“Cody and I have been looking all over for you!” Phoebe exclaimed, throwing her arms around her friend. “We were afraid you’d already left for dinner. You’ll never guess—”

Noticing the two strangers sitting on the bench, she stopped short. “Oh. Sorry. Am I interrupting something?”

“Phoebe, you already know Ezra. But I’d like you to meet Lawrence Jones. And this is Ezra’s mom—and Lawrence’s granddaughter—Carlette Wheeler.”

“What? That Carlette? The girl from the Santa note? No way!” Phoebe blurted, then covered her mouth with her hands. “That’s amazing. I can’t believe you actually found her.”

“It wasn’t me,” Ivy said. “It was the Santa suit.” She gave her friend an appraising glance. Phoebe’s face was aglow with happiness, and she noticed that Cody was grinning too.

“So? What’s the big news? Don’t tell me you moved up the wedding date.”

“Nope. We moved it back. You were right. It turns out we still have a lot to learn about each other.”

“We’re absolutely still getting married,” Cody put in, slinging an arm around his girl’s shoulder. “She’s promised me she won’t back out. Even though I’m not that buff guy from the fake online profile.”

“You’re a thousand times better than that dude,” Phoebe said, gazing up at him with puppy eyes. “A million times better. Better than Han Solo even.”

Cody tightened his hold on her. “And you’re so much more beautiful, more real, more fun, than I could have ever hoped for. You’re my Princess Leia.”

“We’re headed over to my mom’s house right now, so she can meet him,” Phoebe said. “You were right about that too, Ivy. It would break her heart if I just snuck off and eloped with a stranger. Anyway, I know she’ll fall in love with Cody, just like I did.”

“So when’s the wedding?” Ivy asked.

“It can’t be too soon for me,” Cody said.

“We’re going to slow things down a little bit,” Phoebe said. “Now that he’s home, I want us to go on real dates and have a real romance.”

“But not too many dates,” Cody said, locking eyes with her. “Just in case she changes her mind.”

“I won’t,” Phoebe promised. “Ever.”

Ivy felt something cold and wet land on her cheek. She looked up at the sky and pointed. “Hey, look. It’s starting to snow.”

It was true. The cobalt sky was streaked with snowflakes and it was coming down fast, frosting her red velvet dress, the winter-dried grass, and the glossy green leaves of the magnolia trees in the square.

She held out her hand and watched a flake land on her fingertip. “Maybe we’ll have a white Christmas.”

Phoebe tugged at Cody’s hand. “We’d better get going. My mom’s house is at the top of a steep hill, and if it starts to ice over we’ll never make it.”

Lawrence Jones’s head lolled against the back of the park bench. His eyes were closed and he was softly snoring.

“He’s asleep,” Ivy said, smiling. She looked up at Ezra. “This was a lot of excitement for him tonight. I’d better get Lawrence home. Can we postpone dinner?”