Page 96 of Rebel Moon

Buy Mama a house.

Put Charlie through college.

Earn six figures.

Fix my nose.

Clothes that make me look like a professional.

Lose my accent so I don’t sound like a hillbilly.

Work in the music industry.

Help make Ivy a star.

Like Ivy’s list, the very last item was about love.

Find somebody who knows the real me and loves me anyway.

I handed it to Knox. “You see that last one there. That’s you. My dream come true.”

He placed his hand over his heart but didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. I knew.

“All right,” Jack said. “We have one last gift. One we hope will make us all a lot of money. Knox has written a Christmas song.”

“Hobbled For the Holidays,” Knox said. “You can imagine where that came from, right?”

Everyone laughed as Jack and Knox grabbed their guitars. They sat down next to each other on the stone lip of the fire pit.

“By this time next year, it’ll be a classic,” Jack said.

Knox and Jack began to strum, then Jack came in with the first line.

This Christmas I asked Santa for someone sweet

And full of spice

Instead I’m stuck in a hotel suite

With my ankle packed in ice

By the time he came to the last chorus, everyone was singing along but it was only Jack’s voice that sang the refrain.

Yeah, I’d do the whole thing over again

If she’d be waiting at the end

“I would too,” Knox said, leaning close to speak into my ear. “Again and again.”

“I’d be waiting every time,” I said. “With an ice pack and a kiss.”

“I’m calling it,” Jack said to the group. “That song’s going to be a classic.”

After that, we all talked and laughed some more, even shed a few more happy tears. Around two in the morning, everyone started to wander off, until it was just Knox and me sitting in front of the fire.

The moon had risen higher, shedding a silvery glow over the snow and cabins. Behind us, the lights of the lodge had dimmed, other than the Christmas tree in the front window, still twinkling as if to remind us that miracles could indeed happen, and had.

“Moon’s not full tonight,” Knox said. “But it’s okay. I kissed you under the full one last night. Which means I plan to keep you.”

“Maybe I should kiss a certain cowboy the night after a full moon to prove I plan to keep you? That way we’re covered on both counts.”

“Just to be safe,” Knox said.

I leaned close, breathing him in, then kissed him under that nearly full moon. Regardless of where we went, the moon would follow, lighting the way along the red dirt roads that brought us home.