by Sabrina York
Brad, Mike and Chris were going to just hang out together while Bree and Phil planned on going out for a nice dinner at the lodge. Phil had apparently made reservations earlier. Amanda made it clear she had no intention of doing anything other than waiting up for them at the cabin.
“What would you like to do?” Noah whispered to Mia.
“After we change, how about we pick up something quick to eat and go for a nice long walk and maybe a swim at the beach later on?”
“I’d like that,” Noah said softly. “I just want to be alone with you tonight.”
“Same here. We don’t have much time,” she said.
Nearly an hour later, they were walking toward the Mistletoe Lodge. Phil had called and mentioned there were a few other places open inside the lodge where they could eat dinner since the concessions were closing and the final band had performed. Vehicles were lining up in droves to depart, so Noah decided that he and Mia would go take a look inside the lodge since they hadn’t had a chance this afternoon because the grounds had been too crowded.
In fact, after taking a few minutes to speak with Emily, all they’d been able to do earlier today was watch the concert and eat some food at the concessions because there were so many people attending the event, which was a good sign that the fund-raising goals had probably been met.
As they approached the lodge, Mia was looking at the place in awe.
“Doesn’t it remind you of a castle?”
“Yes, it does,” Noah answered, becoming thoughtful. “Maybe because of all the stone used in the construction?”
“Supposedly, they’ve used natural materials excavated from quarries in upper Michigan and Wisconsin.”
Noah halted on the trail, staring at her in consternation.
“How do you know about all this weird stuff?”
She laughed before answering, “I read the brochure that was in the cabin when I went back to change clothes earlier today.”
He grinned. “Okay. Gotcha. I thought you might have been consulted beforehand, you’re such a know it all sometimes.”
She punched him lightly in the arm. “Look who’s talking.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they continued walking toward the lodge.
Noah paused, looking around in amazement as they walked inside.
Apparently, the Mistletoe Lodge was all about Christmas, no matter what time of year.
“I’d love to see this place when the shops are all open,” Mia said, echoing his thoughts.
There appeared to be at least a dozen Christmas themed businesses lining the perimeter of the lower level. A huge stone fireplace, centered in the lobby, towered above them, and the unique flooring below them had been created by using what appeared to be antique pavers.
“There,” Noah said, pointing at a cute little restaurant with candlelit tables. “That looks like it would be a nice place to eat. How about it?”
“Yes. It looks perfect,” she answered, tugging him closer.
Noah walked with her into the restaurant, where they were met by a hostess who’d been standing near a desk.
“Hi,” Noah said with a smile. “Do we need reservations?”
The hostess was surprisingly enthusiastic. “Didn’t you two perform tonight? I was watching the concert this evening before I came on duty.”
Mia grinned. “We did.”
“Oh, I loved your music,” the hostess murmured. “Come on inside. Where would you like to sit. It’s slowed down quite a bit this evening.”
Noah asked, “Can we sit near a window where we can see the lake?”
“Sure,” she answered. “That’s exactly why we chose this location while the lodge was being built.”
“The atmosphere in here is great,” Mia said, when they were seated at a table which was placed near a window.
“The seating is comfortable too,” Noah added, glancing at the hostess with a smile. “I love the armchairs.”
“It gets extra cold here when we get the winds blowing in across the lake. We’re hoping with the view, comfortable seating and extra amenities in the lodge, like the pool, people will overlook an occasional chill when they’re taking advantage of the slopes or sledding and skating.”
“I’d love to be here at Christmas,” Mia murmured.
“Me too,” Noah admitted.
“Hopefully, we’ll see you here again,” the hostess said, smiling and handing them menus. “I’ll send a waitress over to take your order.”
“Thank you,” Mia answered.
Their evening went quickly, and Noah splurged, having a small steak and insisting Mia order something she really wanted, broiled shrimp, and not be concerned about the cost.
“Gram and Gramps made me promise to make you take some pictures with your camera or phone.”
“I did take quite a few at the concert, and so did Bree. I wish they could have been here.”
“Gramps has been having some trouble with his leg again, and he isn’t comfortable taking long drives. He would have had trouble today making his way through the crowd.”
“I saw they had some accommodations, motorized golf carts and similar vehicles., set up for people with disabilities, but I don’t think he would have gone along with that.”
Noah grinned wryly. “You’d be right.”
Another hour later, they were finished with dinner, which had been one of the best meals Noah had ever had.
But it probably had to do with the fact that Mia had been sitting beside him at a candlelit table overlooking the lake, as moonlight had slowly arisen above.
After dinner, they explored the lodge a few more minutes, but there really wasn’t much to see since most of the shops were still preparing to open.
Noah looked at Mia. “Are we ready for a long walk? I noticed that several paths around the lodge have lighting.”
“Yes. And I’ll be ready for a swim in about an hour. The weather was beautiful today.”
“It’s still probably eighty right now,” Noah said, as they made their way around the path toward the cabins. Towering pines ran along the perimeter of the roadway leading down to the lake, while a pretty insect resistant variety of birch had been included in the new landscaping surrounding the new lodge.
“I can imagine how this place will look at Christmas, with lights and decorations everywhere. It’d be magical,” Mia observed, as they approached the lake another half hour later after they’d done their share of walking. “And we haven’t even seen the slopes.”
“That’s always something I’ve wanted to do—learn how to downhill ski,” Noah admitted. It was an expensive hobby, so he’d never learned how.
“I’ll teach you,” Mia said, laying her huge purse down on the sand.
“Of course you will,” Noah murmured, watching her pull out a thin blanket from the purse and lay it over the sand.
She started stripping off her clothes and Noah grinned, seeing she had on a swimsuit beneath. For a minute…
“I know what you thought,” she teased. “Shame on you.”
Noah laughed, and standing up he started stripping off his own clothes, exposing the swimming trunks underneath.
Mia grinned. “We do think a lot alike.”
“I was thinking that myself earlier, when we were rehearsing our song,” Noah murmured.
Approaching Noah, Mia wrapped her arms around Noah, and his mouth met hers.
“We need to be careful, Mia.” Noah sighed, pulling away. “I want you so much. But we can’t. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Oh, Noah,” she said softly, behaving like she was ready to untie the top of her bikini.
His eyes went wide, and he swallowed. Something about her figure etched in moonlight, with only the cover of that skimpy bikini…
But then she giggled, running toward the water and calling over her shoulder. “I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.”
“You’re in trouble now,” he growled, racing towards the water and picking her
up when he reached her side.
He kissed her quickly on the mouth.
And then he dropped her.
The next few hours went by quickly. After Mia had popped her head back up through the surface of the water, she’d sputtered and spit.
And got even by diving deep and pulling his legs out from under him.
They swam under the moonlight for another twenty minutes, until they realized they were both becoming tired. It had been a long exciting day, and Mia had been having the time of her life.
Sitting on the sand for another hour, they became absorbed in conversation, until Mia reluctantly checked the time on her phone.
It was nearly eleven, so they began gathering their things, getting ready to walk to the cabin nearby.
Mia decided then and there, when they did make love, she wanted it to be somewhere special, like right here at the Mistletoe Lodge.
24
Sitting near the beach at her house waiting for Noah, Mia was getting more depressed about the fact that she and Noah had so little time left together.
It was the third week of August, and the four music camp scholarships had been awarded at the end of last week. Mia would miss so many people from the group, because she’d acquired a lot of new friends. Although she and Noah were a couple, they’d spent quite a bit of time hanging out with many of the camp participants.
In fact, more than a few times, Mia had wanted to clobber one of the girls, who was obviously coming on to Noah, even though the same thing had happened to her. A couple of the guys had asked her out on dates, not realizing that she and Noah were together.
One more week, and Noah would be leaving on the bus for Texas and boot camp. Mia had discovered that Noah had already enlisted months ago, and he and Phil had driven to Madison during spring break where Noah had his medical exam, had taken his required tests and filled out his security information.
Mia had a substantial amount of money in her savings account before this summer, but the income from her part-time position at camp had been a shocker when she’d seen how much she’d been paid. So for Noah’s birthday, she was taking him and his grandparents out for dinner at the Dragonfly Pointe Inn. In fact, she’d already made reservations for an early evening dinner.
After Noah was on his way to boot camp, her senior year of school would begin the Friday before Labor Day weekend.
Noah gave Mia a long lingering glance as he approached. She wasn’t going to like it, but he’d decided that he wasn’t going to go along with what she wanted. There was just something about Mia’s dad and his attitude about their relationship that was warning him he could be vindictive, and not just with Noah, but possibly with Mia too.
“I brought along the helmet. Would you like to go for a ride?” he asked, dropping on the sand beside her.
Mia smiled wryly. “So you’ve decided against it?”
He reached for her hand. “You’ve got to know it’s not because I don’t want to?”
She sighed heavily. “I’m scared that when you leave, I’m going to be losing you forever.”
Noah gazed into her eyes. “Not if I can help it, Mia. I can’t imagine loving anyone the way I love you. I know we’re young, but I have to say it, just so you know that even though I don’t think we should have sex yet, it has more to do with our age, and your father, along with the trouble he could cause.”
Noah stared across the lake. “It scares me how uncaring he is about your feelings and what you want from your life.”
“I love you too, Noah,” she murmured, looking rather shy.
He reached for her hand.
She continued, “But I understand, I’m scared about the way my dad’s behaving too.”
Noah pulled her into his arms, and that’s all they did for the next hour—stayed wrapped within each other’s arms.
There were tears in Mia’s eyes as she stood there with Noah the following week in Eau Claire, waiting for him to climb aboard the bus.
“You’ve got my phone number in case there are any problems?”
“I do,” Noah answered. “I’ve got my new laptop too.”
“The password and personal information has all been eliminated.” Mia shrugged. “I’m just glad you decided to take it.”
Noah hadn’t planned on accepting it until Mia had shown him how many devices she actually owned. Apparently, her father was in the habit of buying loads of electronics, tablets and laptops, and when he didn’t like the way they worked, he’d cast them aside by giving them to Mia.
Who did that?
Noah had suggested donating some of the equipment which wasn’t being used to the local schools or the library. Her father would probably love the idea of getting the receipts for a tax write off.
“I put my email address in the contacts for you, and I set up video messaging.”
Noah grinned. “You did?”
Looking forlorn, Mia watched his luggage being loaded.
“Now for one of those kisses I don’t give you very often,” Noah murmured, pulling her into his arms.
Her mouth opened against his and the kiss went on and on.
And on.
“God, I’m going to miss you,” he moaned, having to pull away.
“Same here,” Mia answered, with tears in her eyes.
Noah squeezed her one last time before boarding the bus, and when the bus pulled away, he watched through the window as Mia became a small spec in the distance, and suddenly disappeared.
25
She really needed to snap out of it, Mia decided, walking through the hallway at school a few months later. It was getting to be ridiculous, how much she missed Noah, and she wasn’t doing herself any good by not being able to concentrate on her studies.
Bree was on cloud nine these days, and she and Phil were getting together practically every weekend. Mia was definitely jealous, but she did her best not to show it. Bree deserved to be happy, and she spent the time she wasn’t with Phil with Mia, even staying overnight at the house.
Amanda was packing up her possessions in the cottage while beginning to distance herself from the family. She was dating someone, but Mia could tell it wasn’t serious.
Of course, that’s not what Mia told her dad, because Mia could see it bothered him that Amanda was dating. Monique was coming along with Dad to Wisconsin much more often, and Amanda wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to be around the house when she decided to show up.
Especially since Monique was beginning to show her claws to Mia, talking about all her vacation plans with Dad, and never once including Mia.
She had no idea if Dad knew, but Mia hadn’t even been included in the wedding.
Mia tried not to let it bother her. After all, Dad wasn’t the same person she’d grown up with.
Noah wrote her as often as he could, but apparently, they weren’t allowed communication during boot camp without permission. So even when Noah wrote her an email or tried to contact her via video, nine times out of ten she was at school or practicing at the conservatory, where Emily had invited Mia into the administrative fold, in the same type of position Noah had held.
Mia needed to keep busy, because she missed him so much.
Thanksgiving came and went, and Noah was out of boot camp, and apparently reassigned to an airbase in Atlanta. Now they were able to talk with each other more, and he was still planning on coming home sometime during the Christmas season, as long as he was allowed the time off.
Mia visited his grandparents several times, because she knew more about what was going on than they did, even though Noah called them every week and sent them letters as often as he could.
It was a week before Christmas and Mia was feeling blue on a Saturday night since Bree was on a date with Phil. Dad was off with Monique somewhere in Florida, apparently for business, and Amanda was out with her boyfriend. She’d tried to get Mia to go along with her and John, who seemed like a really nice guy, but Mia just felt like being alone.
They didn’t e
ven have a Christmas tree this year, and Mia was sitting in the living room with the fireplace roaring, feeling sorry for herself when the doorbell rang.
Mia strolled through the living room and entryway, walking up to the front door. Peeking through the peephole, she squealed, yanking open the door. “Noah.”
He came walking through the doorway, looking larger than life. “God, Mia, how I’ve missed you,” he said, pulling her into his arms.
Mia began to cry. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
They kissed briefly, but Noah looked exhausted. “I arrived by bus in Eau Claire about ninety minutes ago. I had Brad pick me up, because I wanted to surprise you.”
“Come sit with me in the living room,” she said, pulling him inside.
But when Noah dropped onto the couch, he looked ready to lay down and fall asleep. In fact, he hadn’t even taken off his coat yet.
“Noah, come on. Let’s go upstairs to my room and we can both just sleep. I’m feeling tired tonight too. My dad’s in Florida, and Amanda’s out with her boyfriend, so she probably won’t be home tonight. I just want to be with you—alright?”
“If it won’t get you into trouble, then sure, let’s just sleep. Somehow, the idea of sleeping beside you makes me feel better. All I know is I had to come and see you first before going to my grandparents’.”
While Noah made his way up the staircase, Mia grabbed his duffel bag from the entryway and carried it upstairs behind him.
She helped him take off his jacket and boots and Noah stripped down to a pair of shorts he was wearing underneath his jeans.
“I’m surprised you’re not wearing a uniform,” she muttered.
“It’s not a good idea these days with all the violence and shootings happening,” he mumbled. “It can make you a target.”
“I think I’ve read that somewhere,” she said, pulling the sheet down on her bed.
“I feel guilty for not taking a shower. I’ve been on a bus for hours,” he said.
“Lay down. Go to sleep,” she said, tucking him in and pressing a kiss to his cheek when he followed her orders.