Page 45

Grabbing my work bag, I walk right past my office and go up the stairs to my bedroom. It’s one spot in the house that should be untouched by the holiday spirit and allow me to think.

Once I get inside my bedroom, I shut the door like a kid closing out the monsters and pull my laptop from its sleeve in my bag.

And the moment I open it, I see the design website Cami was using to make our Christmas cards. The company prints out a physical version and sends our emails, and she’d asked to borrow my laptop to check that everything got sent out okay to the Morenos.

Has it really been that long since I opened my laptop?

The white glow of the screen washes over my face and lights up the rest of my dim bedroom. I reach over and grab the remote from the nightstand, turning on the overhead fan just for a little background noise, something to make the silence feel a little less isolating.

Sure, I was checking emails on my phone while we were abroad, but I usually don’t go more than twelve hours without opening my laptop, let alone multiple days.

Just another sign that I lost my head. I was under some sort of Christmas spell.

But now it’s broken.

Closing the site with the Christmas card—and not letting my gaze linger on the happy, festive photo of the two of us—I open up a new tab instead and start rocketing out emails to the legal team at Dunne Tech, then to a firm that specializes in mergers and acquisitions.

I work through the night, eyes aching, back protesting, but focus never wavering. I draft documents and go into my current spreadsheets, tweaking the game plan for what I know we’re going to have to do moving forward.

There’s more than one way to solve a problem.

I already tried wooing the man. Sucked up to him, took him golfing, and went on his ridiculous Christmas trip. I tried to smash myself into a new shape just to please the guy.

And all that just wasn’t enough. It didn’t work.

But that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up on getting the company.

If Chris Moreno isn’t going to sell me Moreno Toys, then I’m just going to have to find a way to take it for myself.

CHAPTER 28

CAMI

This coffee shop is a picture of holiday cheer.

I mean, as much as it can be, with a view of the beach and several palm trees right outside the front door. Since getting back to Miami, I’ve been hit with how stark a difference it is. We have all sorts of family friends who love to take Christmas vacations to Hawaii and Brazil, but now that I’ve experienced Finland during the holiday season, I know I’m definitely the kind of girl who wants a snowy slope over a sandy beach any day.

This is the same coffee shop where Poppy had her baby shower. It feels like a different world now.

“Cami? Girl? Are you in there?”

I tear my gaze away from the window and look back at Poppy, who sits across from me. It’s only really been two weeks since she and I saw each other, but it feels so much longer.

So much has happened. Living with Patrick. The decorating and movie watching. The entire Finland trip.

We’ve gone this long without meeting for coffee before, but now it feels like entire lifetimes have passed, and I have so much to fill her in on.

“Yeah, sorry.” I clear my throat, take a sip of the eggnog latte in front of me. “Just a lot on my mind.”

If it’s possible, my best friend looks twice as pregnant as she did the last time I saw her. Today, her platinum blond hair is roped into two French braids that fall over her shoulders, and she’s wearing a wrap-style maternity dress I remember helping her pick out when her bump first started showing. The magic of the garment is that it’s adjustable, so she’s been able to wear it all the way through the journey.

And I realize a little too late that I’m staring at her bump, probably with the greenest look of envy. How embarrassing.

“I know,” Poppy says, gracefully skipping over the fact that I was just staring her down. She reaches across the table and sets her hand on mine. “That’s why I’m here.” She shakes my hand gently. “Because I want to hear everything that’s in your head. You got off the phone so abruptly before, so I was worried about you.”

“Yeah. About that. It’s a long story.”

Poppy leans back, crosses her arms over her chest, and says, “Well, I’m already on maternity leave, so I’ve got nothing but time, babe. Lay it all on me.”