“Are you eager to return to the city?” I ask, dreading his response.
“I was at first. But it’s funny. I don’t miss it. I thought I would. I thought I’d be bored to death here, but then I met this beautiful Omega and everything changed. Are you going back to the city or staying here? I know Gabe hates city life.”
“I don’t know… Maybe. You’d consider staying here in Snowflake Valley?”
I stop walking, turning to face him fully. Oxford pauses too, looking back at us.
“I’mconsideringconsidering it, especially if you’re here,” Finn says with that little smirk of his. “Gabe would be happier. And seeing Everett every day wouldn’t exactly be a hardship.”
“I guess we don’t have to figure everything out right now. We can just… see where this goes. Take it one step at a time.”
Finn’s expression softens. “Look at you, all zen and go-with-the-flow. What happened to the spreadsheet-loving omega I first met?”
“She discovered there are some things you can’t plan.” I reach up to adjust his scarf, using it to pull him closer. “Some things you just have to feel your way through.”
“Feel, huh?” His eyebrows wiggle suggestively. “I’m very good at feeling.”
I laugh, pressing a quick kiss to his cold lips. “You know what I mean.”
“I do.” His arms wrap around my waist, his expression suddenly serious. “And for what it’s worth, I think staying might be the right call, for all of us. I’ve never seen Gabe this happy. And you…” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “You’re blooming.”
“Blooming in winter? That’s quite the trick.”
“You’re quite the omega.”
I smile, blushing. “There’s no rulebook for this, right?”
“If there were, I’d have read it cover to cover and highlighted the important bits,” Finn says with a smile.
I laugh, “Of course you would.”
We start walking again. As we approach Perfect Pines, I can see the parking lot is full. Everett was right about last-minute shoppers. The bonfire is also lit.
“Oh, thank god, fire,” Finn says, his pace quickening. “Sweet, life-giving warmth.”
Finn settles on one of the logs, turning back to me. “I’m abandoning you here. Come back and get me once you’re done with your llama nature walk.”
“Will do.”
I head towards the barn and see Charlie with her hands on her hips.
“No, we don’t have a ‘fresher’ one,” I hear her telling a man in an expensive-looking coat. “They’re all fresh. They’re trees. From the ground. If you want fresher, you’ll need a time machine to go back to when it was still growing.”
I stifle a laugh and wave to her. She spots me, and her face lights up.
“Twerking Omega!” she calls, earning me several curious looks from waiting customers. “And Oxford! Come save me from these people who think trees grow in their perfect catalog shape.”
I make my way over to her, Oxford following. “I was actually just passing through. Thought I’d take Oxford for a longer walk today… and you have to stop calling me that!”
“Never.” She smirks. “Are you running away from boy drama already?” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.
“The opposite, actually. I just quit my job.”
Charlie’s eyes widen. “Seriously? So you’re staying?”
“Maybe?”
She throws her arms around me, nearly knocking me off balance. “Please stay. Don’t go back to your city life and leave my brother pining away like some lovesick teenager.”