Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“I miss her, too.”
Fox was quiet for a while. “I want it all, doc.”
I tilted my head to look up at him. “All what?”
“You. Kids. A duck. A dog. Fenced-in yard where they can all run around. Maybe even a stupid minivan. And I want it soon, sweetheart.”
My heart raced so fast, I thought it might jump out of my chest. “Are you sure?”
“Never been more sure about anything in my life. You don’t want to come back to Laurel Lake, I’ll move here.”
I had a sudden vision of Fox walking down the streets of Manhattan, standing head and shoulders above most, looking like he wanted to rip the head off of everyone in his way. I chuckled. “You? In Manhattan?”
“Why not?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Have you ever been on a subway?”
“No.”
“Taken a public bus?”
“No.”
“Do you know what alternate-side-of-the-street parking is?”
“No.”
“How do you feel about street meat?”
“Huh?”
I smiled. “You’d be miserable in Manhattan, Fox.”
“What about somewhere right outside the city, then? So it wouldn’t be too long of a commute for you. They have places like that near here, right? Jersey or Long Island?”
I looked back and forth between Fox’s eyes. “You’d really move here for me?”
“I’d do anything for you, Josie.”
My heart melted. “It means the world that you would give up so much. But you don’t have to move to New York. I’ll move to Laurel Lake.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “I love it there. It’s the only place that’s ever really felt like home.”
Fox blew out a breath. “Oh, thank Christ.”
I laughed. “Relieved a little?”
“You have no idea. But I really would’ve moved here if you wanted to stay. Laurel Lake is where I live, but when you left, I realized none of that matters. Where you are is my home.”
EPILOGUE
* * *
The Ultimate Christmas Card
Josie
Three months later
“Why did you let her go? I don’t think we’ve gotten a good one yet because you were scowling the first few minutes.”
Fox grunted and shook his hand out. “Damn thing just bit me. Again.”
Daisy bolted across the lawn. Opal chuckled. She was standing a few feet away trying to take our holiday picture. Fox’s mom, Hope, was next to her. Neither had stopped smiling since they arrived an hour ago.
“Uh, boss. I think she did more than nip at you.” Opal gestured to Fox’s shirt. “You might want to look down.”
Fox groaned. “Jesus Christ.”
I tried not to look amused. “Some people would say that’s good luck.”
“How the hell is a duck shitting on you lucky?”
“Well, we’re lucky I couldn’t decide which shirt I liked better for the picture and bought you two, aren’t we?”
“I didn’t need one flannel, much less two,” he grumbled.
“I disagree. Go change. We’ll let Daisy run around for a few minutes so she’s happier when you come back.”
Fox mumbled something under his breath I didn’t catch, but stalked to the house.
Hope watched her son disappear. “I can’t believe you got him to wear a red plaid flannel.”
I didn’t think it would be appropriate to tell her what I’d had to promise to get him to do it, but hey, I didn’t mind. The Paul Bunyan look really worked for me.
“So how many cards are you going to send out this year?” Opal asked.
“One-thousand four-hundred and eighty-eight.”
“That’s pretty specific.”
“I’m doing the entire Laurel Lake phone book. I just finished entering all of the names and addresses into a database.”
“So every person in this town is going to get a picture of Fox wearing a red flannel and holding a duck with a matching bow in its hair?”
“Yep.”
She smiled. “My, oh my, how times have changed for the bossman.”
And they had. But they hadn’t just changed for Fox. A lot had changed for both of us. After Fox drove up to New York, I’d quit my job, packed everything I owned, sublet my apartment, and said goodbye to anyone who meant anything—all in a week’s time. I’d even taken Fox with me to my mother’s house when I went to tell her I was moving. As expected, she wasn’t happy. I got a lecture about throwing away my career for a man. But then late in the day, something unexpected had happened.
After we’d finished eating, I was antsy to leave. Fox asked if he could talk to my mother in private before we took off. I knew he was tough, but my mother was a pro at cutting people down to half their size. So I was nervous when the doors to the study closed. They didn’t come out again for ninety minutes. And my mother was smiling and laughing when she emerged.
Talk about a shocker.
Fox hugged my mother goodbye like they were old friends, then went to wait in the car, giving the two of us a few minutes alone. I’ll never forget what she said.
“I made a lot of mistakes in my life. Many of them with you, Josephine. But the one thing I did right was marry your father. Something about Fox reminds me of him. There’s something pure within. Hold onto him and don’t ever take him for granted. Life is too short.”