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CHAPTERFIVE
Lacy rolled over in bed, catching a glimpse of her husband’s eyes as they fluttered open.
“Good morning,” she murmured, her voice quiet as Derek’s gaze flickered to her.
“Morning,” he replied, rolling over onto his side so that he was facing her. “Did you sleep okay?”
Lacy shrugged a shoulder. “Not too bad, but I woke up early and couldn’t go back to sleep. I keep thinking about the annual party at St. Nick’s Place. I want it to be perfect this year.”
“It’s perfecteveryyear.” He grinned at her as he propped himself up on his elbow. “If you haven’t noticed, Christmas seems to be at its most magical here in Snowy Pine Ridge.”
Unable to help herself, Lacy snorted a laugh and shook her head at her husband.
“What?” Derek protested. “I mean it. It might sound corny, but it’s true. Just look at us and how we fell in love at Christmastime. So did Colette and Zach, Sarah and William, Matthew and Shelley…”
“All right, all right,” she said with a chuckle, leaning up so that she could press a kiss to his cheek. “I get your point.”
Derek smiled down at her, but before he could say anything else, the sound of Piper’s voice came through the baby monitor that they still kept in her room, and both of them sat up.
“Looks like it’s about that time,” Lacy said with a grin, pausing just long enough to stretch out her back before throwing off the covers and slipping out of bed.
The two of them shuffled sleepily to their daughter’s room, which was right beside theirs. Piper was sitting up in her toddler bed, rubbing sleepily at her eyes.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Derek singsonged, catching their daughter’s attention as they stood in the doorway.
Piper, who was just about to turn two, turned her head toward them, her expression still a bit groggy from sleep.
“Dada,” she said, lifting her arms into the air in a clear bid for him to pick her up.
It was like this every morning, with them waiting for Piper to tell them which parent she’d like to have get her out of bed. And it was also a part of their routine that if you weren’t the chosen one, then you got saddled with breakfast duty.
Lacy looked up lovingly at her husband, pushing herself onto her tiptoes to press a quick kiss to his lips before he went to pick up their daughter.
“I’ll meet you two in the kitchen,” she said with a smile, and Derek nodded.
As she padded down the hall, their four dogs trailed after her. Fortunately, Moe, Curly, Sugar, and Pod were usually pretty quiet in the morning, so they never woke Piper up too early. But now that the household was starting to rouse for the morning, they were all eager for breakfast.
She fed the dogs first, then made her way over to the stove, beginning to heat up a pan to scramble some eggs. Derek and Piper came into the room a few minutes later, Piper babbling happily now that she was fully awake and could smell food in the air.
Derek placed her in her high chair, getting her situated with a bit of juice and her favorite sippy cup before walking over to Lacy.
“Need any help?” he asked as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
She shook her head as she snuggled into his touch as much as she could while still keeping an eye on the eggs.
“I’m almost done,” she answered, and he gave her cheek a swift kiss before walking over to the coffee pot to get it running.
A thought popped into Lacy’s mind, one that had been plaguing her off and on since she’d heard about the town hall meeting the day before.
“So,” she began, glancing over at Derek. “What are your thoughts on the whole Noah Henderson situation?”
“The guy from the meeting?” he asked, scrunching up his nose.
Aside from the few texts that they’d exchanged while the meeting was happening, they hadn’t talked about it more than that yet. Lacy had gone over to Mindy’s house with the other ladies as soon as Mindy had closed up the bakery for the day, so she and Derek hadn’t had a chance to talk over dinner like they usually did.
“Yeah, him.” She nodded, beginning to load up plates with the breakfast food she’d prepared. “What was your impression of him?”
“I don’t know. I mean, he seems like a smart, slick businessman, that’s for sure. But I’m hoping that he’ll see reason,” Derek told her. “Especially since most people at the meeting seemed to be pretty firmly against the idea after hearing Mindy go off on him.”
