“Who’s mooning? I’m not mooning,” Sammy snapped, taking offense. “I’m tired. I didn’t accomplish any of the things I set out to do. And the guy I stupidly let myself fall for left town today.”
“I’m sorry, Sammy. I don’t think any of us realized how hard you were working to help everyone else and how far behind you were with your own stuff.”
“Yeah, well, I guess I didn’t either.” She took a breath and blew it out slowly, trying to dull the ache. “I really wanted him to stay,” she admitted.
Layla slung an arm around her shoulders. “If it were up to me, you’d get everything you want.”
Sammy gave her a small smile. “Thanks, friend.”
They got their tofu and continued their tour of the park. Sammy’s booth had been taken by a crochet lingerie artisan that was doing a brisk business with the over-eighty crowd. A couple wandered by with two stylish wreaths looped over their arms. They looked better than any wreath Sammy had cobbled together. The thought served to depress her further.
“What’s all the fuss down there?” she asked, pointing to the end of the park where a crowd was gathered.
“Just the tree farm.”
“Did Carson come back?”
Layla shook her head. “Nope.”
“Wait a second.” Sammy stopped on the concrete. “Layla Gunnarson, why do you have glitter on your face?”
Layla grinned and pulled her toward the crowd. “Hang on to your heart, Sammy.”
Between Mooners with fists of cash, Sammy spotted the hand-lettered signs for Fresh Cut Trees and Handmade Wreaths.
All proceeds benefit Down on the Farm.
“How did you do all this?” Sammy asked. Her throat felt tight.
“I helped. But I can’t take credit for it.”
Sammy watched in shock as Carter Pierce and Nikolai Vulkov fed Christmas trees through a baler. Emma sat nearby wrapped in a blanket with her feet up and a plate of French fries in her lap. Evan and his stepdad Beckett schmoozed the hell out of the dozens of customers while Phoebe and Franklin made change. Next to them, Eden and her boyfriend Davis were pouring samples of mulled wine and hot cider.
The donations jars on the tables were overflowing.
“Hey, Mom,” Jax and Joey elbowed their way to the front of the line. They were both wearing Santa hats. “Are you up for taking Caleb overnight on New Year’s Eve?” Jax asked.
Phoebe and Franklin exchanged a devious look. “I don’t know,” Phoebe mused. “It’s awfully short notice.”
Joey placed her palms on the table. “What’s it gonna take?”
Phoebe and Franklin shrugged in unison. “Gosh. I don’t know. What’s the name of that spa you like in Pennsylvania?” Franklin asked his wife.
“Oh! The Hershey Spa,” Phoebe said. “I adore their chocolate massages.”
“Would a gift card to the Hershey Spa make you available for babysitting New Year’s Eve?” Jax asked.
Eden spotted Sammy and Layla and skirted the table to throw her arms around them.
“I can’t believe you guys did this for me,” Sammy whispered, hugging her friend back.
Elvira Eustace breezed past with four wreaths, two on each arm. “Happy to support you, Sammy, my dear,” she said.
Carter wandered over when the hug broke up. He looked like a magazine-worthy lumberjack in a heavy barn coat with a thick scarf that matched his wife’s eyes. “You do a hell of a lot for our farm and this town,” he said. “It’s about time you let us do something for you.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Sammy said, feeling her eyes well up for the second time today.
“How about ‘cheers’?” Davis suggested, handing them each a glass of wine. He slid an arm around Eden’s waist and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Davis, how are you here? Shouldn’t you be manning the winery stand?” Sammy asked.
“The dads are handling the stand while the moms hand out samples to the parents in line for Santa,” he explained.
“All of the parents?” she asked. The feud between the Moody and the Gates families had come to a very recent end. A little too recent to expect Davis’s two fathers, his mom, and Eden’s parents to be around each other for any extended period of time.
“No bloodshed yet. But Sheriff Cardona is keeping a close eye on them. We believe in what you’re doing, what you plan to do,” Eden said. “All of us. Especially Ryan.”
“Ryan?” Sammy asked.
“He called us,” Layla said. “And half of Blue Moon.”
“He berated us for being too self-absorbed to notice that you were floundering,” Eden added. “Then he let us into your place.”
“Ryan did this?” Sammy asked, certain she’d heard them wrong.
“You’ve got yourself a good man, Sammy,” Phoebe said, joining their little circle with a glass of her own.
“He’s a great guy,” Sammy agreed. “But he’s not my great guy. He went back to Seattle today.”
There. She said it without bursting into tears or curling up into the fetal position.
In her self-pity, she noticed everyone exchanging knowing glances.
“What?” she demanded.
“I think it’s time you wandered over to Mistletoe Corner,” Phoebe suggested, pointing her in the right direction.
“If I find the Beautification Committee and Ryan Shufflebottom from Des Moines there, I will start throwing tofu,” Sammy warned.
“You never know what you’ll find unless you start looking,” Phoebe said innocently.
“Good luck,” Layla whispered, her no-nonsense gaze looking just a little misty.
Sammy followed the path in the direction of Mistletoe Corner and tried to talk herself out of hoping. Those little bastard butterflies were starting to show signs of life again, despite her best efforts.
“He’s not here,” she reminded herself. “He went home. He wouldn’t give up his shot at normal to spend another day in a town that tried to force him into an arranged marriage.”
The cozy clearing was the same as it always was, the tall spruce decked out in multi-colored lights from tip to trunk. More strands of lights, soft and white, crisscrossed over her head. Tiny clumps of mistletoe hung every six feet.
But there was one thing that was different this year. One perfect, grumpy thing.
28
Ryan Sosa stood scowling at the flowers in his hand as he muttered to himself.
“Why aren’t you thousands of miles away from here?” Sammy demanded.
He looked up at her, surprised out of the argument he was practicing. “Christ. It’s about damn time, Sam.”
It was such a Grumpy Ryan thing to say that she couldn’t help but smile.
“Gee, sorry. I was busy doing my job and saving animals.”
He rolled his eyes. “You got to the park almost twenty minutes ago. I’ve been freezing my ass off waiting for you since Layla texted that you were here.”
“Why are you here freezing your ass off?”
“You know why, Sam.” He crooked his finger, in that deliciously bossy way of his, and she couldn’t fault her feet for automatically carrying her toward him.