The Neighbor Favor(100)
Armed with newly purchased holiday place mats, Lily moved on to browse a stand with various Christmas tree ornaments. She had a teeny-tiny tree in her teeny-tiny studio apartment in Crown Heights, only a fifteen-minute walk away from Marcus and Caleb. The following weekend, she was hosting Nick and his mom for dinner, and she wanted to make sure it looked as festive as possible. Teresa was visiting Nick for the first time ever. He and his dad still weren’t there. But it was something Nick was working out in therapy.
Lily was in the middle of choosing between a set of silver snowmen and red Santa hat ornaments when she felt a cold, wet kiss on her cheek.
“I went on the hunt for hot chocolate,” Nick said, holding out a steaming cup to her. Like Lily, he was bundled up in a wool peacoat, a thick scarf wrapped around his neck.
Lily smiled at him, accepting the cup gratefully. “Thanks. I was wondering where you’d gone.”
“After I got the chocolate, I was on the phone with Violet for almost ten minutes. She had hella questions about what Marcus and Caleb considered ugly for their Christmas sweater party. I think she’s overthinking it.”
Lily laughed and held up the ornament sets for him. “Which one do you like better?”
Nick grinned and shrugged. He pointed at the snowmen. “Those.”
“Great, that’s what I was thinking too.” Lily moved to pay for the ornaments, but Nick gently turned her to face him again.
“I got you something,” he said, reaching into his pocket.
“Don’t give it to me yet!”
They were going to exchange gifts on Christmas Eve before they went to her parents’ house for dinner. It was going to be Nick’s first stateside Christmas in years, and she wanted it to be special. She’d bought him a vintage typewriter. It was already wrapped and hidden away in the hall closet at her apartment. And because Nick wasn’t so good at hiding gifts, she knew that he’d already bought her a signed, illustrated edition of the Dragons of Blood series.
“Don’t worry, it’s not your real gift,” he said. “Just something small.”
He placed a small black bag in her hand. Lily glanced up at him curiously and he nodded, urging her to open it. Lily reached inside the bag. She grabbed two small items. A Black Santa figurine and an I <3 NY keychain.
She laughed out loud then, remembering the imaginary date from their emails.
“This is perfect,” she said, grinning up at him. She kissed him softly. His mouth tasted sweetly of hot chocolate. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiled back and wrapped his arms around her, moving his hands up and down her arms to generate warmth. “It’s freezing. How about we go back to my place now?”
“Okay,” Lily said, snuggling closer.
Nick wasn’t a figment of her imagination or a faceless stranger behind her computer screen. He was right there in front of her. The realest thing in the world.
She kissed him again to prove just how real he was.
Acknowledgments
Writing adult romance has always been a huge dream of mine, and for a long time I was afraid to pursue this dream because writing in a new genre/age group can be very intimidating! I love this book so much, and I’m so grateful for everyone who helped bring this story to fruition.
Thank you to my agent, Sara Crowe, for always believing in me and my stories and my ability to tell these stories, regardless of how afraid I might be to write them.
Thank you to my editors, Cindy Hwang and Angela Kim, who guided me (and Lily and Nick!) on this journey in the most supportive way. I’m thankful for the rest of the team at Berkley as well: Adam Auerbach, Stacy Edwards, Christine Legon, Daniela Riedlova, Dache’ Rogers, Lila Selle and Randie Lipkin.
Thank you to my friend and critique partner, Alison Doherty, who listened to my pitch about Lily and Nick years ago and encouraged me to take the leap and write their story. And thank you to my work wife, Dana Carey, who made my days of working in publishing so much more worthwhile.
Finally, thank you to my family for being so supportive. Especially my grandma Peggy, who always made a point to ask if I was still planning to write a story about sisters named after flowers.