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SEASON'S GREETINGS
DECEMBER 13
Lena Snowden’s stomach did a twist-and-drop combo, like it had decided to take up gymnastics. She was used to dealing with adrenaline rushes and the strong emotions that came with them—she rode racehorses for a living, after all. But the cocktail of excitement and anxiousness that flooded her the moment she spotted theWelcome to Bindarra Creeksign was something new altogether. Maybe because she was more accustomed to physical risks, instead of emotional ones.
In fewer than fifteen minutes—assuming her phone’s GPS was correct—she’d be pulling up in front of her new home. She’d be throwing herself into her boyfriend Zach’s arms after more than eight months apart.
She was jittery as all get out, her left leg on jiggle mode for the past hour, and she’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit she had her doubts about the whole plan.
“Deep breaths, Copper.” She reached over and stroked her dog’s head. The one-year-old cattledog cross was a trooper. The pup had made it through the required quarantine in Melbourne, the flight to Sydney, and now the long drive. The logistics had been insane, but no freaking way was she moving to Australia without her dog, the dog Zach had given her last Christmas. “You’re better than any engagement ring though, aren’t you Coppy?” The dog licked her wrist.Exactly.
The trip to Australia was a dream and a massive gamble: Zach had no idea she was coming for Christmas. Or that she was planning to stay. It was her big surprise, her grand gesture. Their relationship had survived months apart, but she was done waiting. She was tired of stagnating while Zach kept saying he wanted to ‘get established first.’ Who even said that, outside of a Jane Austen novel or a costume drama?
What she was most sick of, though, was how hard it was to connect with Zach in real time. One of them was always at work, or going to sleep after a long day, or—and this was an excuse Zach was the only one to ever use—it just wasn’t a good time. Whatever that meant. Lena felt like they hardly ever actuallytalkedanymore.Though maybe their relationship had always been like that. It was getting hard to remember.
Christmas Day, the day Zach had announced his new job, seemed like an eon ago. April Fool’s Day, when she’d kissed him goodbye at the airport was a lifetime. But the waiting was almost over. It was impossible to contain herself. She let out a littlesqueeeeeethat made Copper cock his head. “Sorry puppy. It’s just so exciting. We’re finally here! And look!” She flung a hand out in an exuberant gesture to encompass the entire view.
She slapped it back on the steering wheel just in time to ease the car around a roundabout, at the centre of which stood a monument of a soldier leaning on his rifle, and then slowed even more to take in her new town. “Not exactly a bustling city, is it, Coppy?” She was glad for the lack of traffic, so she could creep down the block and gawk to her heart’s content.
Bindarra Creek’s Main Street was the epitome of quaint, as if someone crossed a California gold-rush town and small-town Ohio, and plunked it down in rural Australia. The street was lined with all the essentials—mechanic, bank, pharmacy, bakery. She made a hard left to follow the road and found more cute shops: a bookstore, an antiques gallery, a dress shop, a hair salon.
“Awwww, look Copper!” All along the block, Christmas lights blinked and—she let out a laugh—revealed shop windows painted to look frosted. In the middle of a sun-scorched summer. She loved this town already.
“Christmas in summer is definitely going to be a new experience, eh buddy?” She ruffled Copper’s scruff, then went back to gawking as the sun dropped and dusk approached.
She hadn’t meant to get in so late, but the drive had taken longer than she’d thought, mostly because the adjustment to driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road was a lot harder than she’d expected. Plus they’d stopped more than she’d planned, the last time right outside of town so she and Copper could get their surprise outfits on.
“Is this a good place for us or what?” Copper just kept looking out the window. At least he wasn’t chewing on the red-and-green plaid bow tied around his neck. “Zach said it was perfect.” He’d also said she’d never believe the cottage he’d found for them.
The cottage. After years of living in a ludicrously priced studio apartment on the outskirts of San Francisco, California she could not wait for an actual house to call home. “You’re going to have your own yard, Copper! Can you believe it?” She’d been spinning stories for Copper—and herself— ever since he’d been released from his ten day quarantine. If the past eight months had been an eon, those ten days had been an eternity.
She took a hard right turn and there snaked the sparkling water of a river. “Oooh, we are going to do so much swimming!” Copper whined. “Not today, silly. We’re all dressed up, remember?”
She crossed what her GPS said was Kingfisher Bridge and as suddenly as the town had appeared, it receded behind them. Instead, the Australian countryside stretched out before them, golden fields dotted with little farms. She veered left, crossed another bridge over a creek and kept going. Zach had clearly had her in mind when he’d picked out their new house—according to him the town was “very horsey.” She’d fit right in, he’d said back in August when he’d first told her about the cottage. Three-and-a-half months she’d waited for him to tell her it was ready for her to move in. Well. Today was the end of all that. She’d taken matters into her own hands.
When she finally turned off the main road and onto a dirt lane, her mouth went as dry as the dust billowing behind her car. “We’re really close now.” Just saying it made her heart skitter into some weird, syncopated rhythm, the sensation so disorienting she almost missed the even narrower dirt drive she was supposed to turn on.
As they bumped over the rutted lane, Lena’s stomach tried to detach itself again, and she almost felt like throwing up. It was just nerves. And excitement. It was natural, considering she hadn’t seen Zach—even on Zoom—since well before she’d left California, too afraid of ruining her surprise to do anything more than text him. She’d barely even heard his voice in the past few months. But they were good. They texted on the regular. She woke up to funny memes or interesting articles or pictures of kangaroos almost every morning. Okay, maybe every other morning. If she was lucky. Whatever distance had crept between them was just because of the actual, literal distance. And the ridiculous time difference. But that was all over and done. She was in Australia, in the same time zone, in the little town Zach had chosen for them to live in, and they were going to be together forever. “That’s the plan.” Copper didn’t even look at her—he was too busy smooshing his nose against the window, as if he might get the scent of the place through the glass.
The rutted dirt driveway was longer than she’d expected, and somehow not long enough. She rounded a curve and there it was: the cottage.
Without meaning to, she jammed on the brakes, raising a cloud of dust. She waited as it settled, idling where the driveway emptied into a graveled parking area in front of an honest to goodness picket fence. But that wasn’t what snagged her attention.
“He got a new car.” It was quite possibly the stupidest observation she’d ever made. Of course Zach had gotten a new car. He’d sold his before moving to Australia. The vehicle that sat parked off to one side was unexpected though—four-wheel drive and big enough to haul a horse trailer. She smiled again. Zach had always been a sports car kind of guy—but he’d obviously been thinking of her and their new life together when he’d decided to buy a truck.
Copper whined again. “I know buddy. I just…” She didn’t know what was wrong with her. Her hands were shaking and her eyes stung. “I need a sec. To take it all in.”
The cottage was perfect.
Better than she could’ve imagined.
Surrounded by bottlebrush trees and beneath a corrugated tin roof, there was a gable with a bay window and a wide porch with gingerbread style trim. It was the perfect house to hang Christmas lights on, though it was entirely bare of any festive decoration. She’d have that fixed in the next twenty-four hours, if her Twelve Days of Christmas idea went according to plan. A bench sat beneath one of the two windows that looked out over the front yard. The drapes were pulled, making the place look vacant, except muted light glowed behind the curtains in the bay window and she thought she saw a slight fluttering movement at one. It was hard to tell in the growing dark.
She hadn’t come all this way to stay in her car, gaping. If Zach were peeking out the window, she couldn’t keep waiting. It was just that, now she was here, it suddenly seemed every bit the crazy idea her bestie Carissa had said it was. Her parents had been even more blunt. ‘Reckless’ her dad had said. ‘Foolhardy.’ Her mother’s contribution had been ‘asinine.’ Well. They never approved of anything she did anyway. She was done trying to please them.
She pulled on the Santa hat she’d stashed on the dash, smoothed her hair in the rear-view mirror, then touched up her cinnamon-flavoured lip balm. Last, she fitted the antlers headband onto Copper. “You look cute, puppy-dog.” She hoped Zach would agree. Copper was a totally different animal than the puppy he’d last seen months ago.
“It’s go time!” She took a deep breath and flung the car door open. Copper rocketed out right behind her, and while he sniffed the gate posts, she hauled the large, flat rectangular box out of the jam-packed back seat.
