“Me, too,” she admitted. “Oh, about dinner tomorrow night. I forgot that I already have plans.”

His face fell. “Oh, okay. Another night, then.”

She grabbed his hand. “No, I have plans already but that’s okay. Nick and Bella are having a party to celebrate their engagement, and everyone will be there. I’d love for you to come with me, if you’d like. It should be fun.”

“That sounds perfect to me.”

Epilogue

Paula held a holiday open house the Saturday of Nantucket’s Christmas Stroll weekend in December. She was excited to host everyone for the first time and they were all in a festive mood. David had helped her decorate the outside of her cottage and surrounding bushes with white twinkling lights. She’d just finishing making a big bowl of Christmas Sangria, with sparkling wine, crushed fruit and a container of rainbow sherbet. It was her signature cocktail and the family demanded she make it every year.

She and David went downtown the night before so David could experience his first Christmas Stroll in years. They’d walked up and down Main Street and all the side streets, stopping into various shops and participating in a gingerbread cookie decorating event. After walking up an appetite, they’d had dinner at Mimi’s Place. It was pretty much a perfect night.

And now, as Paula looked around the kitchen and living room of her cottage, she smiled with contentment. Everyone she cared about was there. Nick and Bella were still deliriously happy and she’d just started shooting on her new Netflix show. Andrea and Marco were mixing margaritas over by the sink and laughing as they argued about who made a better one. Paula was actually starting to enjoy Andrea’s company and her cousin seemed to be making an effort to be less ornery, which was much appreciated. Marco seemed to have a good influence on her.

Her sister and Jason were doing well, too. And Lucy’s Etsy store was very busy for the holidays. She was working nights and weekends to keep up with the demand and seemed to be loving it.

Aunt Vivian and Uncle Freddy were chatting with Paula’s and Andrea’s parents. Andrea’s father had recently started a new job as a rep with a food supply company in Hyannis and was handling all of the Nantucket accounts. Andrea and Hallie both said they’d never seen their father enjoying his work like this before. They’d all wondered what his mysterious trip off-island was about and he said he’d kept quiet until he knew he had the job, because he didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.