“Yeah,” I grunted out. “I’d like that.”
She grinned up at me. “I have somethingelsefor you. Do you want to open it now or wait until later?”
“You didn’t get me a present, did you?” That would be insane. The one and only time we’d talked to each other, I’d been a royal ass.
“Yeah. I planned to give it to you for Christmas.” She looked up at me, almost shyly. “I was going to march down to your cabin and knock on your front door today. It was all part of my get-along-with-the-neighbors plan. I also got something for Hopkins, but he’s already opened his.”
I followed behind her as she headed back out to the living room. She sat down on the old, ratty-looking couch that I remembered from my childhood. It looked like it had seen better days.
Then she gestured to the Christmas tree. “Find yours.”
Nobody had given me a Christmas gift since my dad died. I kneeled down and studied the labels.
Charlotte.
Iris.
Jane.
Boone.
Easton.
Those last two names made me feel cranky somewhere deep inside myself where emotions still lived.
I wonder if one of them is her boyfriend.
Naw, surely she didn’t have a boyfriend. Not with the way she’d reacted to waking up with my cock in her panties. If she’d had a boyfriend, I imagine there would have been a lot more hand-wringing and hysterics.
I knew who Boone was. We’d both done some logging at the same time. And everyone knew Jane. She’d interviewed me for a few jobs I hadn’t been chosen for.Lack of longevity,I remember she’d said.
Then, my fingers landed on the last present under the tree.
Corbin.
My name was printed neat and tidy on a package with Santa Claus wrapping paper on it. The paper looked like it was designed for a kid.
“Sorry about the paper. I’m… on a budget as I bet you can see. And I got it at a yard sale.”
I glanced up at her. In a lot of ways, we’d both had some hardships. One thing was true, I wasn’t sure we had two nickels to rub together between us.
If we got together, we’d be broke but happy.
That thought whipped into my head, surprising the hell out of me.
Then I looked at her,reallylooked at her.
She was sitting on the couch watching me, buoyant hope on her face.
Whatever she wanted from me, I determined right then and there to give it to her.
“Can you forgive me for the way I treated you when we first met, Poppy? I was such a dick. And you’re so… you’re so…perfect.”
She broke into a tiny laugh. “You think I’m perfect? You might be the first person on the planet to think that about me. It’s all forgiven, Corbin. I knew you weren’t a jerk. I saw through your act right away. Hopkins loves you with everything in him. And that dog wouldn’t love a jerk. That’s how I knew you were secretly a sweetheart inside.”
I grumbled back, “No one calls me a sweetheart.”
“Okay, fine. I retract that. How about,” she thought for a second, “the biggest, baddest mountain grump on Red Oak Mountain? Does that sound better?”
