Chapter 24
Clara Bowen sat in Sleighed on New Year’s Eve, watching all her friends laugh and cuddle up with their partners. She, on the other hand, was sitting at the end barstool with only a warm beer for company. It was the same beer she’d been nursing for the past two hours. She just wasn’t in the mood.
Just over eight days ago, the man she’d been seeing had up and left Christmas Grove without a word.
She’d known it would happen. Hudson Snow was an actor.
It was what they did. But that didn’t mean she appreciated the ghosting.
No one deserved that. Especially not after spending every day for three weeks with a person.
“Clara!” Danny called as he rushed over to her. “You need to dance.”
“I don’t,” she said, shaking her head. The last time she’d danced, she’d been wearing a white formfitting dress that had shown off every curve and had made her date’s eyes bug out.
In fact, the dress had been so spectacular that she’d been nominated for the Christmas Queen at the Christmas ball.
She’d been the first runner up. Clara would have been upset with the loss if the crown hadn’t gone to Felicity.
Her friend had been so radiant that night that there was no denying she’d deserved the win. Felicity had even been a good sport about it, wearing the crown all night and proclaiming Christmas her favorite holiday again.
Clara didn’t think her friend’s new-found attitude about the holiday had anything to do with the contest—that honor went to Jackson Bell, who was currently glued to her side—but Clara had loved seeing the joy in her friend’s eyes again.
“Come on,” Danny said, tugging Clara off the stool and giving her a twirl. “Marissa is still serving drinks. Humor me.”
Clara let out a tiny sigh, placed her warm beer back on the bar, and let Danny lead her around the dance floor for the next half hour. It was only when Marissa appeared to cut in that Danny actually let her go.
She knew that he’d been trying to cheer her up, and she’d appreciated it, but the truth was all she wanted to do was go home before the clock struck midnight. The very idea that she’d be the only one in the bar with no one to kiss… It was just too much.
Ten minutes before the countdown began, nobody was paying any attention to her, so Clara grabbed her coat and started to inch her way toward the exit. But just as she started to pull it open, a bubbly woman wearing a plum-colored dress cut her off.
Clara recognized her immediately. Her name was Sophie, and she was the sugar plum fairy who’d helped get Marissa and Danny back together after many years apart, and then she’d been the officiant at their wedding.
“Clara Bowen, where are you going?” Sophie asked.
“Home,” Clara said, trying and failing to move around the fairy.
“I can’t let you do that just yet,” Sophie said, fluttering her translucent wings.
Clara let out a sigh. “Why? I’m tired, I don’t have a date, and I don’t particularly want to be here.”
“Oh, but you do have a date. Sort of.” She produced an envelope and handed it to her.
Clara read the script on the front of the envelope. It said Open me at midnight.
“What in the world—” Clara started to say, but before she could get the words out, Sophie vanished into thin air.
Her friends started to count down to midnight. “Ten. Nine. Eight…”
Jackson already had his arms around Felicity, and he was looking at her with heart eyes.
But then when Clara studied Felicity, she was mirroring his sappy expression.
Marrisa and Danny had stilled on the dance floor and were now swaying gently to the music.
Every other couple in the place had gotten lost in the moment with their significant others, and Clara had a letter.
Perfect. It was exactly how she wanted to spend the evening.
Not.
“Three… two… one… Happy New Year!”
Confetti fell from the ceiling at the same time someone popped open a champagne bottle.
Clara ignored it all and ripped open the envelope.
The air shifted, and Clara was no longer in the bar.
She stood beside a lake, a horse next to her as Hudson Snow strode toward her, determination in his gaze when he said, “Clara Bowen, you’re mine.
Now and forever.” And then he grabbed her and kissed her, making every muscle go weak with need.
Suddenly the air shifted again, and she was back in the bar, her lips tingling from the kiss as she wondered what in the world had just happened.