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"About you." She glances at me from the corner of her eye. "And Kieran. And the fact someone said they caught you two kissing at the Christmas market."

"Did they now?" I grin and fluff up the ribbon I just tied. Impeccable. "How interesting."

"Right?" Her eyes drill into the side of my head, but I keep packing my basket, pretending to not notice.

She’s known me all my life. Which means she’s well aware of the fact I don’t do subtleties or implied questions. If she wants to know something, she's going to have to ask me.

"Is it true? Did you kiss Kieran?"

"Yeah." I watch her in my periphery and reach for a new basket, heat creeping into my cheeks. "More than once, actually."

“So you two are an item?” She sounds hopeful, and when I don't immediately deny it, she squeals and breaks into a giggle.

"Oh my god, Brooke. Congratulations!"

"You're not weirded out by it?" I glance at her and tilt my head, confused. No idea how I saw this conversation going, but full acceptance with no ‘but?’ "I mean, he's still Evan's ex."

"Oh, shush." She waves me off, still giggling. "You know, as a mom, you have a certain intuition. It comes with the territory." Her grin widens. "I love Kieran and I love Evan. But the two of them weren’t meant to be."

"Did you tell them as much back then?"

"Oh, hell no." She shakes her head. “Knowing Evan, it would have had the opposite effect. They would have married, realized they weren’t right for each other, and divorced again within half a year. But Kieran's a lovely guy. I didn't even know he moved back into the area. What is he up to?"

I stare out the kitchen window, ignoring my sputtering reflection. "He's, uh..."

How do you explain Kieran's job to someone who's not familiar with social media at all? ‘Basically a stripper on the internet?’

No, I want him to make a good impression here, after all.

"He's a content creator? At least I think that's what he’d call his job. He films… dancing videos and then posts them to Instagram and TikTok. Something like an influencer?" I can’t exactly show her.

I mean, I could. But I really, really don’t want to.

"That is a job?" Mom stares at me, eyes wide and hand holding a bottle of cider hovering in the air.

I shrug, packing maple taffy into the next basket. "Trust me, I didn't know until very recently either. Apparently, it makes good money."

"As long as he’s happy, good for him." She turns back to her basket and promptly mangles the ribbon.

"You know, considering you're the woman who taught me how to tie a ribbon as a child, you are spectacularly bad at it."

I nudge her aside with my hip and take over because that was painful to watch.

"You should bring Kieran over," she declares, ignoring my loving dig.

“To the Christmas party?”

“Yes.” She nods. Then her face falls. “Or not. I know it's spontaneous, but... Ask him if he's free tomorrow evening?" She waves a bottle of cider through the air. "He can get his own gift basket. I bought extra."

"I don't think he needs a gift basket, Mom." I slip an additional pack of Christmas cookies into the basket for good measure. An apology for not quite being able to save the ribbon.

"Shush. Everybody needs a gift basket." She pauses and taps her lip. "Especially someone who might not have received a Christmas gift from family for a while."

Oh. I suck in a sharp breath, almost dropping the ribbon band.

How did I not think of it?

Christmas presents never came up, but considering how much he's been doing for the animals, for me, for the sanctuary...