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He regarded her for a long time, examining her eyes, her mouth, and the curls of her hair, until he said, “I don’t know.”

“Great, you don’t know whether I’m ‘just a slip’ or not.” She half-stood as much as she could in the pup tent. “In any case, it’s only for a few more days. Then you’ll go wherever the Church sends you, and I’ll decide what to do after my little sojourn here. I’m hungry. I’m going to see if those boys have rustled up breakfast yet.”

She stomped out of the tent as much as she could, but she ended up stomp-crawling the last few steps to get through the flap.

She let him get a good view of her ass when she was shimmying out of the tent, though. She should’ve told him to kiss it.

Dree wiggled out of the tent and found the other guys standing around the brightly blazing campfire, but no breakfast cooking.

Dang.

Father Booker had set up an altar on the back of his motorcycle seat as he’d done every Sunday since they’d started the mission. “Is it Sunday again already?” she asked.

“Happy Christmas!” Isaak told her, and he handed her a piece of cloth sewn into a small pouch.

Lumps filled the bag. She asked, “What’s this? Some mini-bottles of your family’s vodka?”

He laughed, his blue eyes sparkling in the morning cold. “A Christmas present. It isn’t much because I didn’t know we were going to spend Christmas out here—”

“You got me a Christmas present?” She was stupidly thrilled. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t get you anything.”

He shrugged. “You can buy me a coffee in Paris someday.”

“I can’t imagine I’m going to be able to go to Paris anytime soon,” she said.

His smile widened. “Then I’ll fly you there.”

Okay, that was odd. “Can I open it?”

He sat beside her. “Please do.”

Inside the bag were a bunch of yellow crystalline rocks with white crystals on them.

She smiled brightly at him. “Rocks?”

He laughed. “Ginger candy. I bought them from one of the ladies a few towns ago.”

“Oh!” She popped one in her mouth and sucked on it. After weeks of eating no cookies or candy and only the barest minimum sugar in her coffee to conserve their supplies, the ginger candy was a burst of super-sweet spiciness on her tongue. “Oh,wow.It’s sogood!”

He laughed.

Uh oh,she was being a candy hog, so she held out the bag to the men standing around her. “Everybody should try one.”

Father Booker waved her off. “We all got a few, too. You got the big bag, though.”

“Okay, then.” She popped another one in her mouth.Spicy and sweet, and OMG, she loved it.

Maxence crawled out of her pup tent behind her, ruffling his hair like he’d just woken up. “Happy Christmas?”

“Happy Christmas, sleepyhead,” Isaak said and tossed a tiny bag to him.

He looked inside. “I heard it was ginger candy?”

“It is.”

“Thanks, Isaak. That’s cool of you.” Max ate one, and a surprised look rose on his face. “These are good. Hey, here’s something for you. Happy Christmas.” He pulled little things wrapped in foil out of his pocket and tossed one to each person, including Dree.

When she caught it, the dark brown-covered nuts seemed to be candied almonds. “Thank you!”