it, but after the leak, your cabin smells like old socks,” Eleanor told her with a laugh. “We need new carpet throughout all the cabins really.”
“We could leave the exteriors the way they are. Maybe power wash them?”
“The paint’s peeling, Lila.” Eleanor shook her head, her gray curls swishing back and forth with the movement. “It’s no use. I think I need to find a real estate agent.”
“Where will you go?”
“No idea. I suppose I’ll have to start looking.”
“How about Florida? It’s warm and sunny all the time.”
Eleanor smiled, closing her eyes. “Mm. I could do with the sunshine.” But the look in her eyes told a different story. This had been her home with Chester, and she clearly wanted to stay.
“Maybe not Florida,” Lila said.
“The truth is that I don’t feel like I fit anywhere else.” She turned her head toward the Christmas tree, its holiday lights glimmering, and let out a sigh.
Lila sat in silence in her cabin after dinner, an idea brewing, and closed the banking app on her phone as she covered her legs with the blanket on the sofa. What was she doing? Was it too late in the night to make a decision like this? Perhaps she was delirious with exhaustion…
This might have been the most impulsive idea she’d ever had in her life, but everything inside her made her feel like it was the right thing to do. Lila had total savings of five thousand dollars, and she was about to sink it all into Fireside Cabins. Perhaps, if she could actually pull off a renovation and Eleanor could begin to turn a profit, she might need someone to work there with her. Lila could imagine herself in Pinewood Hills for sure. It seemed a long way off, given the state of the cabins, but if Eleanor needed a Christmas miracle, maybe if Lila played her cards right she could be exactly that. They wouldn’t be able to do everything on their list, but they could do something to get the cabins up and running full tilt again.
Piper’s mother had had some landscaping done in the fall, and she’d gotten an incredibly good price. Lila thought it might be worth checking to see if that company would be willing to make the two-hour drive to Pinewood Hills. She opened a new message to text Piper and realized her friend had already sent her a message. Lila had been so busy with Eleanor that she hadn’t seen it until now. It was a link to an article about Theo. She opened it and stared at the photo in front of her—a thinner, lankier, tuxedo-clad Theo with a shiny, sculpted supermodel in a sequined ball gown on his arm. Under the image, it said:
Theo Perry and fiancée Alexa Fontaine call it quits after a rocky year. When asked why the two cancelled their 1.5 million dollar wedding, Alexa told us, “He’s a complete fraud.” Attempts to locate Theo Perry for comment were unsuccessful.
Lila put her phone down and stared at the tree until the lights blurred in front of her. This Christmas was a complete mess. All her friends had gone. She was alone, considering putting herself in the poor house for renovations on a property she had no rights to whatsoever. And she was falling for a guy who, according to the press, was a coward and a fraud—and who had totally disappeared on her, without a glance over his shoulder. She chewed on her lip, considering her options. She could pack it all up and head back home, enjoy the Christmas season in Nashville, maybe spend the next few weeks shopping downtown, listening to bands, and getting coffee with her friends… The alternative was painting tumbledown cabins in the freezing cold, feeling lonely and rejected, making regular visits to the local police department to see if they’d found Theo, and having a quiet holiday with Eleanor.
Having spent her young adult life mostly alone, Lila had developed a heart for people. She craved the connection that was stolen from her too early. It was what made her great at her job, and it was how she’d become such good friends with the women in her life. It was also why she felt the overwhelming need to stay at Fireside Cabins, to keep Eleanor company, despite the fact that her brain was screaming at her not to do it. It was her heart over her head this time. It was the season of giving, after