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“Thank you,” he said softly, clearing his throat. “As you can see, there are a few things I’ve got to work out if I’m ever going to make any lasting decisions about my life.” Then he took another drink of his hot chocolate.

Claire opened her mouth to say more, but she closed it right back up and took a sip of her drink, as well. She wasn’t going to risk saying anything more about the subject she didn’t know enough about.

“What?” Liam asked, clearly noticing her hesitate.

Claire shook her head. “Oh, nothing.”

“No, you had something else to say.”

She hesitated. “Life will pass you by if you wait for the stars to align. Because stars don’t align for us. They live out their days in the same way we’re supposed to—on the path that will help us shine the most.”

Liam’s eyes found hers again, and a warmth within their dark depths slipped past her chest to nestle deeply within her heart.

“Wise words to live by,” he said, his smooth tone as warm and soothing as a crackling fire.

“Something my parents taught me,” she said, taking another drink. “I only wish I hadn’t learned it at my cost.” She ended with a short laugh, though it fell flat when Liam didn’t join in.

He must not have gotten her depressing joke.

His eyes narrowed, and she knew she opened a door she’d tried to keep closed.

“How do you really feel about them being on a cruise instead of with you for Christmas?” he asked.

TWENTY-TWO

Claire contemplated brushing aside Liam’s questions without so much as a response, but as she thought back to how open he was about his fears and concerns, about how he dealt with his dad’s death, a light broke through the barrier around her heart. Maybe she could give a very small explanation as to what her life really was like with parents who were basically Kate and Peter McCallister.

Except her parents left her home alone on purpose and never felt badly about it.

“I’m alright with it,” she began uneasily. “I mean, it’s hard that they don’t have service to message me much.” Or at all. “But I really do hope they’re having a good time. And honestly, they were gone so often when I was a kid that it’s basically second nature now.”

“So you never got to travel with them anywhere?”

“I went with them to Yellowstone once on a family vacation. My cousin is a ranger up there. But the rest of the trips they took were for business, so they couldn’t exactly bring me along.”

Liam hardly looked convinced, which didn’t help her desire to remain unaffected by her parents’ lack of attention throughout her life.

“They’d always bring stuff home for me, though,” she continued. “Souvenirs and stuff. So that was…nice.”

Of course, she would have much preferred being with her parents to receiving gifts from them. But at least they thought of her enough during their travels to bring tokens back for her.

“That’s good,” Liam said weakly, clearly not believing in his words or her own.

“It really is fine,” she said, not wanting the conversation to carry on any longer than it had. “I’ve learned that life is much easier to handle when I focus on what I have rather than what I don’t.”

Liam downed the last of his drink, then placed the cup in the sink. “You’re like a walking self-help book.”

Claire laughed. “That’s because I’ve read enough of them to last me a lifetime.”

Their gazes met, more questions floating around in his eyes, and she cringed. What was her deal? Why was she oversharing so much?

Refusing to be the subject of any further questioning, Claire turned toward the front room. “We should probably get that tree set up before the sap gets onto the floor.”

She knew Liam wanted to continue their conversation, but she had never been more grateful for his silence as they made their way toward the tree.

As Liam lifted the pine, Claire directed him to where it would sit in the tree stand, then they switched places as she held the tree upright, and Liam twisted in the screws. The smell of the pine tree wafted around, sharing its Christmassy scent to every corner of the room.

“Is it straight?” he asked, his voice muffled as he lay down on his side, his upper half hidden beneath the branches.