Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Evergreen Hollow was buzzing with activity the day before the festival. It was less than a week and a half before Christmas, and the festival was the week before Christmas Eve. Everyone involved was hard at work getting things ready, and Nora could feel an excited energy humming through the town that told her she'd been right to listen to Aiden and Caroline's advice. The enthusiasm among the locals was palpable.

She'd made her way over to the event center first thing, meeting with Jonathan, Marie, Leon, Aiden, and some of the others who were helping with a variety of tasks. She couldn't help but feel incredibly grateful—they'd all come together and pulled out all the stops to make sure that the festival would be amazing even at this late hour. She'd laid out all her original ideas, and they'd brainstormed to find ways to make it work on a more local scale. Everything was coming together perfectly despite all her fears, and she was glad she hadn't given up.

She should have known though. Back in Boston, she'd always told new coworkers not to judge a vendor by how expensive it was, but by how good it was. That money and cost weren't the only markers of worth. That advice had always served her well—both in saving money for clients and finding gems in the city that she wouldn't have otherwise if she'd only focused on the most expensive option.

She'd forgotten that, while she was home. But now, thanks to the collaborative efforts of Evergreen Hollow, she'd been reminded once again.

Caroline was sitting at one of the tables, discussing arranging a small petting zoo with a few other residents who owned small livestock. She'd agreed to bring a couple of their friendlier hens, along with a neighbor who had pygmy goats, and when Nora glanced over at her sister she saw an unusual smile on Caroline's face. It had been good for her to take a little time away from the inn—Rhonda had immediately encouraged Caroline to help when Nora had suggested the petting zoo, insisting that she could handle the inn for a few days on her own with Donovan's help. And it had certainly brightened her sister up a bit, getting out and about with the others.

Aiden walked in just then, dusting the snow off of his boots. "Blake and I finished getting the lights hung," he said. "We should probably test them though, just in case anything needs replacing."

One thing that no one had challenged Nora on was the elaborate light display that she'd laid out for the exterior of the event center and the festival grounds. She'd asked Leon if he could order in enough lights, and sure enough, he'd been able to. Aiden and Blake had been hard at work for two days getting all of them up, in between jobs.

"Sure thing." Nora set down her planner. "Let's go check out the generator."

She saw the grin on Aiden's face as he nodded, following her to the back room. She was pretty sure that he knew it was mostly an excuse to get him alone for a moment—she could flip a switch on a generator on her own. But with all the work that needed to be done for the festival, they hadn't really had a moment to themselves since they'd made up.

His arms slid around her waist as they stepped into the back room, pulling her close. She breathed in the scent of his shaving cream and shampoo, enjoying the moment of closeness with him. It made her feel happy, having him here with her, and she tried not to worry about what that might mean for the future. To just enjoy the moment of being there with him now, rather than worrying about what would come later.

"It's going to be so romantic being surrounded by all those pretty lights," she murmured, and felt him brush his lips against her hair.

"I'm so glad you're here for Christmas." Aiden's grip on her tightened for a moment, and Nora let out a happy sigh.

"I am too."

She reached out, flipping the switch on the generator, and?—

Nothing.

Nora frowned, flipping it back off and on again. "Oh no," she said softly, disentangling herself from Aiden's embrace to peer at it more closely. "Can you take a look at this?"

It only took a moment for Aiden to tell her what she had already been fairly sure of—the generator was busted.

Nora pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "We're going to need another generator." She let out a huff of frustration.

"Didn't you say something a couple weeks ago about ordering a backup?"

Nora's lips thinned. "I was going to. But Sabrina canceled the order and said it wasn't necessary. I didn't get a chance to try to override that with the committee before."

She flapped a hand uselessly, indicating the arguments that had broken out before everything had been smoothed over.

"I'll have to go pick one up in Bronston. The hardware store there should have one." It was common to go to the next town over for emergency supplies that anyone in town couldn't wait for Leon to order in, and she felt sure they'd have what she needed.

"I'll go with you," Aiden offered immediately, but Nora shook her head.

"You and Blake still need to finish building the space for the temporary petting zoo. And we still need some more signs." She let out a sigh, giving him a faint smile. "I'll just go. It's no big deal."

"You're not used to driving a truck. Especially on country roads in the snow." Aiden looked worried, and Nora gave him a reassuring smile.

"I'll be fine," she promised.

She took off shortly after filling everyone in on what was going on, borrowing Donovan's truck to make the drive, a tarp thrown in the back to cover the new generator with. She found a station on the radio with cheery Christmas music, not finding it grating any longer, the way she had when Melanie first picked her up from the airport. She'd managed to thoroughly get into the holiday spirit over the past few weeks.

It was a bit of a drive, and traffic was worse than she would have expected. She managed to get the generator just before the hardware store closed, enlisting one of the employees to help her get it into the back of the truck. She tied down the tarp over it, hopping back into the cab, peering at the starless night sky. Snow had started to fall when she'd first gone into the store, and it was getting thicker now, enough that she put on the truck's windshield wipers and was careful as she eased her way out of the parking lot. It was picking up quickly, and she felt a quiver of uneasiness in her stomach.

The storm didn't let up. The snow started to come down harder as she drove home, the wind picking up too, blowing the snow around the truck and obscuring her vision. It was getting harder and harder to see, and she bit her lip, feeling a little silly as she flicked the overhead light on and took Aiden's compass necklace off. She knew which way she needed to get home with the map, but a part of her missed the GPS she had in her car back home. As long as she could use the compass to make sure she was going the right way.

She was pretty sure that she was. She took a turn, anxiety swirling in her stomach as thickly as the snow outside.

Her visibility had lowered to only a few feet in front of her, the lines on the road obscured with the settling snow, and she wasn't as familiar as she used to be with the area around Evergreen Hollow. She took another turn, biting her lip as she leaned forward to peer out of the windshield. The road looked as if it were getting narrower, but it must be an illusion from the snow.

It was getting narrower. She felt the truck tires slip on the ice, and she overcorrected, trying to figure out where the lane began and ended. The truck started to slide, and Nora let out a small scream as she slid off the road and into a snowdrift with a heavy thud .

The truck was very still. The engine was still running, but all she had to do was look at the height of the drift to know she wasn't getting out of this on her own.

Her heart was racing with adrenaline. She reached for her purse, fumbling for her phone to call Aiden. She'd call him and try to explain where she was, and then he could come and help.

But there was no reception.

Not even a single bar when she held the phone up.

Nora's heart sank as she looked out into the swirling darkness, with no idea what to do.

It was well after dark, and Aiden was starting to get worried.

Nora wasn't back yet, so far as he knew, and he couldn't get ahold of her. He hadn't wanted to text her, worried about her answering back while driving, so he'd tried to call instead. But she hadn't picked up at all.

He remembered all too well how directionally challenged she'd been on their hikes. She probably wasn't as familiar with the roads as she might have been before she'd moved away, and he wasn't certain how good she'd been at getting around with a map back then. One glance out of his living room window told him that the snow was beginning to come down at an alarming rate.

He'd wanted to go with her in the first place. Now, as the storm intensified along with his worry, he couldn't stop himself from going after her. He didn't know exactly where she was, but he knew the direction of the town she'd been going to, at least.

He'd head that way, and make sure she was all right, he reasoned. Once he saw her truck—probably one of the only vehicles out on the road at this point—he'd follow her back and make sure she got back to The Mistletoe Inn safely. Help her unload the generator, if she needed it.

His mind made up, Aiden headed out to his own truck and pulled out onto the main road. The storm was picking up even more, and he drove slowly, taking his time as he made his way in the direction Nora had gone. Visibility was low, and he almost missed the tire tracks that he saw about an hour out of Evergreen Hollow, veering off onto a side road.

That might have been Nora .

He couldn't take a chance that it wasn't. He turned, following them, and sure enough, about a half mile down he saw her truck wedged deeply into a snowdrift.

He slowed to a stop, putting on his hazards, and slid out of the driver's side. A moment later, Nora leapt out of the truck, making a beeline toward him.

She threw her arms around him, pressing her head against his chest. "I'm so glad to see you," she breathed, and he put his arms around her too, squeezing her tightly.

"I was so scared. The truck just started sliding, and I think I took a wrong turn, and then there was no cell phone service and I felt so isolated out here, all alone. I had no idea how I was going to get out, and I worried I'd run out of fuel and not have heat, and I—how did you know to come out here? I can't believe you're here." Nora's words tumbled over each other, coming out in a torrent before finally sliding to a stop as she looked up at him. "How did you know?"

Aiden rubbed a gloved hand over his face. "Well, you weren't answering any of my calls, so I figured you weren't getting service. Using a map to get back, then. Saw the storm was picking up and thought you probably couldn't see well, and considering how easily turned around you got on our hike…" He shrugged. "It didn't seem like too big of a leap to think that you might have gotten lost out here on the back roads getting home."

He could see her face flush even in the dim light from the headlights.

"That was a very educated guess," she said with a small, embarrassed laugh. "Thank you for coming after me."

He hugged her again. "I'm glad you're safe is all."

Nora let out another small, chagrined laugh.

"I've always been the type of woman who has everything under control, you know?" she said softly. "But if there's one thing I've learned since I've been back here, it's that depending on others for assistance isn't always a bad thing. And I think I've learned that lesson again tonight. I shouldn't have tried to make that generator run myself. But I guess I just wanted to prove myself to the town. That I'm as tough and capable as anyone who lives here full-time."

Aiden's chest tightened. He reached down, brushing a piece of hair away from her face. "You don't need to prove yourself to the town," he told her gently. "Everyone here knows how amazing you are, Nora Stoker. I certainly do."

Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him, a soft vulnerability in her face that tugged at his heart in a way that was becoming familiar. "Do you really mean that?"

"I do." A small smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. "I had a terrible crush on you in high school, by the way. If we're admitting things. Just in case you didn't know."

Her blush deepened. "I wish we'd found our way to each other sooner." Her mittened hands closed around the front of his coat, tugging him closer. "But better late than never, right?"

Aiden grinned. "I couldn't agree more."

He leaned down, kissing her softly in the middle of the swirling snow. When he felt her shiver, he pulled back, giving her truck a measured look.

"I can hook my car up to yours," he said. "And get it out of the drift. Then you can follow me back, if you like."

"I think that sounds like a good idea." Nora laughed. "Thank you."

Aiden smiled at her. "Anytime," he promised.

And he meant it.