“I’ll see if Grace and Matt want to tag along. Maybe if Erin meets more of the family, she’ll join us for Christmas.”

He liked that idea.

“Come with us. I promise it won’t hurt.” Parker stood inside the guesthouse, insisting Erin go with them.

“I really don’t want to intrude.”

“Just grab a coat. I haven’t seen you leave the property to do anything other than grocery shop.” She pointed to the corner of the small living room. “And that tiny tree isn’t festive enough for the season.”

“I can see your lights from here.”

“Erin, grab your coat. No one will bite.”

Erin dropped her hands at her sides. “Fine.”

Yeah, Parker knew what that meant. But she didn’t care. She’d gotten her way.

First Christmas lights. Then Christmas.

She looked at her watch. “Colin should be here in ten minutes. Meet you in the driveway.”

Right on schedule, Colin drove up. Mallory grabbed a scarf and gloves, and Parker followed suit. It wasn’t very often that California gave you the opportunity to bundle up. At least not in their town. But the air was crisp after the rain, so Parker enjoyed the clothes she normally didn’t have the opportunity to wear.

They met Colin in the driveway before he had the chance to walk up to the door.

He greeted her with a kiss. “Don’t you look festive?”

“It’s a scarf.”

“A red scarf.”

She laughed.

“With little bits of green splashed in.”

“Fine,” she giggled. “A festive Christmas-looking scarf.”

Colin grabbed both ends of the scarf and pulled her toward him. “It’s cute.” He went in for a kiss.

“You two make me nauseous,” Mallory teased.

Erin walked up the drive wearing a long coat that looked like it was made of some fancy material with puffy fur at the collar and cuffs.

Mallory beat Parker to a compliment. “I love that coat.”

“Thanks. I’ve had it forever.”

“Is that like saying, ‘This ole thing?’” Mallory teased.

“Kinda.”

“I’m glad you’re coming with us,” Colin told her.

“Someone was pretty persistent.” She glared at Parker.

“Stubborn and persistent means you didn’t stand a chance.”

Colin opened the back door and ran around the car to open the others. His eyes landed on the driveway. “What’s all that?” He pointed to the sandbags that had taken up most of Parker’s day.

“The fence isn’t holding all the mud back, so I’m sandbagging the driveway to try and keep it clear.”

“You know you can ask—”

“Ask what? That you stop your day job helping thousands and just help me? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Parker!”

“Colin!”

He knew she was right, she saw it in his eyes. “Fine.”

“Okay, Miss Stubborn and Mr. Ridiculous, are we going or not?”

Parker wanted to hug her sister. “Yeah, the hot cocoa is getting cold.”

They drove to the other side of town and parked down the street from where Santa and his elves threw up on the neighborhood. People were on foot everywhere doing the exact same thing.

They stood on the sidewalk while Colin texted his brother. “They’re almost here.”

Mallory looked up from her phone and searched the people walking by. When she started waving, Parker turned.

“Over here.”

She thought she’d see Matt and Grace crossing the street.

That wasn’t the case.

“Jase?” Colin asked.

“Yeah, I invited him.” Mallory ran up and gave him a familiar hug.

Colin leaned close. “Did you know about this?”

“No idea.”

Mallory introduced Erin to Colin’s younger cousin.

“Hey, guys.”

Parker turned with the sound of Grace’s voice.

She greeted her with a hug and did the same with Matt.

Colin shook his brother’s hand and hugged his sister. When they all pulled apart, Mallory looked over her shoulder. “Grace and Matt, this is Erin. She’s renting my guesthouse.”

Grace was all smiles and hellos.

Matt, on the other hand, seemed to have lost the ability to speak. He finally managed hello, but that was about it.

“Parker says you’re a freelance editor.”

“She makes it sound fancy. I promise you, it’s not.”

“You know what’s the opposite of fancy? Being an engineer, trust me.”

Matt found his voice. “The baby sister has the unfun job.”

“I’m not sure about that. I dig ditches,” Colin said.

“Is that what you call living in my front yard? A ditch?”

They were laughing.

Grace looked over at Erin. “Matt’s the hero in the family.”

Was Erin blushing?

Parker glanced Matt’s way.

“You’re a firefighter, right?” Erin asked.

Now Matt was a little rosy in the cheeks. “I have the fun job.”

“Who has to work on Christmas so we try and do as much of this stuff together as possible before. Hope you don’t mind that we tagged along,” Grace said.

“The more the merrier,” Mallory chimed in.

Colin grabbed Parker’s hand in his. “Let’s get on with it.”

As they walked in front of their group on the sidewalk, Parker glanced over her shoulder.

She wasn’t sure who distracted her more. Mallory and Jase acting like they’d been in contact this whole time, or Erin and Matt trying not to look at each other.

Grace seemed oblivious and walked between them.

“I think there’s a little Christmas magic in the air,” she whispered.

“I noticed,” Colin whispered back.

The break room was filled with enough sugar and calories to feed small countries, but that didn’t stop parents from bringing in more. It was the last day of school before the holiday break.

“I’m not even going to ask if you have anything fun planned for the break,” Jennifer said.

“Waste of breath if you did. What about you guys?”

“We’re going to my mom’s for Christmas and spending a week.”

“Enjoy it.”

They both watched Janice walk through the room and waited until she was gone to continue talking. “Any more problems?” Jennifer asked.

“With Janice?”

“Yeah.”

“She already cut me to four hours or less a day. The next step is to fire me altogether, but most of the aides don’t want my job.”

“Do you think it’s personal?”

“I don’t know. She’s called me out anytime I’ve been so much as two minutes late.” Even planning for the extra time to get off the property, sometimes there was a line of dump trucks ten thick going five miles an hour down the street.

“Maybe that’s all behind you.”

Parker was already done with her lunch and wadding up her napkin and the ziplock bags she’d used to package it all together. “It’s supposed to rain through Christmas and into the new year. Which is fine, I’m home, but if that keeps happening, I’ll have to call in. The few bucks I make in the couple hours I’m here isn’t worth me coming in if I can’t make it back home.”