Chapter 16

sixteen

HARVEY

Three weeks later

C hristmas Day dawned brightly, the blanket of snow that gently overlaid Christmas Falls glittering in the day’s new light. I mean, I presumed. I didn’t actually see the dawn. I was curled up under Sterling’s comforter, dead to the world until Sterling woke me up with a hot chocolate.

He was wearing the ugly Christmas sweater-themed pajamas I’d bought him last week, which was a bold choice for a man who had actual fashion sense. But he wore them well. He was Sterling. He wore everything well.

“Hey, you,” he said, setting the mug of hot chocolate down on my bedside table. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” I said through a yawn.

“Merry Christmas,” he said again, smiling as though he liked the sound of the words even better the second time he said them. Then he crossed to the window and looked out onto the street. “It’s quiet out there today.”

Sterling’s new studio apartment was on the other side of Sugar Plum Park from downtown. It was in an old converted warehouse, and had large windows that overlooked the park. After all the activity of the last month, the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve was a brief moment of respite when all the locals took care of our own celebrations before turning our focus back to the town’s visitors.

I climbed out of bed, yawning, and crossed the floor to the window. Sugar Plum Park was empty this morning of everything except snow and trees. It looked like a postcard.

Sterling kissed me, heedless of my morning breath, and I sighed happily and leaned against him and we watched the park for a while.

This felt like a little bit of breathing space too, in the whirlwind that was our relationship, and Sterling getting a place, and being introduced to all my friends, and Grandma’s friends (he was a hit at the quilting group) and Win and Kyle’s friends, and Kyle’s family.

“Drink your chocolate,” he said. “I’ll grab the first shower. We really have to get moving.”

“Why? What time is it?”

“Nine.”

So much for that breathing space.

I grabbed my hot chocolate and got to work on it while Sterling went and showered.

Today was going to be busy, in the best possible way. Somewhere between the time Win and Kyle had first invited us to Christmas dinner and now, the guest list had grown, and so had the schedule of events. Now we were going to Win and Kyle’s cabin for lunch, and staying for dinner. Because why not? It would make a change from the quieter Christmas Days that Grandma and I were used to, but Grandma was bursting at the seams to cook a big dinner in someone else’s kitchen. Especially since Sterling and I had promised to help her with the prep and take care of the dishes.

By the time Sterling and I left his apartment, it was almost ten, and we were cutting it fine when we pulled into the parking lot of the Pear Tree Inn. There was nobody around, but Sarah must have been watching from inside reception, because as soon as Sterling parked she came bustling out into the cold, dressed in an expensive coat and boots, carrying a stack of wrapped gifts.

I jumped out of the car to open the trunk for her. “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas!” She hurried over to the car. “Oh God! I am freezing my metaphorical balls off here!”

I liked Sarah. I’d only met her last night when she’d gotten into town, and dinner at Sterling’s apartment had lasted well into the early hours of the morning. Sarah and Sterling had done most of the talking, and they had a lot to catch up on. Not just the weeks that Sterling had been in Christmas Falls, but basically their entire lives, because they were finally figuring out how to talk without guarding every single word.

“You grab the front seat,” I told her. “I’ll sit in the back.”

Next stop was Grandma’s house, where we loaded up the car with what felt like half her kitchen and three quarters of her refrigerator, and then we were off to the cabin. Sarah had given up the front seat for Grandma, and sat in the back with me and a pile of Tupperware. There wasn’t much traffic out at all, and the day was just beautiful.

There was already a bunch of cars parked in front of the cabin when we got there, including Martha’s old Ford Taurus. Win and Kyle met us at the front door, and then Kyle came to help Grandma and me unload the car we’d just loaded up, giving Sterling the chance for a little privacy while he introduced Sarah and Win.

“Family Christmas,” Kyle said with a smile. “I don’t think he thought he’d ever have another one of those. I mean, my family is his family too, but I’m glad he gets to have this. It’s been a long time.”

The cabin was pretty full; Martha was here, and so were Kyle’s parents and his sisters and a bunch of their kids. The kids were older teens, mostly, but one of them, Lance, was married with a baby. The little guy was about five months old, all chubby starfish hands, spit bubbles, and big, wide eyes. My best friend Chloe had abducted the baby when I found her over by the Christmas tree. The baby had one fist closed tightly around one of her red braids.

“Harvey, tell my biological clock to shut up.”

“You’re my age.”

“I can hear it ticking like a heart under the floorboards.” She made a funny face for the baby. “Imagine how loud it’ll be in ten years!”

“Hi, Mr. Fields,” I said to her dad, who was sitting in an armchair with his cane resting between his knees. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Harvey.”

Lunch was busy and crowded and loud . It wasn’t a sit-down lunch—there were too many people for that—so the dining table acted as a kind of buffet, and we all played musical chairs around the living room, chopping and changing positions to catch up with everyone or, in Sarah’s case, to meet everyone. After lunch, the crowd cleared out a little, with Kyle’s family heading off in different directions to spend the rest of the day at home or with various in-laws scattered around the area. Chloe and her dad left as well, because Mr. Fields got tired easily.

“New Year,” Chloe said, her eyes narrowing in a challenge. “Frosty’s. Tequila shots. You and me, last one standing.”

“Well, obviously,” I said, hoping she was exaggerating about the last one standing thing, and hugged her goodbye.

“Your friend Chloe is lots of fun,” Sarah said a few minutes later as we chopped potatoes in the kitchen.

“She’s great, yeah.”

“Is she single?”

“Um,” I said, looking at Sterling’s suddenly wide eyes. “Yes, she is.”

Well, that was something that hadn’t come out last night, pun totally intended. I wondered how that would shake out in the boardroom now that Sarah was taking over Sterling’s old job. But since Sarah had spent her whole life being overlooked just because she was a woman, I bet she wouldn’t walk away like Sterling had. Now she finally had some power, I had no doubt she’d fight to keep it. For some reason I suddenly thought of those old ship’s captains who would order the cannons fired at their own decks to stop the ship from being boarded by enemies. Things were about to get even more interesting in the Van Ruyven business empire, and it honestly couldn’t happen to a bunch of nicer people.

When the meal prep was as complete as it could be and the turkey was in the oven, we all retreated to the living room to play cards. Kyle swore off the games and went around collecting all the wrapping paper and ribbon littering the room from the earlier gift-giving frenzy. Win and Grandma sat on the couch, debating whether to play Five Hundred or Euchre. I’d break it to them later that I couldn’t remember the difference.

Sarah looked at her phone when it chimed. She snorted, then put it facedown on the arm of her chair.

“Come here,” Sterling said, taking me by the hand and pulling me toward the front door.

“It’s freezing ,” I said through a laugh as he closed it behind us.

“I wanted to give you this in private,” he said, producing a wrapped gift from behind his back.

“It is an embarrassing sex toy?”

He blinked at me. “We’ve been dating for three weeks.”

“You’re right. Embarrassing sex toys are a one-month anniversary gift.” I took the gift and tore the paper open. “Holy shit, Is this?—”

“It’s a first edition,” Sterling said.

Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion. The 1948 hardcover with a dust jacket, illustrations, and the pages edged in red ink.

“Holy shit.” My throat swelled up with tears—happy ones—and I swallowed a few times to force them away. “Sterling, this is amazing . Thank you!”

“Merry Christmas,” he said, lines appearing in the corners of his eyes when he smiled. “I love saying that.”

“I love hearing it. Merry Christmas.”

We kissed, and I forgot all about the cold as Sterling put his arms around me and warmth spread through me.

“So,” he said softly, his breath a warm puff of air against my cheek, “three weeks is too early for embarrassing sex toys, but it is also too early to tell you something really big?”

My heart skipped a couple of beats. “Um. No? Wait. That depends on what it is. Because if it’s what I think, then no. But if it’s something different, like you’re actually a government assassin, it might be.”

“I’m not a government assassin,” Sterling said, his mouth twitching.

“Good to know.”

“I’m just a guy,” he said. “Just a guy who came to this weird little town and fell in love with another guy.”

And there it was. My heart, which had only just remembered how to start beating, stopped again.

“Too big?” Sterling whispered, his brow creasing.

“No. Not too big at all.” I fumbled the book and almost dropped it when I tried to grab his hands in mine. I ended up cradling the book awkwardly in the crook of my arm while I held Sterling’s hands tightly. “I’m in love with you too, Sterling, and I don’t care if it’s only been three weeks. It’s Christmas .”

He laughed, shaking his head. “What difference does that make?”

I laughed too. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you, Sterling Van Ruyven? Christmas is the time for miracles.”

And we kissed again, while the sun glittered on the snow and made the whole world shine brightly.