Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Nora's flight arrived in the tiny airport just outside of Evergreen Hollow a little before one in the afternoon, just in time for her to look out of the small plane window to the endless white expanse beyond and wonder for the thousandth time just how big of a mistake she might have made.

She hadn't even really made it to Evergreen Hollow yet. It was still two hours by car, which would leave plenty of time for her to ruminate on whether or not this had been a good idea. Although Melanie had promised to pick her up, and Nora felt certain that would involve an endless stream of distraction in the form of catching up.

That thought was definitely a relief.

She retrieved her luggage from the tiny baggage carousel, keeping an eye out for Melanie as she strolled through the airport to the front doors. The whiff of coffee from the small stand near the entrance was tantalizing, but she knew Melanie would never hear the end of it if she got coffee from somewhere other than The Mellow Mug. Knowing Melanie, she'd bring coffee with her.

The sharp, cold Vermont air hit Nora the moment she stepped outside, and she breathed it in, sucking it deeply into her lungs. She'd been outside for two seconds, and she already felt overwhelmed by a nostalgia that she'd left behind years ago. Was it a mistake to come back? The question that had been rattling around in her head for hours took root more firmly, growing tendrils that sank in and made her stomach a little queasy.

Only time would tell. There was nothing to do now but find out. And the truth was that she had no idea what else she would have done with her holiday. Sitting in her apartment alone, no matter how beautiful and cozy, would have felt like an even bigger blow.

Nora heard a shout that sounded like her name, and jolted out of her worry to see Melanie jogging toward her, wrapped up in a thick infinity scarf and long-sleeved running clothes. She looked exactly like Nora remembered her—blonde and pink-cheeked and always in motion, every bit the athletic runner that she'd always been.

Nothing changes here. Not even the people.

To everyone in Evergreen Hollow, that was the point . The appeal. The familiarity of it, the friendliness, the knowledge that things would always be the way they had always been. A rhythm to life that Nora had always found suffocating. Her ambition had always felt out of place. Her desire for a certain lifestyle felt like she was spoiled, here. In Boston, it just felt like she fit in.

Melanie waved excitedly, skidding through the snow as she came to a halt in front of Nora—with a steaming cup in her hand, exactly as Nora had thought. She thrust it into Nora's, reaching for one of the bags.

"Here, I'll help you with this. I can grab two, actually. I added weights to my routine, did I tell you? I don't think I did. Not like—a lot but a couple of times a week—I think I'm getting some muscle!" Melanie lifted one arm, flexing it playfully as she grabbed two of Nora's suitcases in exchange for the latte.

"I can see it." Nora appreciatively lifted the latte to her lips, breathing in the minty chocolate steam, grateful for the caffeine. "How on earth did you manage to keep this warm? It's two hours from the cafe."

Melanie grinned, hoisting the bags into the back of her Jeep and tapping a finger against the edge of the mug Nora held, her eyes bright. "They're insulated travel mugs. I've been selling them in the shop and they've been flying off the shelves—they're freaking magic. They'll keep literally anything hot or cold for up to eight hours. Everyone loves them."

"I'm so happy you discovered them." Nora clutched the mug tighter, taking another sip. "I knew you'd sense it if I drank airport coffee, so I've been hanging on by a thread."

"Only the best for you!" Melanie swung into the Jeep and Nora followed, sinking back into the passenger side as Melanie started the engine. The instant the truck came on, Christmas music flooded the cab, and Nora instantly felt herself react. She very nearly reached out and switched it off.

For all the holiday cheer she'd had the day of her last event before leaving, she felt as if she'd turned thoroughly into the Grinch. The breakup had shattered her holiday spirit, but Nora clenched her hands around the mug, forcing herself not to turn it off. She knew it would ruin the mood in the car, and she didn't want to do that. Not when Melanie had so eagerly gone out of her way to pick Nora up, insisting that she couldn't get an Uber, that there probably wouldn't even be an Uber. Maybe a bad taxi, and she couldn't allow that. Not when Nora was finally coming back to visit.

Nora caught the sympathetic glance Melanie immediately shot her way. The flinch at the music hadn't been missed, and Nora instantly felt guilty.

"I'm really happy you're back." Melanie took her eyes off the road to look at Nora for just a moment before returning them to the highway. "I hope this is going to be good for you. Wipe all that bad stuff away. How long has it been anyway? I've lost count."

It wasn't meant to make her feel guilty, Nora knew, but she felt a small stab anyway. "A really long time," she admitted, taking another sip of the coffee. Her family and Melanie had been to visit her in Boston over the years, but she hadn't returned the favor. No matter how many times she told herself she would, she kept putting it off. "There was that one time, right after graduation. So, like, twelve years? A little more?"

That one time had been enough to make her keep pushing off a return, again and again. She'd felt so stifled as soon as she'd come back, trapped within the town limits like a bird in a cage. No one had understood why she'd gotten a degree in event planning or why anyone would spend tens of thousands of dollars on throwing a party instead of using a perfectly good rec center or church hall.

It didn't make sense why Nora's clients would hire Michelin-starred chefs instead of having family cater their graduation or reunion or even a wedding reception. Why flowers cost as much as an entire car for some of the residents in Evergreen Hollow. It felt to Nora like they were all judging her for having dedicated her life to something that to them, seemed shallow and wasteful and spoiled. And she felt like they didn't understand how happy it made her, to turn all that extravagance into something beautiful and elegant and memorable.

I wonder if I'll feel the same way now. Nora bit her lip, looking out at the snowy expanse stretching out on either side of the road, studded with maples. That worry that it might have been a mistake to come crept in again, but Melanie glanced over at her, seemingly picking up on her friend's worry.

"Was it too hard to get off work? I know the holidays must be busy."

"Not as much as you might think. Mostly winter weddings, and New Year's Eve parties. But I managed to get my work covered." It hadn't been as easy as Nora made it sound. Her years of never taking off work had created an expectation that her boss hadn't been thrilled to see change. But she'd had the paid time off, and in the end, she'd been there long enough that she had the ability to put her foot down, just a little. "January is always a slow month, so I can catch up when I get back on any of the busy work that might pile up."

And not think about my canceled wedding. She shoved the thought out of her head, hard. She'd had January penciled in for months as the time she'd use to really dig into wedding planning, come up with all the options and lay them out for Rob so he could just tell her what he liked best and help her narrow it all down. She'd even considered trying to arrange a little getaway for them, something less remote this time. Maybe even a tropical vacation where they could both get a tan and work on the wedding planning with a drink in hand.

The whole time she'd been dreaming about that, he'd been thinking of his escape route from their relationship.

"Tell me about busy work." Melanie shook her head. "I've got a few employees home on Christmas break from college, but I feel like every day there's more to do. And taxes coming up—it's always something. I feel like I can never entirely get through my to-do list."

Nora felt a smile spreading across her lips, the first she'd managed in a while. "I love lists. Maybe I can help."

Melanie swatted her, the Jeep swerving a little. "You're on vacation . I know that's a foreign word to you, but you're going to learn it while you're here. I didn't ask you to visit so I could put you to work."

Nora threw up her hands. "I'm just saying. I love paperwork."

"I know you do."

Nora felt herself relax a little, bit by bit, as they approached Evergreen Hollow. For all her worries, it was good to see her friend in person again. To laugh and tease each other, the way they used to. It had been years since she'd seen Melanie, years that had slid by so quickly she would have sworn it hadn't been all that long—but now that she was here, she realized just how much time really had gone by.

Too much.

This, at least, was a very good reason to have come back to visit.

Still, Nora felt that nervous clench in her stomach again as the town started to come into view. Another wave of nostalgia hit her—she recognized it all. All of the snow-topped roofs and rustic storefronts and the one black-and-cream stone restaurant that served as the place for a fancy night out in Evergreen Hollow, Marie's. They'd gone there for dinner when she'd come back after graduation, and she had spent the entire night mentally comparing it to her favorite three-star haunt in Boston. Another swell of guilt gripped her at the memory.

Melanie kept driving through town toward The Mistletoe Inn—the small bed and breakfast that Nora's parents had owned and run since before she was born. Her sister Caroline helped run it now, and Nora felt another quiver of unease at the thought of Caroline. She knew very well that Caroline was going to be the hardest sell on her brief return home. Caroline wasn't going to just let her wave away her absence for the last several years.

As Melanie pulled into the driveway, Nora saw the inn, exactly as she remembered it. It was quaint and homey, a large log cabin-style building with a gabled shingle roof and a large wrap-around porch. Snow was built up on the sides of the pathway leading to the porch steps, where it had been shoveled out of the way.

The place was fully decorated for Christmas. Lights were strung along the rooftop edge and the porch, a cluster of reindeer stood out in the snow, and the trees out front were strung with more lights. Holly bushes brightened up the space next to the stairs up to the porch, and a huge wreath hung from the front door, a glimmer of a beautifully decorated tree visible through the front window.

A rush of memories hit Nora as she sat there, unable to move from the Jeep for a moment. She'd helped decorate this place with her parents and sisters, year after year, Christmas after Christmas.

It had stayed almost entirely the same, even down to the huge snowman sitting near the edge of the front yard, holding a rustic wooden sign with Evergreen Snowman Festival written in curly dark green script across it.

She remembered making that snowman every year with her mother and sisters. It had been fun when she was a kid—something that she looked forward to, along with the homemade hot chocolate her mother always made afterward—but now she looked at it and thought that it seemed dated.

Surely putting out the same decorations, year after year, with that sign that had begun to look weathered around the edges in a way that wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as one might think, seemed like a tired tradition.

Nora knew if she said that aloud, she would be met with almost universal disagreement. That sameness, that sense of familiarity, was what everyone in Evergreen Hollow clung to. It was part of what had driven her away.

The front door opened with a jingle of bells attached to the wreath hanging from it, and Nora's mother hurried out, a bright smile spreading across her face.

Nora slid out of the Jeep, her mother's appearance jolting her out of her momentary paralysis. Rhonda had had a hip replacement years ago, around the time that Nora moved to Boston. It hadn't given her any trouble in the many years since, but the idea of her going down icy steps in a hurry to see her daughter was enough to propel Nora out of the Jeep and toward the porch.

Rhonda was already at the edge of the steps by the time Nora made her way there. She was a petite, bright-eyed woman, still graceful from her career as a ballerina in her younger days, her frame still delicate.

Nora saw the necklace that she always wore dangling against her bright-red wool sweater—three hearts with the initials of each of her children on them—and Nora felt that wave of nostalgia again. Her mother was as unchanged as everything else—still the same short gray bob with a hint of curl to it, still the complete lack of makeup on her lightly lined face, still the commitment to Christmas-colored sweaters for the entire month of December.

It was all the same, and Nora couldn't decide if it made her feel comforted, or made her want to run. She was leaning toward the latter.

"Nora!" Rhonda wrapped her arms around her daughter, squeezing tightly. She smelled of vanilla and sugar—not anything store bought, but the distinct scent of baking. "And Melanie! Thank you so much for getting her from the airport. I would have done it myself," Rhonda added, detaching from her daughter briefly to look her over, "but Melanie insisted. It was important to her, so I figured I would make sure things were ready here for you. Your room is all made up, and there are cocoa and cookies inside! Melanie, you should stay for a little while too. The shop will manage without you for another hour."

Melanie shot Nora a glance that Nora fully understood. No one turned down cookies when Rhonda offered them, or any of her hospitality for that matter. There was nothing in the world that gave Rhonda Stoker more joy than doting over guests at the inn, and neither of the girls would have done anything to deny her that.

"Where's Dad?" Nora asked, as she sank down into one of the armchairs by the fire in the small living room.

The tree that she had spied through the window outside was decorated exactly as she remembered, with a handful of new ornaments sprinkled in. The living room was warm and cozy, with a long sofa in front of the fire piled with soft-looking pillows and plaid wool throw blankets, and a smattering of equally soft armchairs divided into groups of two and three, with small wooden tables tucked between them for drinks or food to be set on. One chair was near the tree, an extra pillow on the seat, and Cloud—the inn's fluffy gray cat—curled up on it asleep.

"Out fishing." Rhonda waved a hand. "He'll be back for dinner, he said. He was going to stay and wait for you to get here, but I told him to go on, we'd have some time just us girls to catch up. Now, you sit down and get comfortable, and I'll be right back."

‘Cookies,' as it turned out, meant a China platter of sweets that Rhonda set on the table in front of the three chairs, along with three steaming mugs of hot cocoa with fluffy marshmallows floating on top. Nora knew the hot cocoa was a mix Rhonda would have made herself, combined with local milk, the marshmallows from the confectionery in town. If it could be made, grown, or bought in Evergreen Hollow, the residents always preferred it. Local was better, as far as they were all concerned.

"These look amazing," Melanie gushed, reaching for a piece of maple sugar candy. The pile of candy was nestled between pillowy snickerdoodles and a handful of delicate-looking meringues, along with fudge brownies topped with thick chocolate icing and traditional sugar cookies decorated by hand. "I know why I can't come by all that often, I'd be ten pounds heavier by the end of Christmas! No one makes sweets like you do, Mrs. Stoker."

Rhonda laughed, settling into her chair next to Nora and reaching for one of the meringues. "Well, I spent all that time in my younger years wishing I could eat sweets. Ballet is so unforgiving when it comes to that. So now, I can eat what I please. And I love seeing others enjoy it."

Nora knew exactly how sincere her mother was on that point. Running a bed-and-breakfast was no small task. There had been times over the years when both her father and her sisters had encouraged Rhonda to remove the "breakfast" facet of The Mistletoe Inn, offering maybe just something continental—a spread of muffins and tea—or let the guests fend for themselves altogether. But Rhonda had always refused, saying that cooking a big morning meal for the inn's guests was one of the things that made her the happiest.

She wondered, sometimes, what would happen when the inevitable day came that Caroline took over entirely. She couldn't imagine her no-nonsense older sister enthused over spending hours in the kitchen preparing breakfast and treats for the guests, when there were plenty of more efficient options. But Nora also knew that Caroline loved the inn. She wasn't sure, exactly, what plans Caroline had for it in the future.

After so long away, she wasn't entirely sure that it was her place to ask.

"I'm so excited to have you here for the holidays." Rhonda beamed at her daughter. "I thought you would be spending it with Rob's family. It's such a wonderful surprise."

Nora swallowed hard, the bite of brownie suddenly sticking in her throat. She took a gulp of hot chocolate, nearly burning her mouth in the process. She wanted to savor it all, since she never let herself have treats like this at home—and even if she did buy sweets, they were never quite the same.

But the mention of Rob made her nearly choke.

"We broke up." She blurted it out, wanting to get the news out as quickly as possible, and get past it. "He broke off the engagement. But really, it was a long time coming. We agreed…" She swallowed again, not wanting to lie. "Things just weren't working out," she finished lamely, setting down her cocoa again. "But I'm okay, really. Better I know now than after we're already married. I can cancel wedding plans."

Melanie nodded, and Rhonda smiled. "That's a very wise way of looking at it," she said gently. "You'll have such a nice time here too. We have so much to catch up on. You won't even think about it. There's nothing like the holidays to brighten everything up."

Nora saw the shine in her mother's eyes, that building excitement that she knew could overflow into ideas that hadn't been discussed yet. "Don't get any big ideas," she warned, softening the words with a smile. "I'm not moving back. I'm just here to regroup and get my head on straight. I still have my job and apartment and everything back in Boston. And I love it all. I might have moved there for Rob, but I don't have any intention of leaving."

"Well, we're happy to have you for as long as we can have you." Rhonda reached out and patted her daughter's hand. "There's no pressure. I just want to enjoy every minute I get with you. And you'll be here for the festival!"

Privately, Nora thought that she couldn't care less about the festival. She hadn't enjoyed it since she was a child, and as an adult, it seemed kitschy and even a little tacky, highlighting the rustic homeliness of the town that felt so suffocating to her. The festival had grown over the years, but the overall feeling of it never really changed. But she smiled anyway, nodding because she knew it would make her mother happy to see her interested. Her mother's joy was infectious, and Nora found herself relaxing, just a little.

Despite all of her reservations, it was good to be back.

Aiden rubbed his gloved hand over his face, trying not to look too closely in the direction of the floodlights that had been set up so that the work on the roof could continue past nightfall. He, Joe Woodham, his close friend Blake Monroe, Avery Smith, Colin Bailey, and a few of the other guys around town who were handy had all stayed long past when they'd normally be done working to try and get more progress on the event center's roof. It wasn't the safest idea, being up on the rafters with the cold and damp in the dark, but the floodlights offered enough of a glow that they could manage it.

With the festival coming up, they were all feeling the time crunch. He wanted to keep things moving, to not let everyone down. He knew Bethany would try to find another space to host it if she had to, but he didn't want to see the look on her face when that news was delivered, when the festival had to be changed for the first time in who knows how many years. Tradition was what kept the town going, a part of their closeness, the sense of family that made living in Evergreen Hollow such a special experience. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure that nothing affected that.

"We should probably pack it in soon." Avery set down a hammer, leaning back on his heels as he looked at the shingles. "I know my wife is going to have dinner waiting, and I'm getting hungry. Temperature is dropping too."

"We've made good progress." Joe glanced over at Aiden. "I think we can pick up bright and early in the morning. As long as the weather holds and there isn't another big storm, we should have it all fixed by the time the festival happens."

"Someone tell the weatherman to predict sunshiny skies," Colin joked, climbing carefully down the ladder. The heavy sound of his boots crunching through the snow echoed in the quiet night as he went to toss his tools back into the box. "It'd be rare for a storm like that to happen twice in as many weeks. I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"Certainly hope not." Blake looked over at Aiden. "Want to grab a beer at the grill or something?"

"Normally I'd say yes, but I think I'm going to call it a night. I want to be up early tomorrow to get started." Aiden headed for the ladder, careful of any icy spots. "Give you a raincheck on that."

"Sure thing." Blake followed him down, the guys all packing up and setting the tools and materials safely inside the entry of the event center before breaking off, heading to their respective vehicles.

Aiden hung back for a moment as the sound of starting engines filled the crisp air, one hand on the hood of his truck as he surveyed the progress they'd made so far. It filled him with a sense of satisfaction, seeing it come along so well. It always made him feel warm and at home, when everyone came together like this to see things fixed. There wasn't any better feeling that he could imagine.

He hoisted his toolbox, setting it in the back of the truck before sliding into the driver's side and turning the engine on, letting it warm up for a minute. The floodlights had all been turned off, leaving the building a dark silhouette in the crisp snow, the glow of the moon faintly illuminating it. His back hurt and his hands had a few new callouses from the long hours he'd been pulling, but it would be all worth it when the festival went off without a hitch.

Aiden drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove back to his house, humming along with the Christmas carols on the radio. He turned past The Mistletoe Inn, glancing over at it—the cheery decorations were always a pleasure to look at—and did a double-take when he thought he saw someone familiar sitting on the front porch, along with Rhonda and Donovan Stoker.

It can't be. He could have sworn he caught a glimpse of Nora Stoker, her dark hair loose around her shoulders, wrapped up in a cream-colored wool peacoat. His heart skipped a little in his chest at the thought, and he slowed down a little without thinking, but he couldn't fully make her out. He didn't want to stop driving altogether and get caught staring, and it was impossible to see for sure.

It was equally impossible to get her out of his head, once the thought of her entered it.

Oh, wow, if it really is Nora…

He hadn't seen her in years. They'd gone to high school together, like every other teenager growing up in Evergreen Hollow, but she'd never so much as glanced his way in all those years. On the rare occasion that he had overheard some conversation she was a part of, it was always abundantly clear that she couldn't wait to leave town. He'd seen her back once since he'd heard she had up and moved to Boston after college, but that had been… what, eleven or twelve years ago?

A long time for someone to be gone, and then suddenly pop back up again.

Surely it wasn't her.

Aiden turned into his driveway, the trip having gone by in a hurry while he was lost in thought. It had to have been one of the inn's guests. It wouldn't be unusual for someone so sleek and polished to be staying at The Mistletoe Inn. Plenty of people from Boston and New York came to enjoy the rustic charm of Evergreen Hollow, especially around the holidays.

He tried to shake off the little bubble of excitement that rose in his chest at the thought of it being Nora, kicking the snow off his boots as he opened his front door.

But a small part of him couldn't help thinking that if there was a chance that Nora Stoker had decided to come home for the holidays…

Well, wouldn't that be something.