Have Yourself a Naughty Little Santa (25 page)

He grinned against her lips. “I thought I wore the pants in this family.”

“We both will.” She pulled away from him and said, “Call the town back. I have news.”

Ricco didn’t hesitate to put his fingers in his mouth. He whistled several times and called to his mother to gather the residents.

Once they had assembled, Kim stood up on a bench with Ricco beside her. Disgruntled murmurs rippled through the gathered crowd. “Everyone, I have good news,” she called out. They stood silent, yet hope flashed across many faces. She drew a piece of paper from her jacket and held it up. “This is a conditional agreement from GoSunGoGreen.org—a private company that is the recipient of some serious federal funds for research for yet more ways to develop earth-safe energy. Solar energy specifically. They want a refuge where they can set up shop in an ecofriendly mountainous environment. They need wind, snow, water, and heat. Evergreen has the wind, snow, water, and heat in the summertime. It’s not only a perfect venue for GoSunGoGreen’s corporate headquarters but it’s also the perfect town to transform into the perfect prototype for nature-powered energy. For the privilege of being amongst Evergreenoians they are happy to shell out serious cash, serious enough to more than cover the deferred payments of everyone who is due at the end of the week. In return they ask for property on which to build an ecofriendly headquarters that will fit in with the current town architecture, and for the entire town to convert within the next two years—at GoSun’s expense—to total solar-, wind-, and water-powered energy.”

“What’s the catch?” Peyton asked.

“I just told you. They want to use Evergreen as part of their marketing strategy for any USA town to go totally solar. It’s a great opportunity.”

“I’m all for it!” someone from the crowd shouted.

“Just like that the company is willing to bail us out?” Peyton asked.

Kim nodded. “They had just begun a location search in the Sierras last month. I have eyes and ears everywhere. I contacted them when I heard the whisper on the street they were looking to settle up here. The internet is a beautiful thing, Pey. With what I know firsthand they were able to amass from several other sources and the internet on the geography of the area they realized what a gem Evergreen was. The deal is a solid one, and it’s on the table.”

Peyton rubbed his jaw. “We’ll have to take a vote—”

“We vote yes!” a group shouted. It was echoed by everyone else in earshot, which was pretty much the entire town.

“Then let’s talk to them,” Peyton said, his voice high and excited.

Kim smiled. While she knew there would have to be an official city council vote, she knew it was but a formality. Ricco pulled her down from the bench and into his arms, and she felt like she had come home. And home would be wherever Ricco was. Either here, San Jose, or Timbuktu.

Kim smiled and hugged him close. She turned in his arms and smiled at his friends Jase and Jade, Ty and his wife, and the familiar faces of Evergreen, a town that had taken her in not once, but twice.

All at once Leticia, Enrique, the sisters, and the kids swarmed Ricco and Kim, and as she laughed and hugged her new family, Kim looked up into the black sky. Far off into the distance, one star in the north sparkled with a brightness that outshined all the rest, and with it she felt a peace in her heart she had never felt before. And with that peace, a love deep and profound in her swelled to ten times its normal size. She feared she might not be able to handle it all, but when Ricco drew her away from his family and whispered, “I love you,” in her ear, her heart swelled again, and she knew she would always have the magic of Christmas and the love of a family to keep it filled to capacity.

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