CARTER
Most people hate the airport during the holiday season, but I get off on the buzz of all the travelers. Everyone is headed somewhere with excitement and anticipation on their faces. I can’t help but wonder where every person who walks past me might be going.
As I wait in the ride-share area of the airport in Vermont, I make up stories in my head about the people waiting around me. What they might be here for. Whether they’re returning home or here to visit someone.
By the time my ride pulls up at the curb, the end of my nose feels like the tip of an icicle, and my cheeks tingle from the cold air. The sixty-year-old man gets out of the car to help me with my bags, but I wave him off, placing my bag in the trunk myself.
He shuts his trunk and sticks out his hand. “I’m Rich.”
“Carter.” I shake his hand, and his smile deepens, forming more wrinkles around his eyes.
“Let’s get in. It’s freezing.”
We both settle into the SUV, me blowing into my hands to warm them.
“You’re headed to the Elderberry Motel in Mistletoe Falls?”
“I am.”
He veers the SUV away from the curb. “Beautiful little town. Especially at Christmas. The missus is always asking me to take her there this time of year.”
“They go all out for Christmas?”
“Son, it’s the Christmas capital of Vermont.”
My forehead wrinkles. That’s one fact Steph didn’t inform me about. Though why would she? I could have researched this place before coming, but I’m here because it’s where my friends want to get married. Plus, it’s not like her sister wants to share her town with me.
“Sounds like fun.” I pull my water bottle out of my bag and guzzle half of it. Flying always dehydrates me, short trip or not.
Staring out the window, the scenery changes from city to evergreen forest. The street is covered with a light dust of snow. Whenever the wind blows through the trees, some of the snow on the branches falls to the ground. The mountains rise in the distance as we make our way closer.
We drive on a two-lane highway for a while, seeing only an odd house or gas station dotting the landscape as we grow closer to Mistletoe Falls.
I plan to check in at the motel before heading to Ashley’s B&B to check with Doug and Steph about our morning itinerary. Last time I talked to Doug, he mentioned that they were behind because Steph had been on set so much these past few months.
They’re both in the entertainment industry. Steph has been pursuing an acting career since we graduated from college, and she finally landed a recurring role on a popular television series a couple of years ago. Doug spends most of his time managing her career and those of a few other up-and-coming actors.
It’s been something witnessing their dreams coming true, but I wish I didn’t have the feeling that I’m being left behind. Not because of anything they’ve done, but because I feel like I’m missing out onsomething.I can’t figure out what.
In many ways, my life has just happenedtome. Lately, I’ve been questioning who I am and what I want. I made all the decisions I thought I was supposed to along the way. I went to college, earned my degree, completed an internship, and started working in my field right after graduation. All for what? To be what? Now, I’m… here. And I don’t feel as fulfilled as I should after doing everything by the book.
I shake the self-analysis that’s been my life the last year when I see the sign on the side of the road reading, “Welcome to Mistletoe Falls.”
Rich wasn’t kidding. Mistletoe Falls puts my small town, Climax Cove, to shame.
Every building on Main Street is lined with Christmas lights, highlighting the building’s shape, its doors, and its windows. String lights in the shape of snowflakes hang from one side of the street to the other. Big bundles of mistletoe wrapped in red ribbon are placed in the middle of the lights, and every ornate streetlight is wrapped in greenery with big shiny balls that reflect the lights around them.
“Is this the set of a movie?” I mumble.
My family are huge Christmas movie watchers, and every year we make a list of movies to watch. I’ll miss most of it this year since I’ll be here, but my sister, Brynn, promised she wouldn’t let anyone watch my favorites until I get home.
Rich laughs. “Now you see why the missus loves it so much.”
We pass by the town hall, where a huge evergreen is decorated with lights and Christmas balls. They probably plucked that tree right off one of the nearby mountains.
Everything about this town is welcoming. It may not be New York City, but there’s still a bustle of people moving from shop to shop, packages in hand. Kids trail behind their parents, sucking on the ends of candy canes.
“It feels almost fake.”
