But as soon as Riley gave her hand to Caylee, Caylee grabbed it and pulled Riley down into the snow with her.
Luke laughed even harder now. “Riley, I can’t believe you fell for the oldest trick in the book!”
“Totally,” Caylee said as they both lay flat on their backs looking up at the sky.
But Riley didn’t mind. She was laughing the kind of laugh that reached all the way down to her toes. When Comet came over and started licking her face, she tried to wiggle away from him.
“Comet, stop it.” Riley laughed.
“Comet’s just giving you Christmas kisses,” Caylee said.
“Lucky me,” Riley said but was smiling.
When Luke laughed and held out his hand to help Riley up, Caylee held up her hand, too.
“Don’t forget me,” Caylee said sweetly—too sweetly.
It had Riley giving her a curious look wondering what she was up to. When Riley saw the mischievous gleam in Caylee’s eyes, she had to fight off a laugh.
“Okay, you two, come on,” Luke said, holding out a hand to each of them.
Caylee looked at Riley. Riley nodded, getting it. They took Luke’s hands at the same time and pulled him down into the snow with them.
He landed right in the middle of them, and now all three of them couldn’t stop laughing.
“Again, the oldest trick in the book, and you fell for it,” Caylee said as she jumped up. “Now who’s getting a reindeer bath?” Caylee started tossing snow on Luke. “You’re totally off your game, Luke. Last one to the lodge makes the hot cocoa!”
When Caylee raced off with Comet, Luke didn’t move. He continued to lie on his back staring up at the stars.
Riley had already sat up. “Aren’t you coming?”
Luke shook his head. “Nope.”
“But then you’re going to have to make the hot cocoa,” Riley said.
“Yup,” Luke said. “But I’m the only one who ever makes it because I’m the only one who knows the secret recipe besides my mom.”
Riley laughed.
Luke kept looking up into the sky. “So I’m just going to lie here for a minute and enjoy the peace and quiet.”
Without thinking about it, Riley lay back down. “Me too.”
When Luke looked over to her, they shared a smile. In that moment, she felt happier than she had in a long time. She didn’t feel the freezing snow or the biting wind. All she felt was alive. Suddenly self-conscious, she turned away from Luke and studied the sky, but she could sense him still watching her.
She didn’t know exactly what was happening between them, but there was something happening—at least for her—and that scared her for a lot of different reasons. As she watched the stars twinkle in the sky, she told herself that anything she was feeling for Luke was likely just the result of the crazy romantic setting and her imagination working overtime.
She laughed a little, thinking how she was lying in the snow, stargazing, beside a handsome guy in a place that looked like a Christmas fairy tale. It was no wonder she thought she felt something for Luke. Anyone would feel something in this kind of magical setting. It would be impossible not to.
She got up quickly.
“You’re going?” Luke asked, still not moving.
Riley nodded. “Yeah, I still have some work to do tonight. I want to go over all the activities again and make sure I’m not missing anything.”
Luke sat up and held out his hand for her to help him up.
Riley hesitated. “You think I’m going to fall for the oldest trick in the book again?”
Luke’s eyes flashed mischievously. “A guy can hope, can’t he?”
Riley laughed, shaking her head. “You’re impossible.”
Luke smiled. “And I’m also the only one who can make the hot chocolate, so what’s it’s going to be?” He waved his hand at her, and the look in his eyes was like a challenge.
Riley never had been one to back away from a challenge.
“You’re not going to pull me down?” Riley asked.
“You’re just going to have trust me,” Luke said.
For a moment, they just stared at each other. When neither blinked, Riley finally took Luke’s hand, but not before bracing herself just in case. She didn’t want to risk ending up back in the snow with him for many reasons.
After Luke took her hand, he stood up immediately, without her help.
But when Riley tried to take her hand away from him, he resisted for a moment and looked into her eyes.
“I told you, you could trust me,” he said with a smile that could melt any girl’s heart.
Riley nervously pulled her hand away. “Okay, let’s go,” Riley said. “I’m thirsty.”
Together, they walked side by side and followed a moonlit path back to the lodge.
They were all sitting by the fire finishing the famous Christmas Lake hot chocolate that Luke had made and eating some of Maryanne’s famous Gingerbread XOXO cookies. Riley savored the taste as the sweet chocolate mixed perfectly with the spicy gingerbread. They were fresh from the oven and still warm and chewy.
Riley studied the final printout of the Christmas Camp activities. “You guys did a really great job. The Christmas Campers are going to love it. Thank you for all the hard work you’ve done pulling all this together at the last minute. When Mike first told me about this weekend, I had no idea what would be involved. But everything you’ve planned has far surpassed my expectations. This is great.”
“Thank you for coming and making it possible,” Luke said. “After all, everyone’s coming to see you.”
“Their favorite author,” Caylee added.
“This is all about you,” Maryanne chimed in. “At the end of the day, you’re what everyone cares about.”
Comet barked and wagged his tail.
“No pressure,” Riley said with a laugh. “You know, this is pretty unique. Usually an author will do a reading and a book signing, or maybe speak at an event, but to be here like this and interact with the people who read my books, hosting several days of activities where we’re all going to be together is really different.”
“I think that’s what people are so excited about,” Luke said. “To have this kind of access to you and the chance to help give you some ideas for your next book. I know that’s already getting a lot of buzz on social media.”
Riley gave him a surprised look. “You’ve been following?”
“Of course,” Luke said. “I’m all in for hashtag Christmas Camp.”
“Me too,” Maryanne chimed in. “So, Riley, how does it all feel knowing this is all happening tomorrow?”
Riley took a deep breath. “It’s exciting, but also, honestly, I’m a little nervous. I don’t know what people are expecting from me. I don’t want to let anyone down . . .”
“You won’t,” Luke said. “All you need to do is be yourself. They just want to share their favorite Christmas traditions and make some new traditions with you.”
“About that,” Caylee said. “If you could just look at the list and highlight any of the traditions that you do with your family, then we can share those as your own traditions. I’m sure the Christmas Campers will love that.”
That familiar feeling of dread that happened anytime someone asked her about her Christmas traditions washed over Riley. There wasn’t one thing on the list that she ever remembered doing, but she knew she couldn’t tell anyone that.
“Can I let you know in the morning?” she offered instead.
“Of course,” Caylee said.
“And then just be ready to have some fun stories to tell, some Christmas memories that you have, Riley. People always love hearing that personal stuff. I know I’m looking forward to it,” Maryanne said.
Don’t panic, Riley told herself. You’re a best-selling author, you can just make so
mething up.
“No problem,” Riley said, hoping that if she said it, it would help her believe it. She realized one of the things that was making her so nervous about hosting this Christmas Camp was being caught off guard with a ton of questions she couldn’t answer about her own Christmas traditions. Over the years, she’d been able to dodge the occasional Christmas question, but with being branded as Miss Christmas and with the new novel, she knew she needed to be ready, and that meant coming up with a Christmas story she could tell people. Something simple. Something believable. Something that would help her relate and fit in with the kind of Christmas lovers who would be reading her book. She needed to get to work.
She abruptly stood up. “I’m going to head up to my room and finish up some work I need to do before tomorrow.”
Luke stood up, too. “Is there anything we can do for you or help you with?”
Riley smiled at them. “No, you guys have been great. This is just some . . . author stuff I need to do.” That was going to be her new go-to phrase. Anytime she couldn’t explain what she was really doing, like researching the heck out of Christmas hoping Google could save her, she would just call it “author stuff.”
“See you in the morning,” Caylee said. “Our first day of Christmas Camp—I can’t wait!”
“Me too,” Riley said, trying to match Caylee’s enthusiasm. “Good night everyone. See you in the morning.”
When Riley got to her room, she immediately turned on her computer and went to work googling the activities on the Christmas Camp list. The time flew by and before she knew it, it was already midnight.
Comet had joined her on the bed. His head was resting on one of the Santa pillows, and he was watching her.
As she petted him, she was thankful for his company. “Okay, Comet. I think I have a great start here, don’t you?”
Comet lifted his head.
Riley smiled back at him and turned her laptop around to show him the spreadsheet she was creating. She was making two lists of Christmas traditions. One list was filled with all the different Christmas traditions she’d been able to find in the last few hours. This list was huge with more than fifty traditions listed.
The other list, however, only had two entries so far. This was the list she was creating to make part of her fictional Christmas past. That way, when anyone asked her what her favorite Christmas traditions were, she wouldn’t have to panic. She would be ready with some practiced answers. Doing research, making lists, and being organized always made her feel calmer and in control.
Her plan was not to actually claim the traditions as her own, but to talk about them and share what she liked about them and then get the Christmas Campers to say what they liked, shifting the attention off her as fast as she could.
The more she researched and prepared, the more confident she felt.
When Comet lifted his head and looked at her, she smiled. “I know, Comet. I need to get to work.” She turned the computer back toward her and studied the two things she’d added so far to her own personal Christmas traditions list.
She’d tried to pick things that were easy, things that everyone did. First on her list was making Christmas cookies. While she didn’t remember ever baking Christmas cookies specifically, she had made other cookies with her mom so she could use some of those memories.
Next, she added making a snowman, inspired by Luke’s picture on the Christmas Camp memory board. She figured making a snowman would be easy enough to talk about.
“What else?” she asked Comet. Then it hit her, just like Caylee’s snowball. She could add a snowball fight to her Christmas traditions list! Thanks to Caylee’s sneak attack, she’d actually done that activity. She could even talk about Luke’s reindeer bath revenge, attributing it to him, because she thought that was pretty funny. Still, she needed to google it as she did everything else.
When she did, she found that there were actually tricks to making the perfect snowball. When making a snowball for a snowball fight, apparently the wetter the snow, the better, so you needed to find some warmer, melted snow that was closer to a building that was giving off heat or that was in the sun. Another technique was standing in one place and stomping up and down and then using the snow under your boots where it had been warmed up. Another pro tip was to pack the snowball as tightly as possible and, of course, always look for clean snow and avoid the yellow snow at all costs.
She looked over at Comet when she wrote down that tip and laughed.
She smiled, satisfied. “I think I got the snowball fight thing down.”
Comet gave her an adoring look and wagged his tail.
As she studied her list, she felt it was all believable and something she could have done growing up in Washington state. For a favorite Christmas cookie, she was also going to play it safe and say any sugar cookie that had frosting on it. She knew she couldn’t go wrong there.
“What else?” she asked herself as sat back against her Santa pillows and looked at the huge list of activities in the other column.
She started at the top.
“Caroling? Absolutely not,” she said, remembering the carolers from her hotel lobby. Plus, she couldn’t sing, so that was definitely out. Next on the list was decorating a Christmas tree. She nodded as she added that to her personal list. “This is easy. Everyone does this.” She scrolled the bottom of the list. “Watching Christmas movies?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Not going there.”
When Comet gave her a look, Riley shook her head. “Comet, I can’t fake seeing a movie I’ve never watched. Christmas-movie watching is a whole big thing. I don’t dare touch that world. I’ll just tell people I’m too busy writing my books to watch movies.”
When Comet laid his head back down on the Santa pillow and closed his eyes, she nodded her head and shut her laptop. “You’re right,” she said softly as she gave him a hug. “It’s time to get some sleep.”
After she put all her work away and turned out her light, she snuggled underneath her covers. She petted Comet one more time as she let out a deep breath, finally relaxing.
Much of the stress she’d been battling earlier was gone. She had done all that she possibly could, under the circumstances, to prepare for Christmas Camp. She had studied ever last detail of the schedule, and she knew the program inside and out.
She was ready.
As long as there were no surprises, she would be just fine.
The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes was the jolly, happy face of one of the charming Santa figurines lit up in the moonlight.
As she drifted off to sleep, she thought she must have been already dreaming because she could of swore, she heard the Santa say, “Ho! Ho! Ho!”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Riley woke up with the sunrise and, for a moment, couldn’t remember where she was. But when she looked around and saw all the Santas illuminated by a ray of sunshine, it all came rushing back to her.
“Are we ready for this?” she asked the life-sized cardboard Santa she’d moved so he was now looking out the window instead of facing the wall like before, doing a “time out.”
She let out a deep breath. “It’s the first day of Christmas Camp.” With determination, she flung off her covers and jumped out of bed.
“Let’s do this!”
After joining everyone for breakfast and having a last-minute strategy session, Riley felt like she was as ready as she was ever going to be, and the next five hours flew by so fast she didn’t have time to be nervous.
Even though they’d finalized all the activities the night before, the list of things that still needed to be done before the Christmas Campers arrived seemed to keep growing, not shrinking, as the day went on.
Still, all around the Christmas Lake Lodge there was a festive feeling as the final Christmas decorations were put up and classic Christmas music played.
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While Luke was outside making sure all the Christmas lights on the house, the trees by the lake, and the Christmas Lake Christmas tree were working, Riley and Caylee were inside making sure all the Christmas trees had fresh water in their pots, and they misted down all the evergreens to make sure the garlands and wreaths stayed fresh and fragrant.
“We sure don’t have anything like this in Afghanistan,” Caylee said as she put her nose up to a garland that was framing the front window and inhaled blissfully. “This smell of fresh-cut pine and balsam fir always reminds me of home . . . and of Christmas.”
Riley smiled watching her and then turned her attention back to the wreath she was misting. It hung high above the fireplace, and she had to keep jumping up to try to reach it.
“We don’t want you drying out being so close to the fire,” she said, talking to the wreath, as she tried to spray the very top of the wreath.
When Caylee laughed at her, Riley gave Caylee a look. “What? You were talking to the Christmas trees earlier.”
“Oh, I’m not laughing about that,” Caylee said. “I’m laughing at you jumping up and down. You know we have a stepladder you could use.”
Riley shook her head. “What fun would that be? Plus, I need to burn off some calories from all of the treats Maryanne keeps making.”
“I know. They’re impossible to resist,” Caylee said. “Maryanne’s up for a head pastry chef job in Los Angeles. They’d be crazy not to take her. I’m excited for her, but I’d hate for her leave Christmas Lake.”
Caylee joined her and started jumping up and misting the wreath with her. “I need the exercise, too.”
Riley laughed as she looked at Caylee’s fit physique. “You have nothing to worry about. You look great.”
“I agree,” a male voice said as it walked into the lobby.
Both of them spun around to see who it was. Riley smiled but Caylee did not. A good-looking guy in his early twenties walked toward them holding a poinsettia.
Christmas Ever After Page 18
