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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.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Nora woke up early the morning of the festival, just after the sun came up. She’d barely been able to sleep all night, caught between excitement and nerves.
After Aiden had pulled the truck out of the snowdrift the night before, she’d followed him back to town, and they’d dropped the generator off at the event center. Despite how late it was, he’d helped her hook it up and made sure it worked—and it had, perfectly. He’d come back to The Mistletoe Inn with her then, sitting up late with her and helping her go over last-minute things. It had been nice. Just the two of them with cocoa and cookies, going over all of her lists and checking them twice.
She had to admit that he and Sabrina were right. The festival was going to be amazing, and more so because of how it had ended up coming about. Doing it the way that had been suggested to her—involving the town and all of the locals—meant it had been as much about the journey to get there as the destination. Everyone had gotten to pitch in and help, and instead of it being a burden, it had only made everyone that much more excited to enjoy the final product.
Nora got up, putting on jeans and a Christmas-y red sweater, along with her trusty peacoat, scarf, and Aiden’s necklace. Sheput on her Hunter boots instead of her ankle boots this morning, figuring she’d be doing a decent amount of walking around in the snow. She could already smell breakfast from downstairs, telling her that her mother had been just as much of an early riser today.
She grabbed an apple-cinnamon muffin and a coffee-to-go downstairs, giving her mother a quick hug and her father a smile. “I’ll see you at the festival!” she said excitedly, catching Caroline’s eye as her sister came in from the backyard. Caroline was always up early to take care of the animals, and today was no exception.
Rhonda and Donovan waved at her, Donovan smiling at his daughter over his morning paper. “See you soon,” they both said, and Nora went into the living room, grabbing the reindeer costume that she had ordered a few days ago. Bethany had finally talked Aiden into wearing his, and she’d thought it would be fun to get one to match.
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Caroline teased, walking in just as Nora was zipping it up. “My fashion-forward sister dressed as a reindeer. Love really gets in your head, doesn’t it?”
Nora rolled her eyes at the good-natured teasing, choosing to ignore the last part. It made her think of what might happen between her and Aiden after the holidays were over—or rather, what mightnothappen, and what she actually wanted. All things she wasn’t prepared to face today, of all days.
“I’ll see you there,” she said instead. “Don’t forget the chickens!” she added, flashing Caroline a grin, and her sister shook her head, still laughing as she retreated into the kitchen.
All ready to go, Nora headed to the event center. The early morning went by in a flash, as she and Bethany and the other ladies finished all of the last-minute things needed to set up. The festival started at ten, and they had the lights on and the morning booths set up just as people started to arrive.
The excitement buzzing through the festival was palpable. Nora could feel it everywhere she went—in the townspeople manning the booths and events and the ones participating, in the tourists and visitors from the surrounding towns, all eager to see the Evergreen Snowman Festival. The space was packed, inside and out, and everyone was enthusiastic, laughing and having a good time. Nora felt the warm glow of it as she went from place to place, helping with small fixes and replenishing food platters and giving vendors a small break if they needed to run to get a snack or visit the bathroom. She couldn’t remember ever having had so muchfunat an event, and it made her happy to hear the talk of how much bigger the event was this year than any year before. All the talk and buzz surrounding it that they’d managed to generate had paid off.
Aiden stayed with her for most of the day, helping alongside her, and everyone who saw them loved their matching reindeer costumes. On any other day, Nora would have felt silly, but she didn’t. It felt normal and fun, the kind of thing she never could have done with anyone else.
“Our past selves could never have imagined this,” Aiden joked in the late afternoon, as he passed her a foam cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows. “Before you came back? Never. I would have thought you were way too cool to wear a reindeer outfit.”
Nora took a grateful sip of the hot drink. Her lips were starting to feel a little numb from being outside for so long, despite how busy she’d been. “You have no idea how nerdy I can be,” she teased.
“I’m looking forward to finding out.” Aiden smiled at her, and her stomach fluttered. She liked the idea of that, she realized, as she looked up at him. She liked the idea of learning all of his little idiosyncrasies, and him learning hers. Of gettingto know what their day to day would look like, if they werereallytogether.
But that would only happen if they had more time together.
The thought stuck with her, as it had after Caroline’s offhand comment that morning. But the day was going by in a blur, and she couldn’t dwell on it too much in the midst of all of the fun and activity of the event.
“Nora!” Her mother came up to her, breathless, her cheeks pink above her scarf. She was glowing, and Nora looked at her, wondering what had gotten her so excited—beyond just the festival itself.
“What is it?”
“Your advertising campaign for the inn has worked wonders!” Rhonda smiled broadly at her daughter. “We’re all booked out. The idea of centering it around the festival was perfect!”
Nora felt a warm glow, a matching smile spreading over her face. “I’m so glad.” She gave her mother a quick hug, feeling happier than she would have thought possible a week ago. Everything was turning out better than she could possibly have hoped.
“We’re almost out of fliers advertising it. We might be able to do some later bookings if there’s still interest. Can you go over to theGazetteand print more?”
