Page 90 of The Christmas Tree Farm

Jeanie and Hazel stared at her, waiting for her to go on, to explain what the hell was going on between her and Ben, but she had nothing more to say about that. How do you tell someone that their brother is a gentleman on the streets and a beast between the sheets? She was pretty confident there was no polite way to do it.

Finally, they relented and went back to introductions.

‘Anyway, this is my mom, Maureen,’ Hazel gestured to the woman next to her who was deep in conversation with another woman about the environmental sustainability of vegan meat substitutes.

‘Mom, this is Kira.’ Hazel tapped her mother on the shoulder. ‘The new Christmas-tree farm owner.’

Maureen tore herself away from the discussion of tofurky to say hello.

‘Nice to meet you, Kira.’ As she turned to her, Kira was subjected to the full glory of the Christmas sweater Maureen was wearing.

‘Are those your dogs?’ she asked.

Maureen glanced down like she had forgotten what she was wearing. ‘Oh, yes, those are my babies, Frieda and Diego.’ She beamed.

‘They are so cute!’

Hazel rolled her eyes and Maureen nudged her. ‘Don’t get jealous, Haze. You’re cute, too.’

‘You’re insane,’ Hazel said.

‘You made me the shirt!’ her mother protested, and Kira couldn’t help laughing. But it was okay, because Hazel was laughing now, too.

‘It was supposed to be a joke. I didn’t think you’d actually wear a sweater with your dogs’ faces on it.’

‘Why wouldn’t I?’ Maureen seemed truly perplexed by this and Hazel wrapped an arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

‘I don’t know, Mom. Never mind.’

‘So you’re the new Christmas-tree farm owner?’ Maureen’s conversation partner chimed in, leaning forward. ‘So nice to finally meet you! I’m Isabel. Jeanie, did you invite her to join the book club yet?’

‘Of course I did,’ Jeanie said with a laugh, finally sliding into a seat. Kira took the one next to her, in between Jeanie and Hazel.

‘Oh, good! You have to join! Oh, and my kids had a blast at the tree farm last weekend. You’re doing a great job up there.’

Kira’s face heated with pride. People thought she was doing a good job. And it wasn’t because of who her father was. Or her family’s money or connections. It was because of what she’d done.

‘Thank you.’

The bell over the door tinkled as the newest arrivals entered.

‘George! Andy! Come in,’ Iris greeted them, and Kira gave a little wave to George, who’d dropped off a delivery of cookies at farm.

‘Hey, Kira,’ he said, unwrapping his scarf. ‘Wasn’t expecting to see you here.’

She shrugged. ‘I’m trying a new thing where I leave my house and actually do things and see people.’

He grinned. ‘That sounds good.’

‘It’s working out so far.’ And it was. She was feeling better already.

‘Okay, everyone, let’s get started.’

Kira picked up the pine bough in front of her and followed along to Iris’s instructions. Wine bottles were opened and ribbons were passed around and by the end of the evening Kira found herself laughing and chatting and promising to come to book club and for the first time since she moved to Dream Harbor she actually felt like she belonged here.

Maybe she hadn’t screwed everything up by moving here.

Maybe one of her reckless decisions had worked out just right.