We make love in the bedroom, the shower, and in the kitchen when we get our midnight snack of milk and cookies. I know I’ve made Brooks’ naughty list, but when I drop to my knees and take his thickness into my mouth, I think maybe I’ll earn my way onto his nice list too.

I have rug burn on my knees and I don’t care. Not even a little. I love Brooks and he loves me and while there is so much to learn about one another, there is plenty of time for that. We have our entire lives.

He cradles me in his arms, pulling a throw blanket over us both, and we fall asleep under the Christmas tree.

“Don’t you need to get home to Scout?” I ask as he wraps his arms around me.

“No, my parents knew I’d be with you tonight.”

“They know?”

He chuckles, kissing my forehead. “Yes, they knew I’d fallen for you, it was kind of hard to miss.”

We fall asleep like that, cozy and secure, and it’s the safest I’ve maybe ever felt. At least since Mom and Dad died. Because the person I am with, cares about making sure my heart is okay, cares about making sure I feel safe and protected.

We wake to people knocking on my door and I look at the clock. “Crap,” I say, it’s after nine am.

A groggy Brooks sits up. His morning hard-on is the biggest distraction I’ve ever seen.

“It’s James’ family, I think. For the wedding decorations. Can you get dressed?” I pull on my panties and run to my room for a bathrobe. Then I open my front door.

But it isn’t James’ family.

It’s Sophia.

“Hey,” she says. Her eyes are rimmed in red and bloodshot. Her makeup sliding down her face. She’s still in last night’s dress, with an oversized hoodie thrown over her minidress.

“Come in, I wasn’t expecting you, you look…”

“I know.” She throws her hands in the air. “I look awful. And I should because I feel awful too.” She’s crying, wiping her eyes, and walking into my house and I hope like hell Brooks managed to pull on some pants. “Wait, what — who?” She shakes her head. “You have company.”

I swallow hard as Sophia turns to me. “He slept over?”

I nod. “Yeah, Brooks, Sophia. Sophia, Brooks.”

Her shoulders start shaking all over again. “Oh my god, I can’t. I just can’t.”

Brooks frowns. “I’m going to make some coffee.”

“It’s in the—”

He smiles. “I got this, babe.” He leaves the room and Sophia is practically hyperventilating.

“Babe? Did he just call you babe?”

“Yeah,” I say, feeling confused. “Why?”

“It’s just so typical. Isn’t it?”

“I’m missing something, Sophia. What’s going on?”

“Are you guys like, a thing?” she asks.

Brooks pops his head in the room. “Yeah, we’re in love.” I bite back a smile. Okay, so it wasn’t some Christmas fantasy I dreamt up. This is real. Brooks and I are actually, officially, together.

Sophia’s eyes practically pop out of her head.

“Is it so hard to believe I would be in love?” I ask her.

She shakes her head, crying into her hands. “No, it’s perfect. Of course, he fell in love with you, Noelle. You’re the sweetest, kindest, most loyal human in the world. I just hope he’s good enough to deserve you.”

I sit down on the couch, trying to understand my oldest friend. “I’m still lost.”

She wipes her eyes, taking my hands in hers. “Don’t you see, Noelle? I’ve been such a bad friend to you. I didn’t even know you’d fallen in love. What kind of person am I?”

I exhale, still trying to see where she is going with this.

“I’ve gotten lost,” she tells me. “Somewhere along the way, my path got all messed up. I’m down this road and I don’t even want to be on this trail.”

“What are you saying?”

“I want to be the kind of person who knows when her best friend is in love. I want to be the kind of bride who wants to plan her own wedding. I want to be the kind of fiancée who doesn’t cheat on the groom because she is so desperate to sabotage the whole thing until it blows up.”

“So, you and James…”

She nods. “I came clean last night. After you left, I realized I was throwing everything away for a stranger with receding hairline. And not that I have anything against premature balding, but James deserves more dignity than that. Than me flaunting my unhappiness all over Linesworth.”

“Oh, sweetie,” I say, both shocked and also not surprised. The red flags have been there for weeks, months, maybe even years? Sophia never wanted this.

“It’s on me. I should have been honest with James a long time ago. And I never, ever should have handed the reins to my wedding over to you. It was the most selfish thing I could have done.”

Brooks walks in with mugs of coffee on a tray with cream and sugar. “I didn’t know how you take it,” he says to me.

Sophia twists her lips. “You’re in love but don’t know how your girlfriend takes her coffee? Impossible.”

“Stranger things have happened,” I say, taking my mug. “And I drink it black.”

“I’m shocked,” Brooks says with a laugh, adding cream and sugar to his.

“Good,” I say with a small smile. “I plan on keeping you on your toes.”

Sophia sniffles. “I mean it. I am so sorry for putting you through all that planning for nothing. We called off the wedding. It’s all over. Even my four-carat diamond ring. Gone. I gave it back.”

I set down my coffee and pull her into a hug, “That was so brave of you, Sophia.”

“See,” she wails. “You’re way to nice. This is the part where you get mad at me. Get huffy. Storm out.”

“No, it’s not,” Brooks says.

Sophia and I turn toward him. “What do you mean?” she asks.

“Well, it was never your dream, Sophia. It was Noelle's. Every detail, down to where the vows are made, to where the reception is held. Right down to the wedding dress.”

“So?” I say.

“So, it was never Sophia’s wedding. It was yours.”

“Right,” I say. “But I’m not getting married.”

Brooks sets down his coffee. “Actually, Noelle. I think you are.”

Sophia’s eyes are practically bugging out. “Okay, what is happening here?”

But tears are filling my eyes because Brooks is on one knee and he doesn’t have a ring in his hand, but I don’t need that. I just need him. This. Us.

And when he clears his throat, I stifle a sob. Everything I dreamed of having in my life, it’s here, it’s mine.

It’s ours.

“Marry me, Noelle. Be my Christmas bride.”

I nod, not doubting the moment, all those years alone that brought me to this day.

“Yes,” I say as he pulls me to him, kissing me and holding my face with both his hands. “Yes, I will marry you.”

Sophia is clapping, stunned but excited and when Brooks looks into my eyes they are as bright as the white snow-capped mountains.

“Then we need to get moving. There’s an arbor to build.”