving the view. It really was beautiful.

He gave a breathy laugh. “I’m glad you like it.”

“Do you like it?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think it’s cool.”

“You never told me what inspires you, by the way. When we were looking for mice the other night.” I glanced his way.

His eyes were on me, not the view. “You’re pretty inspiring right now. Being this excited about … well, anything.”

My cheeks heated with his words. “I—uh—that’s not a real answer.”

“I thought it was pretty good.”