by Meg Easton
“Ew,” Timini said. “How long has this pizza been sitting here?”
Matt glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Like six hours. What are you guys doing?”
“Getting you lowlifes off the couch,” Shad said as he opened the curtains. Aaron and Matt both shielded their eyes from the brightness of the setting sun.
Ian kicked the bottom of Aaron’s shoe, making his leg move from where it had been resting for way too long. “I expect Matt to wallow. No offense, Matt.”
Matt raised a hand. “None taken.”
“But not you, Aaron. This isn’t like you at all.”
He shrugged. It really wasn’t like him. “Well, I’ve never thrown away a chance at a real relationship with someone like Macie before, so it seemed appropriate.”
“Up,” Julie said, offering her hand to help pull him up. “We all know you don’t go Christmas shopping until school gets out for the break, so we’re going to take you.”
Dennis held a hand out to Matt. “Because we know if we don’t, none of us will be getting presents from you turkeys.”
It actually felt good to get out around people in the one department store in Mountain Springs. And to move his legs again, see bright lights, and talk to people who weren’t as miserable as he and Matt were.
All though it felt good, it still didn’t feel right. Macie had redefined what “right” was for him, without him even realizing that it happened. He was twenty when his engagement to Sabrina had ended. Here he was, a full nine years later, and he was pretty sure that he was worse at dealing with a breakup now. Should he be missing Macie this much? He had only known her for a few weeks, after all. But the impact she’d left on him was so much greater.
He’d only brought her to his city once. Yet everything here reminded him of her. A dress on display in the center aisle was almost the same color of blue as the one Macie had worn at Winter Formal, when they’d danced like they’d been dancing together their whole lives. In a Lego display, he saw the same set they’d gotten the little boy during Hayride of the Santas. The shoe section reminded him of running barefoot in Dennis and Julie’s backyard. Some Christmas stockings hanging on a printed cardboard cutout reminded him of the picture they’d drawn at her work party. And of the stockings hanging on her parents’ mantle.
Maybe he would never get over her.
“So, I was talking with Ciara,” Annah said, and Matt straightened like he was on full alert. “She said she might be open to going to marriage counseling with you.”
“What?” He grabbed Annah’s shoulders. “She really said that?”
Annah smiled. “I’m sure it will take some heavy-duty repentance on your part.”
“And major, major groveling,” Ian added.
“And never ever ever even thinking about another woman again,” Timini said.
“You hurt her a lot,” Annah said. “And that’s not going to be an easy or quick thing to get over. But deep down, she still loves you. And before all this happened, you two had something special.”
“Do everything you can to make things right,” Ian said. “Keep doing them until you can convince yourself and her that there’s no chance it’ll happen again, and you never know. You might get a second chance.”
Matt practically floated down the aisle, but Aaron stayed at the back of the group, lagging behind everyone else. Julie slowed to Aaron’s speed and bumped her shoulder into his. “You’re being awfully quiet.”
“I’m just surprised, I guess. Why would Ciara even think of taking him back?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes things aren’t as broken and unfixable as they can appear to be.”
Chapter Nineteen
Paws and Relax still needed Macie. The animals still needed Macie. Emily still needed Macie. So she went to work on Saturday like she always did. She gave all the shoppers chances to relax and recover and prepare for their second trip into the fray. She gave little kids who were stir-crazy from being strapped into shopping carts too long a chance to run and play with pets. And she gave people who were saddened by the holidays a chance to brighten their day.
And then she took Reese and Lola home, walked straight to her room, and shut the door behind her.
She wasn’t sure how much later—a couple of hours, maybe?—Marcus knocked on her door. “We’re about to watch a movie. Come join us.”
She didn’t respond.
“It’ll do you good.” He paused. “Come on, Macie. Emily said you shut yourself in your office at work whenever you could, too.”
Macie grabbed a blanket out of her closet, walked out of her room, put her coat, gloves, scarf, hat, and boots on, and then walked out the back door. She walked out to where the snow was nice and deep and untouched, spread the blanket out right on top of the snow, and then flopped down on it, the snow beneath her forming to her body, feeling as close to lying on a cloud that she could imagine.
There. She was out of her room.
Her breaths made little cloud puffs in front of her face as she stared up at the stars, Christmas music wafting across the backyards of her family. It was probably coming from Everett’s house. She heard songs a little further away, coming from Christmas carolers at one of her neighbors’.
A few minutes later, light spilled onto the snow from the back door. She closed her eyes, hoping it wasn’t Marcus or Joselyn coming out to talk. A moment later, though, Reese leapt onto the blanket with her, wearing his booties so his paws wouldn’t get too cold in the snow. She sat up to say thank you, but she only saw the back door close.
Reese seemed to know exactly what she needed— someone to just be next to her as she grieved, and to have zero expectations. He stretched his body out next to hers, and she petted the fur at his neck.
“I really liked him, Reese.” She took a few slow breaths. “And because I know you won’t tell anyone, I’ll confide in you that I think maybe I even loved him. Okay, I know I loved him, and I loved him a lot. I think I started falling in love on that very first day, but I wasn’t willing to admit it, because it wasn’t part of the plan.
“And now he’s gone.”
Reese whined, and Macie wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.
“He was just unlike anyone I’ve ever dated. I mean, it’s not like I’ve never dated anyone where we connected in the way we have fun before. Or connected in the way we work in a partnership. Or connected in the way we treat kids. It’s just I’ve never experienced all of that with the same person before. Plus, you saw us, Reese. Standing next to each other, we just look like we belong together, don’t you think?”
Reese barked and then licked her neck. Macie chuckled and rubbed behind his ears.
“Remember how I said that I wasn’t going to hope? Zero hope for six months. I said that, right? Well, I guess I opened the door just a teeny crack, and when I wasn’t looking, hope snuck its way in. And I’m talking a lot of it. I didn’t even realize how much had gotten in until Aaron broke things off yesterday.”
She turned her face toward the stars again, and listened as the Christmas carolers started a new song, to the east of where they were before.
“What do I do, Reese? What do you do when you you’ve been searching for your needle in a haystack ever since high school, so for nine years, and then right when you give up, you feel one in your hand, and you think it might be your actual needle? And before you’ve even had enough of a chance to bask in the sunlight that’s glinting off the needle, it disappears, poof! right out of your hand.” Reese whimpered and nuzzled in a little closer.
She looked off to the side, twisting to see the empty lot that was hers, covered in a blanket of untouched snow.
“What do you say, Reese? Me and you can build a house there. We’ll find you a wife— an adorable, stalwart lab who will stand by your side, and the two of you can have a houseful of puppies. We’ll find a great husband for Lola, too, and they can have a bunch of puppies, and all your puppies can romp and wrestle and play together like they�
�re cousins. And then every time I’m sad that I don’t have my own spouse and houseful of kids, you can just come lay next to me and listen to me and whine at all the right places, because you’re super good at that.”
Reese rolled onto his stomach and put a paw on her shoulder, and just looked at her like he understood. Then he leaned his head forward and licked her cheek, wiping off a tear that had slipped out, making her laugh. “Okay, you know you just left my cheek more wet than it was, right? You’re a good boy, Reese. Thanks for always being by my side.”
Chapter Twenty
Aaron finished his Christmas shopping during the day of Christmas Eve. Alone. That had never bothered him before—he enjoyed doing things in groups, but he had always been perfectly fine doing pretty much anything solo. But today somehow felt like a window into his future. A future where his friends were with their spouses, off to visit family, and he was alone.
Braving the traffic and the crowds of last-minute shoppers, he had headed to the closest mall on the outskirts of Denver. He had just bought the last gift on his list when he felt his phone buzzing. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at his screen. It was his sister Aliza.
He frowned at the screen. He, his sister, his mom, and his dad always did a group video call on Christmas day. That way, they all didn’t have to make multiple calls to get in their obligatory chat with everyone, and if there was a lag in the conversation, there were four people to fill it instead of just two. His sister didn’t just call out of the blue like this. He hoped that everything was okay.
“Hello?”
“Hey, big brother.”
“Hi, Aliza. Is everything okay?”
“Can’t a girl call her big brother on Christmas Eve even if nothing is wrong?”
“She can call anytime. It’s just a little unprecedented.”
“Well, you know me—I like being unpredictable. How deep is the snow in icicle-land?”
“A few inches above my knees. How hot’s the oven in Phoenix?”
“A little chilly, actually. Sixty-eight. Although if you were here, I bet you’d be wearing shorts, even though it looks like it might rain.”
Aaron laughed. “Probably.”
“Okay, enough with the idle chit-chat. I called for a real reason, and I wanted to tell you before the family video chat.”
Aaron paused a moment, then realized he was stopping right in the middle of the hallway of the mall and kept walking. “I’m listening.”
“A while ago, I met a guy. His name is Frederick, and he’s pretty great, actually. We’ve been dating for most of this year, and Saturday night he proposed to me right below the lanterns at Lights of the World.”
“You’re...engaged?” Aaron spotted a chair five feet away and practically fell into it.
“Can you believe it? One of the offspring of Ken and Sheri Hall somehow survived their parents’ fiasco of a divorce and is going to get married.”
“An impressive feat indeed. I’d like to offer my congratulations. You sound really happy.”
“I am. Thank you.”
“Aren’t you worried that—what?” Aaron’s attention flew to the man standing in front of him with his hands on his hips, wearing an elf suit.
“You’re in my seat,” the angry elf said.
Aaron looked around and noticed for the first time that he’d fallen into a seat in Santa’s court, where kids were lined up to sit on Santa’s lap, surrounded by giant-sized candy canes and lollipops and gumdrops. And the seat he was sitting in looked more like a throne than the mall benches nearby.
“Oh, sorry. Here you go. Merry Christmas.”
He grabbed his bags and started walking again.
“Aaron? What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Except I think an elf just put my name on the naughty list. Okay, so you’re engaged. Don’t you worry that things might turn out like they did for Mom and Dad?”
“Or like they did for you and Sabrina?”
“I like that you don’t tiptoe around subjects that might be sensitive.”
“You know me, bro. I call it like I see it. Besides, it’s been nine years. I figured you were over it by now.”
“I am. It’s just that all that kind of stuff resurfaced lately, so it feels fresh.”
“Uh oh. Do you want to talk about it?”
“This call is about you, not me.” He pushed open the outside doors and headed into the parking lot.
“Okay, you asked if I worry that my marriage will turn out like Mom’s and Dad’s, and the answer is no. It’s a worry I’ve had pretty much constantly in the past, though. I’m a drop-dead gorgeous dancer with an MBA—this wasn’t the first time I’ve been proposed to. A couple of them were really great guys, too. Ones who would’ve made pretty fantastic husbands. But this is the first time where I felt like not only was he a great guy, but a great guy for me specifically. And it was the first time where I felt like I had gotten past the way I got screwed up as a teenager going through Mom’s and Dad’s divorce.”
“So there’s a way to get past that then?” He pushed the button on his key fob to pop his trunk and then put his bags inside.
“There is. It kind of surprised me, too. I mean, there’s not a magic way or anything. A lot of it just happened over time. It probably has for you, too, and you just haven’t realized it. I just got to a point where I realized that I am not Mom and Dad. Frederick is not Mom and Dad. They faced some challenges, sure. But they made a choice to put other things before each other, and I’ve chosen not to. I’m marrying someone who is just as dedicated as I am to putting each other first. When we’re faced with challenges, we aren’t going to make the same mistake.”
Aaron opened his car door and got inside. “And he’s a good guy?”
“One of the best I’ve ever known. This woman who’s on your mind—”
“I never said there was a woman.”
“Well, maybe not with your actual words, but it’s coming across loud and clear. Is she a good person?”
He put the key in the ignition, but didn’t turn it. “The very best there is.”
“A decade ago, Mom and Dad caused us a lot of pain, and I think we’ve both been carrying it around with us. It’s kind of scary to lay down a load that’s become a part of who we are. But Aaron?”
“Yeah?”
“It also feels pretty great. People aren’t meant to be alone. It took me a long time to realize that applies to me, too.”
Aaron had always figured it didn’t apply to him, either. And before Macie, he was perfectly fine with being alone. She had opened a door in him that hadn’t ever been opened before, and now he wasn’t sure if he’d ever be fine being alone again. Could he lay down that pain he’d been carrying with him? It really had become a big part of who he was. Did he dare lay it down and walk away from it? Could he have enough faith and trust in himself and in Macie to believe that they could make it work?
“Thank you, Aliza. Out of all the people who could’ve helped me figure things out, I would’ve never guessed the best advice would come from family.”
“Remember when you were going through your big breakup and we used to talk all the time?”
“Yeah.”
“We should do that again. If I’ve learned anything in the past few weeks, it’s that family matters. I would love to have a more than twice-a-year brother.”
Family mattered. It’s something he had just begun to learn, too. “I would like that too.” He thought about what Macie’s dad had said when they put up the stockings at their Christmas Kickoff party. Your relationships with your family matters. He’d told them the importance of talking things out and fixing things and nurturing each other. That relationships take work, but it was the most valuable work he could do. That it was important to keep those links strong. Aaron now knew that it was important with his own family, and it was important with the woman he wanted to become family.
He turned the key in the ignition and let the phone call switch over to t
he car. “Thank you, Aliza. I’m really glad you called. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go—I’ve got to get in touch with someone. I might call you before the family video chat tomorrow.”
Aliza paused, and then said, “Before?” with a little too much excitement and question behind the word.
“Maybe. I guess it all depends on how good I am at apologizing and making up for being a complete jerk to someone who didn’t deserve it, and in convincing her of how much I love her.”
“Then I’ll definitely be rooting for before.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Macie walked into her room, carrying bags filled with all the papers from her office. She pulled her phone out of her pocket when it buzzed, looked at the text, and groaned before tossing all the bags on her bed.
“Not a happy text?” Joselyn asked from the doorway.
“It’s Max Cohen. He said that he’s not trying to rush me, but he’d like to start preparing everything for the building to go up for sale on January first if I’m not going to put in an offer, so the sooner I let him know the direction I’m going, the better. He’s hoping for a quick sale.”
“And have you decided what you’re going to do?”
“I just don’t see how I can possibly put in an offer. But if I tell him no, what do I do with the animals when the building sells? I’ve looked, and haven’t found a location to move the business to. Do I just close up shop and have the animals I rescued from the shelter go back there?” The whole thing made her stomach churn just thinking about it.
She opened the flap of the bag containing the binders with all her financial information. One more look at the information, and she was going to have to decide. It was Christmas Eve, which meant she only had one week left, and nothing that happened with the business was going to change drastically during that time to warrant putting the decision off any longer.