to be perfect or compliant or dependable with Dylan. It was a wholly liberating sensation.
Even if he was wrong for her in the end.
But this wasn’t the end.
This was now.
She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “The tree is beautiful,” she said, turning her gaze when the intensity in his eyes became too much to handle. It felt like being under the scope of some sort of lust-filled laser beam or what.
They’d decorated the tree with the lights and ornaments Sam had found, along with a few extras Carrie’d brought over. She’d cajoled Dylan into turning on holiday music, and she and Sam had sung at the top of their lungs while Dylan grimaced and tried to hide his enjoyment.
Was there anything more festive than trimming a Christmas tree?
Carrie realized that she’d been so focused on making the holidays magical for the entire town she’d forgotten to enjoy the simple moments of the season herself.
In fact, she feared she’d been going through the motions for longer than she cared to admit, checking off the appropriate Christmas spirit boxes without truly appreciating the meaning of the season.
The evening with Dylan and Sam made her long for a family of her own. For the chance to create her own traditions that didn’t revolve around expectations from anyone else. Her father had always had very specific ideas about how the holidays should be handled. When she was a kid, he’d relished playing the role of benevolent Santa for the people in town even if it meant they didn’t have time to celebrate privately as a family.
Once her mother left, Carrie had spent most Decembers trying to keep Niall out of the spiral of holiday depression that regularly overtook him.
She hadn’t given much thought to the emotional cost of setting aside her own wishes for Christmas in order to cater to her father’s needs. To the needs of the Magnolia community. To everyone except herself.
“Should I take it personally?” Dylan asked, jolting her back to reality.
She tried to move away from him, but his arms stayed steady on her waist. “Take what?”
His mouth quirked into that almost-smile. “One moment I thought you were going to kiss me and the next you’re wearing a scowl like someone pulled off Santa’s fake beard.”
“Sorry,” she said automatically. “I was just thinking about past Christmases and how much I missed because my focus had to be on my dad.”
“Or the town?”
“That, too,” she admitted. “The evening was great, even if the tree is way too big for your house.”
He followed her gaze to the tree, which filled the room with the scent of pine. It looked both massive shoved into the corner of the room and oddly perfect.
“I have to admit I had fun. It’s been years since I’ve decorated a tree.”
“You didn’t put one up in your condo in Boston?”
He shrugged. “The building had a tree in the lobby. That seemed close enough.”
Carrie reached out to stroke his arm. “Did Sam’s parents go all out for the holidays?”
“I guess. To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention. Normally, I scheduled a vacation over the holidays.”
“You left town for Christmas?”
“Don’t knock it. I’d ski Aspen if the snow was good out west or head to the Caribbean for some beach time.”
She blew out a soft laugh. “Actually, I might be jealous.”
“Are you admitting the foolishness of the holidays isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?”
“Not one bit. But I will say there were a few holidays in the past couple of years I could have skipped.” She stuck out her tongue. “This isn’t one of those.”
As a slow grin spread across his face, he glanced toward the tree and then back to Carrie again. “This one is not that bad.”
“Big praise,” she murmured as hope blossomed in her chest. If she could make Dylan see the importance of the holiday spirit in Magnolia, surely she could convince him that the town needed to remain quaint and quirky.
There were plenty of places to build luxury townhomes and upscale retail centers.
Magnolia didn’t need that kind of an overhaul to be reinvigorated. It only needed people willing to capitalize on the things that already made it special.
Maybe she and Magnolia had that in common.
Maybe Dylan could see it in her and the town.
Thoughts for her continuing campaign evaporated like a water droplet on a hot radiator when he kissed her.
“We keep getting distracted,” he said as he shifted her closer.
Her pulse fluttered as he trailed kisses down