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Eliana

“ B abe, we’re here.” Jake presses a kiss to my temple, and I wake up to him holding the car door open for me.

“Where’s Josie?” I yawn, noticing the empty car.

“In the lobby with my family, they’re checking us in.”

“Lobby?” I freeze in place, finally taking in my surroundings.

To my left was a ski lift, currently carrying dozens of people up the mountain.

On my right was not one but three massive skating rinks, and in front of me was a massive building that made the Four Seasons look like a budget motel.

“I thought you said your family rented a small cabin.”

“We do have a cabin…Sort of…It’s just a cabin-styled suite. And small is in the eyes of the beholder.” He winks, dragging me inside before I can protest.

Josie comes barreling towards me and catches me up to speed.

Or really screams in excitement about the fact that she was called “Madame” and handed a hot chocolate with whipped cream as soon as she walked through the doors.

Sienna’s the one to inform me that our luggage has been taken to our cabin suite and that, if I need to, I can borrow one of her dresses for dinner tonight at the upscale restaurant inside the lodge.

I squeeze Jake’s hand so hard he winces.

“Why don’t you all head over to the cabin and Eliana and I will join you in a little bit?” Jake calls out to our families before pulling me aside to a remote corner of the lobby. He lets me start.

“Jacob Keeley.”

“Actually my legal first name is Jake. Not Jacob. I’ll let you call me Jacob any day of the week though.” He winks.

“Stop trying to be funny.”

“Aww you think I’m funny?” he teases.

I shake my head. “No.”

“Then why did your lip just twitch?”

“It does that when I’m angry.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” I deadpan.

“Well now my feelings are hurt. You really don’t think I’m funny? How will I ever recover?”

“Well I’m sure we can find a famous comedian in one of the thousands of rooms in this place to help you. If we start looking now, maybe we’ll be able to finish checking all the rooms by the end of this week.”

“Ah so we’ve circled back to the root of the problem. You don’t like this resort?”

Guilt fills my chest as I take in his solemn expression. “The resort is beautiful Jake. It’s seriously the nicest place I’ve ever seen.”

“Then what’s the problem?” He cocks his head.

The problem is I have never been in a place this expensive, and I have no idea how I can ever pay your parents back— breathe, Eliana. Jake has put in so much effort to make this trip special and to create some time to relax. The least I can do is just try to have fun.

I shake my head. “There’s no problem. I’m sorry. I just made some assumptions about what this trip was going to look like, which is my fault. This is amazing, Jake. More than amazing. Truly.”

He gives me a soft smile. “I brought you here because you deserve something special. My family always treats this trip as prime time to relax and decompress. I just thought after spending the past twenty-one years taking care of yourself and Josie, you’ve more than earned a week of relaxation.

You deserve a week where you get to experience what it’s like to prioritize yourself. ”

“I love your heart and your kindness, Jake. But I don’t want you to put all this extra pressure on yourself to make me happy. Life is filled with stress, and that’s okay. As long as I have you by my side.”

He presses a soft kiss to my forehead. “Fair enough. Would you at least like to know what I have planned for the rest of the week?”

There’s a part of me that screams “YES”, but I remind myself that I want to be more spontaneous and go with the flow. And that started with letting go of to-do lists and calendar events. “Nope. You can just surprise me. I know whatever you have planned will be great.”

“Just you wait and see what I have in store. I’ve taken the homework assignment of making this the best Christmas ever very seriously.”

“Glad you hear it. Because if you hadn’t, I would have to have a word with your tutor.” I laugh as he wraps an arm around my shoulder and leads me to our suite.