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I was touched by her concern, but I had to face facts. "Ican'tleave now. Mason won't be home for a few more hours yet."

"So?"

"So I can't leave Willow alone." I went on to explain that the housekeeper had the day off, which meant that I had no backup for emergencies.

"Hey,Iknow," Arden said. "Why don't you letmetake her? We were planning to make Christmas cookies anyway. We could do it today instead of tomorrow."

I bit my lip.It was so very tempting."Are you sure you don't mind?"

She smiled. "Oh come on. It'll be a blast. I love Willow. And Brody's working late, so the timing's perfect."

I gave Willow another worried glance. "I wonder if Mason would agree."

"How about this?" Arden said. "I'll haveBrodylet him know. They're both in the office today. Brody can swing by and tell Mason so you don't have to."

Recalling last night's encounter, I decided this was probably a good idea. And besides, a Christmas bake-a-thon would do Willow a lot of good. Even though I'd been trying like crazy to be in a festive mood, I swear, there were times when she looked almost worried about me.

This was thelastthing I wanted.

So after a quick lunch, I sent Arden and Willow on their merry way, thinking I'd just snag a quick gift for Mason, drop it off at the house, and be onmyway, too.

But nothing happened the way I'd planned.Not even close.

Chapter 49

Cami

Three hours later, I was still at the mall. It wasn't that Iplannedto be there, but I was having the hardest time finding a decent gift for Mason.

Probably, I should've gotten him a necktie and been done with it – except I knew that Mason's neckties probably cost more than my entire outfit, which granted was nothing special – just jeans and a fuzzy sweater, plus my thick winter coat, which felt way too warm for the crowded shopping mall

But then, as I wandered from shop to shop, the crowd began dwindling at an alarming rate.

I knew why, too.Judging from conversations I heard in passing, the blizzard had come earlier than expected, catching all of us by surprise.

I was even more surprised when the mall announced they'd be closing early due to bad weather. Today was the day before Christmas Eve. It was one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

That's when I knew it was serious.

And along withthisknowledge came a sickening realization. There was no way on Earth I could leave for Petoskeynow.Cripes, at this rate, I'd be lucky to get out tomorrow – unless by some miracle, the snow cleared just as quickly as it had arrived.

After all, this was Michigan, not Florida. Once it stopped snowing, the plows and salt trucks would get to work, clearing at least the main roads faster than you could say,"Get me the heck out of here."

But if the weather didn't let up?In that case, I'd be spending another day – or maybe more – with my impossible boss andnotmy own family.

By now, I wanted to kick myself. And Iespeciallywanted to kick myself when I received an incoming text from Mason, saying "Where are you?"

Two could play at this game. I texted back."Where are YOU?"

He replied."Home."

Oh, crud.This meant that if I was still determined to get him a gift, he'd be home when I dropped it off.Talk about bad timing.

He texted me again, mimicking my own text from a few moments ago. "Where are YOU."

With a sigh, I texted back,"At the mall."

In reply, he texted back three little letters."WTF."Almost immediately, this was followed by another text containing only a question mark.