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I laugh quietly. “I honestly don’t know.”

And for the first time in my life... that doesn’t scare me. It intrigues me. Like I have my whole life ahead of me.

“There she is!” Poppy smiles as I step inside the lodge kitchen. Tessa, Violet, Mack, Sutton, and Cami are all here for our baking day.

I’m hanging up my coat when the smell of cinnamon, vanilla, and browned butter hits me. I close my eyes. “It smells so amazing in here!”

“Thanks to you giving Cami the idea that we all make cinnamon rolls ready to pop in the oven tomorrow for Christmas morning. Ollie and Owen will be so happy when I bring these home. What do you bet they won’t make it until tomorrow?” She laughs.

Cami walks into the room carrying butter. “Hey! I had to get more butter. How are the roads?”

“Not too bad. The plow must have come through recently,” I add as I tie on an apron and head to the sink to wash my hands.

“I loved your idea. We should make this a new tradition every single year. We should all get together and bake before Christmas Day,” Sutton adds, waving from the couch where she’s feeding baby Crew.

“It was actually Ty’s mom’s tradition, and I wanted to incorporate it for him,” I say.

“That is so sweet,” Violet says. “I love Ty. Walker loves him, too.”

“I think Jenna loves him, too,” Cami teases.

I reach over and toss some dough towards her, and she laughs.

After a while, the kitchen is pure chaos. Baking sheets cover every inch of the counters. Bowls of icing sit ready to ice them when they’ve cooled. Christmas music drifts from the speaker in the corner while Sutton rolls out dough with Crew asleep against her chest in a carrier.

“So...” Sutton says as she cuts another snowflake cookie. “How are your brothers?”

“Do you mean the one you’ve been crushing on that we aren’t allowed to mention?” Poppy grins.

Sutton looks at me and back at Poppy and feigns innocence. “No.”

“Uh-huh,” Poppy says, smirking. “Oh, so we’re not talking about he who shall not be named.”

Cami loudly whispers, “She has a secret thing for Weston but won’t admit it.”

“Oh, I do not!” she says as she cups her baby Crew’s head, who is still asleep in his carrier on her chest.

“Does Weston share these feelings, too?” I tease. “And you can talk about this with me, you know. Just don’t tell me if you sleep with him. That I’ll take a hard pass on.”

Sutton’s mouth hangs open, and she closes it before turning to glare at Poppy.

“We aren’t sure what Weston thinks. He hasn’t been around since the fall festival,” Poppy adds.

“I think he gets in tonight,” I say as I roll out some dough.

Sutton pauses when I say this and then goes back to her dough, mumbling something.

“What are your plans for Christmas?” I ask, changing the subject. “Doing anything special for Crew’s first Christmas?”

She smiles. “I’m going to take the cinnamon rolls we make today to my parents in the morning. My sister Rylie is home, and we’re all going to have Christmas morning together.

Sutton has a hobby farm that includes ducks, a goose named Gucifer, two donkeys, a horse, and chickens. Not sure what else she has, but she seems to add to it whenever she rescues an animal. And she’s a single mom. She’s never talked about Crew’s father, but it’s always just been her and Crew. Learning that she has a crush on my brother is a new development.

I smile to myself, imagining Ty out there with Jack, Tucker, and Weston. I wish Weston would come back more. I miss him.

“I’m really glad you’re home, Sweetie. You have no idea how much we’ve missed you around this ranch. It’s just as much your home as it is anyone’s,” Tessa says, squeezing my shoulder.

Emotion catches me completely off guard. I hug her back, blinking quickly. “I’m glad I’m home too.”