by Erin Wright
Home. Austin wondered for a moment when North Idaho had stopped feeling like home for him. Was it when he’d first been told his parents were getting a divorce? Or maybe when Monica had mailed his engagement ring back to him so she could start dating Dane, the second richest guy in the county?
Somewhere in there.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, that’d be good. Christmas Day?”
“Yup. We’ll meet over at Stetson’s house. He has the biggest house in the family until Wyatt finishes his monstrosity. And anyway, it’s the Miller homestead, you know? But, Carmelita will be cooking, so I plan on wearing sweatpants so I can stuff as much down me as possible.”
Austin let out a roar of laughter. “Good plan. See you then.” After they hung up, Austin stared at his phone.
Ivy was still in town. Why was Ivy still in town? She had a studio and art galleries who would probably love to showcase her paintings over the holidays, not to mention a whole life back in California. He’d never expected her to still be here in Long Valley.
But since she was…
His mind ran through the possibilities. What was public, fun to do, and as Christmassy as it comes? After all, they still hadn’t seen Tiffany and Ezzy out in public. It was possible that they hadn’t gotten the message yet. It was only smart to go on one more date.
Just one more. Then he could give Ivy up.
Chapter 11
Ivy
Ivy stood next to Austin, his arm wrapped around her as he belted out God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen with the rest of the caroling group. His singing voice was…awful.
Atrocious, really.
He looked down at her and shot her a huge grin and she grinned back, mentally making the note to wear earplugs the next time she went caroling with Austin.
Not that there would be a next time, of course.
She pushed that thought away and glanced around the Sawyer Retirement Home with a goofy smile plastered to her face. She felt good. Damn good. When they’d arrived at the retirement home for the annual sing-in to the local residents, she’d spotted Tiffany and Ezzy and had stiffened up, her heart racing even as the rest of her body froze in place. Sure, this was the whole point of going on a public date with Austin, but that didn’t make it any easier to see her high school tormentors.
But the look on Tiffany’s face when she’d glanced over and then had done a double-take when she saw Austin’s arm wrapped around Ivy…
Well, that was almost as delicious as when Tiffany and Ezzy marched towards the door, loudly discussing what a lame-ass idea it was to go caroling at a senior citizen’s home as a date.
Ivy’s grin grew even wider as she remembered their snotty comments. That’s right – she was on a date. With the cutest guy in four counties. Probably four states, actually.
This was a world she was rather happy to inhabit.
The caroling group segued into It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, and Ivy sang the lyrics lustily, snuggling into Austin’s side. It was coming upon a Christmas Eve soon, and she was thrilled that Austin would be at the First Annual Miller / McLain Christmas Party. Although they wouldn’t be there as each other’s date, of course – that implied a level of seriousness that just wasn’t there after only knowing each other for a couple of weeks – it was still going to be loads of fun.
After New Year’s would be when reality intruded, but she was happy to ignore that reality until then, thankyouverymuch. In fact, she was reaching epic levels of avoidance when it came to her financial situation, a talent she hadn’t realized she’d possessed until recently.
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear finished up, and Ivy looked towards the caroling director, waiting to hear the name of the next song to sing, when he instead announced that they were done and wished everyone a Merry Christmas. Ivy bit back a twinge of disappointment – she was really starting to enjoy herself. Now she had no excuse to snuggle into Austin’s side, which was really too bad.
After some clapping and rounds of hugs, the carolers headed for the door, and out into a great big world of white.
Flakes were falling gently from the sky, blanketing everything as far as the eye could see. To someone else, it might appear magical. To Ivy, it looked evil. Monstrous. This…this shit had been what had almost killed her sister. Not to mention that it was just miserable cold.
Why? Why would anyone ever intentionally live in a place where it snowed on a regular basis?!
“Oh wow,” Austin breathed, looking out at the white covering the world. “So pretty. You want to walk home? I can come back and get the truck, but I’d love to walk you home in this.”
Intentionally…
Her mind ground to a halt. There was no part of this that made any sense whatsoever. He’d have to walk her home, then walk back, then drive home, all so he could spend more time outside in the cold and the snow?
Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times, doing a fantastic imitation of a goldfish, but nothing came out. He must’ve taken her silence as assent because he tucked her arm under his and they took off down the street towards her parents’ home.
“That sure was a lot of fun,” Austin said cheerfully, every breath creating a cloud around his head that slowly dissipated. The flakes continued to drift down, endlessly down, wrapping them in a world of silence and white. “Thanks for coming with me.”
“I really had a blast,” Ivy replied. Except for the part where you’re forcing me to walk home in a snowstorm. But she kept that thought to herself. The flakes swirled around them as they moved slowly down the street, and Ivy had the fleeting thought that it looked like Sawyer had been shoved under the dome of a snow globe, one where God kept shaking it to keep the snow coming.
It was almost a pretty snow, if such a thing could be true, because of how gently it drifted down.
Pretty snow…
Had they slipped alcohol into the hot cocoa they were serving at the retirement home? Ivy couldn’t remember ever thinking that snow was pretty.
Maybe she was under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug. Maybe she was about to die. Maybe, aliens had taken over her body and she didn’t even—
“When are you going back to California?” Austin asked, yanking her out of her thoughts and back into the present. He tucked her arm closer to his side. She shoved her other hand into her coat pocket, wishing again that she had gloves. Or something warmer than what amounted to a fall jacket when it came to Idaho weather. It was her winter jacket in the Bay area, but that didn’t mean much up here in the mountains. She tried to hide her teeth-chattering by sheer dint of will.
“Oh, after the new year,” she said breezily, as if that thought didn’t haunt her every moment of every day. It was more like Never, because I can’t afford to, but she was still hoping for that Christmas miracle – some way to get out of this predicament she’d found herself in. It hadn’t happened yet, but Christmas was still four days away. She was holding out hope. She’d watched It’s a Wonderful Life every year growing up. She totally believed in Christmas miracles. “I’m staying here until then to spend time with my family. I so rarely get to make it up from California, what with the studio and all; it’s fun to spend time with them when I can.”
She squinted one eye upward, waiting for the lightning strike to hit. She’d heard of snow lightning. It was a thing. Especially when someone was lying their ever lovin’ ass off like she was.
Nothing.
Apparently, God was busy tonight. Not a big surprise, considering the biggest holiday of the year was coming up.
Maybe that was as big of a Christmas miracle as she’d be able to expect this year.
“Where are your gloves?” he asked, taking the hand he’d tucked underneath his arm and blowing warm air on it. She quickly pulled her other hand out of her pocket so he could blow on both of them at the same time. She felt prickles of pleasure-pain in her fingers at the warmth.
“I was only supposed to be up here for a few days,” she said with a shrug as he tucked both hands
underneath his arm. It was a little awkward to walk that way, but heavenly warmth was spreading through her fingers again, so she wasn’t about to complain. “I packed light, not thinking I’d be here through multiple snowstorms. Plus, my gloves that I have back at home aren’t exactly made for this kind of weather anyway.”
Mainly, because California didn’t have this kind of weather. She thought longingly back towards mid-60s December days, biting back a groan. She missed real human weather so very much. No one should ever intentionally live in this…
This winter wonderland.
Okay, fine, so it was pretty. It didn’t mean she had to like it.
“I imagine you don’t have any ski resorts in San Francisco?” Austin said with a gentle laugh.
“Not too many,” Ivy agreed dryly.
She spotted her parents’ house through the white haze. Almost there. She was surprised to feel a little sadness at the thought. She’d actually enjoyed walking home in the snow with Austin, something she would’ve bet body parts on never happening.
Not that she didn’t enjoy walking with Austin, of course. It was this dang-blasted beautiful white freezing awful cold shit coming down from the sky that she could do without.
“Thank you for going caroling with me,” Austin said after a slight pause. He smiled down at her, joy in his eyes. “I know you’re here because of your sister, but…I can’t help but be glad for it anyway.” They drew to a stop on her parents’ front door step, the porch light casting a weak golden glow in the evening darkness. He paused, looking at her and she looked at him and the world swirled around them and she couldn’t breathe, oh her heart…
He leaned down and placed his lips on hers, softly, questioningly. Did she want this?
Yes, yes she did.
She slipped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. He groaned, pushing his gloved hands into her damp hair and tilting her head to the side for better access. Oh, oh…
His lips were soft and yet demanding as he pulled her to him. His tongue slipped out and ran along the seam of her lips, seeking entrance, and she moaned as she opened her mouth to him. Her heart was beating so hard, she was sure the neighbors would call the police for the noise disturbance, and her mind went blank as she drank in his presence, and then…
And then he pulled away and without a word, headed back out into the snowstorm, down the street, disappearing into the swirling white.
Ivy stared after him, a hand pressed to her lips, surprise thrumming through her. She hadn’t expected that kiss, she hadn’t expected him to leave abruptly, but most of all, she hadn’t expected to want to continue.
A part of her knew that this was a bad idea. They could never work out. Living in different states tended to put a damper on things, but it was more than that. He was a cowboy who worked with local farmers to help them make long-term decisions about what crops to plant and what rotation schedule to follow.
Those weren’t talents that were exactly in high demand in the Bay area.
And she couldn’t move here. To live back among the people who’d tried so hard to make her life miserable. To live in a world where snow was a regular occurrence six months out of the year. To live where pine trees grew as far as the eye could see, and art for the sake of art wasn’t even on anyone’s radar.
But despite all of this, she couldn’t help the joy running through her as she slipped inside her parents’ house and down the hallway to her bedroom. Snuggling up underneath the hot pink comforter that had seemed so awesome when she was a sophomore in high school, she stared up at the ceiling, a loopy grin on her face, playing and replaying the kiss in her mind.
Maybe a Christmas miracle would happen here, too. Maybe she shouldn’t give up on it quite yet.
She wrapped the hope for a Christmas miracle around her, snuggled in deep, and drifted off to sleep, a peaceful world of snow continuing to fall gently on Long Valley.
Chapter 12
Austin
He picked up the newest thriller by Mark Dawson and stared unseeingly at the pages, then put it down. He automatically went to pick it back up, when his hand froze over the paperback. It was no use. He’d been trying to read that rather short paragraph for the last – he looked at his phone – thirty-two minutes, and still had no idea what it said.
Or what the name of the book was.
He groaned, burying his face in his hands. This was ridiculous. He loved to read. He loved thrillers. He loved Mark Dawson. Austin had long ago taught himself how to entertain himself while alone, because otherwise, he would’ve gone stark raving mad years ago.
After growing up with Monica practically attached to his hip from their freshman year forward, it’d actually been something he had to consciously teach himself how to do. It was okay to be by himself. It was okay to spend evenings in, with only a book to keep him company.
But today, he couldn’t concentrate. Not when he was about to go spend the afternoon at Stetson’s house.
Not when he was about to spend the afternoon with Ivy McLain at Stetson’s house. Because as fun as Stetson was, he was not the reason that Austin was having a hard time concentrating.
His eyes flicked towards the ready stack of presents by the front door. He’d bought bottles of wine and boxes of chocolates for everyone, except Ivy. She deserved something more, something special. He’d spent days searching for exactly that, until he’d found the perfect present.
This wasn’t a date, of course. You didn’t go on a date with a girl, her sister, her parents, and three Miller brothers, wives in tow. Especially not a Christmas Day date. That implied a level of seriousness in their relationship that just wasn’t there.
Couldn’t be there.
After the holidays, Ivy was going back to California; back to her life in the relative warmth of San Francisco. There, people appreciated her talents, and rewarded her for them. After all, how many people were able to make it financially as a painter? She’d never talked financial specifics with him, of course – it wasn’t his place to pry – but to be able to keep a studio and an apartment and live full-time in the Bay area without any outside job meant she was really tearing up the local art scene.
Which she should. She had talent in spades. She’d finally shown him her painting of the Goldfork Mountains that she was working on while up here, and although it had looked amazing to him, she’d been muttering something about how it wasn’t quite right. He figured that was just her perfectionism showing itself, because he couldn’t see how she could make it any more stunning, but he wasn’t about to argue the point with her.
Going back to California…that’d been her appeal from the beginning, of course. She was leaving, and he didn’t have to worry about her wanting something more from him. She wouldn’t want more, she’d help him get rid of Tiffany in a way that just words couldn’t seem to do, and then he could go on with his life. This was why he’d wanted to go on a date with her from day one.
But the last week had been…magical. They went caroling again, sledding out at Stetson’s place, and spent a couple of evenings watching old sappy Christmas movies. He started to realize that the more time he spent around Ivy, the more he wanted to spend around Ivy.
Which was dangerous, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.
He pulled himself out of his thoughts and glanced at the deer clock on the wall, the antlers pointing to 12:40. It was time to get going. He hated being late.
Especially being late when it came to seeing Ivy.
He gathered the mountain of gifts into his arms and hooked his foot on the door, pulling it shut behind him. It was time to celebrate Christmas.
Chapter 13
Ivy
Abby leaned over to Ivy with a huge grin on her face. “Sooooo…” she said, drawing the word out with relish, “tell us all.”
Ivy looked around the group of women, who were all staring right back at her with huge grins on their faces. There was Abby of course, who’d recently married Wyatt (their wedding being w
here Iris had reunited with Declan), and then there was Jennifer, Stetson’s new wife, their even newer baby bouncing on her shoulder, and last but certainly not least, Iris herself. They’d all managed to find the guy they were supposed to be with, while Ivy…
Well, she was just play-acting with Austin. It was embarrassing to admit, even if just to herself, that it was all for show. Who pretended to date a guy to get revenge on their high school nemesis? What did that say about her?
Of course, there was the fact that neither Tiffany nor Ezzy would’ve ever spotted them during their Christmas movie marathon three days ago, so that made the efficacy of their “show” somewhat questionable, but Ivy studiously ignored that fact.
The girls were all still staring at her. Ivy gulped.
“He seems like a real sweetie,” Abby said, sensing her discomfort at being on the receiving end of so much interest, and trying to gently guide her towards safer ground. “He’s not from around here, right?”
Ivy smiled, feeling relief course through her at having something simple and straightforward to discuss with them. Something that didn’t include love or relationship. “No, he came from up north – up in the panhandle. He took over the extension office when Mr. Snow retired.”
Austin had been at that job for two years now, but that didn’t keep everyone in Long Valley from considering him the new guy. He’d probably be the new guy right up until the day he retired.
Jennifer nodded sagely. “Stets has been saying that Austin’s been a real big help in getting a new crop rotation figured out. Do you think you two will continue to date even after you go back to–oh hello!”
