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  “You know, I thought it would be pretty unlikely too when I went out there four years ago. I guess that it doesn’t matter how many people are around to date, if none of them are the right one. When I think about it, the most romantic moment I had at school the last few weeks was when my biology lab partner asked if I would go to a dance with him. Since we were wrist deep in the carcass of a fetal pig at the time, I wasn’t tempted.”

  “Nice.” Mark paused with his hamburger half way to his mouth. He put it down and picked up a fry instead.

  “Oh, sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned that while we were eating. But at least you’re eating beef.”

  His face was totally serious but his eyes were laughing. “I guess I could take the bacon off, huh?”

  Ashley laughed, “I forgot about that. You want to eat my dumplings? No pig in here and they’ve cooled down,” she said motioning to her bowl.

  “That’s okay. I think I’ll manage.” He picked up his burger again and proceeded to do full justice to it.

  “So how’s your job going?” Ashley asked a little while later.

  Mark paused to think about it. “Well, good and bad I suppose. I’ve never been a city planner before, and this city has never had one before, so we’re all learning together. It’s stressful at times with small town politics and everything.”

  “What is it that you do?”

  “Well, I’m supposed to do things like enforce codes. You know, like whether or not people are mowing their yards and keeping things looking nice. Not too much of that to worry about this time of year though. I’m also supposed to improve the infrastructure because the business district is a mess. Forest View has grown too fast and the city hasn’t done anything to handle the extra traffic and parking. They haven’t looked at zoning much either. I’ve been thrown in the deep end, that’s for sure.”

  “Don’t take this personally, but why didn’t they hire someone with experience?”

  “Everything in a small town like this comes down to one thing- money, or rather, the lack of it. Simply put, they can afford me.”

  “Well, I’m sure you’ll do a great job.”

  “I’m going to do my best anyway. I don’t know how good that is, but I’ve got a one year contract to prove myself.”

  “Are you planning to stay here for a while, or are you just here to get experience?”

  He shrugged and said, “I don’t know really, but for the foreseeable future, I don’t have any ambitions to go anywhere else. How about you? What are your plans now that you’re done with school?”

  “I don’t have any plans, and, at the risk of sounding like a bum, I’m not going to make any until after Christmas. My poor brain has been abused the last few weeks and needs a vacation from any serious decision making.”

  “Do you think you could handle just one decision?”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s a pretty tricky one,” he warned her.

  “Ok. What is it?”

  “I don’t know if you’re ready for it.”

  “Ask me already.”

  “All right.” He paused dramatically. “Do you want peach or apple pie for dessert?”

  Chapter 4

  Oh Ho, the Mistletoe

  About 30 minutes and a huge slice of peach pie later, Mark and Ashley stopped at a convenience store for the milk. Ashley refused Mark’s offer to go in with her. “Keep the car running. I’ll be right back.”

  When she got back to the car, Mark was on his cell phone talking to someone. He was listening to what the other person was saying, but still threw her a heart stopping smile as she got in and put the milk on the floor by her feet. As she put her seat belt on, she felt awkward being forced to eavesdrop on his conversation, but she couldn’t hear much besides a female voice talking on the other end. She figured that if Mark minded her hearing anything, he would tell the person he’d call them back later. There was no way she was going to stand out in the cold and wait for him to finish.

  His only part in the conversation was: “That’s great,” and “Cool.” After listening for a minute he said, “No, I won’t miss it. I booked a flight for the night before.” “Yeah, I can’t wait.” “Um, I’ll talk to you about that later.” “Why? Because she’s sitting right here in my car.” “Okay. Love you, too. Bye, Mom.”

  He put his phone in his coat pocket and put the car in reverse. As he drove he said, “Sorry. I guess you heard that was my mom. She called to make sure I wasn’t going to miss her Christmas Eve party. I promised her that I’d fly home for Christmas since she was kind of freaking out about me moving down here.”

  “I can imagine.” Ashley desperately wanted to know why his mom wanted to discuss her with him, but there was no way she was going to ask. It was very interesting that she even knew about her. “It’s always good to be home for Christmas, so I bet you’re looking forward to it.”

  “I am. It should be interesting. My sister Brooke had a baby in February and it’s the first time that my parents will have a grandchild to spoil at Christmas.”

  “Is her baby a boy or a girl?”

  “A boy. His name is Conner. I talked to her the other day and she said that he’s starting to walk, even though he’s only 10 months old, and he’s driving them crazy by pulling ornaments off the tree.”

  “I’m glad Andrew isn’t old enough for that yet.”

  By this time, he was pulling into his driveway, so she waited for him to stop his car before she told him, “Thanks for lunch. I enjoyed it.”

  “So did I. Thank you for coming.”

  “What are you doing the rest of the day?” Ashley asked as she took off her seat belt. She turned a little in her seat to face him. “Are you going to help us decorate the tree? I think it’s only fair that you should string the lights on since you let the kids pick such a big tree.”

  “Hey, if you’re trying to guilt me into coming back over to your house, you could just say, ‘Mark, come hang out with me.’”

  “Ok. Mark, come hang out with me.” She batted her eyelashes at him playfully.

  “Well, since you put it so nicely, how can I resist? Besides, I’m sure your mom is expecting me. I am her lights specialist, you know.”

  “You are?”

  “Who do you think put up all of their exterior lights?”

  “I thought Shawn had done it,” she said as they got out of the car and walked back to her house.

  “Well, that was her original plan, but he weaseled out of it. She told me you would be disappointed to come home and not see any lights up outside. Against my better judgment, I volunteered. I had a stiff neck the next day and a puncture wound on my finger from the staple gun.”

  Ashley laughed when Mark held up his left thumb and showed her two red dots from his barely healed injury, but she told him that she was sorry about his thumb. “What in the world made you offer to do it? You must have known what you were getting into.”

  “Well, you see, I hadn’t seen the boxes of lights yet and I was feeling mellow. I’d just feasted on your mom’s spareribs.”

  “I’m beginning to understand. Does my mom feed you a lot?”

  “Yes. I thought at first it was because she was really nice. I’m starting to realize that she uses her culinary magic to get free labor when she needs something done.”

  “She’s pretty shameless that way.”

  “Yep, but I still love it when she invites me over for dinner.”

  “Why does she need so much help now that Shawn is home?”

  “Well, he may be ‘home,’ if you mean he’s no longer on a mission, but from what I’ve seen, he’s hardly ever here. I didn’t do the lights by myself though. Your dad worked hard on it too, but anything that required getting on a ladder I had to do.”

  They had reached the front door of the house by this time. Even standing outside, they could hear Christmas music blasting away inside. Once through the door, they could tell that it was coming from the living room so they headed in that dir
ection. As they got there, they both froze in the doorway, amazed at the state of chaos the living room had reached since they’d left.

  Shawn had gotten home from work and Becca and Daniel had apparently decided that it was time to start decorating the tree. The contents of the tubs were strewn around the room, and Shawn stood with his back to them trying to untangle a wad of Christmas lights.

  “Looks like we got here just in time,” Mark murmured into her ear from behind her.

  Feeling a shiver of pleasure run up her spine, Ashley scrunched her shoulders up. She looked back at him and found him inches away. “Well, you’re the lighting expert. Go rescue Shawn.”

  “I think it should be a joint effort.” With a hand in the small of her back, he prompted her forward. His touch made her skin tingle, even through the fabric of her shirt, and her heart began to beat erratically.

  Once they had waded through piles of decorations and begun to help untangle the lights, Shawn quickly abandoned them to dig for the star. “He did it again.” Mark grumbled to her. “At least you’re here to help me this time, and there aren’t any staple guns or ladders involved.”

  “Not yet, but don’t give my mom any ideas. By the way, Shawn, where is Mom?”

  “I don’t know. She’s working on something in her craft room with and Kayla. She told us that if we were in such a hurry to put up decorations, we could start without her.”

  Looking around at the mess, Ashley said, “I’ll bet she’s going to be sorry she said that. Hey, Mark! I just found the end to this cord, and you yanked it out of my hands.” She pretended to be irritated, sighing and rolling her eyes.

  “Well, it’s not like I meant to,” he said. “Don’t get mad at me because these lights were put away in a big tangled mess. Who did this anyway?”

  Shawn answered before Ashley could. “On a guess, I’d say my dad. He’s pretty impatient when it comes to packing all this stuff up again every year.”

  “That seems a little out of character for him.”

  “That’s what you think,” Ashley informed him. “He’s very careful and methodical about some things, and about others, well – he gets them done any which way he can, as quick as he can.”

  “Well, he certainly did a number on these lights.”

  “Becca made it worse,” Daniel told them. He and Becca were busy digging through a box of Christmas picture books. “She found them first and tried to stretch them out, but she couldn’t so she dumped them in a pile again.”

  Before long, Ashley and Mark were both sitting on the floor, concentrating on the lights. Occasionally their strands of lights intersected and they worked together to undo the knots connecting them. Once their hands brushed accidentally and Ashley felt a shimmery feeling go up her arm. It felt odd to her to be so focused on a task, and still be constantly aware of him.

  “I think we need to stretch the strands out to get rid of these last tangles,” Mark said finally, getting to his feet. He kept hold of his lights with one hand and held out the other to help her up. Remembering her embarrassment from the last time he helped her up, she was careful to get her feet under her and stand up on her own, only using Mark’s hand for balance.

  With a few gentle tugs and shakes, the last knots fell out of the lights. “Let’s plug them in and see if they all work,” she said, seriously doubting that they would after all they’d been through. But to her surprise, when Mark plugged the strings of lights in one at a time, they all worked. “Wow. That’s weird, but I’m not complaining. Ok, then,” she said, “let’s put them on the tree.”

  Mark coiled the lights up while Ashley connected the plugs to make one long strand. When that was done, Mark plugged one end into the star which Shawn had already fastened on top of the tree, and he and Shawn pulled the tree out from the window far enough for them to walk around it. Ashley circled the tree behind Mark, holding the lights and slowly uncoiling them while he tucked them into the fragrant branches of the tree.

  He was able to reach the top of the tree easily of course, but wasn’t very artistic about his placement of the lights so Ashley had to tweak his work. Since they were working so closely together, they occasionally brushed against each other. Every time it happened, Mark would look at her with a playful expression that made her wonder if was entirely accidental.

  Once, when Mark was trying to adjust the lights at the top of the tree, Ashley stood up from tucking them in near the bottom and found herself between his arms. They stood still for a second until Mark put his hand on her shoulder, squeezed it gently, and moved away.

  When they were done, Mark and Ashley stepped back to look at the tree. “Well I think that looks good,” she said.

  “Yeah, and I have to say, I enjoyed having a pretty girl follow me around for a while.”

  “Good for your ego, huh?” she teased him.

  Shawn was busy sorting the ornaments and putting hooks on any that needed them, but when he heard what they were saying, he had to add his two cents. “All I know is, if I were you, Mark, I would have been running in case she caught me.”

  “Who says I’m trying to?” Ashley asked, annoyed.

  “You don’t have to try,” Shawn replied, laughing before he even finished his sentence. “Mom will catch him for you.”

  Ashley grabbed an embroidered pillow from the couch and hurled it at him.

  “You know, I don’t think it’s fair for you to keep bugging her,” Mark told Shawn unexpectedly, his voice thoughtful. “I don’t know if she can handle it from both of us.”

  “I don’t want anyone to bug me,” she informed him, though she was secretly beginning to enjoy Mark’s straight-faced teasing.

  “Too bad for you then,” Mark replied unrepentantly, shaking his head at her.

  “Just be glad that you’re bigger than Shawn, or it’d be too bad for you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Shawn asked indignantly.

  “I think she’s saying that she can beat you up,” Mark explained.

  “Oh really?” As he spoke, Shawn retrieved the pillow Ashley had thrown at him and stalked towards her, clearly planning to hit her with it. Ashley tried to escape, but Shawn caught her and pummeled her with the pillow. Ashley fell, laughing and screaming, onto the couch, landing on a stuffed singing reindeer. The reindeer started playing its song as soon as Ashley landed on it, adding to the chaos.

  Ashley tried her best to get away from Shawn, but he easily blocked her attempts to escape. Daniel and Becca looked on speechlessly for one awed moment before running to get in on the fun. It was never clear whose side they were on. When Ashley’s mom came into the living room to see what all the noise was about, there was a crazy scuffle going.

  Her mom squeaked out a surprised “Oh my gosh!” and immediately assumed her Mother voice. “Stop it, right now. There are too many breakable things in here. You know I don’t allow roughhousing in the living room.”

  Kayla had also come in by now and immediately went to pull the kids away. Shawn didn’t stop immediately, but after giving Ashley a few more good wallops, he finally tossed his weapon on the floor. As soon as the pillow was out of his hands, Ashley got up and pinched him on the arm before quickly retreating behind the tree. Becca and Daniel were being warned not to act up again, but Ashley wondered how seriously they were taking their scolding since their mom was having a hard time repressing her laughter.

  Mark had been silently watching with amusement, but now he asked her mom, “Were they like this as kids?”

  “What do you mean when they were kids?” she asked pointedly, making Mark laugh.

  Since Shawn was hanging ornaments from his bottom lip, impressing the kids if no one else, Mark said, “I see what you mean.”

  “Hey cool, Uncle Shawn. Let me try,” Daniel said, reaching for an ornament.

  “No,” his mom intervened before he could do so, sending Shawn a look that had him quickly removing the ornaments.

  “Why don’t you come hang them on the tree inste
ad?” Ashley asked. She plugged the lights into the nearest outlet, and Mark and Shawn moved the tree back against the window.

  Soon there was a crowd around the Christmas tree as everyone tried to get the best branches for their ornaments. Daniel and Becca had already decorated their own tree at home, but they loved hanging up Grandpa and Grandma’s ornaments. They each got to hang up their favorites, with only one disagreement. Since this was a fragile, hand-blown glass angel ornament, Ashley hurried to end the argument by having Mark hang it securely at the top of the tree.

  When the last ornament had been hung, everyone stepped back to admire it. Shawn switched off the lights and they were all impressed by the tree’s beauty. Shawn brought their Dad in to look at it with them, which was the usual extent of his involvement with the decorating. It was the kind of moment that made Christmas magical. Ashley was so busy enjoying it that she hadn’t even noticed where she was standing until Shawn said, “Ooh hoo hoo! Look who’s standing under the mistletoe.”

  Ashley looked around with everyone else to see who he was referring to and realized that everyone had their eyes fixed on her. In horror, she looked up and saw that someone had hung a sprig of artificial mistletoe over the bottom step of the stairway where she stood.

  “Someone has to kiss her,” Becca shouted gleefully.

  “I’d say that … hmmm…Mark is the man for the job,” Shawn said as though considering a matter of grave importance.

  Ashley distantly heard a few chuckles and a wolf whistle she was sure came from Kayla, and then a weird, waiting silence. “Uh-uh, no way. I’m moving,” she said, backing up a step.

  “Too late,” Shawn said. “He still has to kiss you.”

  Mark’s expression showed he was clearly uncomfortable, and he was avoiding her eyes as her family continued to encourage him. Ashley had never been so mortified in her entire life. She was furious with everyone, including herself for standing there like a fool, prolonging the situation.