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  Books. Change. Lives.

  Copyright © 2021 by Codi Hall

  Cover and internal design © 2021 by Sourcebooks

  Cover design by Monika Roe/Shannon Associates

  Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks is not associated with any product or vendor in this book.

  Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks

  P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

  (630) 961-3900

  sourcebooks.com

  Originally published in 2020 as an audiobook by Audible Originals.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

  Contents

  Front Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Nick and Noel’s Happily Ever After Playlist

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Back Cover

  Chapter 1

  NICK

  The crisp November wind hit Nick Winters square in the face, causing his eyes to tear. There were already several inches of snow on the ground that crunched under his feet as he exited his friend Noel Carter’s car. Acres of Douglas and noble fir trees spread out on both sides of his childhood home, their branches glittering with ivory snow. The short walkway curved toward a covered porch and red front door. After eight years away except for brief stints on leave, it was amazing how little the log cabin style five-bedroom, three-bath house had changed.

  “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” popped into his head and he sighed happily.

  “Glad to be back home?”

  Nick smiled at Noel over the top of her silver Subaru. “Absolutely. In fact, I may make a special playlist about what home means to me.”

  “I assume the first song won’t be Nelly’s ‘Hot In Herre.’” She shivered for emphasis.

  “As much as I love that song, I feel that ‘Colder Weather’ by the Zac Brown Band would be a better fit.”

  Since they were barely out of diapers, Nick and Noel had shared a passion for music. Their parents had dozens of video tapes of the two of them singing on an old karaoke machine. They’d swapped CDs and spent hours on the phone discussing artists from the Beatles to Kenny Chesney.

  “Probably.” Noel’s dark eyes twinkled under the brim of her blue beanie. “I imagine freezing your balls off in Idaho is better than sweating them off in the desert.”

  “Hell yes. I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed. Hug my mom. Fish with my dad. Start my dream job. Kiss my girl.”

  Noel wrinkled her slim nose. “Don’t make me gag.”

  Nick huffed as he grabbed his army-green duffle from the back seat of Noel’s car. “I don’t understand why you’re so down on her.”

  “You mean Amber?” She came up alongside him, her expression mockingly thoughtful. “Maybe because she’s a self-absorbed brat who walks all over everyone she meets?”

  Nick didn’t want to argue with Noel. It was obvious there was no love lost between his best friend and long-time girlfriend, Amber Quint. Back in high school, Amber ran in a different crowd than them and hadn’t always been the nicest to Noel, but that was years ago. They were all adults. Maybe since he was officially home, he could be the conduit that brought Amber and Noel together. At least create a reason for them to be civil.

  “How about we go in and surprise my parents? We can argue about my taste in women later.”

  Noel laced her arm through his. “Oh, there is no need to argue. If your taste in women had a theme song, it would be ‘Trashy Women’ by Confederate Railroad.”

  “Your smart mouth is gonna get you in trouble one day,” Nick whispered in her ear. He noticed she was wearing the blue topaz earrings he’d sent her for Christmas last year. They looked nice with her shoulder-length dark hair and olive skin.

  “So I’ve been told. Maybe that’s why some guy hasn’t snatched me up yet. I’m too mouthy.”

  “Nah, it’s because most men are morons. You’re the best person I know.” Nick kissed the top of her head.

  “I guess the whole not wanting marriage and kids can throw them off too.”

  Nick shook his head. Ever since she lost her parents, Noel insisted she didn’t want any attachments. He suspected if she didn’t already have people in her life who loved her, she’d have kept her distance from his family and the rest of Mistletoe. Someone as awesome as Noel shouldn’t close herself off, but it wasn’t his business to tell her how to live her life.

  “Not everyone needs those things to be happy. You do you.”

  Noel laughed. “God, you sound like a meme.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a good thing.”

  “Eh, I still like you, though.”

  “I like you, too.” He patted the hand looped through the crook of his elbow. “Thanks for grabbing me from the airport, by the way. I know you probably had better things to do on a Saturday morning.”

  Noel pinched him lightly. “Stop fishing. You know I’d do anything for you.”

  “I feel the same way about you, but still… It means a lot.”

  “Ugh, don’t get sappy. It’s not like I had anything better to do. Except sleep.”

  Nick chuckled. Noel didn’t handle sentimental well, usually deflecting with humor and mild exasperation. Still, he thought it was important to let her know he cared. That she was important and appreciated as an adopted member of the Winters family.

  “If it hadn’t been for you, I would have had to ask one of my sisters
and you know they can’t keep a secret to save their lives. Mom has been counting down the days until my discharge and I wanted to surprise them.”

  “It’s an amazing early Christmas present. Your mom is going to flip her shit when she sees you.”

  “Now, Noel,” he said in a high-pitched voice. “You know how I feel about you swearing like a sailor.”

  She laughed. “Your poor mother tried her hardest to make a lady out of me. And it’s soldier, not sailor.”

  “How could I forget.” Like Nick, Noel had served in the army right out of high school. She’d gone in six months after him and discharged after four years. She’d finished her nursing degree at Boise State, bringing all of her experience with her, and took a job at Mistletoe Memorial in the labor and delivery ward as a nurse.

  “Let me get the door, since you’re packing that big-ass bag.”

  Noel unlocked the front door with her key and pushed the door open. Nick stepped over the threshold behind her and the familiar scent of pine and cinnamon enveloped him. The house was dimly lit in morning light, revealing the white walls of the living room splattered with framed family photos. The plaid green-and-white sofas his mother loved were set against the walls with decorative blankets tossed over the backs. His dad’s brown leather recliner sat at an angle, looking just as beat up as he remembered. The long chestnut coffee table positioned in the middle of the furniture with a decorative centerpiece on top of rustic fall leaves, marking the changing of the seasons.

  As they rounded the corner into the kitchen, a loud bay destroyed the peaceful quiet of his childhood home. The scuttle of nails on the wood floor echoed down the hall as Butch, his parents’ nine-year-old bloodhound, emerged at a lope. His big black ears flapped up and down as he raced toward them. His jowls, dripping with jellified drool, went up at the same time, giving the illusion he was flying.

  Nick dropped his bag and kneeled. “Butch, my man.”

  Butch launched all one hundred and sixty pounds of himself against Nick’s chest, knocking him back against the wall. Wet doggy kisses rained down all over his face and he wrapped his arms around the dog’s neck. Butch was barely a year when he’d left the first time, but he’d never forgotten Nick. Every leave, the big hound greeted him at the door with the same enthusiasm.

  Laughing, Nick pushed Butch away and the dog turned his attention to Noel. Abruptly, the big hound buried his head in her crotch and she stumbled back with a gasp, cradling the dog’s head in her hands as she tried to remove him from the awkward location. Nick burst out laughing as Noel wrestled with the dog.

  “Dammit, Butch! I hate when you do that.”

  The dog pulled his head back and released another delighted bay. Then, he turned around and leaned his entire body against Noel so hard she hit the counter. Her hat fell off and landed on the floor.

  “Ouch, crap.”

  Nick chuckled. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, sure, the big klutz just broke my hip, but I’m good.”

  The dog leaned his head back against her, exposing his neck and she obliged him by scratching his chest.

  “You are a monster. Good thing you’re cute.”

  “What in the blasted hell is going on out here?” a deep voice boomed.

  The shape of a man stood in the hallway clad in a dark robe. He flipped on the kitchen light, blinking against the brightness.

  Nick climbed to his feet with a smile. “Hey Pop.”

  Christopher Winters’s craggy face broke out into a wide grin, his salt and pepper hair standing on end. “Nick! You said you’d be here after Thanksgiving!”

  “I wanted to surprise you.”

  “Well, you sure as hell did.” His dad held his arms wide. “Come here.”

  Nick crossed the tile floor and flung his arms around him. His dad returned the hard hug, pounding his back. Although he now stood several inches taller than his father, Chris had a wider frame than his son. And a rounder stomach.

  His father pulled back, patting Nick’s shoulders. “Well, take off your coat and sit a spell. You hungry? We’ve got bacon, eggs, hash browns—”

  “I’m good, Dad.” Nick shrugged out of his coat and took Noel’s coat and hat when she handed them to him.

  “Since you’re hanging yours up, anyway,” she said.

  “Of course, princess. My mama always taught me to dote on my womenfolk.”

  “Okay, too far.”

  His dad ignored their conversation, his head buried in the fridge. “We also have ham! You still like meat, right?”

  “Yeah, I do, Dad, but I don’t need anything. We grabbed coffee when we left the airport.”

  Noel elbowed him. “That was an hour and a half ago. I’m starving.”

  Chris pointed his finger at his only son. “Coffee isn’t sustenance, it’s a stimulant. A man cannot live on Starbucks alone.”

  “Chris, what’s going on?” a woman called from down the hallway.

  Victoria Winters appeared at the edge of the kitchen in her furry pink bathrobe and messy blond hair, staring at them. Her hazel eyes widened behind her dark-framed glasses when her gaze landed on her son.

  “Look who wanted to surprise us!” His father said.

  With a squeal, she launched herself at Nick and he caught her with a grunt of amusement. Nick embraced his emotional mother as she bawled into his shirtfront.

  “Gee, Mom, I thought you’d be glad to have me home.”

  She smacked his back. “Of course I am. These are happy tears.”

  His mom pulled away and squeezed his face between her hands. “You look gaunt. You haven’t been eating enough.”

  The statement didn’t require a response.

  His dad crossed his arms over his chest, throwing him under the bus. “He was just telling me how coffee was a balanced breakfast.”

  “We will just see about that!” His mom kissed his dad as she passed him in the kitchen and his gaze followed her. After thirty years together, the love between his parents never dimmed. Nick wanted what his parents had: a relationship based on love, respect, and mutual life goals.

  His mom grabbed a loaf of bread from the cupboard and Nick shook his head. “Really, Mom, you don’t need to go to the trouble.”

  She waved away his protests as she went to the fridge and started pulling items out, lining them up across the counter.

  “Noel, get in here. I have a bone to pick with you, young lady,” his mother warned.

  Noel laughed, coming up along beside her. “It wasn’t my fault! He swore me to secrecy.”

  “You aren’t supposed to keep secrets from me!” his mother responded, playfully smacking her with an oven mitt. “I don’t care who is doing the asking. I trump my son every time!”

  Noel hugged Nick’s mother from behind and kissed her cheek. “Wasn’t it a good surprise, though?”

  His mother patted Noel’s arms. “Yes, baby, it was. Thank you for picking him up.”

  “My pleasure.”

  “Now, get to cracking those eggs,” his mother ordered. “You can do with a bit of fattening up too. I know that hospital runs you ragged, helping all those pregnant moms.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  It shouldn’t surprise him that his mother treated Noel as if she were her own. Noel’s mother, Heather, and his mom had been best friends all their lives. More like sisters.

  Although they’d grown up together, he wouldn’t exactly say that he held sisterly feelings for his best friend. Even when Noel teased him mercilessly, he never needed a break from her the way he did his siblings. In fact, not talking to Noel would drive him crazy. She’d been there for all of his ups and downs and vice versa.

  Victoria wiped her hands on her robe. “I better go get my phone and call your sisters. They’ll be so glad to have you home.”

  Nick pulled his own phone from his p
ants pocket. “You do that. I’m going to text Amber.”

  His mother and Noel made identical faces and he groaned. “Mom! Not you too!”

  A sheepish grin split his mother’s face. “I’m sorry, honey. I know you’ve been off and on since you were eighteen, but I don’t think she is right for you. She’s very…”

  Noel opened her mouth, but Nick pointed his finger at her. “You hush it.”

  “You ought to watch the way you speak to the woman cooking your breakfast.” Noel cracked an egg against the side of the counter without breaking eye contact and dropped the contents into a large mixing bowl. “Never know if she’ll add a little something extra.”

  “Mom, you wouldn’t let her hurt me, would ya?”

  His mom snapped her fingers, the cell phone cradled in her other hand against her ear. “Self-centered. That’s the word I’m looking for.”

  “Mom, she is threatening your only son.”

  His mom tilted the phone away from her mouth to respond. “Nick, I love you, but you better be nice to her. I’m not policing her cooking. Yes, good morning, sweetheart.” She turned her back on them to talk to one of his sisters, missing the childish face Noel made at him. “You will never guess who is home. Nick!”

  Nick curled his lip and crossed his eyes at Noel, earning a chuckle. When Noel went back to egg cracking, Nick typed out a text to Amber.

  Just got home. Would love to see you ASAP. I missed you.

  He tucked his phone back into his pocket and leaned against the counter. Knowing Amber, it would be hours before she responded. She wasn’t a morning person.

  If he was being completely honest with himself, there could be other reasons why she wouldn’t respond right away. Things were strained between them the last few months, but he figured it was just the distance getting to her. They’d started dating when he’d come back from boot camp and only had a few weeks before he left for his first tour. She’d wanted to stay with him despite the distance and the stress. Although they’d broken up and gotten back together several times over the years, he hoped once he got home for good that things would be better.

  Lately their conversation always ended in a fight, usually with Amber hanging up on him. It drove him crazy. Most of the time, he’d call right back and they’d make up, but he’d been too exhausted to play the game last time. They hadn’t spoken in five days, but Nick hoped when she saw him, all the tension would dissipate and it would just be the two of them, ready to be together all the time.