Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

“Where’s Clara?” Marissa asked as Felicity strode into her kitchen looking like she was dressed for an office holiday party. She had on red wool pants, a green formfitting sweater, and had her long blond hair in a fancy bun tied up with a red ribbon. “And where have you been? That doesn’t look like cookie baking attire.”

Felicity frowned at her. “Clara is at the Christmas Tree Festival. Where else would she be?”

Marissa jerked her head up from her cookie batter. “I thought she declined that invite on account of not having enough inventory.”

“She didn’t tell you? After Danny fixed her kiln, she got a second wind and made a bunch of snow globes. She’s there now. Hopefully killing it. I thought she was going to text you to let you know.”

“I don’t think she did,” Marissa said, patting her pocket for her phone. When she didn’t find it, she hurried over to her charger and found it there with a series of texts from Clara. There was the apology for missing baking night and a promise to make it up to her. “Looks like she did and I was too busy to notice.”

“Sounds about right,” Felicity said with a laugh. “Should we go over and show her moral support?”

“What about our baking marathon?” Marissa asked, though she was already putting plastic wrap on her bowl, intending to put it in the fridge.

“We’ll have to do it Sunday after breakfast.”

“Everything always happens after breakfast on Sunday,” Marissa said with an amused shake of her head. “Okay, that’s fine. Let me just get changed really quickly.” If she was going to go out to the festival, she wasn’t going to look like Santa’s elf with cookie dough smearing her sweater.

Ten minutes later, the pair of them were in the car, headed to the Frost’s Christmas tree farm.

“How are things going with Danny?” Felicity asked with a pump of her eyebrows. “Are you two sharing a bed yet?”

Marissa side-eyed her friend. “No. We definitely are not sleeping in the same bed. We barely even know each other now.”

“No one said anything about sleeping together. I asked if you were sharing a bed yet. Two entirely different things.” Felicity looked at her expectantly as if Marissa was holding back the juicy details.

“Felicity!” Marissa said, shaking her head. “No. There’s nothing going on. But he did kiss me on the cheek tonight when I made him dinner to take to the festival.”

“Oh, ho! You made him dinner, did you? That seems a lot more intimate than just sharing a bed for twenty minutes.” Felicity was grinning at her.

“You’re impossible.” Marissa rolled her eyes. “Everything is fine. Nothing is going on between us. We barely even see each other. That’s it. The end. Nothing else to report.”

“Except that he kissed you on the cheek,” she said.

“He was just being nice.”

“He was just being a man who wants to get into your pants. But fine. Have it your way. I’m sure he’s an angel who only has your best interests at heart.” Her tone was sarcastic, but Marissa ignored her.

“I think the curse is fading,” Marissa said, eager to get off the topic of what was or wasn’t going on between her and Danny. “He’s only had two visions, and both were for minor accidents. Nothing like what happened on Sunday.”

Felicity sobered, looking serious for the first time that evening. “That’s good to hear. I’m not a fan of this curse business. If I had my way, we’d be on a manhunt for that fallen fairy and give her a taste of her own medicine.”

It wasn’t as if Marissa hadn’t thought of that, but if the fairy was powerful enough to saddle them with a curse that could potentially get someone killed, Marissa didn’t want to know what else she was capable of. “Let’s just work on breaking this curse first. Then maybe something can be done about the rogue sugar plum fairy.”

“Fine. But I’m not happy about it,” she grumped .

Marissa grinned at her. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now let’s go get our holiday cheer on. I’m in need of something merry.”

The parking lot was packed when they arrived at the Frost Family Tree Farm. Instantly Marissa was glad they’d come. There were magical dancing snowmen and candy canes out front under an illusion of falling snow. The line for the hot chocolate was long but moving quickly. And there were small elves running around, handing out cookies to all the kids, keeping them entertained while the adults shopped for arts and crafts, picked out trees, and participated in making their own handmade wreathes from the leftover Christmas tree branches.

They found Clara in her booth, chatting happily with customers. One of her tables was completely bare, and when they asked her how things were going, she gave them two thumbs-up.

Marissa took her time looking through all the craft booths. After picking up a handmade scarf and a bag of homemade soaps, she scanned the area looking for Danny. She knew he was there. She just didn’t know where.

Then she spotted him. But he wasn’t at a table in the craft section. He was sitting at a long table, helping kids make cranberry and popcorn garland. She walked up and then without thinking about it, she sat right next to him. “Need some help?”

He glanced at her, startled at first, but then a slow smile claimed his lips. “Always. Patty there could use help threading her needle.”

Marissa eyed the pretty little redhead and felt an instant kinship with the little girl. She had a hot chocolate stain on her dress. One of her pigtails had almost come undone, and she had a smudge of dirt on her face. But she was smiling and clearly having the time of her life even as she struggled to get the thread through the needle.

“Here, try this,” Marissa said, folding the string in half and showing her how to get the end through the needle.

The girl’s eyes lit up and then she started chattering nonstop about everything she’d done at the festival that evening. Marissa barely had a chance to get a word in edgewise, and it wasn’t until after the kid’s mother collected her that Marissa was able to turn to Danny and ask, “What happened to selling mugs in the craft area?”

“He sold out in the first twenty minutes,” Zach said as he strolled up holding an envelope in one hand.

“You did?” Marissa asked as her eyebrows raised. “What did you do, fill those mugs with cold hard cash?”

“Nope. He did something even better. He became the local hero right after we opened.” Zach grinned at his cousin.

“Stop,” Danny said, rolling his eyes. “All I did was stop a tree from falling on a little boy. Anyone would have done the same.”

Marissa smiled softly at Danny, knowing that he’d had a vision and sprang into action. It was one of the reasons she’d fallen in love with him in the first place. He’d always put other people first. Then it dawned on her that the reason that she’d loved him so was the same reason that he’d left her all those years ago, and suddenly she no longer resented him. He was only being the person he’d always been. It was just too bad that it hadn’t worked out for them in the end.

But now, who knew what could happen?

Marissa was staring at him, lost in the possibilities of what might be possible if they ever managed to break the curse. She was so out of it that she almost missed Zach’s big announcement. She would have if Felicity hadn’t nudged her from her other side.

“It’s time to reveal this year’s Mr. Garland,” Zach was saying as he held up the envelope. “In all the years we’ve been holding this festival, I’ve never seen this many votes for the same person. It’s probably no surprise to anyone that this year’s Mr. Garland is none other than Danny Frost!”

Danny blinked up at his cousin. “What?”

“You’ve won the Mr. Garland prize, cousin. Come on up and get your crown.”

Marissa watched as Zach put a crown of garland on Danny’s head and the entire crowd gave him a standing ovation.

“You need to lock him down, Mar,” Felicity said. “If you don’t, someone else will.”

Marissa just nodded, because in that moment, all the love she’d ever had for the man standing in front of the crowd came rushing back. She just prayed he wouldn’t break her heart again.