Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Friday evening, Spencer got into his car and headed out to a small ranch at the edge of Evergreen Hollow, where Jim, an elderly patient of his, lived. He knew Jim had a handful of horses on the ranch still, that he stubbornly kept taking care of despite the fact that he was starting to get to the point where it wasn't entirely feasible, and he'd had the beginnings of an idea, after leaving Margo at the general store when he'd found out how badly she wanted to go to the fireworks show.

He'd found out, in the past year, that Jim played Santa for the town every Christmas. He owned a sleigh that two of his horses were trained to pull, an honest-to-goodness wooden sleigh that the town decorated with ornaments and garlands every year. And he'd given Jim a call earlier that week, asking him if he might be able to borrow the sleigh and horses for something very important. After divulging a few details, Jim had been happy to oblige, all in the name of young love at Christmastime.

Spencer hadn't had the heart to tell him that it wasn't really love. Margo had made it very clear that she was leaving as soon as her leg was healed, and he had no plans to stand in the way of that. He wouldn't. She deserved to live her life however she wanted to live it, and it wasn't his place to tell her one way or another what that was. He knew her mother and sisters were privately hoping that his connection with her would keep her in Evergreen Hollow, but if he was being honest?—

If she were to stay, and he truly didn't think she would, he would want her to stay because she thought it was the best thing for her. Because it was what she wanted for her life, not just for him. In his experience, that wasn't something that would work out well, in the end. And he'd rather she leave happy than stay and eventually be miserable because she'd felt boxed into it.

But for now, none of that mattered. He was good at living in the moment and enjoying the good things while he had them. He'd learned that early on in medical school when his free time was limited, and the moments he got to himself were few and far between. He'd learned to really cherish those late night drinks with friends, the brief glimpses of life outside of books and exams. And that had only been underlined later on when he'd become a doctor, and he'd seen how many people lost their lives early to illness, accidents or other causes. He'd become all the more certain that life was to be enjoyed in the moments that made him happy, as they were happening, and that worrying about a future that wasn't certain would only mean missing out on all the good things happening right then.

So he truly wasn't worried about when Margo might or might not leave. All he cared about was getting to spend time with her now, while she was in Evergreen Hollow.

And he was absolutely insistent that he was going to pull this night off for her, this thing that she'd actually said she really wanted.

Jim was waiting outside on the porch for him when he got out of the car, waving cheerfully. "The sleigh is all ready for you," he said, pushing himself to his feet and ambling toward Spencer carefully. "Horses are ready to go. Got a bit of pep in their step from the cold weather."

Spencer couldn't help but wince a little at that. "I'm a little nervous," he admitted. "I've never even ridden a horse before, much less driven a sleigh. Any tips?"

Jim waved a hand, chuckling. "Ah, you'll be fine. You can trust the horses, they know what to do. They're old hands at this."

Spencer laughed a little uncertainly. "I certainly hope that's true."

"‘Round back." Jim gestured. "I can show you if you'd like."

"That's all right," Spencer said quickly, a little concerned about the idea of Jim out walking around in the snow. He was sure the older man did plenty of things around the ranch that he as a doctor wouldn't have advised, but he didn't see any reason to add to those things himself.

The horses and sleigh were waiting where Jim had said they would be, hitched to the sleigh just outside the barn and tied up to a post waiting for Spencer, a pretty black horse with a white blaze down its face and four white socks, and a slightly shorter bay with a deep black mane and tail, and a thin black stripe down its face. They tossed their heads and nickered as Spencer walked up, and he patted the bay's neck a little uneasily, hoping that he wasn't going to regret this decision.

It wouldn't help anyone if he joined Margo in having a broken limb.

But Jim was right. The horses knew what they were doing all on their own, without Spencer really needing to have a whole lot of input. They pranced merrily through the snow on the path that wound through the woods and along the roadway leading to The Mistletoe Inn, the small bells on the leather harness jingling. It lifted Spencer's spirits, and made him feel truly merry in every sense of the word. He felt sure that Margo would love the surprise.

He couldn't wait to see her face when she saw it.

Margo was upstairs in her bedroom with Nora, looking nervously at the clock as she hobbled around in an effort to get ready. She was already frustrated, because it took twice as long to do anything with her injury, and anxious about the night with Spencer on top of it. He'd reassured her that she hadn't overstepped, but she also hadn't been able to stop overthinking it, and she was beginning to be more and more certain that he'd just been saying that to be nice. That she actually had overstepped, and screwed everything up in the process.

"Here." Nora dug a dark green cashmere sweater out of Margo's drawer. "This looks great on you. And I can help you with your hair. I know you always like to do fun things with it. It's going to be cold, so make sure you wear a heavy coat."

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Margo interrupted, chewing on her lower lip as she leaned against the bed, hopping awkwardly into a pair of fleece-lined leggings.

With the cast, jeans were impossible, so she was relegated to leggings and sweaters or hoodies. Not her ideal outfit for a date, but she didn't have much choice. And Spencer had seen her at her absolute worst, a mess with a freshly broken leg, so maybe this was a step up, after all.

"He's probably annoyed that he has to figure out how to help a girl with a broken leg get up a stupid hill to watch fireworks , of all things," she said with a sigh. "He probably just felt guilty saying no, especially after he was the one who pursued me. But he's probably regretting that now."

There was a smirk on Nora's face, and Margo paused, narrowing her eyes at her sister.

"What?" she asked, and Nora chuckled.

"I was just thinking, the fact that you're so nervous shows that you're developing feelings for him. You wouldn't be so jittery if you weren't."

Margo pursed her lips, but she couldn't deny it. She was developing feelings for Spencer. He'd been kind and attentive, and if he wasn't thoroughly aggravated that she'd volunteered him for the fireworks show tonight and basically backed him into a corner about saying yes, he was an incredibly sweet guy for helping her do this.

On paper, he was a lot of things she'd always wanted: handsome, smart, successful, ambitious in his own right. But his ambition stopped at being a small-town doctor, and that was where the problem lay. Because for anything to happen between them, Margo would have to stay in Evergreen Hollow.

And she just couldn't see that being her plan for her future.

"You're going to have fun tonight," Nora said confidently, and as Margo pulled on the sweater and slipped a pair of small gold hoops into her ears, she sat down behind her on the bed to start braiding her sister's hair. "Spencer wouldn't have agreed if he wasn't excited about this too. I feel sure about that."

"I hope so," Margo said quietly, the slight tremor in her voice betraying her nerves. Nora finished braiding her hair, looping it around behind her ears and securing it with pins, and just as she slid the last bobby pin into Margo's hair, the inn's doorbell rang.

"I bet that's Spencer," Nora whispered conspiratorially with a grin and slid off the bed. Margo followed, right behind Nora as they walked to the door, and she let out a small gasp as Nora opened it and she saw what lay just beyond.

Spencer was standing next to a sleigh. A real, honest-to-goodness sleigh, with horses and everything. She vaguely remembered old Jim having a sleigh and horses, using them for his Santa performance when she and her sisters were children, but she'd never imagined that this was how Spencer would pull off his promise. And he didn't look annoyed at all. In fact, he was beaming, clearly proud of his solution.

If anyone would have asked her before she returned home, back in her old office in New Jersey maybe, how she would have felt about a situation like this—she would have probably called it cheesy. Silly. Even if, deep down, she might have thought it was cute, she would never have admitted it.

But there was no part of her, in this moment, that thought that what she was looking at was anything other than the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for her.

Spencer walked up the stairs carefully, holding his arm out for Margo so that she could hobble down the few steps to where the sleigh was waiting. She leaned into him, and he gave her his full support, giving her the chance to feel just how strong he really was. He didn't have the build of the kind of man who spent endless hours in the gym, but something more functional, something she thought she liked much better. It made her want to lean into his chest and feel those strong arms around her, and she smiled at the thought of doing just that in a little while, watching the fireworks.

Nora was definitely right. She was absolutely developing feelings for Spencer Thorpe.

Spencer helped her into the sleigh, and she saw that there was a large, thick, soft, knitted blanket folded on the seat, big enough for two people to snuggle under it. He unfolded it, tucking it over her legs, and gave her hand warmers for her to tuck into her mittens.

"What do you think?" he asked, turning to her as he climbed into the sleigh and slipped under the blanket as well, tucking it around his legs so that none of the frigid air could seep in.

Margo smiled at him, her heart fluttering as she took it all in. "I had no idea you knew how to drive a sleigh," she teased, and Spencer chuckled.

"I don't," he admitted. "Jim told me the sleigh pretty much drove itself, and he was right. These horses know exactly what to do if I just sort of point them in the right direction. I'd be in trouble otherwise." He grinned at her. "But don't worry. We're safe in their hands. Hooves?"

"Definitely hooves." Margo snuggled a little closer to him, taking in his thick fisherman's knit sweater and jeans, just the edge of his sandy blond hair visible beneath the dark blue knit beanie he wore. There was a little stubble on his chin, a five o'clock shadow that he probably hadn't had time to shave before collecting the sleigh, and she liked it. It was more rugged than what she was used to, and she found it more attractive than she would have thought.

"This is all very romantic." Margo leaned into him, letting herself enjoy the moment as the sleigh slid gracefully through the snow, the bells jingling and the clop of the horses' hooves the only thing disturbing the quiet night air. "You really pulled out all of the stops."

"It was the best way that I could think of to get a girl with a broken leg halfway up a mountain," Spencer teased, glancing over at her as he wrapped the reins around his fingers.

"And I definitely don't mind," he added quickly as if he could hear the echo of her worries from earlier. "I like problem-solving, you know. It's probably part of why I became a doctor. There's something really satisfying about someone coming in with an issue, and piecing together what's wrong and how to fix it. This was an easy problem to solve. And much happier than a lot of the ones I deal with." He smiled. "I've been looking forward to this all day."

"Me too." Margo let out a breath, watching it crystallize in the air in front of her. "I think I know that feeling. It's like getting the perfect shot—the one I see in my mind when I see something I want to photograph. All these places I've gone, I have to bring them home in a way that lets the people who read my articles feel attached. A way that makes them care, that transports them. And that feeling when it all lines up just right and I get the shot I want?" She smiled, feeling nostalgia for the last trip she'd been on. "It's such a good feeling."

"We both seem to have found our calling in life," Spencer mused. "It's lucky. Not a lot of people find that."

Normally, Margo thought, that was exactly the kind of thing that would have sent her on a spiral, wondering if she'd found and lost her calling, if she'd never get to experience that feeling again. If all her chances had run out with the loss of her job. But for the first time since Richard had given her the bad news, she just couldn't dwell on it. Everything around her was too beautiful, and the night was too perfect.

It was like something from a postcard. The kind of thing she would have taken a picture of if she had her camera, but she was glad she didn't, because she didn't want to miss a single second of any of it, even to snap a photo.

The dark silhouette of the maples against the starry, clear night sky was stunning. The snow was crisp, and the flutter of it in the air as the sleigh glided through it was a pleasant background noise as the horses' breath puffed in the air and the bells kept time with their strides. She put her hand on Spencer's knee over the blanket, and she saw him smile out of the corner of her eye.

She could hear voices as they got closer, and her excitement ramped up. She leaned forward, peering out into the darkness as Spencer guided the horses along the trail, carefully finding a spot among the other places where people had carved out spaces for chairs and blankets in the snow at the top of the hill. Margo saw Bethany and someone else she didn't know circulating with hot cocoa and apple cider, and Spencer glanced over at her.

"Want something?" he asked, and she nodded.

"A hot cocoa sounds wonderful."

He bought a hot cocoa for her, and a hot spiced apple cider for himself, thanking Bethany as she handed over the cups. Margo snuggled down under the blanket, wondering if she'd ever had a date as perfect as this before. If she had, she couldn't remember it. She couldn't think of anything she would have rather done.

She gasped as the fireworks began, bursting out over the dark, wintry night sky. They were all Christmas colors—red, green, yellow, white and blue—and she smiled as some of them exploded in the shapes of trees and stars, and finally, a sleigh.

"Just like ours," Spencer said with a smile, and Margo laughed, nodding as she leaned into him.

"Did Rhett tell you about that one ahead of time?" she teased, and Spencer shook his head.

"Honestly, I think I've only met him once or twice. He's the most responsible of the firefighters over at the station. Hardly ever has any injuries. Actually, I think I've only ever seen him for checkups for his son."

"Caroline will be so happy to know that you described her husband as responsible ," Margo laughed, taking another sip of her hot cocoa as more red and green fireworks exploded over the sky.

"I've been all over the world," she murmured, as they fizzled out, a cascade of blue and white following, illuminating the snow. "I've traveled to so many different places. And I don't think anything I've seen has made me feel quite like this before."

Spencer turned slightly to look at her, and she saw him raise a careful brow, his voice measured. "Could the company possibly have anything to do with it?" His hand slid over hers, his leather glove pressed to her soft knit mitten. "Because I know that for me, being here with you is making tonight even more magical."

Margo bit her lip, turning toward him to meet his eyes. Her heart sped up in her chest, and she knew this was a leap. A leap that could possibly end in a fall. But she'd been taking those all her life. Nothing, in this moment, felt more her than taking a chance—whether or not it ended in happily ever after.

"The company definitely has something to do with it," she whispered.

Spencer's hand tightened over hers, and he leaned in. A burst of red and green illuminated them both, as his mouth brushed over hers.

He kissed her, for the first time, as they both saw fireworks.