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When he failed to pick up on her hints, the way she left Maria’s frequent e-mails open on her laptop, or when she asked questions about how Hamlet celebrated holidays like Christmas or Hanukkah, Tess finally cao back and spend Christmas with Maria in his hometown

Lucas, who could deny her nothing, only pretended to be put out by her request It didn’t take long for hih he had his own condition Ha on the traffic and the weather They could take the drive and surprise Maria—but only if they left on Christmas Eve He was adamant that Christmas Day be saved for the two of them alone

Since thatall of the presents she bought for hi she absolutely refused to budge on—Tess accepted his condition

And that’s how, only two months after she swore that she would never set foot in Ha back for the two days leading up to Christmas

“Is it straight now?”

Since all she could see were Lucas’s feet sticking out fro the las fir into the tree stand, Tess didn’t even bother to keep the sht of hi with the treeit hted Tess to know that he did this all for her… she wasn’t so sure

Still, she had to try again before he started snapping off branches in utter frustration

“You don’t have to do this, Luc I think I brought my tree with me e moved—”

“You said that Sullivan insisted on a fake tree every year even when you asked for a real one I’ll be da roo a little as he repositioned it again “You got one Now, Tessa, baby, is it straight?”

She ht—if she cocked her head all the way to the left and squinted

But since she couldn’t tell Lucas that, she settled on saying, “Uht”

“My right or your right?”

“Your right”

With another grunt, Lucas heaved the tree until it was far hter than it had been

“Better?”

“Perfect”

And it was, to Tess at least It was absolutely perfect