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When they pulled in front of Lena’s house, he gave Carissa another clue. “It’s close but you’ve driven way past it.”
Then he went upstairs to get their luggage.
He came back downstairs to find her rocking viciously on the front porch swing. She kept right on swinging as he strapped her overnight bag and then his own to the motorcycle.
He almost felt like a jerk for making her put on the leather jacket and helmet—but only almost.
When he pulled out onto Digger’s Lane, and then made an immediate turn into the next driveway, she yelled into the helmet intercom. “You’ve got to be kidding me—here?”
“That’s right, Ladybug. Welcome to the cottage formerly known as Heath’s.” As soon as they parked, she was off the bike, her helmet set aside. While he unstrapped their bags, he watched as she took in the place, with its corrugated tin roof and wide porch, its gable and bay window, the gingerbread style trim, already hung with Christmas lights. He’d been to the cottage of course, but as far as he knew, she’d only driven or ridden past, and there wasn’t much of it visible from either the road or from the fence line the property shared with Lena’s farm.
“Can we go inside?”
He laughed and jingled the keys at her, then took up their luggage. “Yeah, we’re staying here tonight.”
She followed him through the gate and onto the porch, and when he unlocked the door and held it open for her, she stepped inside and gasped.
“There’s a Christmas tree!”
While she’d been riding horses with Lena all week, he’d been busy. Getting a Christmas tree was one of the things he’d done. All it had was lights on it—but it was still pretty, and festive.
“And look at this coffee table!” It was one of Heath’s creations, part of the collection of spare furniture that Heath had made specifically for the cottage. “And that console!”
The more excited she seemed about the place, the more he couldn’t wait. “Carissa.” Something about his voice must’ve sounded weird, because she whirled. “There’s something under the tree for you.”
Her eyes went huge, but instead of excited, she looked almost petrified.
“Don’t worry, Ladybug. I’m not proposing.”
“Okay, good. Because my great uncle and great auntdidget married after only knowing each other two weeks, and they had a long and happy marriage, but that’s just crazy. And I don’t need to get married to stay in the country, right?”
“Right.” He wasn’t going to comment on family members he didn’t know and their sanity. Especially when his gift was slightly insane. “Well… are you going to open it?”
“Wait! Are we doing gifts now? Because I have something for you, too.”
He was surprised by the warmth that flooded him as she went to where he’d left their bags just inside the door. He hadn’t expected anything from her. They hadn’t talked about exchanging gifts.
When she turned around, she had two small wrapped packages for him. “It’s not much, but…” She glanced at the tree. “I think you should open this one first.” She pushed the smallest of the gifts toward him.
He tore into the paper and opened the box to find a green, lumpy, glass ornament. “What’s this?” He held it up by the ribbon loop at its top.
“A pickle!” She was beaming with pleasure.
“For a Christmas tree?”
Her smile faltered in the face of his confusion. “Yeah, because you have a cat named Pickle. But also…Wait. Is this like egg nog? Do you not know about pickle ornaments? Are they not a thing in Australia? Because none of the shops had any, and I had to special order that one.”
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of a pickle ornament before.”
She laughed. “Okay, well, the tradition is that you hide the pickle ornament somewhere on the tree, and whoever finds it on Christmas morning will have good fortune all the next year.”
“I like that.”
“And, you have a cat named Pickle! Of course you should have a pickle ornament on your tree!”
He didn’t want to point out that he could just get an ornament that looked like his cat, because it was cute how excited she was about her gift.
“There’s something else in there, too.”
