Holiday Ever After with The Possessive Mountain Man (Grumpy Christmas Mountain Man #16)

Chapter 1

Mia was in her art classroom cleaning the paint brushes and wiping the tables down when she heard Tessa’s voice in the hallway. Her calm after-school routine broken, she looked up to find Tessa and Derek’s cousin coming into her classroom. Both with wedding binders.

The front office must have waved Tessa through. Everyone in Snowberry Falls knew they were best friends. Used to be best friends, until Tessa and Derek began an emotional affair that they told her about in June when they asked for her permission to begin dating.

Mia had given it even though she hadn’t wanted to. But everyone including her mother told her to be the better person. So she did, and then Derek had proposed to Tessa three months after they had started dating.

Mia and Derek had been together for three years before they broke up so he could date Tessa. And then three months after that, they were engaged.

“Only one week until the perfect Christmas Eve wedding.”

Mia tried not to roll her eyes at Tessa’s words. Instead she caught Chelsea’s pitying look. “Don’t worry, Mia. There’ll be lots of single guys at the wedding. You won’t be alone forever.”

“Yeah, Mia,” Tessa said. “Six months is plenty of time to heal. You’ll find someone when you’re ready.” Tessa put her hand on Mia’s shoulder.

Mia wanted to scream. Six months wasn’t enough time. Of course she wasn’t over it. And she didn’t need their pity setups and words of encouragement. What she needed was a real friend. One who didn’t start seeing her boyfriend while they were still together.

A friend who didn’t tell Mia that “when you know you know” as the reason Tessa and Derek were getting married so fast, when she had spent three years in a relationship with him.

“Oh.” Tessa clapped her hands together. “Chelsea’s brother Mark will be there. He’s single and successful. He would be perfect for you.”

Mia couldn’t do this. She had tried to refuse. She didn’t want to be Tessa’s maid of honor. But no one would let her get out of it. They were best friends. Mia should be the bigger person. They couldn’t help that they fell in love with each other. She should be happy for them.

But what about her? No one cared about Mia. “Actually, I’m seeing someone.”

Mia met Tessa and Chelsea’s shocked eyes with her own. She didn’t know what had possessed her to lie like that.

“What? Who is it? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Mia felt like a deer in headlights. Who could she say? It would need to be someone that no one would question her about. Someone that no one else would be trying to set up. “Slade.”

“Slade?”

“Slade Carter.”

“The mountain man?” Chelsea blinked like coming out of a daze. “The one who never talks to anyone?”

“Yeah.”

“Slade Carter? Really?” Tessa looked at Mia as if she had grown a second head. “How did that happen?”

Mia’s heart was pounding. Why had she said Slade Carter?

Of all the men in Snowberry Falls, why had she picked the most reclusive and intimidating man on the mountain?

But even as panic set in, she realized it was brilliant.

No one would try to set her up if they thought she was dating Slade Carter.

No one would question it too hard because no one really knew him. And no one would ask him about it because he never came to town. “We’ve seen each other for a couple of months.” The lie was getting easier now that she’d started. “He’s private. We like it that way.”

Chelsea’s eyes were wide. “A couple of months? And you didn’t tell me?”

Mia felt a flash of anger. Tessa hadn’t told her about Derek for months either. “I wanted to keep it to myself for a while. You know how small-town gossip is.”

“But Slade Carter?” Chelsea was still stuck on that part. “I’ve heard he’s intense. Doesn’t he just stay up on the mountain?”

“He comes down.” Mia thought about what she knew about him from his nephew Jamie, who was in her art class. “We’ve been getting to know each other. He’s different when you actually talk to him.”

“How did you even meet?” Tessa asked. She was already pulling out her phone, probably to add Slade to the seating chart.

“His nephew is in my class. We started talking at parent-teacher conferences.” That part was actually true. Slade did come to Jamie’s school events with Ben. She seen him, tall and quiet in the back of her classroom, looking at Jamie’s artwork with pride.

“Well.” Tessa smiled with genuine happiness on her face. “That’s wonderful, Mia. See? I told you you’d find someone when you’re ready. You can bring him to the wedding. I’ll make sure you’re seated together.”

Mia’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t thought that far. “Oh, you don’t need to—”

“Can’t wait to meet him properly.” Tessa was already making notes in her binder. “Slade. Wow, this is so exciting.”

Chelsea nodded. “Yeah, forget about Mark. If you’ve got Slade Carter, you definitely don’t need my brother.”

They chatted for a few more minutes about wedding details, but Mia barely heard them. Her mind was spinning. What had she done? What was going to happen now?

Finally, Tessa and Chelsea left, taking their wedding binders and pity looks with them. Mia sank into her desk chair and put her head in her hands. She had just told everyone she was dating Slade Carter. The Slade Carter. He probably didn’t even know her name beyond Jamie’s teacher.

The man who came to town maybe once a month and avoided people like they carried a contagious disease. But as she sat there in her empty classroom, surrounded by her students’ artwork and the smell of paint and crayons, Mia felt something unexpected. Relief.

For the first time in six months, no one was looking at her with pity. No one was trying to fix her. No one had tried to set her up. No one had told her to move on. Chelsea hadn’t kept pushing her brother on her. Tessa hadn’t given her that sad understanding smile.

They’d looked at her as if she was normal.

Like she was fine. Like she wasn’t poor pathetic Mia who’d been left for her best friend.

She took a deep breath and straightened in her chair.

It was fine. Slade would never know. He never came to town.

Never talked to people. By the time anyone might mention it to him, if they ever did, the wedding would be over, and she could say that they’d broken up quietly.

It was actually perfect. A fake boyfriend no one could question because no one really knew him. Mia started packing up her things, feeling lighter than she had in months. What could possibly go wrong?