“Did you fill Liz in on what the police said and the photo?” she asked, settling beside Nick.
“Yes,” Nick answered.
“My parents wouldn’t even let me come here alone. They dropped me off in the lobby like I was in grade school.” Liz rolled her eyes. “They’re going to pick me up in an hour.”
“Liz says there’s a huge manhunt out for the four of them,” Nick said.
“It’s all over the news. Their mug shots are up there and everything.” Liz motioned to the television. “Want to watch?”
“Sure, but let’s keep the volume down,” Nick answered.
For the next hour, they watched the news. There weren’t really any new details. Some very grainy video of the shooting at the farmer’s market. One shot in particular stopped on a grainy picture of what was obviously Willy running away from the gazebo area.
“We were standing about ten feet away from there.” Liz visibly shivered.
“We got lucky he’s such a bad shot,” Nick joked.
“Too bad whoever it was that shot Rudy wasn’t,” Liz said softly.
“Yeah.” Kara reached out for Liz’s hand.
“I’m—” Liz started but then her phone chimed. After reading a text she sighed. “My folks are here to pick me up.” She stood up, but then gasped lightly. “I forgot to give you both your presents.” She rushed over to a large bag she’d dumped just inside the room and pulled out two small packages. “Here.” She shoved one towards Kara and the other she set on Nick’s lap.
“Do you want us to open them now?” Kara asked.
“Of course. I want all the joy of seeing your faces when you see…”—she winced as she looked at Nick’s unfocused eyes—“find out what I got you both.”
“I have yours back home. I was going to drop it off…” Kara said as she unwrapped the small blue box. Inside sat a small gold key. Kara pulled it out and held it up. “What?”
Liz smiled. “It’s a key to your future. My parents have agreed to lease you the building next to Get Buzzed. If you want it. The place is yours to open your bakery.” Liz squealed happily. “Which leads us to your gift, Nick. I didn’t know what to get a man who has everything, so…”
Nick opened his box and inside was a piece of paper folded up.
“I… can’t read this,” he said.
Kara took it and unfolded it. “It’s a promise agreement from the Food Mart to sell Florence’s Jams in their store all throughout the state of Wyoming.”
“Thanks.” Nick smiled.
“It was the least I could do. Since my biggest gift is a head for business, I figured I’d put it to use,” Liz said with a smile.
“Thank you.” Kara walked over and hugged her friend.
“Your first order of business is to hire a good friend to help you set up the business. I just happen to know a gal for the job,” Liz added.
Kara laughed. “I can’t wait,” she said, knowing it was the truth. She hadn’t thought she would be excited, but she really was. Deep down in her heart, she’d wanted to jump at the chance of going into business. And thanks to Liz, she was. “Thank you,” she said again as she hugged Liz. Liz’s phone went off again, and her friend rolled her eyes.
“Okay, that’s the second bell. If I don’t go now, they’ll come up after me,” Liz joked. “Bye, Merry Christmas,” she said as she rushed out.
“Are you happy?” Nick asked when she sat back down next to him.
“Very.” She sighed. “You?”
“Very.” He pulled her closer. “You never did answer me,” he pointed out.
“About?” she asked, running her eyes over his and noticing his eyes were now focused on her face.
“Marrying me.”
She smiled. “You haven’t officially asked me. I hear there’s a ring and all.”
He chuckled. “Okay, we’re going to play it this way?”
She laughed. “I guess so.”
He pulled her into a hug. “Okay, until tomorrow then.” He kissed her. “I’ve waited this long, what’s one more day?”
At ten that night, the manhunt was still on for Nick’s uncle and cousin. Mike and Dean had been taken into custody.
It was hard for either of them to fall asleep that night, so they stayed up and watched television as they held one another in the hospital bed. Nick’s vision was back, for the most part. He was still having a difficult time reading but could see faces clearly.
By the next morning, even that had cleared up. A few hours later, they rode with Daryl in the truck back to Nick’s place. The dogs were so excited to see them that it took almost ten minutes to get them to calm down.
Her parents finally video called her once she and Nick had settled down to eat the pre-made meal Liz’s mother had made for them as a thank-you for saving her daughter.
Even though it wasn’t fresh caught free-range turkey and Nick’s mother’s recipes, it was still a wonderful Christmas meal.
“Merry Christmas, honey,” her parents shouted.
She set the phone down so both her and Nick could see both of her parents.
“Merry Christmas. Nick’s here,” she said quickly. “Where are you two?” she asked after seeing the view behind them and hearing loud noises in the background.
“We’re on the Eiffel Tower,” her mother answered and the phone was flipped around to show the city of Paris below. “At the top.”
“Wow, and you picked now to call us?” Kara joked as the phone was flipped back to her parent’s faces.
“We just wanted to let you know we were thinking of you,” her father said. Then her parents looked at one another.
“Looks like our secret Santa gift worked out pretty well.” Her mother added.
“Secret?” Kara asked.
Her mother pointed to the screen. “Ours and Nicholas’ gifts this year were getting out of the way so that you two would have time to figure things out.”
Nick chuckled. “Thanks for that.”
Kara was slightly shocked, but since she’d been filling her parents in on their relationship process, somehow, she’d already guessed as much.
“Meddlers.” She joked.
“Merry Christmas.” Her father said with a smile. “And, you’re welcome.”
“Merry Christmas. Now, get off the phone and enjoy the view.” Kara smiled.
“Will do. We’ll talk later tonight,” her mother added before the line went dead.
“You haven’t told them about the barn yet, have you?” Nick asked.
“No.” She shrugged. She hadn’t even wanted to think about it. Not yet. “I don’t want to worry them. Besides, what could they do? They’d probably cancel the rest of their trip or spend it worrying.”
Nick nodded. “Okay, so let’s finish eating so we can start a fire and open our presents.”
She glanced towards his tree. “I had Daryl grab your presents from my place.”
His eyes moved to the tree. “All of them?”
She shrugged. “Except one.”