She’d flexed more muscle, called in more favors, and strong-armed more people than she ever had in her life, and that had just been in the past week. But it looked like the private businesses were going back to their owners. Even Rick was getting his place, despite his limited capital. The effort invested had been more than worth it.

Lana didn’t know what was going to happen to her condominiums. It was possible the town would use their increased voting power to push her out. But maybe not. In the meantime, Lana had tried to do her part to help by suggesting to Jax that the resort might benefit from a private investor, one whose money was built on her own portfolio instead of her family’s prowess. So far, Jax hadn’t gotten back to her on that one. He was too busy celebrating the New Year in style.

The last she’d seen him, Jax had been one of the brave ones still sitting naked on an ice block in the Locketts’ front yard.

Lana had been to a lot of New Year’s parties in her life, but nothing had been anywhere close to the party she and Rick had together after leaving, cuddled in front of the fire on Rick’s couch. He must have figured out her preference for sleeping on them, because they’d stayed right there all night long, without a bottle of wine or a glass of champagne in sight.

There was a hedgehog in a Christmas sweater, a grumpy cat in an uglier Christmas sweater, and a kitten that liked to chew on them, but Lana was willing to share. Rick had a big enough heart to love them all.

She didn’t know exactly what this relationship would end up looking like. She was still going to have to travel, even though she was setting up her own office in Moose Springs (as close to Frankie’s bakery as humanly possible). But they’d agreed that for every week they spent apart, they’d make sure to spend three together.

And if the Montgomery Group didn’t like that? Too bad. Lana finally had a home and a place she belonged. She wasn’t going to waste that precious gift for one single second.

As the fire died down, the clock on her phone clicking over to six in the morning, Lana slipped out from beneath the blanket she and Rick had shared on his couch, padding to the door. She had always greeted every new year, every new beginning. Even as things changed, who Lana was would always stay the same.

Rick opened his eyes when she slipped on his jacket and tucked her feet into his boots. Then his lips curved as he closed them again, rolling over into the space she’d left next to him. Trust took time, and it would be a long time before the scar tissue in his heart completely softened, giving way to the belief that she wasn’t going anywhere. That he was more than enough for her. But clomping her way outside in Rick’s oversize boots was a start.

The world was at its darkest this early in the morning, and the thick blanket of snow had muted the forest into the kind of silence that one experienced only a few times in their lives. For Lana, with the silence came peace. As she leaned against the railing of Rick’s porch, the moon slowly drifting across the sky, a moose stepped out of the forest.

At first, she didn’t understand what she was seeing, not until it moved fully into the yard.

Never had she seen a female moose so delicate, so tall and perfectly proportioned, her sleek coat gleaming beneath the moonlight in a white so pure, it took Lana’s breath away. An albino moose.

Then that perfect moose destroyed the carefully constructed Christmas display in front of Rick’s porch, as if the lights were a cobra and she was determined to save them all. The Santa Moose stepped back, snorting a breath into the air.

Yep. One more job well done.

Lana knew exactly what that was like: hurting something in the hopes of fixing the problem. The only difference was the businesses of Moose Springs were far more resilient than a string of holiday lights. They’d given her a second chance, and she was determined to make the most of that chance. Unlike this incredible moose, Lana had good people willing to stand by her, even when she screwed up. People to help show her the error of her ways. Moose Springs had never needed Lana to save them. There was only one thing they had ever needed from her.

“Rick?” she called into the house, eyes never leaving the ghost slipping off into the forest.

“Yeah?” He already sounded resigned. The man loved her…and he knew her too well. Lana never had been able to resist a challenge, and Moose Springs was her home. She was determined to prove she was worthy of it. She just needed a good lure.

“I’m going to need you to put that Santa suit back on.”