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* * *
They spent the day of Christmas Eve sledding down the hill behind The Dirt Road Cat Shelter with River. Midmorning, Charlie and Rye, and Charlie’s brother, Jack, and Jack’s partner, Simon, showed up and joined them, as did one of River’s friends, Tracy.
Adam hadn’t been particularly looking forward to a day of sledding—cold and wet and sweaty was not his favorite combination—but it was what Gus had wanted to do, and River had arranged it. It had turned out to be a blast, however. As fun as the actual sledding was, Adam was having an even better time watching a gaggle of grownups attempting to fit on sleds clearly made for children.
Charlie and Rye were especially amusing because Charlie’s muscular bulk meant that the sled didn’t want to move, so Rye was having him push the sled and then jump on before it crested the hill, leading to several unexpected accelerations and one notable instance when Charlie missed the sled altogether, and Rye rocketed down the hill by himself while Charlie rolled down, ass over elbow for a few feet, then came to an undignified stop in the snow.
They all loved Gus and she was having the time of her life being the center of their attention (not to mention having their assistance carrying her sled back up the hill).
As the sun began to set and the warmth of home and hearth—or in Adam and Gus’ case, home and TV fire—beckoned, they went their separate ways.
“We’ll see you tomorrow, around eleven?” Adam asked River.
They nodded, cheeks flushed with cold, smiling. “Can’t wait.” They winked at Adam, indicating that everything was set on their end for Gus’ gift.
“Bye, River!” Gus called. Then she practically collapsed into the car, lips chapped, eyes bright, and hair everywhere.
“Have fun, baby?” Adam asked.
“So much fun!”
“Good! What should we do tonight?”
Her smile faded. Adam knew what she was thinking. That they’d planned to spend the evening with Wes.
“Maybe we should try baking more Christmas cookies,” Adam suggested brightly, wanting to preserve her previous good mood.
“Maybe,” she murmured.
* * *
When they turned the corner onto Knockbridge Lane, the first thing Adam saw were the lights. For a moment, he didn’t think anything of it—after all, besides the last two days, they’d had the house lit up at night since they’d started collecting lights.
But this wasn’t just fairy lights. This was...
“Oh my god,” Gus breathed in awe. “The lights are magic.”
Their house and the trees and the lawn around it were...glowing.
It was a green familiar to everyone on Knockbridge Lane because every night it emanated from Wes Mobray’s basement windows. A green that had led Marcy Pennywhistle and her sister to the conviction that Wes Mobray was a sorcerer.
But no one—Adam included—would ever be able to think of that green as evil again. Because now it was the glowing green of pine trees, holly leaves, and wreaths.
The green of Christmas.
It truly did look magical. Adam stopped the car at the curb to take it all in.
There were more fairy lights filling in the sides of the house where they’d run out. The windows each seemed aglow with candle lights, and the ground sparkled with a net of twinkles, like stars had fallen to earth.
The three large trees in the front and side of the house glowed with a subtle pulsation, just like the trees they’d seen in the clearing in the woods with Wes. On the front door was a large wreath that seemed to be made of antlers woven with boughs of holly.
But although he agreed with Gus that the glowing lights looked magic, it was something else entirely that held all the magic for Adam.
Across the front of the house, five words glowed in bioluminescent light: I love you. I’m sorry.
And there, on the front step of their house, in full view of all Knockbridge Lane, bundled up against the Wyoming December, sat Wes Mobray.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Wes
When Adam’s car had pulled out of the driveway that morning, Wes and Zachary had sprung into action, implementing the plan Wes had spent the night crafting. And bless Zachary for acting like it was no big deal for Wes to call him in a frenzy and request a visit when they’d never met in person before. When he’d opened the door, Zachary had just smiled and said, “My friend.” And Wes had known he truly was.
The real trick was controlling the form of the bioluminescence. That and the cold. Zachary had brought some tricks of the trade from his cache of Halloween decorations to help with both.
Wes had taken a deep breath, set his jaw, and walked across the street to the Mills’ house in broad daylight, without Adam and Gus there as a buffer.
The guy with the gaggle of yappy poodles walked by, dogs booted and jacketed in different colors. Wes stood very still, as if he could disappear. But the man just walked by.
