“I’ve got a bottle of water out there. Come on. I’m dying to hear about your trip.”

“What about you? Did you have a good Christmas?”

“We missed you being here, but yes, it was nice. My mother even asked where you were.”

“Really? Was it with relief that she asked?”

Addison laughed. “A little. Come on.”

Eric grinned at her when they went out to the patio. “There’s my girl.” He pulled her into a hug. “Missed you, Nicky.”

“I missed you guys too.”

He took the beer from her and twisted off the top, then clinked his to hers. “Damn glad you’re back.”

“Sit down,” Addison urged. “Tell us all about it.”

“It was fun. I never did brave skiing, but I did get on a snowmobile. That was a blast. And we did some sledding. Built snowmen. I came in second place in that contest.”

Addison touched her arm and smiled. “Good, good. Sounds like fun. Now tell me about the girl.”

Nic nodded. “Abby.” It was the first time she’d said her name out loud all week. It certainly wasn’t the first time she’d thought of her, though. “She was…she was great, actually.” She finally sat down and took a swallow of her beer. How did she tell her two best friends that her cold, cold heart had melted a little over the holidays? “I…I liked her a lot.”

“So? What does that mean?” Eric asked.

“Tell us about Christmas. How was it?” Addison added.

“It was my fairytale.” She smiled at Addison. “The house was this huge, two-story mountain cabin, and Sandra—that’s Abby’s mother—had it decorated to the hilt. Even our bedroom had a little tree in it.” She laughed. “And she got me a stocking with Nicole written on it.”

“Why Nicole?”

“Because when Abby told her she was bringing me, her mother wanted to know my real name. She doesn’t do nicknames. Abby assumed Nic was short for Nicole.” She laughed again. “So I was Nicole the whole time.”

“Oh, that’s too funny.” Addison laughed. “Did you get gifts and stuff?”

“I did. Her parents got me this sweatshirt, in fact. And Abby and I went into Red River and picked out necklaces.” She pulled the collar of her sweatshirt down, showing off hers.

“Oh my god. That’s gorgeous. And so unusual.” Addison touched it. “It fits you perfectly.”

“Thanks.”

“I want to know about sex. As in, did you get any?”

Nic grinned at Eric. “What do you think?”

“You dog! So she paid up, huh?”

Nic’s smile faded a little. “It really wasn’t like that. We sort of, I don’t know, bonded or something.” She glanced at Addison. “I told her about my family, about what happened.”

Addison’s eyes widened. “You did?”