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“Oh no, I liked her! Okay, so just Lawrence, unless he’s at home moping. Ernie’s supposed to be here. And Marisol.”

Holly vaguely knew who some of these people were from Instagram, but she was a little overwhelmed at the idea that this tight-knit friend group was apparently even larger.

Noelle must have seen the panicked look on Holly’s face, because she started explaining. “Elijah Green is our lawyer. Jason is his husband and the drama teacher at the local high school. They have twin six-year-olds, Jayla and Jeremiah. Cutest kids on the planet. Lawrence is Levi’s friend from culinary school. Ernie owns the bar in town, and Marisol the boutique. She’s married to the guy who owns the diner and is supplying the sandwiches.”

“Ahh, yes,” Holly confirmed, “I heard about the sandwiches. Are there, uh, more of you? Than that?”

Noelle threw back her head and laughed, and everyone else in the kitchen turned to look at them. “Wait until you meet all the Rosensteins.”

Holly’s eyes widened. “All of them?”

Noelle nodded. “They’ll be arriving tomorrow and the day after.” Holly’s face must have shown her panic, because Noelle laughed again. “You didn’t know your new girlfriend came with a massive extended social circle, huh?”

“I did, but only the shitty ones in Charleston,” Holly explained. “I don’t think Tara knows she comes with this group. She would never describe herself as being part of Team Carrigan’s.”

“Carrigan’s is like the Jewish Olive Garden. The pasta is unlimited, except during Passover, and once you’re here, you’re family,” Noelle told her. “So, welcome to the family!”

Holly felt a little guilty about lying to this very nice woman who was going out of her way to open her home to someone she didn’t realize she’d never see again. Except in her wedding photos, where years later people would point and say, “Wait, who’s this redhead?” and someone else would say, “I think she was Tara’s date. Does anyone remember her name?”

“All of those people can meet us down by the pond!” Miriam exclaimed, and hustled everyone out the door.

Because she’d only seen the front lawn so far, Holly had expected the snowman building to happen there, although she hadn’t known where they would fit any snowmen among all the decorated trees, reindeer, Santas, sleighs, and various other holiday detritus.

Instead, they all took snowmobiles down to a frozen pond near the back of the acreage. This meant Holly clung for dear life to Cole’s back while he drove way too fast through the trees, whooping at the top of his lungs. She would have liked to look around her at some of the beautiful winter wonderland they were hurtling through, but she mostly closed her eyes and prayed.

The snowmobile came to an abrupt halt, and she banged into Cole’s back. Rubbing her nose, she finally took in their surroundings. They were near a frozen pond, on which a few guests were skating. Around the pond, people had staked out spots to build their snowmen. They were blowing on their hands and stomping their feet, trying to stay warm while they waited for Miriam, Hannah, and Noelle to announce the start of the competition.

“It seems like you’ve acclimated well to Carrigan’s, despite the cold. Was it everything you’d hoped?” Holly asked Cole.

He’d posted an Instagram video last year about all his hopes and dreams for the place, now that Miriam was finally taking him to the fabled Christmasland. Those hopes and dreams had included falling in love and meeting the real Santa.

Cole managed to both shrug and nod while bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I love it even though it’s nothing like I imagined!” he said happily. “I came here planning to meet Santa, but instead I became a homosexual and fell in love with a bartender, despite the fact that I don’t drink.”

Holly looked at him, her head cocked. “Cole, has it ever occurred to you that you might be the Santa of Carrigan’s?”

He stopped moving and blinked at her, gesturing for her to continue.

“You’re giant, with pale hair and a distinguishable costume.”

He looked down at his trademark lobster shorts (now snow pants; how had he even found those?) and fleece-lined boat shoes. “Huh.”

“You appear and disappear at will. You have mysterious, seemingly unending sources of income. You quite literally, if you wanted to, could see anyone when they were sleeping or awake—and you know who’s been bad or good. Also, your name is Nicholas.”

He grinned. “You’re right. This is the greatest thing ever. I AM SANTA! I have to tell Sawyer he’s going to be Mrs. Claus!”

She watched him run off, presumably to find his boyfriend. She wondered how Sawyer felt about Cole’s apparent easy assumption that they were permanent. He seemed to have skipped over any of the “dating” parts of dating.

Tara came up behind Holly and put her arms around her neck. Holly leaned back against her, wondering if Tara realized how closely she was mirroring how Cole had held her the other day. No one that Holly had seen in Tara’s life, except Cole, showed her any physical affection, and Holly suspected the two of them had taught each other how to love people.

Not that Tara loved her. They barely knew each other; they were acquaintances who were attracted to each other. Like, very, very attracted. They were going to bang it out, and then Holly would have done everything she wanted to do in Charleston and would be ready to move on to her next adventure. Tara was only cuddling her for show, to sell their fake relationship.

And maybe a little as prelude to tonight, Holly hoped, as Tara breathed into her ear, “Sorry I left you alone with these hooligans again.”

“I don’t think Cole should, legally, be allowed to drive any vehicle,” Holly told her. Tara’s laugh vibrated behind her. Mmmm.

“He’s very good with a sailboat, strangely,” Tara said. “We used to race them when we were kids.”

Holly would give a hell of a lot to see Tara Sloane Chadwick, ice queen, racing a sailboat, wind whipping her hair, eyes alight with competition.