The Mills & Boon Christmas Wishes Collection. Maisey Yates

had one definite booking – Barbie in February – and a tentative yes from Ebony for the summer, but first she’d bring her family to the lodge for a second opinion. Micah and Isla had helped Aunt Bessie load up her car with supplies we’d borrowed and were meeting her in Evergreen to help unpack. Cruz was wiping down the kitchen benches, his chef whites no longer pristine, but a satisfied smile firmly in place.

      I flopped down at the bench and said, “Do you want any help, Cruz?” I prayed he’d say no since my feet were on fire from wearing heels all day. I must have climbed the staircase twenty times, showing brides the honeymoon suite.

      “I’d love a glass of wine,” he said.

      I lifted a finger. “No! Champagne for all!”

      “Did I hear someone say champagne?” Amory took some flutes from the cupboard and went to the fridge, taking a bottle and expertly popping the cork with zero ceremony. I had to laugh. In times of crisis, or fatigue, she was a guzzler, and an expensive price tag meant little.

      “You’re a girl after my own heart,” I said, clinking glasses with her and Cruz. “Thank you for today, both of you, I don’t want you to ever leave! Can’t we pretend there’s no New York, and this is home?”

      They exchanged a glance with each other. It was loaded with meaning, but of what, I didn’t know. “Let’s cheers to that,” Amory said.

      “Cruz, you were in your element! I thought chefs were usually grumpy under pressure, more sovereign-like, barking orders or some such.”

      He threw his head back and laughed. “I used to work under a chef like that and it was almost impossible not to laugh when he had one of his rages. I couldn’t take him seriously when he was heart-attack red and frothing at the mouth. Instead of fixing the problem he’d have a conniption that lasted twenty minutes – which of course delayed us even more… It was insane.”

      “How depressing,” Amory joked. “I was hoping to see you throw some pots and pans around – you know, christen the kitchen a bit?”

      “There’s still time,” he said, his eyes twinkling. Was it a possibility he’d stay and take up the chef position at Cedarwood? It would be too good to be true, having my best friend and her partner here for good. But maybe out of the city they could sort through their differences… I sent up a fervent wish to the universe to make it so.

      “And our beautiful brides! Weren’t they amazing?” Amory said.

      I took a big sip of champagne, bubbles bursting on my nose like little kisses. “They were, even what-was-her-name with the black hair?”

      Amory rolled her eyes. “There’s always one like that. Isadora. Doubt we’ll hear back from her, though.”

      In a way, I was glad. You could only deal with so many dramas before it became old very quickly. I sensed Isadora would be a troublemaker just for the sake of it. Still, smile, nod, and solve the problem – we’d do it if we had to. “The vendors were really happy too. Might be the start of something big for them.”

      I knew how hard it was to make a living in Evergreen and I couldn’t deny the thrill I felt knowing that Cedarwood Lodge was providing more customers for local small businesses too.

      My face hurt from smiling but my heart was full.

      ***

      The next morning we woke late, and the rest of the day spread out before us blissfully void of any work. We’d decided to relax and celebrate the success of the bridal expo and all the hours we’d put into it.

      Cruz was humming away in the kitchen, searching the fridges, his zest for cooking back with a vengeance. He rejected my offers to help unload the dishwasher. “You girls have been run off your feet in the lead-up to the expo. Why don’t you take a break? Go up to the library, and I’ll bring tea?”

      The thought of being still, lying supine, did sound appealing. “Are you sure?”

      “I’m sure.”

      “Come on then, Amory,” I said, dragging at her arm, desperate to lie down and chat lazily.

      Slowly, like old women, we climbed the stairs. “You know, it hurts to wear heels these days. I suffer afterwards.”

      She gave me a bemused smile. “We sure did some miles in them. And going up and down these goddamn stairs every five minutes… We’re going to have some serious calf muscles.”

      I thought of my wardrobe, packed with couture clothing, and various heels from kitten to stiletto… and all I wanted to wear these days were my yoga pants and ballet flats. To hell with keeping up with fashion. I didn’t have to do that any more, and I didn’t much care either.

      We settled in the library, the scent of old tomes mixing with the perfume of rose posies scattered around the room. Our brides had loved the library – those with bookworm in their blood, anyhow. From my vantage point on an old, crinkled-leather Chesterfield I could see the snow-covered mountains and the frozen lake at their base.

      Flashing fairy lights brightened the room, and I turned to Amory, who had her hands clasped over her belly, her lids heavy like she’d taken a sleep draught.

      “It was great of Cruz to stay and help out. Without him I don’t know what we’d have done.” Neither Amory nor I could cook worth a damn, and Aunt Bessie had her donut table to attend to and brides to entertain. All of us had had jobs to do and, without Cruz’s culinary expertise, we’d have been in real trouble.

      Sleepily she said, “He told me last night that he quit his job. That’s why there was a delay in him arriving at Cedarwood. He had to give them notice.”

      “He quit his job? Why?” As far as I knew he thrived on the fast pace of high finance.

      “He seems to think it was our downfall, the reason we haven’t taken the next step… Because we’re always too caught up at work. He’s sort of got a point.”

      I nodded. “Big-city burnout.” It reminded me of Kai, and his feeling of being on a never-ending Ferris wheel. Was it worth it? I’d loved my job at the agency, and hated that my exit hadn’t been my choice, but after buying Cedarwood and making a life back in Evergreen I was happier every day that the decision had been made for me. New York and that frenetic pace were a million miles from here and I didn’t miss it any more. Instead, I felt a type of apathy about it. We’d all been so caught up in racing to be the best that we’d lost our way – or at least that’s how I felt now.

      “What will he do?”

      “He’s got savings, so he’ll live off that for the moment, until he decides – but I suppose he can be a chef, or at least use those skills somewhere, and you can tell by his pizzazz in the kitchen under pressure yesterday how much he loves doing it. He had fire in his belly again. It was lovely to witness that.”

      I sat bolt upright. “But what about for Cedarwood?”

      She frowned. “You’d hire him? I thought that was just a ruse to get people to sign up – say ‘yes’ and all that?”

      “Oh my God, no! I was totally serious. He is more than qualified. I mean, you saw him yesterday, he didn’t even break a sweat, just got the job done as if he’d planned the menu himself.”

      “Don’t you think that’s too neat? We have problems, he shows up, boom he’s hired. Do you think it’ll make me change my mind?”

      I leaned back into the chair and pulled a rug over me. “Do you want him to stay?”

      She waited a beat. “Yes.”

      “Then why not?”

      She sighed. “I worry I’m losing my identity, you know, and I get how uppity that sounds, but I thought I knew who I was. Thirty-something, career-driven, ambitious event planner to the stars. I had rules, so that vision stayed firmly in place. And now look at me…”

      I smiled, and gave her arm