“On the count of three?” Cassidy asked.
Liam nodded. “One, two, three,” they counted together, and then tossed their tags into the fire.
The blue and orange flames licked at the edges of the paper, scattering their wishes into the night. He wondered—just for a moment—if it was possible to ever truly forgive himself. To stop living in the past. To stop measuring every happy moment against what he’d lost.
To let go of the guilt. The what-ifs. The endless replays.
Probably not, he thought.
But maybe… maybe his past didn’t have to haunt him every time the snow started to fall.
He glanced at Cassidy. The way she smiled at the firelight. The way she made space for joy, for life. Trained her gaze to focus on that.
Maybe he wasn’t ready to let go of his past yet.
But for one night, he could show up for someone who was living in the present.
And that was something.
FIFTEEN
CASSIDY
Tuesday, December 2nd
Cassidy still couldn’t believe Liam was being such a good sport about everything.
Sure, he’d agreed to the tree lighting ceremony, the Christmas wish tags. But was it because he actually wanted to hang out with her? Or because he felt sorry for her because she was new?
That part she wasn’t sure about, and it was driving her just a little bit crazy.
There were moments, though, quick, quiet ones, when she caught his eye and it felt like something shifted. Like a flicker of understanding passed between them. Not just attraction—though there was still plenty of that—but something else. It felt like he understood her. There was just this sense of a growing attraction between them that she could neither explain nor deny. She had never felt so intensely, so quickly, for someone else before.
But then he’d step back. Or keep his voice even. Or walk a little farther away than he had to.
And Cassidy hated to say it, but it kind of felt like Liam had quietly friend-zoned her.
If he’d been into her, wouldn’t he be flirting more? Walking closer? Maybe brushing her hand by accident, or not by accident? But no. He wasn’t doing any of that.
Cassidy told herself that was a good thing. She was off men until the start of next year. She was focusing on her fledgling business and the upcoming Christmas Light-Up Display Competition. That’s where her attention should be. She didn’t want to screw things up.
These were the thoughts swirling in her head as they walked side by side from the Christmas wish station back toward the sleigh while kids beelined in front of them to visit the Santa House.
As they crossed the square, Cassidy noticed how everyone seemed to know Liam. People waved from all directions. There were older couples, teens, parents juggling toddlers. He high-fived kids, exchanged cheerful hellos with parents, and even got a greeting from a minister.
“Liam, good to see you. Heard you made a Christmas wish this year,” Pastor Rodgers said, giving him a pat on the back.
Liam seemed to tense under the touch.
The clergy member didn’t seem to notice. But Cassidy did. Just like the way she noticed his forced smile and fake laugh when Mrs. Humphrey said she was surprised to see him out and about this time of year, and Mrs. Bishop asked Cassidy how much she’d had to pay him to take a stroll with her down Christmas Lane.
Yeah, this was not going to work.
“We don’t have to do the sleigh thing,” Cassidy said quietly. “Actually… would you rather skip all this and go for a walk? There’s that path behind the shops that loops around the lake?”
“You’d give up your Christmas cheer for me?”
“Just pressing pause. It’ll all still be here later.”
