“Stay as hopeful as you do. I don’t understand how it’s possible for one person to be this optimistic all the time. I was awful to you and you didn’t flinch. Your life hasn’t been great but you count it as a blessing… How do you do it?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yeah.”

She bit her lip, an adorable gesture Clark never got in movies but now understood completely. She grew increasingly sheepish as she interrogated his motives.

“You promise you won’t make fun of me? It’s pretty cheesy.”

“Promise.”

“Cross your heart?”

“Yeah.”

She shot him a look. Apparently, she wanted him to actually cross his heart. He did so, all while struggling to maintain a dignified, solemn expression. When she was satisfied, she shoved her hands into her back pockets, staring up at the tree. In the glow of the lights, she looked more than beautiful as she whispered the simple truth that had sustained her through her entire life.

“I keep Christmas with me all year long. It’s the one time of year when I find it impossible to think the worst in people. If I pretend every day is Christmas, it makes life so much easier to live. And people so much easier to love.”

“I wish I could do that,” Clark breathed. He tried to move his hand away from her cheek, but Kate got there first. She held him there, this time forcing him to give her his eyes. A sweet smile encouraged him. Challenged him. Filled him with hope.

“You can.”

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Tree decorating gave way to black-and-white movies and popcorn, which gave way to leftover turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce which inevitably gave way to heavy eyelids and almost naps. Conversation and laughter flowed easily between them, though Kate got the distinct feeling Clark was out of practice when it came to having a friend. The defenses he threw up against her only this morning diffused, leaving them only with his rusty attempts at humor and near-constant questions about Christmas and its traditions. Kate didn’t mind at all. In fact, she suspected this Christmas would go down as one of her favorites. Not because it was perfect—it definitely wasn’t—but because she’d never experienced anything quite like this, something this pure.