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“No, I have you.”

I gave her a reproachful look. “The shop is for you. It’s so that you have assets.”

“Okay. Then you can buy it from me. Will that make you feel better?”

“I mean, a little—”

“I’ll sell it to you for a dollar.”

“Noel!”

“What?” She laughed. “I want you with me. It’ll be for both of us. You just told me you lost your job, so the timing is perfect.”

I blew out a foggy breath. “I don’t know…”

“You deserve this, Lauren. And you’re the best thing for that business. You’ll make it amazing, I know you will.”

I shook my head and looked away from her. “I don’t know if I want to live in Little Christmas. There are no shoe stores here, Noel.”

“We’ll get used to it…”

“I need to think about it. This is a huge commitment.”

When I looked back at her, she looked sad. “I don’t care about shoe stores,” she said quietly. “But I really do care that I won’t be near you. It’s the only thing that makes me question whether I’m doing the right thing.”

My eyes went soft. “Don’t say that. I mean, you love him, right?”

She nodded. “I do.”

“Then that’s the answer. I’d totally leave you for some guy I just met a few days ago.”

She snorted.

I held her gloved hands in mine. “I will think about it. It’s a very generous offer. Maybe the best one I’ll ever get. But if I’m going to reinvent myself, I need to ask myself who I want to be.”

And where.

I didn’t want to say it out loud. I didn’t even want to admit it to myself because the idea was ridiculous. But if I could go anywhere, I could go to Chicago. I could move closer to William.

I liked him. And I hadn’t liked anyone in a really, really long time. Maybe if I lived there, I could get to know him better. We’d become friends. There would be a chance of something.

If I lived here… well. That would be that.

Little Christmas has a force field around it that only repels William. It was the last place in the world he’d come to willingly. Moving here would almost guarantee I’d never see him again. It was wild that this was a consideration for me—I just met him. But it was.

It’s funny, because if I did decide on Chicago, Noel would be disappointed, but it would be her who inspired it.

I had to give it to her, she was doing something bananas, but she was doing it with her entire heart. She knew what she wanted and she went for it. I’d never possessed that kind of bravery. But I wanted to.

I also had no obligation to be the same person I was yesterday, and I think I’d lost sight of that. Maybe I needed to lose my job to force me to make decisions I wouldn’t otherwise make. Maybe I’d look back on today ten years from now and remember that this was the catalyst for who I became. The kick in the ass I needed to be more.

I had a lot of soul-searching to do.

“I promise to think on it,” I said.

“Okay,” she said. “Thank you.” She hooked her arm in mine again and we kept walking. “Also, I’m going to throw the bouquet right at you,” she said.

“Ha. I’m going to duck and weave.”