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Derek made the adjustment, looking down at his wife with a question in his eyes, seeking her approval.
Lacy grinned at him. “Perfect.”
Her husband began climbing down the ladder he’d been using, careful to keep his balance as three of the huskies danced and howled around the tree. Piper, their nearly one-year-old daughter, sat on a blanket not far away, playing with a set of Christmas themed blocks and laughing joyfully at the yapping canines. Lacy’s heart swelled with love as she looked between her daughter, her husband, and a few of their crazy pups, unable to believe that she had gotten so incredibly lucky.
When she had first come to Snowy Pine Ridge, Lacy had been more than a little apprehensive about everything the town had to offer. The only reason she even found herself there in the first place was because her grandfather, who she had never met, passed away and left her the house he had been living in.
She had heard terrible things about him from her mother, and Lacy’s only intent had been to come and fix up the house so that she could sell it before going back to her life as a loan consultant in Saint Louis. But it seemed like the universe had other plans for her.
She’d found out the truth about her grandfather and her father, both two men who had been trying their best and who had worked tirelessly to help out anyone they could around town. Her grandfather, Nicholas, had even gotten the nickname St. Nick due to his overly generous nature. She still owned St. Nick’s Place and had turned it into one of the premiere event spaces in Snowy Pine Ridge. And, in her grandfather’s honor, she also still hosted the annual Christmas party for the town there every year.
Lacy watched as Derek finally plopped onto the floor from the ladder, turning to face Piper with a wild grin on his face. He rushed forward and pulled their daughter off the floor and into his arms. She squeezed him back with delight as he twirled her around, dancing and singing “The Christmas Song” at the top of his lungs.
The dogs, spurred on by Derek’s over the top dance moves and Piper’s excited squeals, began to howl along, joining in on the song. The noise was atrocious, and Lacy couldn’t help but throw her head back and laugh. Derek’s brown eyes landed on Lacy, lighting with mischief as he swept the arm that wasn’t holding their daughter out toward her.
“My love?” he said, motioning for her to join them in their dance, which Lacy did eagerly.
When she was tucked into Derek’s arms, Piper planted a big, messy kiss on Lacy’s cheeks before returning to her babbling and squealing. And none of them stopped until Lacy’s stomach ached from how much she had laughed.
“So did I tell you about the project I’m going to be working on?” Derek asked when they finally stopped dancing.
He walked over toward Piper’s Pack ‘n Play and set her inside it so that he and Lacy could begin preparing dinner. They often cooked together whenever they were both home, liking having a shared task that increased their time together. They moved the playpen and their daughter into the kitchen and got to work.
“No, you didn’t,” Lacy answered as she diced up an onion. “What are you working on?”
“Well, I’m sure by now you heard about the damage to the Hiltons’ home?”
Lacy nodded, a pang of sympathy clanging through her chest.
“Matthew came to visit me and Clark the other day,” Derek continued to explain. “And he’s fixing up a house for them. He asked if we wouldn’t mind helping out so the work can go a little faster. Clark is going to be donating quite a lot of the supplies, and labor as well. There are more of the guys from town helping out.”
“That’s amazing, honey,” she said, leaning up on her tiptoes to press a sweet kiss on her husband’s cheek as pride threatened to overwhelm her.
“I think so too.” He gave a satisfied nod. “It’ll be good to do something like that for someone else, you know?”
Once again, Lacy nodded, but she didn’t take her eyes away from the vegetables she was chopping.
“Also, I forgot to mention—remember how I went to the hardware store yesterday?” Derek continued. “You’ll never guess who I ran into while I was there.”
“Barney the dinosaur?” Lacy asked, and her husband chuckled and shook his head.
“Even better.” He paused for dramatic effect. “We ran into Valerie Bernard.”
The knife in Lacy’s hand stopped moving as her jaw dropped open in shock. Her gaze shot up to Derek, and she searched his face for any sign of a lie, but his brown eyes were open and earnest.
“Valerie Bernard, like… the actress?” she asked, still finding the information hard to believe.
Derek nodded. “One and the same. She was super nice too. And I guess Colette met her at Sweet Thing a little bit ago, and she had coffee and pastries with both her and Sarah. Said they talked for a long time. She texted me about it the moment she walked Valerie back to the Warm and Bright Hotel.”
“What do you think she’s in town for?”
Her husband shrugged. “Don’t know. She didn’t say while she was at the hardware store, and it doesn’t seem like she said anything about it while she was with Colette and Sarah either. Colette invited her to the Twelve Days of Christmas Event, and I guess Valerie just said she’d go if she was still here. So who knows how long she’s planning on staying.”
“I hope she likes it here,” Lacy mused before adding, “and I hope I get to meet her.”
Derek chuckled. “Don’t worry, I already told her you’re a fan.”
“I appreciate that.” Lacy smiled up at her husband before the two of them fell into a companionable silence, working together seamlessly like they always did as they finished preparing their meal.
