Elin Hilderbrand - Winter Storms

“Shall we call Kelley and Mitzi and tell them we got here early?” Mary Rose asks. “Maybe they can meet us at Lola for sushi tonight.”

“I want you all to myself tonight,” George says. “Room service and Christmas movies.”

“It’s a Wonderful Life!” Mary Rose says.

That it is , George thinks. His hats were featured in the shopping guide of the holiday issue of Vogue and the spike in business was exactly what George needed in order to buy Mary Rose a two-carat diamond engagement ring.

He has the room-service waiter place the velvet box under a silver dome so when Mary Rose lifts it off, expecting calamari, she sees the box instead.

She shrieks. She trembles. She opens the box and sees the ring, and tears stand on her long lovely lashes.

Because of his new exercise regime, George is able to bend down on one knee. “Will you marry me?” George asks. “Will you be my Mrs. Claus?” He can’t believe the difference a year makes, never mind two years. Two years ago, Kelley had caught George and Mitzi kissing in room 10, and George’s world had gone into a tailspin. Then, last year, he had broken up with Mitzi and met Mary Rose. He’s a little old to believe in meant-to-be but he’s old enough to know that he wants to live out his days with this delightful, curvaceous redheaded creature right here. She makes him so, so happy.

Mary Rose throws her arms around George. “Yes!” she says.

She told Potter she would pick him and Gibby up at the ferry on Wednesday evening, but Potter calls to say a guy he met on the boat has offered him and Gibby a ride to the inn so Ava should just sit tight. It has started to snow; the boat they just disembarked from wouldn’t be going back to Hyannis, Potter reports.

Uh-oh, Ava thinks. Paddy and Jennifer, the boys, Isabelle’s parents, Margaret and Drake, and Bart. All of them are on the wrong side of this news.

Ava can’t worry about everyone else; they’ll get here when they get here. She is excited to see Potter. She is still in the stage of major butterflies and although she knows she should go into her bedroom and read or play carols on the piano until Potter arrives, she stands out on the front porch, waiting. The front of the house looks so pretty with the tree twinkling through the window and the sled with its bundles and all of the wreaths and candles.

Joy, Ava thinks. As she waits for her new beau to arrive, she feels pure, unadulterated joy.

A familiar truck pulls up in front of the inn and Ava blinks.

What?

It’s Nathaniel’s truck. She recognizes the sticker from the Bar in the back window and the dent above the wheel. What is Nathaniel doing here? Ava’s mind is racing. She receives a text or two from him each week; Ava has told him that she’s moving to New York City in June to start a new job, but she hasn’t told him what or where the job is, and she hasn’t told him about Potter. She needs to get him out of here before Potter arrives, which is sure to be any second.

Nathaniel turns off the ignition. No! Ava thinks. Not okay! Nathaniel is going to want to catch up. He must be on Nantucket for Christmas? Ava had been sure he would go back to New Canaan for Christmas to see his parents, his sister and her kids, and his pathetic old girlfriend Kirsten Cabot. He has said nothing about returning to the island, and although he still has a cottage here, it seems unfair that he would show up without warning.

Then a horrifying thought enters Ava’s mind: Nathaniel and Kevin are friends; is Nathaniel on Nantucket so he can come to the wedding and attend the reception at the inn on Christmas Eve?

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!

“Hey!” Nathaniel calls out with a wave. He goes to the back door of his truck and opens it. He extends a hand, and an elderly gentleman steps out.

Ava’s eyes narrow. She has seen this gentleman before. It’s… Gibby . She realizes this just as she sees Potter get out of the passenger side.

Oh no.

Potter grins and waves like… well, like a little kid at Christmas. Ava wants to return the enthusiasm but she’s too addled by Nathaniel. Nathaniel was the guy who offered Potter and Gibby a ride to the inn. Naturally. Because Ava is the object of some curse where her love life will forever be an obstacle course.

She hurries down the steps to help Gibby.

“Hello, Gibby!” she says loudly, not because Gibby is hard of hearing but because she wants Nathaniel to realize these are not random guests of the inn. “Welcome to Nantucket!”

“Hello, my dear. Thank you for having me.”

“Our pleasure!” she says. She holds Gibby’s arm as he ascends the stairs. She visualizes Potter following behind with their luggage and Nathaniel disappearing with a wave and a “Merry Christmas!”

But when Ava and Gibby reach the safety of the porch and Ava turns around, she sees that both Potter and Nathaniel are heading up the stairs.

Whom to greet first?

There is only one answer to that question. Ava throws her arms around Potter’s neck and kisses him so that there can be no misunderstanding the nature of their relationship. When Potter releases Ava, she turns to Nathaniel. He seems unfazed.

“Hey, stranger,” he says and he hugs Ava. Tightly.

“Hey, stranger, yourself,” she says. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“It’s a surprise,” Nathaniel says.

Yes, it certainly is.

“I thought I might have Scott to contend with,” Nathaniel says. “But I see my competition this year is taller. And better-looking.”

“Competition?” Potter says. Then he seems to get it. “Oh, are you one of Ava’s ex-boyfriends?”

“Her ex-fiancé, actually,” Nathaniel says.

There is a beat of silence, during which Ava wants to vaporize. Then she says, “Gibby, you must be freezing. Let’s get you inside.”

“I’m freezing too,” Nathaniel says. “I wonder if Mitzi has made any of her world-famous mulled cider?”

Has Mitzi made any of her Cider of a Thousand Cloves? Why, yes, she has! Mitzi is thrilled to see everyone-because what is Christmas without visitors? She hasn’t gone so far as to wear her Mrs. Claus dress (Ava thinks she has permanently retired it), but she is wearing a Christmas sweater with a reindeer appliquéd on the front.

“Look who’s here!” Mitzi cries out. “It’s Potter! And you must be Gibby!” Mitzi gives Gibby a hug. Over Gibby’s shoulder, she catches sight of Nathaniel. “Oh, and look… Nathaniel!”

“Hey, Mitzi,” Nathaniel says. “I was happy to hear Bart is safe. I prayed for him every day.”

“Well, your prayers worked!” Mitzi says. She beams at Nathaniel as if it were in fact his particular prayers that kept Bart alive. Ava rolls her eyes. In the tug-of-war between Nathaniel and Scott, Mitzi was staunchly for Team Nathaniel. When Nathaniel first entered their lives, it was as the carpenter who was building Mitzi’s pantry doors, which are still the pride of the kitchen.

“We hear there’s cider,” Potter says. He’s grinning and Ava loves that he isn’t letting Nathaniel’s presence ruin his evening. He got completely hoodwinked, accepting a ride from Ava’s ex-boyfriend-ex- fiancé, actually, although they were engaged for all of thirty minutes-and yet he couldn’t look happier.

“There’s also beer,” Ava says quickly. Worse than subjecting Potter to Nathaniel might be subjecting him to Mitzi’s cider.

“I most certainly want cider,” Nathaniel says.

“Me too,” Potter says.

“I’ll have a beer,” Gibby says.

Smart man, Ava thinks. While she’s in the fridge getting Gibby a beer, she pulls out a bottle of chardonnay and pours herself a glass.