The Mills & Boon Christmas Wishes Collection. Maisey Yates

love when you saw it. Like the world would flip over, colors would brighten, it would be like having your favorite song on repeat.” Oh God, had I really just said that to him?

      But deep and meaningful Kai didn’t laugh. Instead, he contemplated it before saying, “Maybe. Have you been in love before?”

      I sighed. “You know that guy we saw in town? Timothy?” He nodded. “We were high-school sweethearts, I suppose a much more subdued version of Micah and Ronnie. But looking back I think it was puppy love. In New York I had lots of first dates, but work was hectic and I couldn’t or wouldn’t commit to men who counted three months as a long-term relationship. What about you?”

      He pushed his hands under his head. “There was a girl back home. But when it came down to it, there wasn’t enough between us for it to go anywhere. I felt a little like a cardboard cutout, going through the motions as if it was expected of me. Meet a girl, move in together, and eventually propose. But it never felt quite right. I left Australia, with no hard feelings between us, searching for something else. I don’t know whether it’s love or a different life, or something spiritual I want. All I know is that, if I’d stayed, suddenly I’d be sixty and looking back wondering why I felt so empty. I want more, as selfish as it sounds. Or if not more, something truer.”

      “Do you think the tiny town of Evergreen is the answer?”

      He faced me, moonlight reflected in his eyes. “Could be. I have an affinity for this place. Like I belong. Maybe it’s being so close to nature. I’ve always been happier in the wild than out with a bunch of people. Weird, huh?” He took a sip of wine and cupped his glass by his side.

      “Not weird. Evergreen is the kind of place you can get lost in if you want. You’ve climbed the mountains, you know how easy it is to find solitude here.”

      “Until Cedarwood Lodge is alive and kicking.”

      “From your mouth to the universe’s ears.” I laughed.

      A shooting star flashed across the sky leaving a phosphorous trail.

      I made a wish. That Kai would find what he was searching for, and that he’d find it close to Evergreen.

       Chapter Eleven

      “So, hang on, let me get this straight. Micah, the best friend who happens to also be a super-hot male, has hooked up with the landscaper, Isla? And Kai, the Australian surfer god, is searching for something but doesn’t know what? And there was a fire, thank the lord you’re all OK, and your mom is acting weird?” Amory spoke at lightning speed and I had to pause a second to untangle her words.

      “In a nutshell, yes. And the fire broke out in the ballroom ceiling, so we have to start the reno over and we’ve only got two weeks until the party.”

      She let out a pah of surprise. “You make New York look positively boring! I need to pull some vacay time and haul ass there.”

      Laughter burbled from me. “It does seem rather fraught on the retell, but it’s mostly been lots of work. Cleaning, and painting, and paperwork. And now this drama…”

      “Don’t negative Nelly me! You can still do this! And what about Timothy? That fine specimen of young love? Have you reconnected?”

      I groaned. I’d forgotten her earlier directive about catching up with him for coffee. “Well, we’re all supposed to be going out on Friday. But that’s only because I literally bumped into him in town…”

      She cut me off. “Bumped into him? Like meet-cute bumped into him? Like the beginning of every single decent romantic comedy?”

      “If I eye-roll any harder I’ll see my brain. Yes, but it wasn’t like the movies at all. It was painful and all sorts of awkward because he had his two children with him, who were so frosty they were practically snowmen. The little girl made the finger-across-the-throat gesture behind his back. And she’s only, like, four, or eight, or something!”

      “OK, OK, that’s interesting. We don’t know enough about kids to translate the meaning. It could be anything! Did he say where their mom was?” Her voice rose with excitement and I knew I had to put a stop to her scheming. Before I could answer she was off again. “Was he wearing a wedding ring?”

      I debated whether to lie, because if I told her the truth there’d be no going back.

      “He wasn’t, was he?” she said triumphantly.

      Dang it! “No, he wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean anything! He could have been swimming, or at the gym and taken it off for safekeeping. Besides, I’m not interested in revisiting the past.” I didn’t know which way was up at the moment and definitely couldn’t be trusted with matters of the heart unless they related to someone else’s heart. Someone like Micah and Isla.

      “Did you have butterfly belly? Yes or no?”

      “Possibly, but I think that was because I had a traumatic bump to the head…”

      “Yes or no?”

      “It was more nerves…”

      “So that’s a yes. Did he give you that same special smile from back in the day?”

      Damn it.

      “I’ll take your silence as an affirmative. And who invited who out? Actually, don’t bother answering that – it was him.” The clack of laptop keys clattered down the phone line.

      “What are you doing?”

      “Research.”

      “His Facebook page is locked down.”

      Her curse rang out and the keys clacked furiously once more.

      “He doesn’t use Twitter.”

      I was met with silence.

      “Or Instagram.”

      “Are they so remote they can’t communicate? I mean, how do these people survive?”

      I giggled. “I think they meet face to face.”

      She gasped. “Bloody hell. OK, so if we can’t stalk him online, I suppose you’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.”

      “I’ll go to the catch-up because I said I would, but that’s it. I’ve got too much to do here, especially now, and Kai’s making me do midnight yoga by the lake because apparently it’s the only way to get the knots out of my shoulders and help me have a proper deep sleep. So, with all of those late nights and waking with the birds, I’m totally bushed. Maybe I’m getting…”

      “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Kai’s making you do midnight yoga by the lake? The downward dog, you say?”

      “Can you get your mind out of the gutter?”

      “Never. Love is what makes the world go around and I am your cheer squad.”

      “Riiight.”

      “So, you just happened to be together at midnight?”

      “Well, we were climbing the mountain…”

      “What for? To escape the fire?”

      “No, for exercise.”

      “WHAT! You don’t exercise!”

      “I know, but Kai’s really attuned to the earth and nature and he seems to have this kooky idea that I hold stress in my body and it’s toxic and a spot of midnight yoga will ease all of that. And I must admit, I’m sleeping soundly at night. But yeah, it’s pretty exhausting.”

      “But why midnight?”

      “Something about the shift in ocean current or the moon, or something.”

      “Golly, and here I thought you’d be going to some little