The Christmas Tree Farm

Kira wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. This was ridiculous. She had to do something or that image of herself, frozen to death in her bed, was about to become reality. She shoved another cookie in her mouth for strength, grabbed her phone, wrapped her blanket around her more securely, and headed for the back door. She slid on her new boots and stepped outside. It might have been warmer outside than it had been in her house. The sun, however weak this late in November, definitely helped.

If she was going to survive this, she was going to have to get used to these northern winters. It hadn’t even snowed yet and she already felt wildly unprepared. The temperature in Georgia rarely dropped below fifty degrees and certainly not in the middle of the afternoon. Today couldn’t be warmer than thirty.

She was so screwed.

No tears. Not right now. Not until later when she was huddled under her blankets in bed instead of out here in the backyard where any roaming resident of Dream Harbor could pop up like some kind of jack-in-the-box nightmare of glad tidings.

She held up her phone and started wandering through the rows of trees just past her tiny yard. Surely, if she walked far enough, she’d get some kind of signal. She could probably go into town and work at the library or that café everyone seemed to love, but that would require being out in public, which she did not feel up to in her current state of mental breakdown. So … wandering the fields in her flannel pajama bottoms, ratty old sweaters, and down comforter it had to be.

The trees stretched in tidy rows ahead of her ranging in height from her waist to at least a foot or two above her head. Luckily, the trees had just continued being trees even without an owner for the past few years. They could use some trimming and shaping, but overall, her crop was in good condition. It was the barn that was nearly falling down, and the house that required significant work.

But first, money.

And before money, employees, and a real live business. Something Kira had never done nor aspired to do in her entire life.

But she didn’t have time to dwell on that. Not before a giant black blur raced across her path with two smaller blurs at its heels.

Kira shrieked.

The dogs barked.

The man following them skidded to a stop.

‘Elizabeth, heel.’ His voice was stern and harsh and the biggest dog loped happily to his side. ‘Good girl.’ He patted her head.

‘Odie, Pudgy, heel.’ He tried to get the other two dogs’ attention with the same stern tone, but it was far too late for that. Kira was already squatting to pet the two little wiggly bodies at her feet.

‘Look at you, sweet babies,’ she crooned. ‘Little angels.’ The smallest dog, some sort of Westie mix with wiry white hair, pushed its cold snout into her palm, huffing in excitement. The other one, who must have been at least a hundred years old in dog years, waited patiently for scratches between its floppy ears, its tongue lolling out of its mouth.

‘What good doggies you are, so sweet,’ Kira went on, petting and scratching and so generally delighted to have such precious babies on her property that she’d nearly forgotten the man until he was towering over her.

‘Uh, sorry about that,’ he said. ‘I didn’t realize… I mean, I thought this place was abandoned. Otherwise, I would have had the dogs on their leashes.’

‘It’s okay,’ Kira said, still crouched low, but now paying proper attention to Elizabeth who was starting to whine at not being part of the lovefest happening with the other dogs. ‘Look at you! What a beautiful girl you are,’ she told her, and it seemed the larger dog smiled at her. Kira smiled back, for the first time in days. It was nice.

Until she finally stood and looked at the man who had brought the puppies to her farm. The smile dropped from her face. He was staring at her with a mix of confusion and horror.

It was then that Kira remembered her unwashed hair and her red eyes and her blanket-as-outerwear fashion statement. Ugh. This day, this town, these people! They were everywhere!

‘Yes, well, actually, I own this farm,’ she said, standing to her full height. ‘So, you are trespassing.’

Elizabeth whined and Kira scratched between her ears. ‘Not you, sweetheart. You didn’t know.’

‘To be fair, I didn’t know either,’ the man said, a slight smirk on his face.

‘How is that possible? Everyone in this nosy town knows about it.’

He shrugged. ‘I don’t live in this nosy town.’

Kira frowned. ‘Then what are you doing here?’

‘Visiting.’

She didn’t like his tone. Or his face for that matter. It was too … too … handsome. But in like an obnoxiously conventional way. Too much symmetry. Too much perfect dark hair. It was annoying. And entirely uninteresting.

Too wholesome.

‘Well, whoever you’re visiting should have told you that I own this land now, so you can’t just traipse through here on your little hike or whatever you’re doing.’

The man’s obnoxiously straight smile grew. ‘Little hike or whatever?’

‘I don’t know! What’s with that vest? You look like you’re going on a hike.’

He looked down at his puffy vest and dark jeans and hiking boots and then let his gaze wander over Kira’s ensemble.

‘You’re wearing a blanket,’ he observed.

‘Yes.’

‘And you’re making fun of my vest?’

‘Yes.’ She crossed her arms over her chest, not that he could see that since they were tucked under her blanket, but still. Her stance was defiant. She was pretty sure that came across. She didn’t like this guy and his teasing smile. And his light eyes with dark lashes. Really? Ugh, could he be more basic?

Kira only went for men that had ‘bad idea’ tattooed across their forehead (sometimes literally) and this guy looked like the model for ‘the guy your mother wants you to bring home for the holidays to sip cocoa under the tree in your matching pajamas’. Highly undesirable. Downright unattractive in every way, really.

Except for maybe the way his thighs were filling out those jeans.

But that was neither here nor there.

‘Sorry again for the misunderstanding. We’ll get going.’

Oh, right. He was going to take the dogs with him. Shoot. She liked the dogs. She looked down at the three precious faces in front of her and she could swear she could hear their thoughts.

‘You might as well finish your walk,’ she blurted out, ignoring how his dark eyebrows rose in surprise. ‘I mean, you’re here now and the dogs need their exercise and I would never deprive them of that.’

‘You’re a big dog person, I take it.’

‘They’re better than people in every way.’

His laugh was low and deep and did absolutely nothing for her.

‘I agree.’

She gave him a curt nod, expecting him to go on his way, but he was still looking at her like he was working on a puzzle.

‘What?’ she snapped.

‘I just… Are you okay?’

Was she okay?! How dare he?! How dare he presume just because she was wandering around outside wearing bedding and waving her phone in the air like she thought it worked via witchcraft that she wasn’t okay?

She smoothed her blanket down with a hand as though it were an evening gown. ‘I’m fine, thank you.’

A small crease of worry formed between his obnoxiously perfect eyebrows and Kira wanted to throw something at him and see if she could hit it.

‘It’s just … you’re walking around with your phone over your head. I thought maybe you were having trouble with it. I work in tech, so I thought…’

A tech bro? Oh, just what she needed! Always trust your first instincts and her first instincts were right. She didn’t need some Silicon Valley, let’s go for a hike wherever we damn well please because we think we own the whole world, Clark Kent lookalike, to rescue her. Not today, buddy!

‘No thanks, Elon. I’m managing just fine.’

‘Elon?’ Now he looked highly offended. Hmm … that did something for her. ‘Wow, I was just trying to help.’

‘No one asked you to.’

He held up his hands. ‘Sorry. You’re right. I’ll … uh … get out of your hair.’

‘Thank you.’ She didn’t look at him as she said it. The hurt expression on his face had taken some of the fun out of the whole thing. Instead, she crouched one more time to say goodbye to her new friends.

‘Bye, sweet babies. Enjoy your walk.’ She gave them enough pets to last for a while and by the time she was standing again, the mystery man had already turned and was walking down the row of trees, whistling for his dogs to follow.

And unfortunately, they did.

Chapter Two

‘You can stay and sit with me for a few minutes, can’t you?’ his sister asked, already pulling out a chair at the closest table and gesturing to the one across from it. ‘While it’s quiet in here? I need a break, anyway.’

Bennett glanced around the temporarily empty Pumpkin Spice Café and then back at his sister, Jeanie. She flashed him her sweetest smile. ‘Please.’

‘I do actually have to work while I’m here, you know,’ he grumbled, but sat down, anyway. He was visiting Dream Harbor for a month, living in his sister’s apartment above the shop while she got settled at her new fiancé’s house, and he was staying to celebrate the holidays. But he did have to work. He’d set things up to work remotely for the next few weeks, which plenty of his other coworkers already did regularly, but Jeanie seemed to think he was on an extended vacation.

‘Just for a few minutes! Jeez, do they not give you coffee breaks at this job of yours?’

‘They do, but it’s the week after Thanksgiving. I have a lot to catch up on.’

‘Right. Computer-y work to do.’

He nearly opened his mouth to explain to his sister for the umpteenth time that he was a software engineer and that he wrote code for multiple online retailers, but he’d given up on that years ago. Probably around the time when she started telling people he was some kind of personal online shopper, for lack of a better explanation. “Computer-y work” was close enough.

‘So what did you do yesterday?’ Jeanie asked, in between sips of her coffee. Her new engagement ring glinted at him from one hand wrapped around her mug. Logan had proposed to her just before Thanksgiving, and Bennett had had to endure the two of them making heart eyes at each other for the entire seven-hour drive back here from Buffalo, where they’d all spent Thanksgiving with their parents. He’d been very thankful to have his own space when they arrived in Dream Harbor and to have a break from the lovebirds.

Logan was a good guy and Bennett was happy for them, but the ring was another little reminder of how epically bad his dating life had been lately. He couldn’t imagine going on a second date with most women he’d met, let alone commit to a lifetime together. Was long-term commitment a thing people even did anymore?

‘Slept in, took the dogs for a walk.’ He shrugged. ‘Nothing much.’

‘Where’d you take the dogs?’

‘The old Christmas-tree farm up on Spruce.’

Jeanie’s eyes widened. ‘Oh.’

‘Yeah, would have been nice if you’d mentioned the new owner.’

‘Sorry! I forgot all about it.’

Bennett leaned back in his chair remembering the woman he’d met in the fields yesterday. The woman who’d simultaneously greeted his dogs with such warmth and affection and frozen him out completely. Who looked like maybe she was in the middle of some kind of crisis but held herself like she was better than him. Who, when he offered her help, had made fun of him instead.

Yeah, he wasn’t a big fan of the new Christmas-tree farm owner. Despite how cute she’d looked all wrapped up in that blanket, and how bright her smile had been when she was petting his dogs.

Ben knew plenty of cute women and cute wasn’t worth the trouble. In fact, all cute had gotten him in the past few months was roped into helping a woman he just met move out of her ex’s apartment while the ex begged for forgiveness from the front porch; a second date with someone he met on a dating app that consisted of a quick drink and then her asking for a ride to the airport, which he gave her because what else was he supposed to do; and three separate women who all disliked dogs, one of whom seemed to have a strong dislike for animals in general. He’d seen her scowl at a bird.

The last thing he needed was another cute woman.

He was done with cute women.

‘Did you run into Kira?’ Jeanie asked, a guilty grimace on her face.

Bennett shook off the grim thoughts floating through his head and refocused on Jeanie. ‘If Kira is the hostile new owner, then yes, I met Kira.’

‘She’s…’ Jeanie paused, tapping her lip as she searched for a kinder word to describe Kira. She didn’t find one. ‘Yeah, she’s sort of hostile, but I think she’s probably got a soft spot somewhere. We just have to find it.’

‘I don’t have to find anything. I have to get back to work,’ he said, rising from his seat. Besides, he already knew what Kira, the hostile Christmas-tree farm owner’s soft spot was. He’d heard her croon sweet words to his dogs, her dark eyes lighting up at the sight of them. If the residents of Dream Harbor wanted to get on her good side, he imagined all they’d have to do is head up there with a basket of puppies and Kira would be putty in their hands.

But he had about zero percent interest in getting involved in town drama, of which he already knew too much, thanks to Jeanie. And even less interest in having Kira in his hands.

Jeanie frowned. ‘You work too much.’

‘Ha,’ Bennett scoffed. ‘Says the woman who runs her own successful business and is here all the time—which I’m very proud of you for, by the way.’

‘Thanks, Ben.’ Jeanie waved away his praise as she stood. ‘Oh! I have a great idea.’ Her eyes lit up in a way Bennett found to be incredibly ominous. ‘You should come to the town meeting tonight!’

‘I’m going to have to pass on local politics, but thanks, anyway.’

‘No, it’s fun. It’s a whole thing and you can meet my friends and then we all go out for drinks after. Please, Ben.’

‘Don’t look at me like that Jean Marie.’

‘Like what?’

Bennett sighed. He had never been very good at saying no, hence the moving services and airport rides he’d provided lately, but his sister made it particularly hard. ‘With those big eyes. You know exactly what you’re doing.’

‘It’ll be fun, I promise. And besides, aren’t you here to spend time with me? The loving sister you abandoned to live all the way on the other side of the country.’

‘Excuse me, you left Buffalo before I did.’ His sister still didn’t know the real reason he’d moved out to San Francisco after college, and he had no plans to fill her in.

Jeanie blinked. ‘Oh, right. I forgot. Whatever, just come, okay? It starts at seven.’

She brushed a quick kiss to his cheek before hurrying back behind the counter just as a group of retired folks in workout gear ambled in through the door.

‘How was your walk today? Chilly out there!’ He heard his sister chatting happily to her customers as he slipped away and up the back staircase to the apartment. He was greeted by three wagging tails and a pile of work to do.

And apparently, tonight he was attending the town meeting.

This wasn’t even close to a vacation, despite what his sister believed.

* * *

Bennett didn’t know what to expect from a Dream Harbor town meeting but the raucous laughter and raised voices he encountered when he walked through the doors were certainly not it. He squeezed past a group arguing about the appropriate time to start listening to Christmas music, nearly got knocked out by a woman in a power suit carrying a giant metal menorah, and was about ready to turn around and leave when he was grabbed by the arm and pulled into a row of chairs.

‘Bennett! You’re here!’ A face he had only ever seen from the screen of his phone beamed at him. Jacob, from his sister’s book club, pulled him in for a hug.

‘Hey, man. Yeah, I’m here.’ Here in this bizarre town, feeling more and more like he’d gone down some kind of rabbit hole and landed in another world entirely. And he thought San Francisco was quirky. ‘Good to see you.’

Jacob pulled away but was still holding tight to his arms. ‘I can’t believe Jeanie roped you into coming to one of these. Are you coming out for drinks after?’

‘Uh … yeah … apparently.’

‘Great!’ Jacob gave him one last squeeze before letting go.

Bennett glanced around at the still buzzing crowd although people were starting to find seats now, not that their volume had decreased at all. ‘Are these things always so…’

‘Crazy? Yeah. But they’re usually good for a laugh.’

Ben nodded, distracted by the woman in the suit struggling to run a cord long enough to plug in the giant menorah. Maybe he should go help her?

‘That’s the deputy mayor,’ Jacob said, following Ben’s gaze. ‘She’s probably testing that old thing out for the tree-lighting festival next weekend.’

‘There you are!’ Jeanie came up behind him before he could untangle himself from Jacob long enough to go help with the menorah.

‘Here I am.’

‘Sorry we’re late,’ she said, unwinding a giant scarf from around her neck. Logan stood behind her like he was being marched to his death.

‘Hey, Logan.’

‘Bennett.’ His sister’s fiancé gave him a nod and a small pained smile before he shuffled into the row and took a seat.

‘And this is Hazel and Noah,’ Jeanie was saying, pointing to the two other humans trying to cram into the already crowded row.

‘Hey, nice to meet you.’ Noah stuck out a hand and Bennett shook it around Jeanie’s shoulder. Noah grinned. ‘First town meeting, huh? You’re gonna love it.’

Bennett was starting to highly doubt that.

The small, curly-haired woman next to Noah must be Hazel, whom his sister talked about all the time. She gave him a little wave as she sat in between Noah and Jeanie. Bennett took the only open seat between Jeanie and Jacob. Logan had managed to scoot his way all the way down the row and was currently reading a book as he leaned against the wall, clearly blocking out the chaos around him.

‘If everyone could settle down, we’ll get started.’ A man with glasses and a hideous Christmas tie was trying to get everyone’s attention from behind the podium.

‘That’s the mayor, who also happens to be Hazel’s dad,’ Jeanie narrated for him. ‘Oh and here’s Annie.’

A tall blonde woman swept into the row ahead of them. ‘What’d I miss?’ she asked, turning to face Jeanie as soon as she was seated.

‘Nothing, yet. Oh, but this is my brother, Bennett.’

‘Nice to meet you,’ he said, sticking out his hand, but Annie ignored it.

‘Ben! Hi! I’ve heard so much about you.’ Her gaze flicked from Jeanie to Ben and back again. ‘Jeanie, you didn’t tell me your brother was like a hot male version of you!’

‘I don’t normally think of him as hot, actually.’

Annie’s eyes were on him again. She was objectively beautiful and definitely trouble, but it didn’t matter anyway, because her gaze had already wandered and landed somewhere past his right shoulder.

Bennett turned just in time to see a dark-haired man wiggle his fingers in a wave at Annie. When Bennett turned back around, she was glaring daggers at the man.

‘He’s here again. I thought he’d stopped coming to these.’

‘That’s Mac,’ Jeanie whispered for his sake even though Annie could obviously still hear her. ‘Annie’s arch nemesis. We’re all waiting for them to finally sleep together and put us out of our collective misery.’

Annie huffed. ‘How dare you?’

Jeanie just laughed and shrugged. Ben knew when it was best to stay quiet and now when he had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on seemed like a good time.

‘Attention, everyone,’ the mayor tried again but was cut off by a shrill whistle. The crowd flinched. ‘Uh … thank you, Mindy,’ the mayor said, and the power-suited, menorah-wrangling lady gave him a serious nod before taking her seat in the front row.

‘We have a lot to discuss this evening with the Tree Lighting rapidly approaching, the children’s pageant in just two weeks, and the toy drive that began yesterday, so let’s get started.’

The rest of the meeting went by in a blur of logistics, volunteering, arguing, and a very odd vote about whether or not Die Hard was a Christmas movie. Bennett tried to keep up, but following along proved to be impossible. Instead, he found himself scanning the room, trying to match faces with stories Jeanie had told him over the past year. He spotted the book club pretty easily since he’d seen and heard them in the background of his phone calls with Jeanie. They’d even left a copy of their latest read on his doorstep as a welcome gift and a hint that they wanted him to attend their December meeting.

He’d taken one look at Daddy December and was already thinking up ways to be busy that day. The last thing he needed was to read about sex when he hadn’t had any in months. He needed something about monks or meditation or suffering or something like that. Not Santa smut.

And why did thoughts of sexy books bring his thoughts back around to that Christmas-tree farm owner? She was so … so rude to him. Not sexy mean. Just plain mean. And … well … sure he’d been trespassing, but he hadn’t known he was, and he did offer to help with whatever computer issue she was clearly having and she’d just shut him down completely. It was … well … it had gotten under his skin for sure.

Like a splinter.

A splinter he couldn’t seem to stop picking at.

What was her deal? Why had she been out there all alone? Why had she been wearing a blanket instead of a proper coat? Was she cold? Did she want someone to keep her warm…

Nope. Bad. Not going down that road with this strange woman. He knew nothing about her and he was not going to let his overdeveloped need to fix things get in the way of his holiday. He didn’t even live here.

Kira North was nothing but a quirky character to add to what he knew about Dream Harbor. Nothing else.

He would absolutely stop thinking about warming her up.

The room had gone quiet around him. He may have let his mind wander a bit too far, because at some point the meeting had taken a turn and now he found himself the center of attention.

‘Uh…’

‘I was just mentioning that you met Kira yesterday,’ Jeanie said with a smile that chilled him to the bone. If he’d been eight and she’d been ten, he’d have flushed her Barbie’s head in the toilet all over again.

‘Wonderful!’ the mayor was saying, oblivious to Bennett’s revenge fantasy. ‘We could really use a neutral party to go up there and check on her.’

‘Neutral party?’ he echoed. ‘Wait. Check on her?’

‘The town has been trying to welcome Miss North,’ the mayor went on. ‘But she’s been … resistant to our efforts. But you, you’re just passing through. You’re neutral! She wouldn’t question your motives.’

Well, that certainly wasn’t true. ‘And why does she need to be checked on exactly?’

‘Uh … well…’ the mayor’s face flushed red.

‘Just in case there’s any dead bodies up there,’ someone offered from the back of the meeting hall.