Page 63 of The Lie That Stole Christmas

Tiny held out her hand.“You said Valentine’s Day.”

Ms.Porter mumbled under her breath and reached into her apron pocket.She smacked the bill into Tiny’s hand, and Tiny laughed.

“Best twenty bucks I ever made.”

Ms.Porter sighed.“Go back to work.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Ms.Porter glanced out the window.Outside, Ashley linked her hand through Carter’s and leaned into his side.It was a small, simple gesture, but it spread warmth through her entire being.

For years Winterridge had felt like a house filled with ghosts, and now it felt like a home again.

If she’d learned anything through the years at Winterridge, it was that Christmas miracles rarely arrived wrapped beneath a tree.Sometimes those miracles arrived completely unplanned, with no bells or whistles.And they were the best ones of all.

The trouble with miracles, however, was that they rarely arrived without a little chaos tagging along behind them.

Chapter nineteen

Carter

Carterlayinbed,staring up at the ceiling.Moonlight streamed in through his window, casting shadows across the walls.A tree branch scratched against his window as a light breeze picked up outside.Sleep wasn’t coming tonight.Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Ashley: laughing with Lena as they planned out the festival, smiling at him across the table, the way she looked while she rode him, head flinging back, hair trailing across his thighs…

Then the after, before Gabe and Lena showed up, and it was just them in their after-sex glow.She had looked at him as if… as if she still loved him.He didn’t want to get his hopes up; she had every reason to hate him.Hell, he hated himself for so many years after that dreaded night.

A floorboard creaked somewhere in the hallway.Winterridge was full of noises at night—old pipes, settling wood, the occasional staff member sneaking down to the kitchen for a midnight snack.

He rolled onto his side and glanced at the clock.Almost midnight.Ashley was probably asleep now.The whole house probably was.The Wetherbys had always been morning people.

The handle on his bedroom door slowly turned, and Carter sat up straight.The door cracked open and Ashley slipped in, closing the door behind her.

“Hi,” she whispered.

A grin immediately tugged at the corner of his mouth.

She pressed against the door, an amused smile spreading wide.“I might have slipped into Bobby’s room on accident.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry, I convinced him he was dreaming, and he went right back to sleep.”

“Seriously?”

“Out cold, though he did mumble Celia’s name, which is interesting.I bet he has a crush on the girl.”

“Of course he does.Everyone else around here is three times his age.”

“Tiny isn’t.”

“She’s at least five years older than him.”

He held his hand out to her, and she pushed off the door, stopping between his legs.She wore only a flannel nightshirt that stopped at her knees and a pair of oversized socks.He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her.

“What are you doing here?”he asked.

“I couldn’t sleep.”She wrapped her arms around him and rested her forehead on his.

“Me neither.”