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I shook my head. “I had a silly schoolgirl crush on him for as long as I can remember. But the more time we spent together, the clearer it became that something was there.”
“What happened?”
“Heath came to his senses and remembered that Aiden was his best friend, and he didn’t want to do anything to mess that up. He left me a note, breaking things off.” My tone was bitter.
“That makes sense, but I’m sure that had to be a painful situation.”
“When it happened, I realized there was nobody there for me, and Gram couldn’t make things better. I had to do that for myself. I graduated, went away to college, and never came back.”
“Until now,” Ireland added softly.
“Until now.”
“Now you’re living with Heath, and you like each other.”
I laughed softly, even though nothing about this was funny. “He told me he loved me.”
Ireland nodded. “Ah. That’s what has you all torn up inside. Do you love him?”
I swallowed over the lump in my throat. “That’s the thing. How do you know? I love Aiden and Gram, but they’re family.”
“Only you can know the answer to that. How do you feel when you’re with him?”
I thought back to the times when we were alone in his cabin, cooking breakfast, or watching a movie. “I feel good. Happy.”
“How do you feel when you’re not?”
I shrugged. “I’m excited to see him again. I haven’t wanted to fly home.”
“That’s a start. Just keep paying attention to how it feels inside your body. Maybe you’ve been numb to your feelings for so long that you don’t recognize them in the moment.”
I hadn’t thought of it like that.
Just then, the door opened, and a few people walked outside.
Ireland stood and leaned against the railing as everyone trickled out. When Sebastian came outside, she said, “You need to decorate your house for the holidays. Get a tree—”
“No excuses. You live on a Christmas tree farm now,” Lori said.
“We can do that. Although, who will see the decorations? We live so far from the road,” Sebastian said.
“We will,” Ember said. “We can walk around and check out everyone’s cabins.”
Talon groaned. “That means we all have to decorate.”
Ember shrugged. “You live on a Christmas tree farm. You should have a tree shining in your window, and your porch wrapped in lights. Maybe even a Santa and his reindeer on your roof.”
Sebastian pointed at Ireland. “You created this. You better help.”
“I’m happy to. Tell me what you need, and I’ll pick up the decorations. Maybe we can have a family day of cutting down the Christmas trees.”
I clasped my hands together. “That would be the perfect photo op. Your customers would adore seeing that.”
Heath came over and wrapped his arm around my shoulders and said in a chiding tone, “Not everything is a photo op. Some things are private.”
His expression was soft, so I lifted my index finger. “Maybe just one photo?”
“One,” he conceded, kissing me on the temple. I hoped that meant he wasn’t upset about how I’d stood frozen when he’d shared his heart with me.
