The Secret Santa
Page 16
Calhoun + Calhoun was dissolved. I heard Jules now teaches yoga in Vail, and the other agents went to work for Steve.
Turns out, I did end up buying a house from him. Montague House. I had it torn down and gave the property to the Aspen Valley Land Trust on the condition they always keep it undeveloped. It was the right thing to do, especially since Thomas told me about the aspen trees. How they live and grow as communities. They have an interconnected root system and are technically the world’s biggest living organism. They all need each other to survive. Now they’ll have more room.
I also put up a plaque dedicating the land to Thomas’s mom and dad. I wish I had gotten the chance to meet them. What a love story. The way she describes their romance in the letter—so epic. My favorite part is the postscript at the end, the way she tries to end it on a lighter note, let her son know that life is made up of all the little beautiful things, not just the huge overshadowing tragedies.
That seems right.
P.S. A few other important facts about your father: he couldn’t care less about skiing, ate his steak rare and his hash browns burnt, loved avocado, ordered his eggs poached, dipped his french fries in mayo, drank his coffee black, liked long walks, never chewed gum, put hot sauce on his pineapple, made a killer grilled cheese, beat everyone he ever knew at horseshoes, played cards like a pro, was excellent at Scrabble, would take giant gasps when he laughed hard, and had a very small, uncharacteristic sneeze. He was perfect. Like you.
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
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Copyright © Trish Harnetiaux 2019
Cover image credit: Images © istetiana/Getty & Shutterstock
Trish Harnetiaux has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published by Arrow Books in 2019
(First published in USA by Simon & Schuster in 2019)
www.penguin.co.uk
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9781473577039