Maybe #Saxie understood we were feeling vulnerable, after all the uncertainty of recent days. Maybe the most captivating and impossibly good-looking couple in town knew we needed a grand gesture to make us truly believe they weren’t just toying with our emotions.
Or maybe Christmas reallyisthe most wonderful time of the year, when every wish can come true.
Here’s how it went down: the final notes of #Saxie’s spectacular Christmas love song faded out, and the two stars stared longingly into each other’s eyes for a long moment. Then they shared a kiss that left us all feeling light-headed. If they were faking their emotions, they both deserve an Academy Award. Since it’s Christmas Eve, we’ve decided to hell with it, we’re going to choose to believe in this magical duo. Love is in the air, and it really is the most wonderful time of the year!
Next Christmas...
Max & Sadie
Banff, Canada
December 21
Could you pass me that bowl?” Sadie, holding a needle and thread in one hand, gestured with her other toward the cabin’s kitchen, where a large ceramic bowl sat on the countertop beside two cooling Kringle pastries.
Max brought it over to her, setting it on the coffee table. Then he grabbed a handful of the popcorn that filled the bowl and tossed it into his mouth.
“Hey! How am I going to make the popcorn chain for the tree if you keep eating it?”
He leaned down and kissed her, mumbling a “Sorry, love” around the popcorn in his mouth.
Patsy perked up when she saw the new bowl of popcorn. Sadie took two fluffy white kernels and set them in her palm,holding it out to the little dog—smiling all the while at Max, who tried his best to give her, and Patsy, a stern look.
“It’s gluten free,” Sadie reminded Max, still smiling as she tucked her gran’s hand-knit throw blanket around her shoulders and began threading the popcorn again. The chain was growing in length—it stretched across Sadie’s lap and coiled on the floor at her feet. She had been at it for about an hour while Max put up the decorations and Christmas lights on the outside of the cabin, the effect of which was festive against the crystal-like snow.
They were getting ready to host Christmas for their families—Lynn was flying from Milwaukee to Nashville later today to meet up with the Brody family, and then traveling along with Holden, Becca, her husband, Stanley, and Max’s almost eight-month-old niece, Hattie, on Holden’s private jet on Christmas Eve day.
The cabin had undergone some renovations during the summer months, to add a new section that could comfortably accommodate guests. But Max had made sure the main portion of the cabin remained the same—there were some things that should never change, and the memories of this cabin that Maren had loved so much were important to preserve.
“Did you see the new batch of Christmas cards? They came today,” Sadie said.
“I did.” Max had strung them on a piece of string along the kitchen island cabinet. One from Tasha, who had taken over as head judge onStarmaker, and had just wrapped up this season, and another from Landon, whom Max had helped to secure a job on Tasha’s team, as her lead assistant. “Bobbi and Amalia sentbaskets, too. Full of some Nashville treats they thought we might be missing this year.”
“Already broke into those,” Sadie said with a chuckle. But Max didn’t respond. He was pacing the cabin’s main room, checking and stoking the fire, adjusting the garland that went around the front door, the holly berries bright red against the deeply hued greenery, shifting one glass ball from one side of the tree to the other (for “balance,” he said).
“Why don’t you come and sit with me? Take a break? You can work on that sweater for Hattie?”
“I’m good,” Max replied, giving her a quick smile before crouching in front of the Christmas tree, unnecessarily shifting the mountain of presents around.
Sadie watched all of this, using a thimble so she didn’t prick her finger as she threaded the popcorn kernels, and wondered what was up with her boyfriend. They had been at the cabin for almost a week now, and he had become increasingly “busy” as the days counted down to Christmas.
For Max, having their families with them for the holidays meant everything. He had been planning it for months, starting with the cabin renovation and ending with so many decorations. Christmas ornaments hung on every tree branch, fresh garlands on every doorway. Max had knitted stockings for everyone—their names stitched at the top, ready for the candy and clementines and nuts and small gifts that would soon weigh them down. Twinkly lights hung from the ceiling in rows, making it look like stars when they turned off the cabin’s lights. It had been a long time since Max had celebrated such a joyful Christmas, and he was determined to make this the best one yet, for all of them.
Sadie hadn’t seen her mom in a few months and couldn’t wait for her to arrive. It had been another busy year. Sadie and Max had spent the first part of it recording an album together, with a new producer Tasha had helped them secure: her name was Lex Robichaud and she was brilliant, possessed of a creative drive Sadie and Max were in awe of. And she was kind and collaborative—absolutely nothing like Cruz McNeil.
The album—calledThree Cords and the Truth—was full of the steamy love songs Saxie was known for, plus had some fun, upbeat tracks to round it out. Once it had released, Sadie and Max went on tour to promote it, visiting their favorite cities in North America and a few in Europe. The tour had recently ended, and they were taking a few weeks in Banff to relax before heading back into the studio to record their own solo albums in the new year.
They had assured their legions of fans that this was not a sign they were over, but rather an important step for their relationship. They supported one another and their separate career dreams—but they’d be back in the studio together once more in another year or two. And meanwhile, they had recorded another holiday song. Sadie was delighted at how different it was from “Christmas Love Train,” the song she had worked on with Cruz, thanking her lucky stars that all that was far behind her.
Cruz McNeil had threatened to battle Sadie in court for the songs she had recorded at his studio—but on Tasha’s advice, Sadie had decided to fight him in a different way, making the decision to rerecord the songs herself, with a new producer. She was considering using Lex, but Dave Cobb and Simon Jennings—who produced Brandi Carlile—were also interested,and all Sadie knew right now was that her future in the music industry was bright. Max’s, too: he had been slowly working away on his own collection of solo songs and would be choosing a producer soon.
“So, hey, did you hear back from Allen yet?” Sadie asked Max, putting down her needle and thread and wondering if this was what was behind his apparent sudden case of nerves. Allen Reynolds, Garth Brooks’s producer, had taken a meeting with Max before they left for Banff, and Sadie knew how hopeful Max felt about it.
At this, Max grinned. “I was saving that piece of news for later. He listened to my demo and he loves it. Sounds like a sure thing for the new year.”
Sadie pushed the popcorn aside and jumped up, crossing the room to give Max a congratulatory kiss. Working with producers like Lex had helped them put all the ugliness of working with Cruz McNeil behind them, and they were looking forward to expanding their horizons even more. It seemed a lot of other artists in Nashville were doing the same. As Holden had predicted, Cruz was finished in Nashville, due to Becca’s exposé. Other women had come forward, some of them established musicians and some of them contestants onStarmaker. These stories had been the final nails in the producer’s professional coffin. No one trusted him anymore, and for good reason.
Sadie took Max’s hands in hers. “Come on. A little break.”
