All Dottie knew was that I’d asked her to get Nick out of the way for a few hours. She had no idea why, but she loved being part of anything she thought could be a bit of an adventure. I’d clocked her putting on her sexy glasses before she left—she was a permanent mood.

“Have you got everything you need?” I looked behind Dean at the makeshift setup we’d pulled together.

“Think we’re good.” Dean looked pretty impressed with what we’d managed. “Although cut us some slack on whatever comes out…”

I’d cut Au Revoir Hairs all the slack in the world—despite their big gig tomorrow, they’d pulled out all the stops to be here. Dean had been incredible from the moment Elle had put us in touch. Blake too. It was the first time a band had ever played in Alpine Peaks Senior Living hall, and we were a bit worried it might blow the power—but, well, that was part of the fun.

And it looked amazing. With Pete’s permission, I’d raided their spare decorations—when I’d told him why, he was confused but into it. He’d even made a comment about hoping Nick hadn’t been keeping anything from him, as for such smart people, him and his sister really could miss that all they wanted was for him to be happy. I nodded vaguely and made a note to try and tell Nick if I got the chance.

It was such a shame Pete and Jess wouldn’t get to see what I had planned—but it was the Snow Ball tomorrow, so they were pulling an all-nighter. Pete offered that whatever I took, I didn’t need to bring back, meaning the decorations could be here for keeps—they wouldn’t just brighten up the home this year, they could do it every year. I was going to leave the ball in Nick’s court about whether he told them why I’d done what I’d done. But I couldn’t help but feel if they were all honest and didn’t try to second-guess each other, they might all have some surprises. Nice ones. Like the five-year lease I’d seen Jess reading this morning, for new premises for their business.