‘What? Disappointed I didn’t find a dead body?’
‘I mean, a little bit,’ Jeanie said, at the same time as Annie said, ‘Definitely.’
Logan just shook his head.
‘Are you going back?’ Jeanie asked and Bennett couldn’t help but scan the crowd for that familiar coat.
The answer should be a resounding no. How would he ever recover from his ‘too niceness’ if he spent all his time up at that farm fixing radiators and searching for dead bodies that didn’t exist? He should start being more selfish right now. He should tell his sister and this whole town he was done playing detective. But what if being selfish meant he wanted more time at the farm? What if doing what he wanted to do meant spending more time with Kira?
‘Well, I do still need a tree.’
He ignored his sister’s smile and Annie’s squeal of delight and stalked off toward the tree-lighting stage to catch a glimpse of the one thing he really wanted for Christmas.
‘Ten, nine, eight…’
Kira stood awkwardly on the stage next to the mayor as the crowd counted down to the big moment. She hated being on stage. In fact, she was actively trying to suppress the memories of her disastrous early pageant days, from before her mother quit and told her she never had to do one again. Apparently, peeing your leotard during the talent portion was not exactly Little Georgia Peach behavior. If she was remembering correctly, Chloe won Miss Congeniality that year. Because of course she did.
‘Seven, six, five…’
She scanned the faces in the crowd and tried to conjure up some holiday excitement, but it wasn’t working. All she saw were strung-out kids, hopped up on candy canes and days of counting down for Santa, and the exhausted parents trying in vain to rein them in. Frankly, it looked like a nightmare. No wonder her parents subcontracted all the holiday nonsense to professional decorators, party planners and various nannies throughout the years. Although, she and Chloe had always managed to make their own fun, sneaking cookies, and in later years booze, to their room to eat under their covers, hiding from their parents’ odious friends during the slew of holiday parties leading up to the big day.
How could Kira possibly have a good Christmas without her sister?
‘Four, three, two, one! Merry Christmas!’ The mayor shouted as he hit the switch and the tree behind her lit up with thousands of colorful lights. The crowd cheered and the high-school band charged right into an enthusiastic, if not technically adept, rendition of ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’.
Kira attempted to turn her wince into a smile, but probably just looked like she was in pain. Which of course she was. Christmas carols were bad enough but played by a bunch of out-of-tune teenagers, they were a whole other level of terrible.
Her gaze snagged on a familiar, too-perfect face in the audience. Bennett smiled at her, and she really wished she still didn’t like him. If only her first impression of him as an arrogant asshole had been correct. Things would be so much simpler. But instead, she found that his smile made her feel better. Just like that. She felt less lonely, less sad.
And if she didn’t know he would also leave her in a month, she might have explored that feeling further. But he was leaving and Kira couldn’t deal with another departure right now. Not when the last one had wrecked her so completely.
She turned away and found the mayor handing her the microphone.
‘Um, hi.’ The mic squealed and she hastily moved it further from her face. ‘Sorry.’ She cleared her throat. Oh, good, she hadn’t gotten any better at this in the past twenty years. Her mother would be so proud.
‘Uh … hi. I’m Kira.’
‘Hi Kira!’ Someone yelled from the audience, followed by more shouts of ‘hello!’ and ‘hi!’ and ‘welcome!’
At least the town was still excessively welcoming, even after she’d acted like a bitchy recluse for the past three months. Maybe things were still salvageable. She took a deep breath. ‘Hi. Um … I just wanted to come here and announce the official reopening of the Christmas Tree Farm. This Sunday at ten a.m.’
Cheers rang out around her and Kira couldn’t help her smile and the relief that flooded through her. This was going to work. She might not have to sell her organs, after all.
‘Right,’ she went on, after the noise died down. ‘And if you can’t make it to opening day, we’ll be open every day after that through Christmas Eve from ten to six. The trees are looking beautiful this year so I hope you will come and pick out the perfect one for you and your family.’ Her gaze had accidentally found Bennett again and his smile had grown at her mention of the perfect tree. This guy. Ugh, how had he wormed his way into her good graces just by being so damn nice! It was sneaky, is what it was. He was like a sneaky, wholesome ninja who had tricked her into actually liking him.
And now she was smiling like an idiot right back at him.
‘Oh, and follow the farm—@mychristmastreedreams—on all your socials!’ She quickly handed the microphone back to the mayor before she could do something crazy like burst into a round of ‘Jingle Bells’, or something equally horrific.
‘Thank you, Kira,’ Mayor Kelly said, beaming at her like she’d just fixed world hunger. ‘I’m sure the whole town will be out in the next few weeks to get their trees. I hope you’re ready for us!’
Me, too.
Kira forced her smile to stay put even as her insides clenched in panic.
‘Now,’ Mayor Kelly clapped his hands. ‘Chanukah is still a few days away but we have our menorah ready to go, so look for those lights to go on soon and don’t forget to come out for our winter concert on the solstice!’
If the concert was being performed by the school band, Kira wouldn’t be going anywhere near that, but she just kept on smiling until finally the local choir from some church or another took over the stage to lead the singalong. At which point Kira hightailed it out of there like her faux fur was on fire.
She may have warmed up to the local nice guy, but there was no way in hell she was participating in a singalong.
She raced down the stairs on the side of the stage and ran headfirst into something solid and warm. Something that said ‘Oof!’ when she hit it. Something that smelled like peppermint and Stroopwafels.
Kira’s body was flush with Bennett’s and for a split second she didn’t want to pull away. She wanted to burrow further into his warmth. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and keep her there.
She jerked back and out of his grip. ‘Sorry.’
‘Hey, where are you running off to?’ Bennett asked.
‘Uh … I have to get home.’
Bennett’s face fell. ‘Oh, already?’
This Christmas music had obviously broken her brain because she wanted to stay. All of a sudden, she wanted to stay at this absurd display of Christmas cheer. With Bennett. That was when Kira realized that this nice guy, this Mr. Fix-It, Clark Kent, was far more dangerous than any of her fresh-out-of-prison boyfriends.
‘Yep, I made my announcement, so that’s it. No reason to stay.’
