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Fox blew out a breath. “Oh, thank Christ.”
I laughed. “Relieved a little?”
“You have no idea. But I really would’ve moved here if you wanted to stay. Laurel Lake is where I live, but when you left, I realized none of that matters. Where you are is my home.”
EPILOGUE
The Ultimate Christmas Card
Josie
Three months later
“Why did you let her go? I don’t think we’ve gotten a good one yet because you were scowling the first few minutes.”
Fox grunted and shook his hand out. “Damn thing just bit me. Again.”
Daisy bolted across the lawn. Opal chuckled. She was standing a few feet away trying to take our holiday picture. Fox’s mom, Hope, was next to her. Neither had stopped smiling since they arrived an hour ago.
“Uh, boss. I think she did more than nip at you.” Opal gestured to Fox’s shirt. “You might want to look down.”
Fox groaned. “Jesus Christ.”
I tried not to look amused. “Some people would say that’s good luck.”
“How the hell is a duck shitting on you lucky?”
“Well, we’re lucky I couldn’t decide which shirt I liked better for the picture and bought you two, aren’t we?”
“I didn’t needoneflannel, much less two,” he grumbled.
“I disagree. Go change. We’ll let Daisy run around for a few minutes so she’s happier when you come back.”
Fox mumbled something under his breath I didn’t catch, but stalked to the house.
Hope watched her son disappear. “I can’t believe you got him to wear a red plaid flannel.”
I didn’t think it would be appropriate to tell her what I’d had to promise to get him to do it, but hey, I didn’t mind. The Paul Bunyan look really worked for me.
“So how many cards are you going to send out this year?” Opal asked.
“One-thousand four-hundred and eighty-eight.”
“That’s pretty specific.”
“I’m doing the entire Laurel Lake phone book. I just finished entering all of the names and addresses into a database.”
“Soevery personin this town is going to get a picture of Fox wearing a red flannel and holding a duck with a matching bow in its hair?”
“Yep.”
She smiled. “My, oh my,how times have changed for the bossman.”
And they had. But they hadn’t just changed for Fox. A lot had changed for both of us. After Fox drove up to New York, I’d quit my job, packed everything I owned, sublet my apartment, and said goodbye to anyone who meant anything—all in a week’s time. I’d even taken Fox with me to my mother’s house when I went to tell her I was moving. As expected, she wasn’t happy. I got a lecture about throwing away my career for a man. But then late in the day, somethingunexpectedhad happened.
After we’d finished eating, I was antsy to leave. Fox asked if he could talk to my mother in private before we took off. I knew he was tough, but my mother was a pro at cutting people down to half their size. So I was nervous when the doors to the study closed. They didn’t come out again forninety minutes. And my mother was smiling and laughing when she emerged.
Talk about a shocker.
