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“How did you mean it differently?” Noa asks.

“I was trying to say she looked nice. It was a compliment.” Nails’s face turns a little redder.

“What’s going on?” I ask, handing Leni her coffee.

“Nails told your sister that she was”—he pauses for dramatic effect—“and I want to get this right: ‘The most beautiful woman to set foot on the island since the last beautiful woman to set foot on the island.’ And that if she ever wanted someone to show her around, he would be honored to be at her service.”

Leni puts her hand over her mouth to hide her laughter.

“And then, Khodi appeared from behind that tree over there.”

“You were just lingering behind a tree?” I ask Khodi.

“Yes.”

“Anyway,” Noa continues. “Khodi came over all puffed up, looking threatening.”

“I have the utmost respect for you,” Nails says to Khodi. “I didn’t know she was with you.”

“He isn’t with her,” Noa states. “Leni is a free woman. Maybe you should fight for her—first blood loses.”

Leni laughs.

“Absolutely not,” I interject. “No one is fighting anyone. If my sister wants to talk to Rhett, she can. Now, how about everyone gets back to work before Nixie spots you standing around doing nothing?”

Nails needs no further instruction and disappears as fast as he can, while Khodi stays where he is and stares at me.

“The trees are being unloaded fast, so it shouldn’t take too much longer.”

“Thank you,” I say to Khodi, and he nods once, then glances at my sister before walking away.

Noa watches as he leaves, a smirk slowly forming.

“Not a word,” Leni warns him.

Noa holds up his hands. “I said nothing.”

“You were about to.”

“I might have been, I have so many things to say, but they are locked inside me.”

Leni looks at me, then back at Noa, who is vibrating from keeping the words inside. I’m sure I will hear them all later.

“I can’t wait for Cave to see this,” he says, instead of blurting whatever his thoughts are about the Leni-Khodi situation.

“Do you think he will hate the trees in his space?” I ask.

Noa shakes his head. “I don’t think so. There are no corn stalks for him to chase anyone through, but now he has Christmas trees. We could get you a cute little elf costume and chase you instead. We’d tie you up with Christmas lights to the new post. I was trying to wait for Cave, but I’ve made him a new one—that’s what Nails has been helping me build. Come and look.”

Noa takes my hand and pulls me into the cornfield that is now unrecognizable; a thousand Fraser firs have turned it into a makeshift forest.

“He is going to hate the Santa costume I purchased for him, but tell me he wouldn’t look hot in it.”

“I won’t argue with that,” I mutter as he takes me to the center of the field where a new post stands, and I’m lost for words—it’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Noa has gone all out for this post. It’s not just a few pieces of wood slapped together; this is carved with obvious care. It looks so well done, carvings covering the length of the upright post with the same pattern. Yet it’s the symbols that have silent tears forming in the corners of my eyes. There are three of them on the crossbeam, one at each end and another in the center, connected by an infinity symbol. On the left is a gear, so perfectly done it almost looks real. The one on the right is a little shovel which makes me smile, and in the center where the upright meets the crossbeam is a flower rendered into the wood. It is almost identical to the flower Cave gave me, the one made from corn husks.

“I cried when Nails first showed me. I thought I was crazy and the idea wouldn’t work, but it is so much better than I imagined.”

“It’s perfect.” Reaching out, I run my fingers over the carvings.