A Cross-Country Christmas(18)

He’d really taken it all for granted when he was younger, and after his little wake-up call, he vowed to never ignore that blessing again.

“What was your last Christmas like?” Maybe things had improved since she’d moved away.

She stilled. “I don’t really celebrate Christmas.”

“At all?”

She shrugged. “I don’t like holidays. Especially Christmas. And I really hate my birthday.”

“Why?” He dared a quick glance at her, but she was focused on the passing desert landscape out the window.

“Can we talk about something else?” she asked, suddenly cold. “Or nothing? We could talk about nothing.”

He silently acquiesced. Her walls were rebuilt.

Will flipped through radio stations until he found one playing Christmas music. As fate would have it, it was “All I Want for Christmas is You,” and Will started singing full voice. He glanced at Lauren, singing and shrugging his shoulders and indicating to the radio as if to ask, ‘How’m I doin?’

She pulled out her Air Pods and made a point of sticking them in her ears one at a time, then feigning serenity, slowly sinking back into her seat.

And that’s how the entire day went.

They stopped twice for food—and Lauren spent both meals on her phone. They stopped at a general store, a vintage gas station, a church built in the 1600’s, and drove through a petrified forest. Lauren slept, played solitaire, listened to music, doodled in her sketchbook, answered texts, and made a point of avoiding talking to Will.

And he made a point to pretend it didn’t bother him.

He wanted her to like him. He knew this was something he needed to work on, his need for approval, but this was different. This wasn’t about winning her over for the sake of his own ego—it was about winning her over because he really liked her.

I really like her. Like, genuinely.

Was it wrong that he wanted to be her friend?

Was it also wrong that he knew he was kidding himself thinking that’s all this was?

Late afternoon, as he filled up the gas tank at a classic station, Will snapped a selfie just as a text from Jackson’s mom came in.

Hey Coach, sorry to disturb you on your Christmas break.

I saw you and Jackson have been texting, and I wanted to let you know he was in an accident last night.

Nothing too serious, but we’re hoping it was the wake-up call he needed to make some better choices.

Just thought you should know.





Will had met Jackson’s family when he was a senior in high school and visiting Pacific University—they were good people, a lot like his own family. Even though Jackson’s mom hadn’t asked in her text, even though there was probably nothing he could do, Will looked up the name of Jackson’s hometown to see how far out of the way it was.

Divine intervention? Maybe. If what Jackson had told him about his little hometown was true, it could be exactly what this trip home needed—and exactly what a certain passenger in his car needed to get into the Christmas spirit.

As the data loaded on his phone, Will blinked, then grinned. Then grinned bigger. As fate would have it, Jackson Pope’s family was from a little town called El Muérdago. And muérdago, in English, means mistletoe.





Chapter 9





Lauren didn’t need a lot of sleep. But she did need more than zero hours, and after the spider fiasco, that’s exactly what she got.

Which is why she dozed off.

And why her little nap turned in to an all-out slumber—that crashy, deep sleep that makes you forget where you are—and who you’re with. Her awakening was a rude one when she realized she was, in fact, in a car with a whole lot of miles left to cover. And behind the steering wheel was Will Sinclair, who was, unfortunately, turning out to be a pretty decent guy.

The sun had set during her snooze, and unlike yesterday, they were still driving.

Good. Maybe he’d gotten it into his head that they needed to get home, get Christmas over with, and get back to real life.

Or maybe he’d gotten tired of her salty attitude and wanted out of this car as soon as possible.

She shifted at the thought, and then sat up. They certainly weren’t in the desert anymore. Even in the dark, she could see lush green trees and a light dusting of snow on the road.

“The princess awakes,” Will announced, far too cheerfully.

“Where are we?”

“A little off the beaten path,” he said, caution in his voice.

“A path that’s closer to Illinois?”

He pulled a face.

“Will?”

“It’s sort of an unplanned stop,” he said. “Not too far out of the way.”

She frowned.

“I heard about this great little town in the mountains,” he said.

Her ears popped. “We’re in the mountains?”

“Yes,” he pointed, “those big things over there.”

She wasn’t amused.

“It’s just a few hours out of the way.”

“Wait.” She sat up straighter. “A few hours? How many?”

“Just a couple. A few. Like three or four?”

“Three or four hours out of the way? One way or two?”