Each piece of the china depicted a different woodland creature: a rabbit, a fox, a squirrel, a perky redbird, and even a wise old owl. She was grateful there was no mouse to remind her of the scratching sounds she’d been hearing from the vicinity of her attic.

Before moving to Four Roses Farm, Ivy Perkins would have considered the china kitschy, even tacky, but here, in this rustic setting, with the sun shining in through the wavy glass windows, Ivy decided the dishes were charming.

Her phone dinged to remind her that she hadn’t answered her friend’s last text.

Please????

Ivy sighed and started to type:

What’s the plan?

She was still shaking her head over Phoebe’s screwball scheme when she heard the crunch of tires on the driveway.

Punkin heard it too and bounded, barking, toward the front door. By the time Ivy joined her dog, the doorbell was ringing. When she opened the door she found Ezra Wheeler standing on her porch, holding a towering Christmas tree in one leather-gloved hand. He looked incredibly pleased with himself.

Ivy was momentarily speechless. “What…”

“Look, I know you said you didn’t need a tree, but I just don’t think it’s right to spend your first Christmas at the Four Roses farmhouse without a tree. And this one was free! I cut it down myself. My place used to be a Christmas tree farm, back in the day, and the former owner left a small stand of older trees at the back of my property. I’ve been thinning them out, thinking I’ll get around to planting some new trees.…”

“It’s beautiful,” Ivy said finally. “But it’s really, really big, isn’t it? Will it even fit in my house?”

“Oh sure,” he said. “You’ve got ten-foot ceilings here. Want me to bring it in and set it up for you?”

She held the door open and stepped aside as he dragged and shoved the tree through the doorway and into the living room. The room was immediately filled with the scent of fresh-cut evergreen, as he leaned the tree against the fireplace.

He went back out to the porch and handed her a paper bag. “That’s a special plug with a built-in timer for all the outdoor Christmas lights. I’ll set it up before I leave. That way, every night they come on automatically.”

He pointed at the fireplace nook. “I think you should put the tree over there, where the Roses put theirs,” Ezra said.

“Be my guest.”

He dragged the tree toward the nook near the fireplace, then looked around expectantly. “Christmas tree stand?”

Ivy laughed despite herself. It was such a man thing to do. Show up, unannounced, with a Christmas tree, but no stand.

“I don’t have one.”

“Oh.” He looked around the room. “You sure? I mean, the family left almost everything else. You sure there’s not a Christmas tree stand stashed somewhere around here?”

“I haven’t seen one, but since I didn’t plan on getting a tree this year, I haven’t really gone looking.”