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Merry sat down on the couch to put her socks and boots on, snickering. “Good God, how did you ever woo a woman?”
“Noel thinks I’m romantic.”
“Or she pretends you are. She probably doesn’t want to hurt your nerd feelings.”
“Grab your breakfast and come on,” Nick grumbled. He opened the front door and stepped outside, leaving it wide for her to follow. Freezing wind whipped inside, bringing swirls of glittering flakes with it.
“Hey, were you born in a barn?”
He didn’t respond and she muttered several colorful names as she tied her boots. Before she stepped outside, Merry grabbed her coffee cup and the pastry bag. She told her Alexa good-bye and all the lights in the house shut off.
Merry closed the door behind her, not the least bit surprised Nick had headed up to the main house without her. Siblings were a blessing and a curse, depending on the day.
She walked along the textured walkway her father helped her create, which was still visible beneath the thin sheen of snow. Her grassy yard had died once the weather turned, as had all of the flowers in the white raised beds closest to the house. The only green in her yard was her Blue Spruce bush she’d bought on sale at the end of the summer, but in the spring her yard would be bursting with color, including several different irises. The four-foot vinyl fence with the latched gate was the finishing touch to make it feel like a real home.
Merry passed through the gate and traveled across the gravel road behind her parents’ house, straight toward the foreman’s cottage. The dark-brown log cabin exterior and green roof blended in with the woods behind it. She nibbled on the scone as she hummed a few bars from “Let It Snow”, watching the snow fall all around her as she passed by the shiny Jeep in the driveway.
Up until a few months ago, Hank Cuthbert had lived there with his two chocolate Labs, but when he’d decided to retire and move further north, her dad had put out feelers looking for a new foreman. She’d honestly thought he’d train her to fill the position. Instead, he’d told Merry if she really wanted to take over the farm one day, she’d want a great foreman by her side.
Merry argued at first, because she’d come back to heal but also for her father to teach her all the ins and outs. If something ever happened to her dad, she’d know how to cut and haul a tree but none of the day-to-day stuff. He’d waved off her argument with some ridiculous statement about living forever, and after seeing her mother’s warning look, Merry had shut her mouth.
Several weeks later, her dad hired Clark Griffin via Zoom. Clark was twenty-seven, her brother Nick’s age, who’d moved away for college and hadn’t been back since. She remembered him as a teen working weekends on the farm, but they hadn’t run in the same circles. He’d been quiet and skinny with long hair, and when he wasn’t working, his face was always buried in a book. Merry had done well in school, but she’d preferred being around people at dances, parties, and camping rather than being alone. Although after one day of working with him, she’d thought there might be something more to the broody Clark. He’d seemed to loosen up and when he laughed, his whole face transformed. She’d harbored a small crush on him for a few weeks after, but he’d avoided her like Merry had a disease he didn’t want to catch. She’d moved on and he’d left town a few months later.
When Clark arrived with a seven-year-old son, she’d tried to bite back her frustration and engage Clark in conversation, but his personality was somehow worse than when he was seventeen, awkward on his good days and taciturn the rest of the time. Or it could be her projecting. Her parents adored him and his son, Jace, and didn’t seem to have an issue getting along with Clark. Just her.
She cut to the left of the cottage, up the hill to her parents’, finishing off the rest of the crumbly, sweet scone. The pumpkin latte chased down the remainder of it, warming her belly, while her face had gone numb under the blasts of chilling air. She’d planned her day around decorating at ten this morning, but getting the jump on it three hours earlier should open her day up for a relaxing afternoon. As long as there were no hiccups in the process.
When she rounded into the front yard, she found her family and the farm employees bustling about. Carrying lights and boxes of blow-up decorations, they whizzed around through the dancing flakes like Christmas wind-up toys.
“Hey, Merry!” The small, high voice belonged to Jace Griffin, Clark’s seven-year-old son. He was bundled up in a red jacket, Spider-Man beanie, and gloves, his hazel eyes bright.
“Hiya, kiddo.” Merry returned his wide smile and motioned to the box in his hand. “What have you got there?”
“A blow-up Mickey.” The little boy’s small round face had a sprinkling of freckles over an upturned nose, and she had the fanciful thought that he’d look like an adorable Christmas elf with the right clothing.
“Nice. Where’s Minnie?”
“On the porch still. You can grab her if you want.”
“I’ll do that.”
“I got her,” Clark said, coming up alongside them.
“Morning.” She took a drink of her latte. “Still finishing my wake-up juice.”
Clark gave her a small smile, his trademark when he was around her. Does he even have teeth? she wondered.
“I could have used an extra cup today.”
Wow, more than a three-word sentence? Clark hadn’t been much for open conversation with her and usually kept his responses short and closed.
“Late night?” she asked, although he didn’t look tired. Lack of sleep left her with bags under her eyes, but Clark’s bronzed skin was smooth, his brown eyes bright. She wished she tanned like that, but her skin only knew two shades: alabaster and lobster. Thank God Idaho stayed cool nearly ten months out of the year.
“We went trick-or-treating until almost nine and then watched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” He tilted his head to the side with a wince. “Fell asleep on the couch at a weird angle.”
“You’re quite the night owl, aren’t you?”
Clark’s lips tipped up in that half smile, almost as though he was afraid to look too happy. “Gotta go to bed early to get up early.”
