But it’s not just the physical stuff. It’s who she is at her core. She’s quieter and doesn’t seem to enjoy attention. I love Steph, but Ashley is gentler, more sensitive, and more in tune with people and their feelings. She seems to prefer a quieter life than her sister and takes pleasure in the little things.
I take another big gulp of my eggnog, unsure what’s going on with me.
“I’m an Oregon kid, so I’ve never spent Christmas anywhere warm. Always thought it would be weird, that without snow, it’d feel less like Christmas. What was it like in Florida? Did you have a palm tree as your Christmas tree?”
She gives me a bored, unimpressed look, but there’s a hint of a smile to suggest she likes me flirting with her. I’m way too old for those to be butterflies I’m feeling in my stomach.
“Very original there.” There’s her full smile again. “Florida has a different vibe, definitely. Sucking on candy canes when it was warm or needing sunblock while we watched for Santa at the Winterfest parade didn’t feel weird. But I didn’t realize how much I prefer this until I moved here.”
“Was Christmas a big deal in your house?” I’m not sure why Ashley seems so willing to open up to me at the moment, but I’m going to use it to my advantage.
She shrugs. “We celebrated Christmas, but it was never a huge deal around our house, you know? I always wished we had made it more of a focus. Maybe that’s part of why I fell in love with this town.” She sips her eggnog, and my eyes fixate on her mouth over the rim.
Get it together, man, she’s drinking eggnog, not sucking your dick.
“Then you’d be in shock with my family.” I finish my glass of eggnog.
“Oh yeah?”
“Last year, my parents booked a resort for my entire family. We have this competition every year where we play to win our picture as the star on the tree. I won the year before last.” Her eyebrows raise. “Yeah, admitting that out loud is kind of embarrassing.”
I love spending every Christmas with my family. It’s the one time of year everyone is in the same spot for an extended period of time. Now that Tre and Tessa have Ryah and Maisie, it’s even more critical. I don’t want to be the uncle my nieces don’t know.
The only thing that makes my smile falter is that Faith is a part of last year’s memory. Not because I’m sad she’s no longer in my life, but because I wish I’d already met the right person, my person, so I can share my family’s crazy traditions with them.
I push a hand through my hair. Jesus, since when do the holidays make me so sentimental and introspective? “I’m going to get a refill. You want some?”
Ashley shakes her head and holds up her cup. “Still working on mine.”
I return shortly with a fresh cup of eggnog. We chat for a while longer, while some of Ashley’s friends and neighbors stop by to say hello. Everyone seems really nice, but more than that, they seem to really adore Ashley. I understand why because I’m starting to adore her too.
“We need to fill out ornaments on the tree.” She hastily finishes her eggnog.
“I’m assuming that’s why there are paper ornaments all over the tree?”
“Yeah, it’s a Mistletoe Falls tradition. They say that every year, one person who puts a wish on the tree has their wish come true.”
I chuckle, but she doesn’t, so I clear my throat. “Is that so?”
“I’m serious.” She takes my hand, dragging me toward the Christmas tree in the far corner.
I’m too stunned to say anything, stuck on the softness of her palm in mine. Maybe it’s just her good mood. I have noticed that as the night has gone on, she’s coming out of her shell.
So I don’t spill it, I down the rest of my eggnog and toss the empty cup in the garbage as we pass by.
When we reach the tree, she points at a small round table beside it. There are bell-shaped pieces of paper and markers scattered over it. “You write down the wish of your heart. The one thing you truly want the most. And if you do, and you put it on the tree, yours might be the one that comes true.”
My eyebrows raise. “That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s not. Mrs. Wilkinson wrote down that she wanted her cat to make a miraculous recovery, and he did. The vet told her the day before that he only had less than a week to live. Explain that.” She crosses her arms in the cute way she gets all defensive when she’s trying to prove me wrong.
“Easy. The vet was looking at another cat’s chart? The cat found the will to live?”
She rolls her eyes and grabs a piece of paper and a marker, shoving both into my chest. “Whether you believe it or not, write down your wish. You’ve got nothing to lose, right?”
She has a point, so I take the paper and marker, walking to the other side of the table to write down my wish. Nothing comes to me.
I lean over the table, one palm pressed to it, the other holding the marker, considering what my wish really is. If I could makea wish and know it would come true, what would I wish for? To start a successful business? Sure, that’s important to me.
