They made their way back to the Haystack, and Piper announced that she needed to call her boss in Hartford to check in. It was just as well, because Alex had at least a hundred e-mails to return and the proposal to work on to buy the inn for the Huxley Collection.
"Thank you for showing me around this afternoon," Alex said just before climbing the stairs.
"It was fun." Piper smiled, glad that the guest had enjoyed herself.
"You mentioned The Sound of Music was playing tonight," Alex recalled. "I'd love to see it."
"With me?" Piper asked, a little shocked by the soft invite.
"If you're up for it." The brunette smiled softly. "I'll even buy you dinner."
"I'd like that very much." Piper blushed, tucking her hair behind an ear. "The show starts at eight."
"Good. Meet in the lobby at six?"
She nodded. "See you in a couple of hours."
Piper checked in quickly with her grandmother, who was feeling a bit under the weather, so the blonde promised to keep Alex occupied that evening. (A promise she'd very much enjoy keeping.)
When she'd first met Alex, Piper was struck by her beauty, but also by her down-to-business attitude. She never expected Alex to let down her guard and be entertaining, yet she was a joy to be around. Sure, she was snarky and opinionated, but Piper found those qualities almost as attractive as her more sensitive side. Alex was showing her that Christmas as an adult could be fun, and if nothing else happened between them, that was certainly a welcome feeling.
The blonde put in an hour and a half of work, and then took a shower before her evening with Alex. She was positively giddy at the opportunity to get to know the brunette better, especially if they kept business off the table. The last thing Piper wanted was to ruin the evening by discussing the sale of The Haystack Inn.
She had only packed one dress, which was a blue, black and white fitted dress that she'd bought for the office Christmas party the month before. She quickly curled her hair, and then rushed into the lobby to meet Alex.
The brunette was waiting for her in front of the inn's Christmas tree. "What do you think?"
"They're lovely." Piper eyed the the ornaments that Alex had bought from the school girls. "But you should take those home."
"I will; I just wanted to see them on the tree." Alex smiled, reverently touching the reindeer ornament. "You look beu…great, by the way." She nudged her glasses, the word, beautiful, stuck in her throat, but it wasn't lost on Piper.
The blonde's mouth went dry as she stared at Alex in a tight black dress. "So do you."
"It's not too tight?" She looked at herself in the mirror across from the tree.
"Definitely not." The blonde tried to hide her blush, but judging by the smirk on Alex's face, she knew she'd failed. "We should head out. Italian ok with you?"
"Are there any other options in town?"
The blonde shrugged. "Italian or American, that's it, unless you want to drive to Stowe."
"No, Italian sounds delicious." Alex helped her into her long, ivory coat. "This is stunning. Is it Chanel?"
"Thank you, it is." She shrugged both arms into the sleeves. "It was my grandmother's coat. She gave it to me last Christmas after she had trouble buttoning it because of her arthritis. When I'd play dress up at the inn, she'd let me borrow it."
"It suits you, Elsa." Alex grinned.
Piper laughed at the reference, and then walked out of the front door onto the tree-lit walkway.
They made their way to Nicolino's as Piper told her companion about the family that owned the restaurant. She appreciated what a good listener Alex was—she looked Piper in the eye, asked all the right questions, and seemed genuinely interested in what she was saying. There were times when she caught Alex staring at her mouth, making her cheeks flush, but she hoped the brunette hadn't caught her doing the same.
Alex's lips were full and kissable, and when she wore red lipstick like she had on that evening, they were hard to resist.
They were seated in the back of the restaurant away from the crowd, and both women ordered a salad and the Linguine Puttanesca.
"Tell me about growing up at the inn," she said around a bite of pasta.
"It was always this magical place." Piper sucked a deep breath in through her nose as if the magnitude of what the inn meant to her was too hard to describe. "When things were shitty at home, or when I was going through my moody teenage years, I'd come to the inn, and every worry or fear or problem seemed to disappear." She shook her head and glanced into the distance. "We'd come up three or four times a year until my older brother went to college. In the summer, my brothers and I would swim in the pond, trying to catch fish with our hands; set up forts in the trees behind the inn; go horseback riding for hours on end…"
"I'd love to see this place in the summer," Alex offered. "I'm sure it's just as beautiful."
"It is." She took a sip of wine. "Autumn is probably my second favorite time of year, after Christmas. We didn't come up that often in the fall, because we were in school, but when we did, it was amazing. The foliage is stunning even through a kid's eyes. We'd rake big piles of leaves and jump in them, which really pissed my grandfather off," she chuckled. "We'd tap the maple trees, help Mr. Ellis haul big bales of hay for the horses, pick pumpkins at the local pumpkin patch…I remember bringing pumpkins home and helping my grandma bake pies." She smelled the air as if the memory would allow her to smell the pies they'd baked all those years ago. "There was a time when I thought I'd be a baker."
"Really?" Alex smiled.
She nodded, and for a moment, sadness crossed her face. "I couldn't tell you the last time I baked a pie."
"That's a shame. You should get back in the kitchen."
"I really should." Piper hadn't had time to bake since she'd gone to Smith, and things became even more hectic when she joined the work force. She really did miss the feeling of baking pies from scratch.
They didn't have time to eat dessert before the show, so Alex paid the tab, citing it was the least she could do, and they headed to the community theater four blocks away.
"I talked about myself the whole dinner," Piper noted. "I didn't get to hear anything about you."
"I enjoyed listening." She smiled. "What do you want to know?"
"How did you spend the holidays growing up?"
Alex tossed her hair over her shoulders and seemed to contemplate the question. "I didn't make homemade ornaments because I was crafty; I made them because we couldn't afford them at the store," she began. "I grew up with a single mom, and we were very poor. Food stamps, WIC, the whole nine yards."
That astonished the blonde, but she remained silent.
"I don't have a ton of Christmas memories, because it wasn't a big deal—it couldn't be. We'd get a Charlie Brown tree, maybe hang a strand of lights around our door, I'd help my mom bake Pillsbury cookies, and that was pretty much it." She let out a long breath. "Santa would bring me exactly two gifts every year—a thrift store sweater and a novel."
"No toys?" Piper questioned.
"No." She shook her head. "I remember wanting to get my mom something for Christmas when I was 12 or 13, but I literally had no money, so I stole a bottle of perfume from the department store. It wasn't even the good stuff. Not my proudest moment."
Piper put a hand on her arm. "I'm so sorry, Alex."
The brunette looked at her hand, and covered it with her own. They walked like that for a few steps until Alex let go. The exhilaration of walking like a couple with Alex felt natural, and Piper found herself wishing for something more.
"My mom found out that I'd stolen the perfume, and she was enraged. She made me return it and apologize to the store manager." She adjusted her glasses. "After that, I guess I just lost the Christmas spirit, you know?"
"I'd imagine that would be tough as a kid," the blonde offered.
Alex's lips slowly turned upwards. "It's ok; I'm starting to remember what the Christmas spirit was all about."
Piper returned her smile as they walked up to the booth and purchased two tickets for the show.
Living in Manhattan, Alex saw at least three Broadway shows a year, so her expectations for the townspeople of Essex's version of The Sound of Music were very low.
"That was fantastic!" she announced as they exited the theater.
Piper buttoned her coat. "You sound surprised."
She smiled. "I am—I mean, I know community theater can be good, but they were amazing."
The blonde put on her hat. "Glad you liked it."
Alex was silent during their walk back to the inn, reflecting on everything that had transpired that day. From the impromptu snow fight to shopping in the village to buying ornaments that reminded her of Christmases long ago, everything had been perfect. There were moments that day when she'd catch Piper doing something completely ordinary, yet it somehow tickled Alex, and the brunette wondered if they'd make a good couple—a permanent couple, not some random holiday hookup. Earlier that day, she'd banished those thoughts, but on that short walk back to the Haystack, she allowed them to play out in her head.
"It's getting late; I'm going to check on my grandma and head to bed," Piper announced, taking off her outerwear in the hallway.
Alex didn't realize exactly how much she didn't want to hear those words—she wanted to stay up all night and learn more about Piper. She wanted to accidentally brush up against her or play footsies under the table, or stop staring at her lips and just kiss her already—things that teenagers think when they "like" someone. Instead, she was faced with an exhausted Piper, which meant she should probably turn in, too.
"I guess I'll see you in the morning." Alex hoped sadness didn't echo in her voice.
"Yeah, good night."
And then Piper did something unexpected: she hugged her. Alex still had on her coat, but Piper's arms encircled her underneath the thick garment and wrapped around her waist. The brunette strung hers around Piper's shoulders, holding her as tightly as possible. Her head was spinning and her heart was in her throat. She wanted desperately to kiss the blonde, but the moment didn't feel right—it felt warm and cozy and right, just like the inn.
Alex was never one to sleep in, yet when she rolled over in her toasty bed that morning, she noticed the digital clock read 9 a.m. She shot up and rubbed her face, remembering where she was and with whom she'd spent the day and evening the day before. A smile crossed her face: she'd get to see Piper as soon as she went downstairs that morning. This was what most kids probably felt like on Christmas morning.
She took a quick shower, dried her hair and put on a pair of jeans and a red sweater with snowflakes on it—the closest thing to a Christmas sweater that she owned. Alex jogged down the stairs, eager to see Piper's warm smile on that cold December morning, but the blonde was nowhere to be found.
She walked as casually as she could into the kitchen. "Morning, Celeste."
"Oh, hi, Alex. Did you sleep well?"
"Too well, thanks. I haven't slept this late in years." She searched for a mug in the cabinet that she remembered Piper digging in the day before. "Mind if I get some coffee?"
"By all means." Celeste handed her the newspaper. "Would you like to read any of this?"
"Sure." Alex poured coffee into her cup, pulling out the Business section of the Vermont Daily News. She sat on a stool and pretended to read the paper. "Where's Piper this morning?" she blurted out, lacking the patience to find out on her own.
"I'm not sure." Celeste took the Living section. "She might still be sleeping."
Just then, the blonde breezed in through the back door and marched into the kitchen, a little out of breath. Alex was in the middle of lifting her coffee mug to her mouth and stopped midway at the sight in front of her. Piper removed her fleece hat, and her messy blonde hair all but fell out of a low ponytail. Her face was flushed, and her lips were moistened with Chapstick. She had on black running tights, Nike shoes, and a purple hoodie that gathered at the waist. Alex's eyes were drawn to her ass like a moth to a flame, and she had to lower her mug for fear of spilling it all over herself at how fucking hot the blonde looked.
"Morning," Piper greeted them, wiping sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.
"It's awfully cold for a run this morning," Celeste said. "The thermometer outside was at freezing half an hour ago."
Alex couldn't recall a time when she'd been rendered speechless, but there she sat, vocal chords temporarily unable to function, eyes roaming Piper's body like a hungry wolf.
"Makes the blood flow better." The blonde smiled at her companion. "Good morning, Alex. Did you sleep well?"
The brunette cleared her throat and replied, "I did." She was thankful that her voice worked, but she was afraid that Piper could see her eyes glued to her long, lithe body.
"So did I—like a log." Piper filled a glass with water. "I didn't know if you were a runner, so I didn't want to wake you to see if you wanted to go with me."
"I'm not." She looked down at the paper, needing to avert her eyes before Celeste found her coveting her granddaughter's body. "I belong to a boxing studio in Queens, so that's been my form of exercise for the past couple of years." She stretched her back and twisted her neck. "I could use some physical activity though."
Piper sidled up to Alex, hip touching the brunette's shoulder. "Then we'll go sledding."
She'd been thinking far more sexually than Piper that morning; definitely nothing along the lines of sledding. "I don't think so." Alex smiled dismissively and tried to concentrate on an article where she'd read the same sentence six times due to Piper's nearness.
Piper took a sip of water. "I thought you wanted to see all of the Essex traditions?"
"See, not participate in," she explained.
"Oh, come on." Piper turned around, butt against the granite, inches from Alex's hand. "It'll be fun."
"Piper was an excellent sledder back in the day." Celeste coughed.
Alex grinned. "So I've heard."
"I'll make you breakfast, and then we'll head out." The blonde touched her arm, and Alex clenched her hand to stop it from touching her.
The brunette took another sip of coffee. "You say it like it's settled."
"It is." Piper shrugged. "I'll do whatever you want this afternoon, but this morning, we're sledding."
Although the blonde overcooked the eggs and burnt the toast, Alex couldn't stop staring. If the blonde would just keep buzzing around the kitchen in her workout gear, Alex would eat whatever Piper put in front of her and listen to whatever story she'd tell (that morning, it was about the family of deer she saw on her run). At one point, Alex knew she'd have to excuse herself for fear of ravishing Piper next to the kitchen sink, but until she couldn't take it anymore, she'd watch the other woman's every move.
"It's hot in here, grandma." Piper removed her sweatshirt, leaving her standing there in a tight white t-shirt with a red sports bra underneath. As she lifted the garment, her t-shirt rose all the way up her flat belly, and Alex let out an audible whimper.
Alex fanned herself with the newspaper, but had the wherewithal to refrain from licking her lips. "It is."
The blonde gave her a look, and in that moment, Alex figured Piper knew exactly what she was doing to her.
"Like I said, it was 32 degrees this morning, so I raised the thermostat." Celeste got up to adjust the temperature. "You girls have fun today. Alex, let's take a closer look at the books later."
"Yes." The brunette quickly faced Celeste and was thankful for her interruption of Alex's dirty, dirty thoughts. "How about right after lunch?"
"Sounds good. I'm going to Betty's bakery in a few minutes to help her with the cookies," she announced. "Be careful on the hill. I don't want any broken bones this year."
"Don't forget your medicine." Piper handed her two vials and hugged her before she disappeared around the corner.
"Broken bones?"
"She's just kidding," the blonde tried.
Alex pushed her plate away, careful to keep her eyes averted from the sexy blonde. "Thanks for breakfast."
"You're welcome." She took the plate and silverware, once again, brushing shoulders with Alex. "Oh, before I forget, I got you something on my way back this morning." Piper went into the other room and handed her a bag.
Alex looked inside. "You bought me a present?"
She leaned against the edge of the island, crossing her legs at the ankles. "Think of it as a Welcome to Essex gift."
A smile crossed Alex's face. "Wow. This is…"
Piper lifted her eyebrows. "Necessary."
"Perfect." She set the box on the counter and pulled out one of the Sorel winter boots.
"If they're a little big, just double up your socks," the blonde offered. "You do have socks, right?"
"I think I packed a couple pair, yes." Alex lifted one of the tassles hanging from Piper's sweatshirt. "Thank you. Really."
"You're welcome." She smiled and looked down. "I'll need to change my clothes before we go sledding."
"Thank God," Alex mumbled under her breath. She was this close to not being able to take it anymore.
"What was that?" Piper leaned closer, grin on her face. "I couldn't quite hear you."
She playfully shoved the blonde towards the entryway and blushed. "I think your hearing is just fine."
Piper's smirk remained in place as she turned and walked out of the kitchen, giving Alex a perfect view of her ass.
