Chapter 3
Lily
It took a little coaxing to get Thomas out the door. In truth, I would have been less edgy if he’d stayed and taken care of business—my business. As it was, I was going to be uncomfortably horny for the Christmas meeting, and his mother was coming.
I grimaced. That thought alone had the same effect as a cold shower.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like Cora Collier. I loved her, actually. But the thoughts I was having about her only son weren’t exactly appropriate in her presence.
It had always been that way. Three and a half years together hadn’t squelched my need for him one single bit.
Before I had time to think through all the things I wanted to do to Thomas on our first baby free night since Cammie’s arrival, there was a knock at the door.
I looked at the time and frowned. It was too early for people to show up. I opened the door trying to remember if there was a package being delivered or something, only to find my best friend, Sydney, standing there with one hand on her hip and a baby on the other as she glared at me.
“What?” I asked.
“You want to go all out for Christmas now? Couldn’t you have thought of this, I don’t know, like months ago? Have you lost your mind?”
I grinned, then stepped out and hugged her.
“I know, I know, but I didn’t think about it months ago. I thought about it today as I was holding Cammie and it hit me that this is going to be her first Christmas, Syd. I need it to be extra special.”
“But she won’t even…”
“Don’t you tell me she won’t even remember it, because she will. I’m going to make sure of it as I document every second of this holiday.”
Sydney groaned as she pushed past me into my house and set little Hunter down on the playmat in my living room.
“I love you, Lily, but you’ve lost your mind this time.”
I snorted. “Like that’s never happened before.”
Sydney and I had a long, rather candid history.
She was my mate’s first love. If I hadn’t shown up when I did, Thomas would certainly have mated with her instead.
Still, I’d befriended her before I knew anything about that and when she realized that Thomas and I were true mates, Sydney had bowed out gracefully and supported me every step of the way.
Two years ago, she met her own true mate.
Luke Larken was Alpha of a rival pack, a small group of wolves that had once given allegiance to Collier.
They had been struggling for quite some time.
He and Thomas had managed a treaty that merged the two packs back together. Luke was now Beta of Collier Pack.
It hadn’t exactly been an easy two years, but we were finally at a point of peace and life was good in Collier Pack. As Pack Mother I was proud of that fact too.
Sydney had been stripped of her title of Pack Mother with the merger. It was a role she’d been groomed for since she was in diapers. Everyone had expected her to be Collier Pack Mother. When she mated Luke, she’d been Larken Pack Mother. But now, she didn’t carry that title anymore.
She always told me she was fine with it, but it had never sat well with me. As sort of my own way of making it up to her I employed her for just about everything.
Every party. Every pack run. Every event in Collier Pack, Sydney and I had planned and executed together. She could huff and complain until she was blue in the face but at the end of the day, we both knew this Christmas would be no different.
After fussing over her son and ensuring he was content to play on the floor with some of Cammie’s toys, Sydney settled onto my couch, pulled a notebook and pen from her bag to begin our planning.
This was a normal routine for us.
I grinned. “I knew you’d love it.”
“I didn’t say that, but I also know you’ll attempt to do it with or without me and we both know what a disaster that would turn out to be.”
I laughed because it was true. I had wonderful ideas but struggled with execution.
Sydney struggled to come up with original ideas or even think outside the box, but her organization skills were impeccable.
When Sydney set her mind to something, she made it happen.
When I set my mind to something, it was going to happen too, just with the use of a whole lot of extra hands and resources, like Syd.
“Before the potential committee shows up this afternoon, I want to go over your thoughts and then cull half of them to get to a practical list that we can agree on.”
“Fine. Ready?”
She sighed. “Go ahead.”
“Giant Christmas tree in the center of town, complete with a tree lighting ceremony.”
“That’s probably fine.”
“Of course decorating all over town. I know we have some decorations we’ve used in the past, but I want more. Bigger and brighter. And you’re a store owner, maybe you could decorate your front window for Christmas.”
“I already do that,” she said under her breath.
“And then encourage everyone else to as well,” I continued as if I hadn’t heard her.
“That’s not a bad idea. So far so good.”
“A holiday bake off!” I exclaimed.
“Possible. I think Kate’s coming, but I know Peyton will be here, we can discuss with them and see what they think.”
“A gingerbread house decorating contest. Craft time for the kids every weekend. They can make ornaments for the town tree even. Then there’s hot cocoa around fire pits.
Christmas caroling. Perhaps a whole festival.
Thomas said we’ll have to see if ice skating on the lake is safe enough to do.
Let’s not forget the ice sculpture contest.”
“Ice sculpture?” she asked skeptically.
Thomas had already told me that was a no-go, but I wasn’t quite ready to give up on the idea. Maybe Sydney could come up with a way to make that happen.
“Yes, you heard me, right. And the parade, don’t forget the Christmas parade. I think I’d like to do a live nativity as well. Do you think it would be too late to book the Trans Siberian Orchestra to come and perform for us?”
Sydney laughed. “Yes, I’m quite certain it’s too late for that.”
“Drats. Fine, we’ll go with the school choral group at the very least. Maybe audition some of the local bands and see what they can come up with.”
“Just how many Christmas movies have you been watching lately?”
“I dunno. Only five, maybe six, yesterday.”
She bit back a grin.
“Too much?” I asked.
“As always. You have such a big heart and vivid imagination, but there are some things here we can absolutely work with.”
“So there’s hope?”
“It’s Christmas, Lil. There’s always hope!”