All the Way by Lauren Milson

Last Christmas, I let her slip away with my heart. But now she’s barreled back into my life, and this time I’m not letting her go. I never expected to see Jess back in our hometown. She left to see what the big, bad world has to offer. I let her go because she’s better than this place. I’m still here, living like an outcast and doing odd jobs between hitting the bottle. But when she stops to buy a tree in the middle of a blizzard and I happen to be the seller, I know I have to give her the best tree this side of the Hudson River. I haven’t stopped thinking about her since we said goodbye. And now she’s even more enrapturing than I remember. Her wit is like a firecracker and her body is perfection. This year, I have to make her mine for good. This Christmas, we’re going all the way.