Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
CASSIDY
“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Liam’s mom, Beth, asked once everyone was safely gathered in the kitchen.
Cassidy took in the entire space, her breath catching.
Liam might no longer love Christmas, but his mom didn’t hold back.
A simmering pot filled with cinnamon, orange slices, and cranberries bubbled on the stove.
Miniature evergreen wreaths, hanging on red ribbons, decorated the front of each of the kitchen’s white cabinets.
A porcelain Christmas tree with tiny multicolored bulbs was displayed at the center of a circular white cake stand, serving as the island’s focal point.
Even the dish towels were green-and-white checkered to match the dining room table’s runner, and the lights above them were intertwined with cranberry garlands and white twinkling lights.
Beth had passed out blankets to the group and tossed everyone’s wet socks, sweatshirts, and mittens into the dryer. Everything else—coats, boots, scarves—was hanging by the door, dripping as they tried to get everything dry.
“There’s bad news?” Cassidy asked.
“Well… I guess that depends on how you define ‘bad,’” Beth said as she filled the coffee pot.
The group waited expectantly while she gathered her thoughts.
“Alright, I’ll start with the bad news. The storm was a doozy. More than anyone expected, as you all well know. It dropped about six inches of snow, if you can believe that. Thankfully it’s passed us now. We should be in the clear for the rest of the night.”
Everyone exhaled.
“The bad news,” she continued, “is that it knocked down several power lines across the main road. So, you’re all kind of stuck here for the foreseeable future. There are downed wires everywhere; they all just blew down about twenty minutes ago.”
“What about Tyler and Emma?” Zoe asked.
“Back home safe and sound. He texted me about ten minutes ago,” Zach confirmed.
Liam’s dad chimed in from the doorway. “The power company says they should have everything cleared soon, but you’ve got to give them a few hours. The wind’s not expected to die down until after eight, so they won’t even begin working on it until then.”
“The good news,” Beth said cheerfully, wiping her hands on her festive snowflake-print apron, “is that lunch is already underway. Kit, would you mind giving me a hand finishing things up?”
“On it, boss!” Kit hopped up and saluted Beth.
“Perfect. Liam and Cassidy, I’m sending you two to fetch the board games. I think they’re in your old bedroom.”
“Alright then…” Liam’s voice was quiet.
Cassidy couldn’t read the look behind his eyes, but she was dying to know what he was thinking.
“Madison and Zach? You get to pick out the movies.”
“Perfect,” Madison said, clapping her hands. “Let’s go.” She stood up and pulled Zach by the hand, disappearing into the living room.
Liam nodded for Cassidy to follow him.
Beth’s love for Christmas décor continued in the living room.
Cassidy was liking her more and more by the second.
The room was adorned with evergreen, there was red ribbon along the mantel, and checkered flannel throw pillows sat on the brown leather sofas with Christmas quilts draped over the backs.
A large spruce dominated the corner of the room, drawing her eye.
“Careful there, don’t get too close,” Liam warned.
“Ha, don’t worry, I won’t touch the tree. It’s just… look at these ornaments, they’re so beautiful.” She reached out to touch one of the glass-blown bulbs. It was a dark metallic blue. Liam’s name was scripted on the front of it, hand-painted white along with a snowflake.
“Those are a family tradition. My parents started it when they got married.” He pointed to the top of the tree, where she could see a green bulb with the name “Tom” painted on it. Next to it was a red bulb with “Beth” scrawled across it.
“Then came Jackson and me.” Liam pointed to his blue bulb and Jackson’s gold one. “And then Lily.” He pointed to a purple bulb at the bottom.
“You didn’t tell me you had a sister.”
Liam smirked. “Well, I just met you, so there’s a lot of stuff I haven’t told you.”
Cassidy supposed that was true. Still, she loved looking at the bulbs and learning the tradition behind them. She missed this, this sense of family, of having traditions that you passed down from year to year.
Grand-maman had always tried to make Christmas special.
Even after everything changed, after the hospital, the quieter holidays over the next few years, the casseroles brought over by neighbors with sad eyes, who knew what this time of year meant for them.
She still lit the Advent candles and played old French carols, made hot cocoa from scratch and insisted on reading ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.
But it hadn’t been the same.
Cassidy had missed her parents every single day for the past eighteen years, but especially at Christmas.
The memories were so distant, but she remembered her mother’s laughter as she burned the sugar cookies again, the way her dad would lift her up to put the star on the tree.
She remembered the way they’d all pile into the car to look at Christmas lights, her dad humming along to the radio while she and her brother voted for which house they loved best. These were her fondest family memories. The ones she missed the most.
She missed how safe it had felt, how warm, how whole.
And once Grand-maman had passed, Cassidy had been left with a strange silence where tradition used to be. Many of the old ones had gone with her, and there hadn’t been anyone left to carry them on.
So, Cassidy made new ones. Small ones. Like her Christmas movie checklist, and her rotating lineup of hot cocoa flavors.
“Don’t ask what happened to Hunter…” Liam added.
Cassidy’s eyes got wide. “What? What happened to Hunter?”
“Lily called off the wedding. Smashed his bulb into a million pieces. The look on my mother’s face.” Liam shook his head. “It was priceless.”
“Yikes!”
“My sister’s what we call a free spirit. I think the last time she was home for the holidays was… six years ago? She’s a bit of a traveler. If she’s home, she’s either sick or broke.” He said it all with a fond smile as Cassidy followed him up the narrow staircase.
The house was laid out with the kitchen, dining room, family room, and living room on the main floor, with the master suite off to the side, and three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.
Liam walked to the last room on the right and pushed open the door.
Cassidy smiled as she stepped inside. The twin-sized bed had a blue plaid comforter, and the shelves were lined with movie posters and action figures.
“I didn’t peg you for an action figure kind of guy, but now that I see them here in your room…” She trailed off. “Nope. Still can’t see it.”
The broody lumberjack man she’d met definitely didn’t fit that mold.
“I’ll have you know a lot of these are worth a pretty penny,” he replied, walking to the closet and sliding the wooden door along the track.
It was clear Beth had used the space for storage since her boys had moved out. There were duvets stored in plastic zipper bags, her sewing machine, bolts of fabric, and dozens of board games.
Liam focused on the shelf. “Which one do you like—Sequence?”
“Uh… I don’t know if I’ve ever played that one,” she said, scanning the titles.
“What about Monopoly?”
“I hate Monopoly. You win by bankrupting your friends. It never ends well.”
“That’s fair. Clue?”
“I love Clue. Yes. Grab Yahtzee because that’s always fun, too.” She kept scanning the titles in the closet. “What about Life?” she asked.
“Life is good,” he said over his shoulder.
Their eyes met, and something shifted in the air. The look Cassidy gave him was soft, searching. She was acutely aware that they were standing in his childhood bedroom, alone, surrounded by memories—and possibility.
She bit her lip. “Listen, I’m not sure what’s going on between the two of us, but I’m fighting really hard not to rip your clothes off if I’m being completely honest. You’ve got this whole sexy lumberjack thing going on.”
Liam choked on a laugh. “Sexy lumberjack?”
“Okay, sexy farmer lumberjack. And I’m supposed to be in my ‘year of no men,’ but uh… there are things I really want to do to you.”
He let out a low, nervous chuckle. “And I thought I was forward. So, this is a vow of yours? A whole year?”
“Self-imposed vow,” Cassidy amended. “And there are only a few weeks left, but who’s counting?”
Me, I’m counting, she thought.
She took a breath, her heart pounding. “Anyway, I just… wanted you to know that I’m into you.”
His eyebrows lifted, his eyes sharpening, locking on her.
“Like… really into you,” she continued, her voice softer now, her fingers fidgeting with the edge of her sleeve.
“And sometimes it’s really hard to remember why I made that vow in the first place when you look at me the way you do…
But,” she added, forcing herself to keep her voice steady, “I also want to take things slow. I want to focus on my business, on the Christmas Light-Up Display Competition. I need to prove to myself that I can do this. By the way, sorry to say, you are going to lose.”
“Excuse me? You think you can beat me?”
“Oh, I know I can, Mr. I-Don’t-Have-a-Christmas-Movie-Checklist.”
“Again with the checklist,” Liam said, shaking his head. “You don’t need a checklist if the only Christmas movie you watch is Die Hard…”
“Die Hard is not a Christmas movie!” Cassidy stood tall, hands on her hips. “There’s no way a grinch is beating me in this competition.”
“Grinch? I thought I was a sexy lumberjack.” Liam cracked a smile, those dimples doing dangerous things to her resolve.
“Fine, you’re a sexy grinch-lumberjack who drives me crazy, but I’m trying to ignore you so I can focus on everything else.”
As much as she wanted to throw her vow and caution—and her clothes—to the wind, she couldn’t.
Not after what had happened with Jean-Paul.
Not after letting her guard down and being shattered by someone who’d made promises with his lips and broken them with his actions.
She wouldn’t let that happen again. She was smarter now. Safer.
Even if her body was screaming otherwise.
Cassidy bent to grab a game off the bottom shelf, fully aware of Liam watching her. When she stood, she caught the way his throat visibly swallowed, drinking her in.
They weren’t touching, but the air between them practically sparked.
Slow, she reminded herself. Take things slow.
God help her. Because if he looked at her like that again, she wasn’t sure she’d make it out of this room without breaking the vow she’d sworn she’d keep until New Year’s Day.