“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“The roads are cleared.”
Mia screamed at the words, her hand flying to her chest before turning and finding Austin standing in the doorway of her office. He never came in when she was working because he didn’t want to distract her.
Like he just did.
She quickly turned and saved the document before looking at him again. “Already? I thought it would take longer?”
He shrugged and took a few steps into the room. “I think the fact that tomorrow is Christmas Eve spurred the crews on. No one wants to be stranded at home for the holidays. Between the warmer temperatures helping things melt and the limited number of plows, most of the main roads are clear. The secondary ones aren’t quite as good, but…” Another shrug. “We should be able to maybe go to my mom’s or Garrett’s for Christmas dinner if you’d like.”
“That sounds good, but I hate that we don’t have gifts for anyone.” Their plan had been to Christmas shop in Hawaii and bring stuff back for everyone when they had them over when they got home from their trip. “As it is, it’s a little depressing not having a tree. It doesn’t really even feel like Christmas.”
“I thought you might feel that way,” he said, walking closer. She caught him glancing at the computer screen and wanted to push him away because no one–no one–saw her work before it was done.
“You’re writing a thriller about a wedding?” he asked incredulously. “Seriously?”
“Um…”
Raking a hand through his hair–something he did when he was frustrated–he leaned in closer to the screen and she knew it was pointless to stop him.
“Murderous Vows?! That’s what this book is called?” he shouted. “What the hell, Mia? Why would you write a murder mystery about a wedding?”
Jumping to her feet, she felt the need to defend herself. “I had wedding on the brain!”
“But you started writing this before we decided to start planning our wedding. I mean…”
While raking a hand through his hair was his go-to move when frustrated, Mia’s was pacing. So as she started to move back and forth, she explained. “Believe it or not, I’ve been thinking of our wedding long before you proposed.”
His eyes went wide, but he said nothing.
“I hadn’t planned on the book being solely about a wedding, but once we started planning and my parents were giving me so much grief, that all changed.” She sighed. “There is nothing in this plot that even remotely resembles us or our relationship–yours and mine–or anyone we know, but…some of my frustrations with planning a wedding may have come into play in a scene or two.”
Then she held her breath and prayed he wasn’t too upset about this.
His arms crossed over his chest and he was frowning, so…that wasn’t a good sign.
“Austin, you know how sometimes I can’t control where my writing inspiration comes from, and…”
He held up a hand to stop her.
“Just promise me one thing.”
“Anything,” she replied quickly.
“Promise me that this book wasn’t some sort of…you know…manifestation of your true feelings of not wanting to marry me so soon.”
“Oh my God! Are you kidding me?” she demanded. “Austin, have I ever lied to you about how I felt?”
“No.”
“Then don’t say stupid shit like that,” she snapped and stormed from the room. “You are unbelievable! I do nothing but tell you how much I love you and these are your ridiculous thoughts!” She stomped down the stairs, fuming, and came to a sudden stop. “What…where did…?”
Austin was behind her and rested his head on her shoulder. “I could explain it, but I can’t guarantee it won’t be stupid shit,” he teased before stepping around her.
There, in the living room, was a tree.
A real live Christmas tree.
“How did you get this?” she asked. “When did you get this?”
“Garrett texted me this morning that the tree lot next to the clinic was open this morning and he volunteered to bring us one because he was heading down this way on his way to Happy Tails. So, of course, I said yes.”
“Was he here? I didn’t even hear him.”
He kissed her cheek and pulled her behind him toward the tree. “Sweetheart, when you’re writing, a freight train could drive through the middle of the house and you wouldn’t hear it.” They studied the tree. “It’s a little smaller than I would have picked, but we can decorate it and make it feel a little like Christmas if you’d like.”
“Are you kidding? This is the best news we’ve had in almost a week!” Jumping into his arms, she hugged him tight. “Can we decorate right now?”
“What about your wedding massacre?”
Rolling her eyes, she gave him a playful shove. “I’m done for the day because I’m too distracted now.” She walked back toward the stairs. “Let’s go get the decorations down from the attic and I’ll make us some lunch while you untangle the lights.”
He groaned, but he followed her. “And where did we land on Christmas dinner?” he asked as they climbed the stairs. “We don’t have to go anywhere.” Then he paused. “Actually, I’m not even sure who’s hosting. All Garrett said was he hoped we’d join them for dinner.”
“Call him after lunch and find out,” she reasoned. “I know everyone will understand why we don’t have gifts, and even though it’s going to bother me, I promise to keep that to myself and just go and have fun.”
They made their way up into the attic and found the small collection of boxes that held their meager decorations. Last Christmas was their first together, and even though Mia had accumulated a large variety over the years, they were up in storage in Boston. Plus, she wanted them to have stuff that was theirs together rather than a mish-mosh of random things. With all the wedding planning, she hadn’t even given decorating a thought for this year. But now that they were doing it, she found it made her happy.
“Remind me to thank Garrett when we see him,” she said as they each took a box and started back down the stairs. “This was a great and much-needed surprise.”
“I agree. Although now that I think about it, I distinctly remember us saying how we needed new lights this year because neither of us liked the all-white ones.”
“Well, there isn’t much we can do about it except make a note to try again next year. Whatever we have is all we have to work with, and no matter what, we’re going to love it.”
“Just remember you said that,” he teased.
They made another two trips up to the attic, and once everything was down, Austin began sorting through the lights while Mia whipped up some soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for them for lunch because there wasn’t much to choose from. Once they sat down, they discussed the possibility of either putting on a holiday movie or some Christmas music to have on in the background while they decorated.
Mia opted for the music because she knew Austin would get too distracted by a movie–no matter how many times he’d seen it–and end up not helping her at all.