Page 12 of Pining for You

She’s right. Cooper is so much more than a Christmas tree farm. It’s a center of community. It’s a place where traditions are made and kept up and passed down. All those small moments that become stories and eventually little family legends. It’s what makes it so special. And right now, I want to show Eve more.

I take a breath and make a snap decision to guide us a little off course, even though it’s definitely not the most efficient.

“Here, this way,” I say, waving her and Hugo over and leading us to a scenic overlook. It’s a spot where we direct guests when they want a really spectacular view or a perfect photo op.

“Wow,” she says, with Hugo at her side. Their eyes widen to take it all in as we step into the clearing, and I low-key beam with pride. I knew this view would land.

“Check it out,” I say, and point into the distance. “See that little area with the booths? They’re getting ready for the Christmas Eve Bazaar. It’s a fundraiser—tons of people come out to buy from local vendors, who then donate some of what they make back to the farm.”

“Super cool,” she says, without taking her eyes off the bustling village. “But are you all worried about the storm?”

I almost forgot about the Polar Quasar in all this.

“Ah, yes. Well, the farm is big on preparedness. But then again…” I look up at the sky once more, and it hasn’t changed. It’s still as clear and blue as it was back at Diya’s station. “… it does seem kind of hard to imagine right now. What’s your take?”

“Mm.” Eve raises a hand to shield her eyes from the winter sun. “Well, I have my theories, but I can’t say just yet.”

“Because… you have a nondisclosure agreement with the clouds?”

“You’re funny, Strudel,” she says dryly. And even though she doesn’t actually laugh this time, I take it as a huge win.

“Well, thank you,” I say. “But if you’ve got some intel, I’d love to know. Lot of people around here taking bets on the storm—there are turkeys at stake!”

“Turkeys?” She looks at me sideways now.

“Never mind, it’s a weird farm thing…”

“Okay. Well, I don’t know if I’d put money on it, but…,” she starts, then pauses and adjusts her backpack. I resist the urge to offer to carry it for her, like a jock in a high school rom-com. “It’s kind of silly. But my mom had this way of predicting snow. She said if you see a ring of light around the moon the night before, it means it’s gonna be major.”

I gasp. Actually gasp. “No. Way.”

“Well, I mean, I can’t prove it or anything,” she says, a little defensively. “It’s just a thing she said.”

“No, sorry. It’s just that my mom says the same thing. When we were little, she used to take my sister and me outside to check. Even when it was, like, really late on a school night or freezing out. But I’ve never met anyone else who believed that. I always thought it was just something from where she grew up in Tennessee—some southern superstition.”

“I don’t think so—my mom was from Mexico. But that’s so weird.”

I’m staring again, stunned by the fact that this girl is the only other person I’ve ever met who knows about my mother’s snow-predicting moon magic. That has to be… Fate! But I don’t want to freak her out, so instead I say, “What a coincidence…”

“Yeah,” she says, looking into my eyes, like maybe she thinks that word isn’t big enough either, but also doesn’t want to say it. “Wild.”

And wild is how I feel inside, but I stand stock-still, frozen in her gaze.

“I guess that means we’ll be the only two people who know what’s really going to happen by tomorrow,” she adds.

“The only ones with the magic,” I say, because I can’t help myself this time.

She laughs. “Well, I don’t know about that. But my mom would have agreed. She fully believed in magic.”

It hits me then that Eve said her mom was, that she believed. Does that mean her mom isn’t… Even with this thing between us, though, it doesn’t feel like a question you ask someone you just met, so I pivot.

“Am I getting that you don’t?” I ask her. “Believe in magic, I mean?”

I try to disguise my panic. If Eve is a nonbeliever, it’s not a dealbreaker, but she might not take me seriously.

Eve rolls her head back and forth. “Mmm. I guess I like things I can prove.”

“Ah, now I get the documentary thing.”