For your reading pleasure, the next FOUR Thursdays-Fridays are a short story set at Christmas after Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers. If you haven’t read that yet, you can find it at all major book retailers, including Chapters Indigo.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
Friday the 27th of December, 2002 – Parry Sound, Ontario
A couple of days after Christmas, Jason made the drive to the Fairfield farm outside Parry Sound, and he was nervous. It wasn’t a familiar sensation.
It wasn’t Kennedy’s family that made him nervous, he’d met most of them at Thanksgiving; only the twins would be new faces today.
He knew exactly why he was nervous. His thoughts flashed to the little box in the workshop at home. To distract himself, he sang along with Enrique Iglesias’ “Hero” under his breath.
He found the freshly plowed lane up to the Fairfield farm easily. He passed Phillip on the plow and gave Kennedy’s older brother a friendly wave.
The lane kept going past the first field, a long row of evergreens blocking the wind on one side and hiding the house from view.
The corner of the nearest barn came into sight, and he saw the main house. The second house that they were building for Phillip’s family beside it was well on its way with exterior walls built, but was not yet livable.
He parked next to the row of cars, popped the CD out of the player, placed it back into its case, and took a deep breath of fresh cold air; sometimes it was nice to get away from the big city.
There was a flash of red and gold at the door, and then Kennedy was running down the stairs and across the snowy drive to his car, blonde hair streaming behind her.
He got out quickly and scooped her up in a full body hug, her legs wrapping around his waist. He staggered, stepping backward into a snowbank from the enthusiasm of her greeting. The soft snow was taller than his boots. That’ll be uncomfortable later, he thought, but then his fingers sank into her oversized fluffy red sweater and he got lost in her welcoming kiss.
“Missed you,” she breathed against his lips before pulling him back in again. He tasted coffee and something sweet on her tongue and groaned, wanting more.
“Kennedy Fairfield, get back in here before you catch your death!” Lilah, Kennedy’s mother, called from the doorway.
“Aren’t you cold?” Jason asked her, pulling back long enough to nuzzle her nose.
“You warm me up,” she murmured, kissing from his mouth to his ear.
How can I argue with that? “I thought of so many little things that I wanted you to know over the past four days, and I forgot every single one the moment I saw you.”
Kennedy pulled back to look at him, her green eyes searching his face. The corners crinkled when she smiled. “I think that’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
“Come on, let’s get you inside before your mother has my head.”
“I quite like your head.” She kissed him again and he almost lost his balance, shifting sideways to lean against his car. Moving made him aware of the cold snow that had trickled inside his boots from his standing in the snowbank.
“I can carry you back inside if you like,” he offered, some time later. “But I need to grab my bag.”
“Go for it.”
She clung to him as he bent into the back of the car, and they laughed together as he made his way into the house, with a couple more kisses on the way.
“You two are gross,” Tommy, Kennedy’s fourteen year old brother, commented as Jason stomped the snow off his boots on the front step, having deposited Kennedy inside the house.
“You didn’t have to watch.” Kennedy laughed at him.
“But if he doesn’t watch, how will he learn?” Jason teased the boy, who flushed.
Lilah bustled into the entryway. “You’ve only been apart for four days, honestly.” She felt Kennedy’s cheeks and hands. “Warm enough, I suppose. No coat in December, tsk!” She raised an eyebrow at Jason, who tried not to show his discomfort at being chastised. She headed for the kitchen. “I’m making coffee for both of you to warm you up properly,” she called back over her shoulder. “I hope the drive up wasn’t too bad.”
“I’m already plenty warm,” Kennedy murmured quietly.
“So gross,” muttered Tommy, heading into the living room.
Jason grinned at her. “The roads had been mostly cleared by the time I came through,” he said loudly.
Read Part 2 Dec 9, 2022