She places a quick kiss on my lips. “You know I hate being late.”

All I can do is nod. I know most of that comes from her relationship with her parents and always feeling like an afterthought. There’s nothing I can do to change that, but I can be the person who shows her that she isn’t at all an afterthought. In fact, I feel as though she’s all I can think about these days.

“I know. You ready to do this?”

She nods enthusiastically then takes my hand and we walk down the street. After a few steps, I realize how much I’ve missed feeling like one half of a whole. Missed the things you do with someone you care about without thinking about it—the kiss on the lips when you first see them again, the handholding, the texts throughout the day just checking in.

“How was work today?” she asks.

“The usual. Darla is completely inept, and I had to pick up the slack.”

She chuckles and squeezes my hand.

“How about you? How’s that party you’re working on going? The one with the Santa visit for all the kids.” I look over and see that she’s smiling.

“It’s going well. That family is so great to work for. Things are really coming together.”

“That’s great.” We walk in silence for a bit, but it’s comfortable and not at all awkward, until we reach the crowd that’s gathered outside Saks.

“Have you ever watched the show before?” she asks once we find a good spot to watch before it starts up again.

I shake my head. “I mean, I’ve ridden past in a cab before but never really paid it much attention. If I’m honest, I think I probably thought, ‘What are these people doing here wasting their time watching a bunch of lights?’” I cringe.

Kenzie’s laugh rings out in the crisp night air and it sounds musical. “Well, you’re about to find out.”

No sooner has she finished speaking than the first note rings out. Different parts of the exterior of the building light up with the different notes until it becomes clear the lights form the shape of a castle with icicles dangling overtop. The lights change color and move with the beat of the music. It keeps building and building until the music crescendos and there’s a big finale, after which the crowd cheers and claps their approval.

Once a lot of the crowd has departed, Kenzie turns to me. “So, what did you think?”

“It’s quite impressive.” She frowns, and I chuckle. “What? I said it was impressive.”

She places her hand over my heart. “Didn’t it give you that warm, hopeful feeling inside like everything is possible and everything will be all right?”