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“It’s cheaper than a lawsuit,” I pointed out.

“Well, we weren’t going to pay you,” Mom said, like the idea was absurd.

I shifted my eyes to Lauren as if to say I told you so.

Mom looked past us. “Ah, the beautiful bride. Excuse me, you two.”

She ran off, pulling Dad behind her with Charles and Margaret in tow.

Lauren waited until they were out of earshot to turn to me. “Claus?”

I arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t know?”

“No, I didn’t. So she’s going to be Mrs. Claus,” she deadpanned.

“That is correct.”

“God, I hope she hyphenates it.”

I scoffed.

We moved up again in line.

“Do they ever film Hallmark movies up here?” she asked. “I feel like this place would be perfect.”

“All. The. Time. They do it in January and February after the tourists have cleared out. The hotels are cheaper and the decorations are still up.”

“That’s smart. So it’s Christmas here into the spring, then?” she asked.

“Yes. And it starts immediately after Halloween.”

She tapped it out on her fingers. “Five months of Christmas?”

“Yup.”

“Huh. That is a lot.”

It was our turn to order at the bar. I got her the Frosty the Snowman and I got whatever other apple shmapple doodly doo cocktail they were making so she could try both and pick the one she liked. The Frosty the Snowman had a toasted marshmallow garnish. We took our drinks and moved over to a cocktail table with a red tablecloth and a fake plastic holly centerpiece. Servers with platters of appetizers were floating around. I flagged them down and grabbed her one of everything except the eggnog cheesecake bites.

“Awww, you remembered,” she said when I passed on it.

“Well, it was just last night.”

“It feels like it’s been so much longer,” she said, eating a bacon-wrapped sausage.

It did feel longer. It was weird. Not that time passed quickly for me here. The five months of Christmas always felt like eons.

“These are good,” she said, nodding at her hors d’oeuvres.

“It never ceases to amaze me how many ways they figure out how to use Brie and cranberries here,” I said, eating some on a cracker.

I did like the holiday food in Little Christmas. I think I’d forgotten that part. The seasonal shepherd’s pie and prime rib at Donner & Blitzen’s, the cinnamon rolls from Yuletide’s Bakery.

I bet Lauren would like those things. I made a mental note of the places I wanted to take her while she was here. We were already going to the parade. She’d get to see Santa’s Sleigh.

“So both Nick’s and your parents got married in under nine days,” she said. “Kind of surprising you don’t believe in that kind of thing.”

“That is the exception, not the rule,” I said. “The one in a million, trust me. And I don’t know why you’re giving me such a hard time when you also don’t believe you can fall in love in three days.”