A Mountain Springs Christmas

Chapter 1

one

RACHEL

Rachel walked past the Christmas tree in the main area of the company offices and down the hall to the managing editor’s office.

Since the door was open, she stepped in and plopped the book she’d been carrying down onto her friend Courtney’s desk with a thunk, landing it right next to the figurine of Big Foot wrapped in Christmas tree lights, wearing a Santa hat. “I’m in. The bet is on.”

For as much as she’d fought even reading the book in the first place, her chest was light and her heart was racing as she thought about actually committing to the bet. She’d wanted to let Court know all day, but their next magazine issue was a double, which always made their December workloads insane. She’d been scrambling all day to get the most urgent things done.

Courtney’s eyes traveled from her computer screen to the book to Rachel’s face before her hands got all fluttery and she picked up her desk phone. She pressed a speed dial button before putting it on speaker phone and placing the phone back into its cradle. Normally, when Courtney was behind her desk, she was the picture of professionalism—her clothes perfectly pressed, her brown hair in a bun, her expression exuding confidence, competence, and poise. But right now, she looked much more kid-at-Christmas than Managing Editor at Memories not Dreams magazine.

Of course, once Court stepped out of the office, she typically showed off the part of her personality that had bought the Christmas-obsessed Sasquatch sitting on her desk.

The moment Rachel heard the word “Hello?” come from the phone’s speaker, she knew that Courtney had called their friend Lucy.

“Have you left for the day yet?”

“I’m in the middle of leaving—just stepped off the elevator. Why? What’s up?”

Courtney looked at Rachel, excitement in her eyes. “Come back up. Rachel just said yes to the bet.”

Rachel crossed her arms and rolled her eyes as Courtney ended the call. “This is not that big of a deal.”

Court stood and made her way around the desk. “Yes it is, and you know it.”

Okay, yeah, she knew it. Saying yes to new things was far outside Rachel’s comfort zone and wasn’t going to be easy. Maybe she was just saying it wasn’t a big deal to make herself believe that she could do it. That it wasn’t going to be so hard.

Courtney picked up the book, A Year of Yes , and ran a hand over the cover before meeting Rachel’s eyes again. “So you read the whole thing?”

“I did.” It had taken her an embarrassing amount of time to finish. Her son, Aiden, was only six, so by the time Rachel saw him after work, he was dying for her attention. As a single mom, her to-do list was always a million miles long, so it wasn’t like she could just sit down and read during daytime hours. And by the time she finally fell into bed at night, she often only got a paragraph or two read before she fell asleep with the book still open.

But for a book that suggested doing something that was the very opposite of her nature, she wanted to do what it suggested and say yes to new experiences. On her own, though, she knew it was something she’d never convince herself to commit to, so maybe it was good that her friends were pushing her.

Lucy hurried into the office and shut the door behind her. She was panting, like she’d run the whole way, her dark bob of hair a little messier than normal, her eyes wide with excitement. “You’re going to do it? I can’t believe that you sat at the desk next to mine all day and didn’t say anything!”

Back when Rachel was the office assistant instead of a graphic designer, she had become good friends with Lucy. It had thrilled her that she got to sit next to Lucy once she’d taken on her new job. As impossible as the task sometimes seemed as a single mom, Rachel tried to be on top of everything in her life. By contrast, Lucy was the definition of a “hot mess,” which was, admittedly, rather refreshing to be around. It kept Rachel feeling balanced, somehow.

“I don’t get why this is such a big deal for you two,” Rachel said. She got why it was a big deal for herself—just not why her friends wanted her to do it so badly.

Courtney and Lucy shared a look before Court said, “You need everything… controlled. So this kind of thing is just a bit unusual for you.”

“Oh, come on. I’m not that bad.” Right? They didn’t live in her head so they didn’t really know how much she liked things organized and predictable. It couldn’t be that obvious to others.

Lucy’s eyebrow rose. “You sewed dividers into your purse.”

“Okay, that’s not controlling. That’s practical .”

Lucy folded her arms. “And you put labeled tabs on each divider like it’s a filing cabinet.”

“If the three of us raced to see who could grab a fingernail file out of their purse the quickest, who do you think would win?”

Courtney didn’t even answer. She just said, “And let’s not forget the Daily List on your phone.”

Oof. That felt like a shot straight to the list. That thing was important and needed to be defended at all costs. “I have a lot to stay on top of. If I didn’t have everything scheduled down to the minute, it wouldn’t all get done.”

“And then there’s the Monthly Plan,” Courtney said.

Lucy pointed to Courtney. “Oh, and the Yearly Plan.”

“Okay,” Rachel said, holding her hands up, begging them to stop before they started talking about her house cleaning list or her closet organization. She’d always loved being organized. But after what felt like a very long, grueling fight with cancer before her last scan six months ago showed no cancer, when practically everything had been out of her control, she craved being in control now more than ever.

And, okay, she had been noticing lately that it maybe wasn’t always the best mindset to have, especially because she didn’t want Aiden to miss out on things. Which was the only reason she was entertaining her friends’ bet. “Can we get back on topic?”

“Yes,” Courtney gave a single nod. “Like I mentioned when I first gave you the book— months ago—I think a year of saying yes to things is too much. Baby steps are good. Are you ready to have a Christmas Season of yes?”

Rachel swallowed down her worries. “Yes.”

“You don’t have to say yes to the same thing more than once. This is all about trying new things and opening yourself up to new possibilities. If you try something and hate it, you’re not obligated to say yes again.”

Rachel nodded. That was good. She could do this.

“So you’ll say yes to everything this Christmas?” Lucy asked like she was trying to get her to swear under oath or something.

“I mean not everything. I still have to be a responsible parent.”

Courtney cocked her head. “Do you, though? Hear me out. Let’s say Aiden wants dessert for dinner. Is saying yes one time going to be the worst thing ever and doom him to an adulthood of not being a productive member of society?”

Okay, okay. Perspective. That was what was going to get her through this season. Looking at the big picture. Because she wanted to say yes to more things. To live a bit more spontaneously. But she still wanted to be responsible.

“And you don’t have to say yes to anything dangerous,” Lucy said. “Like if a man dressed in a dark hoodie says, ‘Hey, you should walk down this shadowy, sketchy alley and I’ll sell you a knock-off Prada Galleria Saffiano Double-Zip Tote Bag for fifty bucks,’ you don’t have to say yes to that.”

“So I can say no to being ax murdered. Got it.”

“And who knows?” Lucy said. “Maybe one of those yeses will bring you to the man of your dreams.” She wagged her eyebrows.

That thought was laughable. “Do you really think now is the right time? When I’m so busy I can’t even seem to fit in something as quick as putting in earrings in the morning?”

Lucy lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Love is like Jell-o. There’s always room for it.”

Courtney clapped her hands once. “We need stakes! I can’t believe we forgot the stakes. What happens if you don’t follow through, and what happens if you do? We can’t just have a bet for a bet’s sake. There has to be consequences.”

The three of them stood there in a circle—or, really, a triangle—looking at each other.

“If we were guys,” Rachel said, “we would already have this part figured out.”

Lucy raised a finger like she was pointing at the light bulb that just went off above her head. “I’ve got it! If you stick with it and say yes to everything that isn’t dangerous—”

“—at least once,” Court cut in.

“—then we will give you a day of pampering to die for. If you don’t, then we drive to the Wal-Mart in Littleton, go to the middle of the store, and you have to belt out Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You at the top of your lungs. Deal?”

“And we get to film it,” Courtney said.

Rachel bit her lip. Could she commit that fully? She really couldn’t sing. At all. But that day of pampering did sound pretty glorious. And she really wanted to be more spontaneous, so maybe having something as motivation like belting out a song that no one other than Whitney Houston or Dolly Parton could pull off might be just what she needed.

Her eyes went from Courtney to Lucy, back and forth, as she tried to decide if she could. Then she tried to shake all her fears out of her head and let herself make the crazy choice. “Deal. The bet is on!”

As soon as Court’s and Lucy’s cheers died down a bit, she said, “And guess what the first thing is that I’m saying yes to? Getting that wreath at The Home Improvement Store that Aiden was begging me to buy. I’ve already called the babysitter to see if she can stay a few minutes longer.”

Courtney gave Lucy a look before turning her gaze back to Rachel. “I see you’re living large already.”

It was living large. For her. She glanced down at her watch. “Oh—I’ve got to go! I am so behind schedule!”

When Rachel got to the last stoplight before Main Street, she pulled up the Daily List on her phone. She had so much to do. Being a single parent was hard all year, but it was especially hard at Christmastime. She took a deep breath. She could be a good mom to Aiden and still get everything done.

When the light changed to green, she turned onto Main Street. It wasn’t completely dark yet, but the lights that draped overhead from one side of the street to the other were on, and all the Christmas decorations in front of the shops were lit with their own lights. It reminded her that she hadn’t managed to get her decorations up yet.

It was on her Monthly List, though. She had it scheduled, so it would happen.

She parked, grabbed her purse, and glanced at her watch as she speed-walked into The Home Improvement Store. Since she already knew right where the wreath was, she could just hurry to the aisle, grab one, race to the self-checkout, and she’d be pulling into her driveway not too much later than the time she’d told Bria, the sixteen-year-old who picked Aiden up from school and stayed with him until Rachel got home. Aiden was going to be so excited when she showed up with the wreath that seemed to speak to his soul.

Once she was inside the store, she turned right down the main aisle. This was no Home Depot or Lowe’s—Mountain Springs wasn’t big enough for that—but they sure tried to be. She passed by the aisle of electrical supplies, past plumbing, past the paint department, and then turned the corner to seasonal.

The display of wreaths with the colorful bulbs and bells sat at the end of the aisle, and a man’s cart was literally caught up in them. It looked like he’d maybe turned a corner, gotten stuck on one, then the other wreaths took the opportunity to join in on the fun.

The man was good-looking, too. He was wearing a light blue polo shirt and dark wash jeans, both of which fit him extremely well. His hair was a wavy auburn and one lock curled down just above his very frustrated expression. It was actually kind of endearing, seeing him covered in Christmas like that. Maybe Lucy wasn’t so off when she said that the Season of Yes could bring a man into her life. She was going to say yes to helping him out of the mess.

She headed toward him to help just as he tried to free his cart from the decorations. The rest of the display came down on him, covering him in wreaths, their bells jingling up a ruckus and causing not only everyone nearby to stop to watch, but even brought people from other aisles to see what was going on. A woman with a toddler in the cart stopped, and the toddler put both hands over his ears to block out the noise.

The poor guy’s face was reddening and the harder he tried to break free from the holiday embellishments, the worse it seemed to make things. She was maybe a dozen feet from him when the man seemed to summon herculean strength and shouted “Stupid Christmas decorations!” as he threw his arms out, sending wreaths flying.

One of the wreaths came straight at her, like a missile targeted on her. She ducked, covering her face with her arms, but it still hit her right in the forehead before falling to the floor with a tinkling clatter. It hadn’t hurt at all—the clanging sounded so much worse than it actually was. Bulbs clinked and bells rang, but the thing was fairly light-weight.

She picked up the wreath. It was not a stupid Christmas decoration, and his saying so made him so much less attractive. If she was going to meet a guy in her Season of Yes, it wasn’t going to be this guy. After growing up with a dad who hated everything to do with Christmas and wouldn’t let any of it into their home, she wasn’t interested in a Grinch.

No matter how good he looked in that polo.

“I’m sorry,” he said. He looked like he was going to take a step toward her, but the mound of wreaths surrounding him stopped him.

She just held up the wreath and nodded. “Thanks.”

Then she turned and headed toward the registers and away from the Christmas-hating man.