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Chapter 1
Sarah
“Mommy, do you see the lights?” Addy asked as she opened the door of the SUV and hopped out.
My heart stutter-stepped because the handsome landscaper I’d seen around the neighborhood was hanging Christmas lights on my porch.
“I sure did.” Other than the occasional chin lift or head nod, he’d never said anything to me.
Addy tugged her hand from mine and ran up to him. “You put up the lights like I asked.”
He wore his signature baseball cap low on his forehead, a T-shirt stretched taut across his chest and biceps, worn jeans, and work boots.
“You asked him to do this?”
Addy gestured down the street. “The rest of the houses on the street are decorated. I asked Knox to make ours match.”
“Mr. Knox does this as a service. People pay him to decorate. You can’t ask people to do things for free.”
Knox stepped closer to us and lowered his voice. “I wanted to do this for you.”
Something about the intensity in his eyes and his words had my heart pounding for a different reason. “I’m so sorry about this. I’ll talk to her.”
“Please accept the lights. It makes her happy, and I wanted to do this for you.” Knox gestured in the direction of his crew. “My family wanted to do this for you.”
For the first time, I took in the rest of the crowd. There were three other men who were similar in stature to Knox, with dark hair, and a woman. I wondered if these were his siblings.
“See, Mommy? Knox had fun putting up our lights.”
A chuckle erupted through the crowd.
When it quieted, I said, keeping my gaze on his family, “I can’t thank you enough for doing this for us.”
Knox touched my elbow, sending my pulse racing, and guided me to the porch, where everyone stood. “These are my brothers, Talon, Heath, and Emmett, and this is Emmett’s girlfriend, Ireland.”
Talon crouched down to Addy’s level, talking to her about the wire decoration in the shape of a present propped next to the steps. I think he was explaining how he’d made it, but I couldn’t concentrate.
Emmett and Ireland said their goodbyes to Knox, and I managed a stiff smile.
When it was just me and Knox, I turned to face him. “Thank you for doing this, but—”
Knox held up his hand. “I don’t expect you to pay me or give me anything in return.”
“I don’t understand why you did it. Were the neighbors giving you a hard time because I was the lone holdout for the holiday decorations?” I crossed my arms over my chest, trying not to feel less than because I was a single parent and didn’t have a partner to help with these kinds of things.
There was a fierce holiday decorating contest in the neighborhood. I couldn’t hope to compare, so I hadn’t even bothered putting up our meager decorations.
“Addy asked me to make your house look the same, and I said I would,” Knox said carefully.
I nodded. “She’s hard to resist.”
For the first time, Knox’s lips twitched. “I’d probably give her whatever she wanted.” Then he rushed to add, “Please don’t tell her I said that. I’ll be in trouble.”
I smiled, lowering my arms to my sides. “I won’t.”
Knox stepped back, gesturing to the porch. “We hung lights on the roof and twisted lights around the garland on the railing and columns. Then Talon made the present to give your house that extra something. You probably won’t win any contests with this.” Knox gazed out over the neighborhood, where each house had blow-ups of Santa, Frosty, and Rudolph on their lawns and roofs, in addition to the lights.
I rested my hand on his forearm, where his flannel shirt had been rolled up to expose his skin. “I really appreciate it. Sometimes I feel like I’m failing at this parenting gig. Between work and activities at school, I feel like I’m always behind.”
