Chapter 9
The second Jake turned onto the country road it was like stepping into a time machine. Every curve, every dip, every tree-lined bend—he knew them all by muscle memory. Rules of the road were polite suggestions. Sometimes he obeyed the speed limit. Most of the time? Definitely not.
Georgia’s hand tightened around the seatbelt. “You know, they have limits for a reason, right?”
Jake glanced at her, the corners of his mouth twitching. “Limits are for people who don’t know this road like the back of their hand.”
“This is not the back of your hand,” she snapped.
“Ah, but that’s the fun part,” he said, leaning into the curves like it was nothing. “Used to be my favorite.”
She gripped the oh-shit handle like it owed her money. “Favorite? Isn’t this the same road that gave you your first fender bender?”
Jake shrugged unapologetically. “All part of the adventure. You’re welcome.”
She shot him a look, part exasperation, part something else. He felt that familiar tug in his chest—the one that always showed up when she was around—and for a moment, the years between them vanished.
“You know, some people would call this reckless,” she said, voice teasing but sharp.
“Some people are boring,” he countered, eyes on the road but secretly enjoying the way her glare couldn’t hide the flicker of excitement.
She groaned, half laughing, half screaming internally.
Jake remembered exactly how that felt—their younger selves on roads like this, hearts racing, laughter spilling over boundaries they weren’t supposed to cross.
And now, a decade later, instead of those memories lingering in the rearview mirror, they felt like they were barreling straight at them, challenging them to a game of chicken.
Jake leaned into the next curve, and Georgia sucked in a breath. “Still planning for every possible disaster, huh?”
Her gaze flicked to him, bright, sharp, wary, and alive. “Some things go wrong no matter what. The rest you turn into a logistical problem.”
Jake smirked. She always had a comeback, always had a way of keeping him on edge.
He just laughed, taking a hard left onto a gravel road like it was the easiest thing in the world. And Georgia, despite her protests, was feeling the thrill—the same thrill he’d always felt when they were together, the one that had made heartbreak so deliciously unbearable.
When he’d awoke that morning he’d been looking forward to his time in the car with her.
But it seemed his plan had backfired. She’d started to open up, and like an asshole, he’d gone and made that stupid bet, which caused her to crawl back into her safe place.
He should have remembered that about her.
While she could talk for hours about other people, she never liked to talk about herself.
“It’s beautiful here,” she said, cutting the thick silence and surprising him. “You described it a thousand times, but I guess you have to see it to understand just how magical it is. I mean, there are so many pine trees, it’s like driving through the world’s largest Christmas tree farm.”
“Wait until we get to the actual farm,” he said.
“How long have your grandparents been growing Christmas trees?”
“The farm belonged to my dad’s grandfather. Then my meemaw and my grandpa took it over when they got married. That was fifty years ago.”
“Your grandpa is in his seventies and still working his land?” she asked.
“It would take an act of God to get him to retire.”
Jake took the last turn, and his childhood home came into view.
“Oh my God. It looks like Santa’s house. I’m expecting elves and talking reindeer to come out.”
“No elves, but he does have reindeer. He even uses animal-safe paint to make Rudolph’s nose red around the holidays. And just wait until you see the snow-blowing machines.”
“Snow?” He watched a smile blossom on her face, and it was like a helium balloon inflated in his chest. Then her gaze met his and all the air rushed out in a single breath.
Man, was she beautiful. And her smile? He forgot how soul-stirring it could be when on the receiving end.
“You can’t have a white Christmas without snow.”
As Jake slowly made his way up the road toward the cabin, they passed line after line of parked cars. It was the Christmas rush for people who waited until the last minute. In fact, the farm made most of its money in the week leading up to Christmas.
“What an amazing place to grow up.”
“It really was. I was lucky. My grandparents worked overtime to make up for my parents being MIA.”
Whoa, where had that last part come from? He rarely talked about his parents. But it just slipped out. He was afraid that if they spent any more time in the car more would slip out. Things he didn’t want her to know. At least not now.
“Look,” she said, pointing out the window to a man loading his truck. “That family found their tree.”
“Looks like it… Hold up.” Jake squinted through the windshield. “God dammit.” Without another word he pulled over, threw on his hazard lights, and hopped out of the car. “What the hell are you doing?” he hollered.
“Jakey,” said a man in a red and white velvet suit and gray beard. He looked like a Santa who’d traded the sleigh for a tour bus. The cracks in the man’s lips folded up into a jolly smile. “It’s about time y’all got here. Mrs. Claus was getting worried.” His southern accent was thick as molasses.
“I should be the one worried,” Jake said. “What the hell are you doing loading a tree into the bed of that truck?”
“What kind of Santa would I be if I left a fellow neighbor to load it himself?”
“One without strained back.” Jake smoothed his hand down his face like he was trying to reset it.
“Carey here is on the Nice List.”
“Great, then have Nelson do it. That’s why you hired him.”
“The man has been worked ragged, which is why I gave him the day off. His daughter is starring in a school Christmas play. What kind of employer would I be if I made him miss that. She’s playing the part of Dancer.”
“An employer who won’t end up at the ER in traction because his back gives out again.”
The old man’s gaze moved past Jake to someone behind him. Jake caught a whiff of lavender. “Well, this must be Georgia.”
Nic moved past Jake like he never existed and walked right up to lady of the hour.
“It’s nice to meet—Whoa, okay. You’re a hugger,” she said, her hands at her sides. It took her a second to catch on and eventually wrapped her arms around his big belly.
Jake watched her eyes shut and she let out a sigh. The only person who could hug better than Nic was his meemaw Joy. They literally could change someone’s whole world with just one embrace.
“Well, let’s stop lollygagging and get to the house. Grandma has lunch on the table, and you know how she gets when it goes cold.”
Jake sighed. “Let me repark my car.”
“You go ahead. Miss Georgia and I will mosey on up there.”
Jake drove to the cabin while Georgia and Nic walked the few hundred yards. She was snickering, Nic was smiling, and it made Jake wonder what they were talking about. Then realized he probably didn’t want to know.
He unloaded the luggage and shook his head in amusement when he saw Georgia’s suitcases.
He could only imagine how orderly they were packed.
She was normally a no-frills kind of woman.
Cool as a cucumber, precise in her decisions, and navigating twists and turns with ease.
She’d make one hell of an F1 driver. Until it came to packing for a trip.
Then she brought everything but the linens.
“I can get that,” Georgia said, reaching for her bag.
“And have my meemaw chew my ear off? No way. I’d rather suffer your wrath than hers.”
He pulled on the bag, but, stubborn as ever, she held tight.
“Honey, let him get that,” his grandma said from the front porch.
“I like to carry my own weight.”
Didn’t he know it.
Joy chuckled in a way that only a woman with over seventy years of experience on this earth could. “The great thing about being with a gentleman is that they know you can carry your own weight, but they are offering to carry it with you. There’s a difference.”
He saw the wheels in Georgia’s head turn so fast he was surprised a gear didn’t break.
With one last unsuccessful tug she let go. “Only because I don’t want to offend your grandma.”
He chuckled. “We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”