Becca spent an hour each day before work looking for a new job. She thought she wanted to work at the mayor’s office, maybe get more involved in the political side of things, as she enjoyed public policy and fighting for what she believed in.

But she was wrong. This job was boring, didn’t fulfill her, and she wanted to leave two minutes after she arrived.

But a few weeks before Christmas didn’t seem to be a great time to find a job, as there didn’t seem to be much going on locally besides food service.

At this point, she was almost willing to don an apron and take orders, because the thought of sitting at her desk for another day was almost enough to drive her insane. She’d avoided going to church, because she knew Andrew went. She’d been praying for a solution to her problem, but there seemed to be a lot of doors open, and she wasn’t even sure which one she should approach.

By the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, she couldn’t take it anymore. With no answers from on high, she knocked lightly on the mayor’s door, knowing he was inside the office as she’d seen him arrive an hour ago.

“Mayor Berry?” she asked, pushing the door open a few inches.

He glanced up, and said, “Becca? Come on in.” He sounded pleasant, but he didn’t add a smile to his statement. In the past, before Andrew had forgotten to inform the mayor about the SonarBot, he would’ve smiled. Maybe jumped from his desk to shake her hand.

Now, he leaned into his arms as she approached. She sat down and smoothed her palms down her thighs. “This isn’t a good fit for me,” she said. “I’m looking for another job, and I wanted to give notice here in case you need to replace me.” Why he was paying her to read articles and make lists, she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t an election year, and she really did nothing for him.

He slid his glasses from his nose. “That’s fine. When would you like to be done?”

“How much longer do you need me?”

“Honestly, Becca, I don’t need you. I offered you the job, because I think you’re a great public speaker and press secretary, and if you wanted to be on my team, I wanted you.”

Becca’s pride swelled with the compliment. “Thank you, sir. I think maybe today would be a good day to be done.”

He stood, nodded, and shook her hand. She left his office lighter than she’d felt for a month. Pausing at her desk, she looked around for any personal items. She had her coffee mug and a picture of Otto…and not much else.

Since she didn’t really have anything to do, she started cruising the job boards, deciding on the spot to apply for a waitressing position. She could deliver bacon and eggs, make small talk, and probably do well in tips.

She walked out of the mayor’s office by noon, with an interview at the steakhouse that afternoon. Maybe it wasn’t what someone with two college degrees should be doing. But it was better than doing nothing, and better than going back to Andrew and begging for her job back.

She’d thought for a few moments a few weeks ago, that she and Andrew might have another shot at a relationship. She’d listened to his message and heard him say he missed her and wondered if they could get together when he got back to Coral Canyon.

But then he’d never called. She’d gone to Crystal Lake for the Thanksgiving holidays, and while her mom had asked her if she was seeing anyone, Becca hadn’t told them about Andrew.

Because she and Andrew weren’t together. She wasn’t seeing him, not anymore. And the thought of going through the Christmas season alone was enough to make her want to hibernate until the snow melted.

She was hired on the spot for a waitressing position at Maverick’s Steakhouse, and she started that evening as a shadow to another waiter.

John taught her how to put in orders, make the frozen lemonades, and bounce from table to table. She refilled drinks and took checks, learned how to process cards, and forgot to eat she was so busy. And it was a Wednesday night.

She couldn’t imagine what a weekend would be like. “Insane,” John said as they wiped down the tables, refilled salt shakers, and arranged the condiments on the table. “But great tips.”

The next day, she went into the steakhouse in the morning and shadowed another waitress on the lunch crowd. Apparently that was a harder shift to staff for her manager, Lisa, and Becca said she’d be glad to fill it.

By Friday, she was on her own, waiting on the lunch crowd solo and loving it. Sure, she made a few mistakes, but they weren’t so important she couldn’t recover. She liked the busyness of it, while the job remained low stress. After all, if she said the wrong thing, there were no cameras recording it.

When she returned home at night, she was tired, something that hadn’t happened since the tour. She laid her head back against the couch and sighed as Otto jumped up beside her.

“Hey, bud. What did you do today?” She scrubbed along his jaw and neck. “Let me guess. You took a nap.” She grinned at the dog, who seemed to smile back.

She pushed herself back off the couch, her aching feet protesting. But the Friday lunch crowd had been thick and they left great tips. “We’ve got to check the bowls in the back.” She didn’t let Otto out with her, because he tended to go right for the muddy spots against the fence.

Instead, she stepped into her big snow boots and gathered all the bowls at once. No wasted time outside in the frigid Wyoming winter. She washed out the ice and debris inside, filled some with food and some with water and dashed back outside to deliver the bowls to whichever animals needed them.

Her stomach grumbled, but she didn’t have the energy to make herself something to eat. “Should we get pizza or Chinese?” she asked her dog. It hadn’t snowed that day, so the delivery drivers would still be out, and she opened the drawer beside her microwave to check her take-out menus.

“Chinese,” she said, because pizza reminded her too much of Andrew.

She picked up the phone to place her order, but she couldn’t decide between the beef and broccoli and the tiny spicy chicken.

“Can’t get tiny spicy,” she muttered to herself, as that was when she and Andrew had enjoyed their first kiss. Maybe she should call Andrew and he could bring her the Chinese food. Before she could decide what to do, a knock sounded on her front door.

Otto barked once, and she shushed him. She approached the door slowly as the wind whistled around the corners of her house. Whoever was out there had to be slightly insane or in serious trouble.

She opened the door partway, expecting to see a neighbor.

“Andrew.” The outside air stuck in her lungs, and he looked positively frozen.

He lifted a plastic sack with a few containers in it. “I brought Chinese food.”

She had no idea what to say. How had he known she was about to order Chinese?

“I can’t keep living like this,” he said. “I miss you.” He swallowed. “I’m sorry about what I said in…wherever we were. It was all a lie, just to get Dwight’s focus off of us. You have never annoyed me, and I’m in love with you.”

He shifted his weight, his eyes hopeful but worried too. “That’s it,” he said. “That’s all I have prepared to say.”

Becca’s face stretched into a smile, and her eyes felt so hot. She realized she was crying when the first tear splashed on her cheek. “Come in,” she said in a high-pitched voice. “It’s freezing out here.”

She stepped back and he came in. With the door closed behind him, he filled the space with the scent of his cologne and tiny spicy chicken. He went all the way into the kitchen and turned around to face her, tucking his hands in his pockets and stalling at the edge of the living room.

“So you work at the steakhouse now,” he finally said.

That same spark and electricity that had always been between them arced across the room. Becca took a step forward, having imagined him here in her house but unsure what to do now that it was a reality.

“You really didn’t mean any of those things?” She disliked that she seemed to be leaking from every hole in her face.

“Becca,” he spoke with complete tenderness in his voice. In that moment, she realized he was wearing his cowboy jeans. Those boots. And a denim jacket that made him more country than business. All he was missing was the hat, but he’d still come to her as his authentic self.

“I’m so miserable without you,” he said. “I’m so, so sorry for what I said. None of it was true. Please.” His voice broke, and he looked away while he composed himself. “I didn’t mean any of it.”

“I’d told you how men weren’t attracted to me for long.” She wiped her tears. “That really hurt.”

“I know.” He took another step toward her. “I suppose I’m not like most men, because I’m hopelessly attracted to you.” Another step. “Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

Becca wasn’t sure what to tell him. He’d showed up with food. He’d apologized. And he kept saying all the right things.

I’m in love with you.

He’d said hard, heart-felt things. Becca said, “I love you too.”

Andrew’s face burst into a smile and he hurried to close the space between them. He cradled her face, his eyes so bright and so beautiful. “I’m sorry.”

“You’ve said it a bunch of times.” She traced one fingertip along his eyebrow. “I believe you.”

He kissed her then, and Becca felt all the wounds in her soul heal with that simple touch of his lips to hers.

An hour later, she’d eaten, told him about the catastrophe that was the job at the mayor’s office, and confessed that yes, she did work at the steakhouse now. He sat on the couch, and she leaned against him, the feel of his arms around her and his solid chest behind her one of the most comforting things to her.

He hadn’t offered her the job at Springside, and she honestly wasn’t sure she’d even take it if he did. She rather liked being his girlfriend and not his co-worker. Well, she’d liked it all, but if she had to pick one, she’d take girlfriend.

“So I haven’t seen you at church,” he said, rubbing slow circles on her arm with his thumb.

“I was afraid of running into you.”

“I’m wondering if you’d go with me this weekend. I’m so tired of sitting by myself.”

Becca understood the feeling. “I’d like that,” she whispered. Peace flowed through her, and she knew Andrew was the right man for her. So he’d made a mistake. He’d apologized—finally. And he loved her. She’d felt the truth in those words as soon as he’d said them.

“I’d also like to invite you to come to the lodge for Christmas.” He tensed for a moment. “I’m not sure if you have plans with your family or not.”

“Not yet.” She ran her fingers along his knuckles, eventually clasping both of her hands around his one.

“My family does a big tree lighting on Christmas Eve,” he said. “It’s been a tradition since my dad died, and I’m wondering if you’d like to help me pick a tree, decorate it, and come to our friends and family dinner that night.”

“It sounds too good to be true.”

He chuckled. “Well, it’s not that. But we do have stockings for everyone, and everyone gets a little gift or two. The food is great. And someone special gets to light the tree.”

“Who’s doing it this year?” she asked.

“I am.”

“You think you’re something special, don’t you?”

He pressed his lips to her temple. “Not without you. I am not complete without you.”

They were perfect words, from the perfect man. Becca couldn’t help smiling, and she twisted as she said, “I’d love to come to your family tree lighting and dinner.”

“Great.” He kissed her again, and the love Becca had for him spiraled through her.