A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas

by Jackie Lau

  “Oh, he didn’t do it all himself. He had help. We spent most of yesterday outside. My whole family, aside from my grandparents. It’s Greg’s design, and we had to listen to him be a control freak all day.” Nick was smiling, though. They kept walking toward the snow fort, until they reached a little doorway, not tall enough to walk through. “Go inside and turn right.”

  She gave Nick a hug, then did as he said. She got down on her hands and knees and crawled into the snow fort. The short entryway was covered, but other than that, there was no roof. The walls to the right were at least six feet tall, though. She continued crawling, her heart beating rapidly, and when she turned the corner, she saw Greg.

  He was sitting on a sleeping bag, and there was a little picnic basket next to him. In the snow fort he’d built just for her.

  “Come here,” he said.

  When she knelt beside him, he pulled a thermos out of the basket and poured her some hot chocolate. The steam curled in the cold air.

  “I have something to tell you,” he said, “if you’d like to listen, that is.”

  She nodded.

  He looked very serious, despite the fact that he was wearing a red down jacket and gray toque and sitting in a snow fort. He opened a tin of homemade chocolate chip cookies and handed one to her.

  She took a bite. It was delicious.

  “I...” He took off his glasses and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Okay. Here it goes.” But he didn’t say anything more. He seemed to be quietly freaking out.

  He pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket. Had he written a speech?

  Something swelled in her chest, and she smiled at him encouragingly.

  “I want to clarify what I said yesterday,” he said, tucking away the paper. “I asked if I could see you again while we were both here for the holidays, but you should know that I want a lot more than that. We only had twenty-three hours and six minutes together, after fifteen years of hardly seeing each other, but it was enough. Enough to remember all the things I love about you. Enough to learn how you’ve changed, and how you haven’t. I want to know every detail of the life you’ve created, Tasha, and I want to be a part of it. I want another chance at a relationship. I’m not just a kid anymore, and...” His voice turned hoarse. “I’m serious about you. I do want to get married and have children together and all that stuff we used to talk vaguely about when we were nineteen. It’s easy for me to picture us being together when we’re as old as Ethel and Herbie.”

  She couldn’t help a small smile.

  She could picture it, too.

  “On one hand,” he said, “I’m angry we wasted so much time apart, but maybe it was necessary for me to be sure of who I am and what I want. We were quite young when we dated, after all.” He paused. “I hope you feel the same way, but if not, I understand.”

  Two nights ago, she’d told Greg that she wanted to just know she had the right guy.

  And now, she did.

  He was the one for her.

  That had been her Christmas wish: to figure out if she loved Greg in a way that would last. Her thoughts about second chances had been changing since her talk with her mother yesterday, but now...

  Tasha was overwhelmed by her feelings. They had returned in full force, stronger than before, with a decade and a half of experience behind them. There was no way this could be wrong, not when it felt so perfect.

  She set down her hot chocolate on a flat patch of snow, then reached into her jacket and held up the necklace she was wearing. For a moment, she simply looked at him and smiled. It felt like she was smiling from every inch of her body.

  “I feel the same way,” she said. “You know, I once got back together with an ex, and it didn’t go well—we still had the same problems as before. I swore I’d never do it again. A couple of my friends got back together with their exes, too, and those relationships didn’t work out, either. That’s why I was reluctant to start anything with you. But it’s different for you and me—I don’t think it’s foolish to say that. Before, we weren’t quite in the right place in our lives for each other, but that’s changed, plus we know ourselves better than we did as teenagers. I’m positive we can deal with any challenges that come our way. When I...” Now it was her turn to have trouble getting the words out. It had been many years since she’d said these words to a man. To her family, sure, but this wasn’t the same.

  So many years of wondering whether she’d ever meet the right guy, and it turned out she’d known him since kindergarten.

  “When I was younger, I couldn’t appreciate how special and rare this is, but I do now. I love you, Greg.”

  His arms came around her. “I love you, too.”

  There was a frustrating amount of fabric between them. Unfortunately, it was necessary, given the freezing temperature, but she was still glad he’d done this here. In a snow castle.

  If someone had told her last week that on Christmas morning, she’d be romanced by Greg Wong in a snow castle, she wouldn’t have believed them.

  She pressed her lips to his. Unlike their very first kiss, in this very same park, she now knew what she was doing. She’d kissed many men in the intervening years, and that didn’t make this mean less; it made her more certain that he was the right man. She’d truly never felt like this with anyone else.

  His mouth moved over hers, urgent and firm, and she kissed him back with equal fervor, trying to get as close to him as she could with all their winter clothes in the way.

  She’d never expected her future to involve embracing the past.

  But she couldn’t be happier.

  “I’m glad I was twenty-seven minutes late on Monday,” she said. “If I’d been on time, it might have all happened differently. Maybe we wouldn’t have needed to spend the night in a cold motel room.” She paused. “No regrets.”

  No regrets about the past couple days. No regrets about walking away from each other all those years before—she wouldn’t let herself think about the what-ifs, only look forward to their future together. Perhaps Greg was right: they’d needed that time apart.

  She kissed him again. So simple—her lips and tongue moving over his, but it was exquisite. She would get to do this again...and again...and again, and that filled her with warmth.

  “I’m planning to stay in Mosquito Bay until the twenty-eighth,” Greg said, “since I have more than a week off. Will you let me drive you back to Toronto? You can play all the Christmas music you like.”

  “No, I won’t torture you like that. We can listen to CBC Radio for half the trip. Hopefully, we won’t get stuck in a snowstorm this time, and when we get to your condo—”

  “Perhaps I could ask you to watch Netflix and chill?”

  She couldn’t contain her laughter.

  It was Christmas, and she was in love, and she was so full of joy.

  “Or I could ask you to come upstairs and see my model train?” he suggested.

  “I would like to see it. I’m curious.” She picked up her hot chocolate and had a sip. “I’ll come upstairs, see your model train, then head home on the subway.”

  “That’s a terrible plan.”

  “Or maybe I could stick around for half an hour and you could make me a cup of tea.”

  “I suppose.”

  “Or you could bend me over the table where you keep your model train—”

  “I don’t like that idea at all,” he said.

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t want anything to happen to it, and surely you would mess it up. You have a tendency to, ah, move around quite a bit when you come. Better to bend you over the couch or the kitchen counter.”

  “I can accept those alternatives.” She winked at him, then reached for another chocolate chip cookie. It was the best cookie she’d ever tasted.

  “Greg!” someone shouted from outside the fort. “What is happening in there? Did you make up and kiss?”

  Tasha assumed that was his grandma.

  “Yeah, can we go home now?�
�� That was probably Amber, Greg’s younger sister, who’d been in elementary school fifteen years ago, but she’d be grown up now, too.

  “Have you guys been standing out there the whole time?” Greg asked, but probably not loud enough for his family to hear.

  “We’re all good!” Tasha shouted. “You can leave now, thank you!”

  There was round of applause, as though more people than just Greg’s family had been standing around the snow fort, and Greg ducked his head in embarrassment.

  “Dear God,” he muttered.

  “I just want everyone to know that I made this happen,” Greg’s mom said. “I’m taking full credit for this match.”

  “I spent hours out here yesterday freezing my ass off and listening to Greg boss me around.” This must be Zach. “I want some credit, too.”

  “Same here,” Nick said.

  “Alright, we hear you,” Greg said, loudly this time. “Now you can leave us in peace. I’ll see you at dinner.”

  There were sounds of boots crunching through the snow, and then it was quiet once more. A red cardinal chirped from a nearby tree. Tasha might not know as much about birds as Greg, but she could identify a few.

  “I’m having Christmas dinner with my family,” he said, “and I’m sure you have plans with yours. But I still have a little time before then.”

  “Hmm. What could we possibly do with all that time? I have no idea.”

  “Don’t you?” he murmured as he set aside her hot chocolate and gestured her inside the sleeping bags. He’d zipped two together.

  Ooh, this was cozy.

  He slid a camping pillow under her head. He was prepared for everything. Then he shed his winter jacket and climbed into the sleeping bags with her. His leg brushed against hers, and that nearly made her breathless.

  “Who knew that being thirty-four would means lots of sex in a snow fort?” she said.

  “Oh, are we having sex? I thought we were going to snuggle.”

  “We’ll snuggle afterward.”

  And that’s exactly what they did.

  * * *

  At ten o’clock that night, Tasha was cuddled up with Greg on the couch in her parents’ living room. Greg had come over after dinner, figuring her parents’ house would be quieter than his, now that her brothers and their families had left. As fun as the snow fort had been, it was nice to have some time together indoors.

  Tasha had texted Monique earlier, and Monique, though she grudgingly admitted the photos of the snow fort were impressive, was aghast that Tasha was getting back together with her ex. Tasha was confident she’d made the right choice, though, and she was also confident Greg would win her friend over soon enough.

  Greg clasped Tasha’s hand, and their iron rings—which they both wore because they were engineers—rubbed against each other.

  He lifted a gift box out of a bag he’d brought with him.

  “Is that what I think it is?” she asked, one hand coming to her mouth.

  He nodded. “You kept your necklace, and I kept these.”

  She’d been such a romantic that for their first Valentine’s Day together, she’d given him an entire box of valentines.

  He opened the box, and she picked up the first one, a heart that said, Will you be my valentine?

  She smiled and set it down. “Will you be mine for Christmas, Greg?”

  “There’s nothing I want more.”

  Epilogue

  Greg woke up to someone sliding her hands over his chest, and he smiled. He loved waking up next to Tasha.

  It was January 25, one month since Christmas, one month since he’d declared his feelings for her in a snow fort in Mosquito Bay. The snow fort had started to melt when the weather warmed up a few days later, but their relationship was a different matter.

  “Good morning,” she murmured. “When do we have to leave?”

  It was Chinese New Year today, and they were going back to Mosquito Bay to have dinner with his family. Tomorrow, they would visit hers.

  He checked the clock. It was eight.

  “No rush,” he said. “Although if it takes as long to get there as last time, we won’t make it for dinner tonight.”

  “True, but I don’t think there’s any danger of that.”

  Yes, since there was no snow in the forecast, their drive should be fine.

  The past month had been wonderful. Familiar and new all at the same time. They frequently spent the night together, and waking up with her never got old.

  They were planning to move in together soon. Likely, she would move into his place, and then they would look at buying a house, hopefully by next Christmas.

  They were making plans for their future together, and he loved it.

  When her hand slipped under his shirt, he grunted. A grunt of pleasure—as Tasha would know. Perhaps they could stay in bed a little longer before they got on with their day.

  “Zach’s bringing a girlfriend,” he said. “Did I tell you?”

  “No. I didn’t know he was seeing anyone.”

  “I didn’t either, until yesterday. It’s lucky for him, though. My family had talked about setting him up again. Actually...”

  Now that Greg thought about it, perhaps Zach didn’t have a girlfriend and had just convinced a woman to come as his date so his parents wouldn’t set him up with anyone. Perhaps this was a fake girlfriend.

  Greg considered the possibility for a minute, then dismissed it.

  No, a fake girlfriend for Chinese New Year seemed a bit extreme. His imagination must be running away with itself again.

  He turned over so he was facing Tasha and grinned.

  Usually, he hated it when people changed their plans on him, but rekindling his relationship with Tasha hadn’t been in the plans, and he was very glad it had happened.

  Now, his plan was to be with her for always.

  And maybe have a little fun in this warm, queen-size bed before they got on the road.

  * * * * *

  Thank you for reading A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas. Zach’s story, A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year, will be out in January! More details and pre-order links here.

  To learn about my new releases, sign up for my newsletter. You will receive a free copy of the novella One Bed for Christmas, a standalone prequel to my Baldwin Village series. If you’d like to read another Christmas novella with a snowstorm and only one bed, definitely check this out! It’s a friends-to-lovers story.

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to my editor, Latoya C. Smith, for helping me make this book the best it could be, as well as Essie for her assistance with the manuscript. The wonderful cover was created by Flirtation Designs.

  Thank you also to Toronto Romance Writers, and to my family for all your support.

  About the Author

  Jackie Lau decided she wanted to be a writer when she was in grade two, sometime between writing “The Heart That Got Lost” and “The Land of Shapes.” She later studied engineering and worked as a geophysicist before turning to writing romance novels. Jackie lives in Toronto with her husband, and despite living in Canada her whole life, she hates winter. When she’s not writing, she enjoys gelato, gourmet donuts, cooking, hiking, and reading on the balcony when it’s raining.

  Find out more at jackielaubooks.com. You can also follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or join her Facebook reader group, Northern Heat, with fellow Canadian rom-com authors Jenny Holiday and Farah Heron.

  Also by Jackie Lau

  Holidays with the Wongs Series

  A Match Made for Thanksgiving

  A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas

  A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year

  A Big Surprise for Valentine’s Day

  Baldwin Village Series

  One Bed for Christmas (prequel novella)

  The Ultimate Pi Day Party

  Ice Cream Lover

  Man vs. Durian

  Chin-Williams Series

  Not Anothe
r Family Wedding

  He’s Not My Boyfriend

  Kwan Sisters Series

  Grumpy Fake Boyfriend

  Mr. Hotshot CEO