After a recent break-up ruins her tropical getaway with sophisticated ex-almost-fiancé Preston, Noelle finds herself back in her hometown, stranded two weeks before Christmas. And Hawaii is nowhere in sight!
Enter Nik, the ruggedly handsome lumberja...
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"You're sure you don't mind?" Nik asks, leaning through my passenger-side window.
Dark chocolatey hair peeks out from under his maroon beanie. His warm breath spirals into the night and into my truck cabin. I can smell Christmas trees and cold air all over him. I avoid the flutter in my stomach and shrug.
"Oh I mind. But I don't see a way out of it," I tell him, looking over his shoulder at my mom.
Nik turns and nods knowingly. My mother and aunt wave stupidly, and I know they were just talking about us.
"Well, get in."
"Warm and welcoming. Take it down a notch," Nik teases.
He situates himself in my truck. I feel so miniscule beside him. I flip my hair over my shoulder and put the heat on full blast and spend way too long rolling up his window. Anything to not pay attention to him or the cute little freckle by his lips.
"Just head towards town. All three deliveries are close," Nik instructs.
I press the gas down and pull out of Trodder's parking lot. The farm's glowing sign looks like one big blurry lightbulb in the fogging rearview.
"What?" I finally ask when I sense Nik looking at me in my peripheral.
"You look very nice today," Nik says plainly.
"But I didn't before?"
"Just different. Maybe it's the lack of falling over." Nik smirks.
"It happened twice." I remind him, keeping my eyes straight ahead.
The first stop is quick. The family is out of town this weekend and left a message with Aunt Holly to leave the evergreen bouquets at their front door. Nik is back in the passenger seat of my truck in no time.
Next, we're off to the school. Nik replaces the two wreaths adorning the front doors, turning on their battery-pack lights. He discards the old ones (now brown and depressed) in the truck bed and fishes something from his backpack.
A herd of wannabe reindeer blocks the exit of the school's parking lot.
"Only in this damn town," I mutter under my breath.
"Look at you with the secret stash of holiday cookies," Nik says, sitting back in the truck.
His foot hits the carton of Stella's gingerbread men, popping it open.
"Are you a closet Christmas fan?" He asks, picking the box up and holding it in his lap.
"Definitely not," I answer.
"Is that why this one's bleeding from his head?" Nik grins, holding up a cracked gingerbread man -missing half his head and covered in red icing. "Poor guy."
"Please take them off my hands," I laugh, pushing it back inside the box.
I turn the truck onto Main Street. It's like the entire crowded town strip was painted with an illuminated rainbow brush.
