“We have to look good, Dad. The finale’s live,” Sara had explained the night before as she and Cat browsed nail art on Pinterest.

Noah was well aware of the finale and just exactly what it meant. The excitement of finally opening the Christmas Festival was dampened to ashes by the thought that his time with Cat was coming to an end. Sara seemed to have accepted it. Now if only he could force himself to do the same…

The idea of moping around alone was enough to have him throw out a half-assed invitation to the men who would be abandoned for spa day.

Gannon brought Gabby and cannoli. Drake and Henry brought beer, a lot of it. Jasper brought sausages. Ricky—because if Cat was kind enough to include his ex-wife, Noah didn’t have much of a choice in extending an invitation to his ex-wife’s fiancé—arrived with two-dozen deviled eggs, a bottle of vodka, and Mellody’s famous brownies.

Noah called in an obscenely large order of wings and cued up college football on the living room and kitchen TVs while everyone talked around him.

“Man, you look morose,” Henry observed, popping the top on a fancy pale ale. He propped a hip against the countertop and pointed at Noah with the bottle. “Bit of a let-down, isn’t it?”

“What is?” Drake asked, sidling into the conversation and shoving a deviled egg into his mouth.

“Noah here preparing to miss us.”

“And by us, you mean Cat,” Drake corrected his friend.

“Can we not revisit that train wreck of a conversation?” Gannon growled, pulling Gabby’s chubby little hands away from the vodka and lemonades he was mixing. Noah’s mixer supply was limited to whatever Sara brought home from the grocery store. So, it was either blue sports drink or lemonade… or straight vodka.

“I’m not talking about anything,” Noah said, holding up his hands.

“Here.” Gannon thrust a drink in it. “Drink this and keep not talking.”

He drank like a man walking through the Sahara.

“She’s something though,” Jasper said, blissfully unconcerned by Gannon’s discomfort. “I mean, it would be hard not to fall for Cat. Even my wife has a crush on her.”

“We’re not talking about my sister and anyone having any kind of feelings for her,” Gannon cut in.

“So, what are you going to do?” Henry asked Noah.

“Do?”

“You know, the grand gesture. How are you going to tell her how you feel and that you want her to stay or you want to go with her?”

“Guys, neither of those things are options. My life is here in Merry. Sara’s here. Mellody… and Ricky are here. My job. Everything.”

“We’d work something out with you, man,” Ricky promised amiably.

“Then ask her to stay,” Drake shrugged.