Snow Place Like Home Read online

  Snow Place Like Home

  A Cozy AF Christmas

  Olivia T. Turner

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Epilogue

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  Copyright© 2020 by Olivia T. Turner.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including emailing, photocopying, printing, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. For permission requests, email [email protected]

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  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events, businesses, companies, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  www.OliviaTTurner.com

  Edited by Karen Collins Editing

  Cover Design by Cormar Covers

  To all my girls on the naughty list.

  Chapter One

  Mandy

  “What are these supposed to be?” I ask with a laugh as Christine puts the tray of cookies on the counter.

  “Candy canes,” Christine answers with her shoulders slumped down.

  They’ve melted into phallic shapes. I pick up one that looks especially bad and laugh. “It looks like a Christmas treat, but it’s no candy cane.”

  She snatches it out of my hand and places it back on the tray. “It’s Christmas, get your mind out of the gutter. They’ll look fine after we put icing all over it.”

  “Yes, let’s cover it with white icing because that will make it look less like a cock.”

  Christine laughs as she mixes the bowl of red icing. “I missed you so much! How many more years of college?”

  “Two,” I say with a sigh. I didn’t realize how much I missed being home until I came home for the Christmas holidays. It feels like forever since I’ve hung out with my best friend.

  “What am I supposed to do until then?” she asks, looking depressed.

  I smile sadly at her. “You’ll always have your penis cookies.”

  We both laugh as Mariah Carey belts out some high notes in the background. Christmas at Christine’s has always been a huge affair. Every inch of her parent’s house is decorated with something Christmas related. They even decorate inside the garage. They devote a full room in the basement to storing all of their Christmas stuff and it comes out on October 1st. Every year for Halloween, Christine’s house is decorated as the North Pole and her parents are Mr. & Mrs. Clause. The kids in the neighborhood love it.

  “So,” Christine whispers. “Tell me about the guy sitch.”

  “Sitch?”

  “Situation. I’ve been cutting off the second half of some words since you’ve been gone. It’s my new thing.”

  I shake my head as I look at her in shock. “You’ve changed so much.”

  “I know. Sometimes I don’t even recognize the face in the mirror.” We laugh and then she keeps prodding me for some juicy details. “Come on! What’s college like? Are you banging a new hot guy named Chad every night? Do people still say bang?”

  I wish I had some juicy details for her.

  “There’s a really hot guy in my Psych class.”

  “Yeah?” she says, perking up.

  “He asked me to borrow a pen.”

  “Is that like a code word for hooking up?”

  “No,” I say with a heavy breath. “He just wanted a pen. But when I gave it to him, our hands touched.”

  She holds the spatula up, her eyes wide with excitement. “And you fell in love?”

  “No. That’s the end of my story.”

  Her body slumps down as she stares at me like I’ve just told her that Santa isn’t real. “That’s it?”

  “Oh, the pen!”

  “Yeah?” she asks, perking back up.

  “He never gave it back.”

  “That’s the worst story in the history of stories,” she says as she turns back to the icing and starts mixing the purple. “Have you hooked up with anyone? It’s your second year of college. Don’t tell me you still have your V-Card.”

  I tap my pocket as my cheeks go red. “Still intact.”

  “What’s the point of paying three hundred thousand dollars a year in college tuition if you’re not going to bang every guy in sight?”

  “Do you have any idea how much college costs?”

  “You should be nailing guys around the clock!”

  “There’s like so much homework and when I’m not studying, I’m working at the coffee shop!”

  “Okay, what about there?” she asks, not letting this go. “Do you have any hot coworkers who want to dip their tea bag into your cup?”

  “I don’t even know what that means.”

  “It’s a metaphor,” she says with a salacious grin. “For sex.”

  I roll my eyes and laugh. Aw, I missed her.

  I do have a crush on someone, but it’s not on anyone on campus. Or at work.

  It’s the same crush I’ve had for the past thirteen years. Since I was eight years old. It doesn’t seem to want to go away.

  Matt walks in at the perfect time to save me. He leans over Christine’s shoulder and frowns at the cookies. “Penis cookies? Interesting choice for a Christmas Eve party.”

  “They’re candy canes,” Christine says as she pushes him away. “You and Dad are supposed to be setting up the bar.”

  “We are,” he says as he opens the fridge and grabs two cans of beer.

  “That better be for the bar.”

  He grins as he walks back out.

  “And don’t forget the ice!”

  “How’s it going with Matt?” I ask when he’s left the room. Those two have been dating forever. They’ve been in love since they were ten years old. He’s part of the family now and seems to be best friends with Christine’s dad.

  “Nothing to report,” she says with a shrug. “Same old, same old.”

  We start decorating the phallic-shaped candy canes, trying our best to take the X out of these X-Mas cookies.

  “Who’s coming tonight?” I ask, trying to sound casual but my heart is hammering inside my chest.

  I keep my eyes down on the cookies, but I can feel her watching me suspiciously.

  It’s the question I’ve been waiting to ask her since I walked into the house and she gave me a big hug.

  “Just the usual,” she says. “My parent’s friends, our usual high school gang, except Carrie isn’t coming.”

  “Oh, no!”

  “She’s at her new boyfriend’s house this year. Matt’s parents and his sister are coming. Your parents, my cousins, aunts and uncles from my mom’s side. Alan and Beth. It should be fun.”

  I swallow hard as I wonder how far I can push without being too obvious.

  “Anyone else?”

  I can feel her eyes burning into me as I slather purple icing onto the world’s ugliest candy cane cookie.

  “Anyone in particular?” she asks, tilting her head as she watches me.

  Oh, shit. I can feel my cheeks getting all hot.

  “Someone like… Uncle Ethan?”

  I look up at her and gulp. Guilty as charged.

  “You’re not still into him?”

  I open my mouth to deny it, but a weird gurgle comes out instead. I’ve been in love with Christine’s uncle for my entire li
fe. It was actually since I was eight years old, but it feels like forever.

  He’s her dad’s younger brother and he’s the hottest man I’ve ever seen.

  I can still remember the first time I saw him like it was yesterday. It was summer and Christine and I were playing in her pool when the loudest rumbling I’ve ever heard thundered down the street.

  I watched in awe as Ethan pulled up on his motorcycle. Christine jumped out of the pool and ran up to him, giving him a wet hug as I watched with my little heart pumping on overdrive. I couldn’t believe how beautiful he was. He was tall with a wide frame and big muscular arms. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t stop staring at them. His hair was long back then, almost to his shoulders, but thankfully, he cut it.

  I can still remember marveling at the beautifully intricate tattoos on his round chest and big shoulders as he jumped into the pool to play with us. He threw us is into the air over and over again and I remember screaming, thinking I was flying higher than the house before I landed in the water and swam back to him for more.

  One thing was for sure… I was in love.

  And that crush on Ethan Hearst was cemented into my heart.

  “Mandy!” Christine shouts. “You’re pouring sprinkles all over the counter!”

  “Shit! Sorry!”

  “You were thinking about my uncle weren’t you?”

  “What?! No!”

  “You had a distant look in your eye and a creepy little pervy smile on your face. You were thinking about Uncle Ethan!”

  “I was not! I was thinking about… homework.”

  “Homework? You’re on break for the Holidays. Your semester is over. You don’t have homework.”

  “That’s what I was thinking about. I was happy I don’t have any.”

  She frowns as she looks at me skeptically.

  “Don’t fuck my uncle. Please. It’s Christmas.”

  “So… does that mean he’s coming?”

  Her forehead gets all wrinkly as she frowns even harder. “Yes, he’s coming. But he’s off-limits.”

  I feel like my heart is going to explode out of my chest.

  “Chris, I would never,” I say, acting all indignant.

  She puts her hand up, shutting me up real fast. “Okay, slut. Save the goodie two shoes act. I know you too well for that.”

  She shakes her head as she gets back to the cookies.

  Meanwhile, I’m going through different outfits in my head, trying to pick out the perfect one for tonight. Something that will get me put on the naughty list.

  And I have just the thing…

  Chapter Two

  Mandy

  “Whoa, Mandy! That’s a lot of cleavage!” The first words my mother says to me when I see her at the party.

  I look down and self-consciously fix my red dress. “It’s not that bad.”

  It’s not!

  I’m not in slutty territory yet, but I might look like I want to get my bells jingled this Holiday season.

  My father just frowns and quickly wanders off.

  “You’re just used to me in sweat pants and ponytails,” I tell my mother.

  “Maybe,” she says as she looks me up and down. I’m wearing a tight red dress that’s a tad on the low cut end, but it makes my rack look magnificent. At least, that’s what Christine said when she helped me pick it out. “You do look beautiful. So grown up.”

  That’s what I’m hoping Ethan is going to think when he sees me. I want him to see me as a grown up woman and not as Christine’s cute little friend whose name I can’t quite remember.

  My eyes keep darting to the door every time it opens. Damn. It’s just Christine’s aunt and uncle from her mom’s side.

  I wander into the kitchen and ask Christine’s mom if she needs help with anything. She’s one of those amazing hostesses who can do a dozen things at the same time while having a fully engaged conversation and make it look effortless and fun.

  “Pass this tray of appetizers around, will you, dear?” she asks as she hands me the spinach dip with a bowl of nachos. “I love that dress. How are you still single?”

  “Mandy is very mature when it comes to her taste in guys,” Christine says with a smirk as she picks a nacho from my bowl.

  “I’m sure there’s lots of mature boys in college to pick from,” Mrs. Hearst says as she takes a tray of spanakopitas out of the oven.

  “Don’t harass her and twist her arm, Mom,” Christine says as she reaches for the spinach dip, “or she might say uncle.”

  I yank the bowl away from her before she can dip her chip. She laughs as I stick my tongue out and hurry out of the kitchen.

  I make my way around the crowded room, chatting lightly with everyone as I offer them chips and dip.

  “Mandy,” Christine’s older cousin Randy says with a pervy grin as he looks me up and down. “Haven’t seen you in a while. You’re all grown up.”

  “So, are you,” I say as I glance down at his huge bulging stomach. He was always the most annoying of her cousins. When he wasn’t wiping his nose on the couch or kicking someone, he was usually ruining whatever game we were playing by cheating and taking temper tantrums.

  He grabs an empty wine glass from the counter and fills it halfway with a bottle of red (that I’m sure he didn’t bring).

  “I hear you’re going to college,” he says. “Isn’t that cute?”

  “And I hear you’re still unemployed. That’s cute too.” He got fired from his last job at a gas station because he took a temper tantrum and flipped over the gum display. Classic Randy.

  The door opens again and I whip my head around, hoping it’s Ethan.

  This time, I’m not disappointed. At all.

  My lifelong crush walks in wearing a long gray coat with a dark red scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. There’s an expensive-looking bottle of wine in his hands, and an image of the two of us sitting in front of a roaring fireplace as he opens a similar bottle flashes into my head.

  I clear my throat and shake the fantasy out of my mind. I don’t want to miss any of this. He’s dusted with light snow from his big arms, to his shoulders, to his medium-length hair that’s looking grayer than the last time I saw him.

  “Hold this,” I say as I shove the two bowls into Randy’s chest. He balances them awkwardly in his arms as he stares at me in shock. I grab the glass of wine from his hand and chug the entire thing as I stare at Ethan over the rim.

  It warms my body and soothes the nervous jitters I’m feeling as my Christmas dream comes true.

  “What am I supposed to do with this?” Randy asks.

  “Eat it. I don’t care,” I answer as I walk along the wall with my eyes on Ethan like I’m stalking him.

  Christine’s dad greets him at the door and takes his coat. My eyes are locked on him as he peels off his scarf, revealing his thick neck with the sexy black and gray tattoo running up the side. I already know that it goes all the way over his right shoulder and halfway down his arm. I’ve fantasized about that tattoo for way too many hours. I’ve had conversations with it in my mind.

  I take a breath of relief when Mr. Hearst closes the door behind him. He didn’t bring a girl. He’s single too.

  “Hey, Mandy,” Jeannie, a friend from high school says. “Did you hear that I’m pregnant?”

  “That’s great,” I mumble as I keep moving. I don’t want anything to ruin this moment. I have a clear view of Ethan getting partially undressed and I’m not going to spoil it because Jeannie got herself knocked up.

  He was always a great dresser. Always in style, or even a little ahead of the current trends.

  Tonight, he’s wearing dark jeans and a sexy tweed blazer that molds to his beautiful muscular frame. Under that, he’s wearing a white collared shirt with a tight navy blue sweater over it. Under all that is hard carved muscles covered in sexy ink.

  “Mandy!” Christine’s neighbor says, making me jump so high I nearly get airborne. He laughs. “A little jumpy there, are we?” />
  “Hi, Mr. Rhodes. It’s nice to see you again.”

  I try to be polite, but my eyes keep darting over to Ethan as he works his way through the crowd, saying hi to everyone and flashing that knee-weakening smile.

  “I haven’t seen you around lately.”

  “College,” I say with a smile. “I’m just back for the Holidays.”

  I always liked Mr. & Mrs. Rhodes. They gave out full-length chocolate bars on Halloween and never minded us climbing their fence whenever we kicked a ball or hit a badminton birdie over it.

  My eye follows Ethan through the room as we chat for a bit about my classes and then about his new pool.

  When Ethan disappears into the kitchen, I get all jittery and excuse myself.

  I swing back to Randy who’s eating all the chips and spinach dip by himself. “Give me that,” I say as I yank the bowls out of his hands. “I didn’t mean literally eat them all. They were to pass around.”

  He looks at me with confusion—spinach dip dripping from his chin—as I storm off into the kitchen.

  I stop with a gasp when I see Ethan hugging Christine’s mom in the kitchen. She has her hand on his wide back (the lucky bitch) as she tells him to grab a beer from the cooler on the deck.

  I’m just standing there, holding the two bowls and gawking at him as he opens the sliding doors, leans over, and fishes a beer out of the cooler.

  “Have you no shame?” Christine whispers as she walks over, shaking her head. “Ogling my guest slash uncle’s ass?”

  “I wasn’t ogling,” I whisper back, but even as I say it, I can’t seem to rip my eyes away from his ass.

  She just laughs and heads over to him. “Hey, Uncle Ethan,” she says as she gives him a hug.

  His face lights up when he sees her. “Hey, Chrissy!” he says as he wraps his big arms around her. He’s the only person in the world who can call Christine Chrissy and live to tell about it. “How have you been? Has Matt proposed yet?”