Emily felt like everyone's eyes were on her as she approached the little office from which Dave Rossi worked while he was in town. She knew that the general community opinion was that of her being something of a heartless witch for selling the ranch...and, for the most part, she was okay with that because they didn't know the real story or the reasons behind her decision. But that didn't mean she enjoyed the feeling of a dozen sets of judgmental eyes on her back.

A surprisingly cheerful set of bells above the door tinkled to announce her entrance and before she had time to realize what was happening, Rossi was by her side, clapping her on the back. "Bella!" his voice boomed, "I'm so glad you've come around to my offer."

She laughed a little, more out of nerves than anything else. "Yeah," she said, "Yeah, me too..."

In truth, she'd spent a lot of sleepless nights since Rossi had first called her with his offer to buy the ranch. Sleepless nights filled with internal debates over whether she was doing the right thing, whether this was a good idea...

When she'd gotten off the plane, she was one hundred percent convinced that she would take the first decent offer that came along and hopefully be back on British soil before Christmas rolled around. That was her plan.

But the more time she spent at the ranch, the more time she spent getting to know its occupants, the more attached she felt to the property and the people...and she could feel her resolution slipping. Part of her wanted to hate that, wanted to hate herself for being so soft, but she couldn't quite seem to muster that emotion when being there had brought her so much joy.

The question now, though, was: could she find it in herself to stick to her plan?

She settled in the lone chair in front of Rossi's desk in the cramped little office, crammed as it was with filing cabinets and document storage boxes, and for some reason felt like her heart might beat right out of her chest. (She tried very hard not to examine why she felt that way, but couldn't help the traitorous little voice screaming at her that it was because she knew she was making a mistake...)

Rossi settled into the seat across the desk from her and flipped open his folio of notes that he always carried with him. "Let's dive in, shall we?"

When Emily stepped through the door upon her return home later that afternoon – having stopped to pick up groceries – she was greeted by mischievous giggles from somewhere in the foyer. Raising a brow, she took several slow steps inside, looking rather like she expected some kind of Rube Goldberg-like trap to spring at any moment...

When nothing happened, she called out, "Hello?"

No response.

"Hello?" she called out again, "Anyone home?"

Alex poked her head out of the kitchen then, offering Emily a soft smile. "Here, let me help you carry those," she offered, wiping her hands on her apron as she crossed the foyer.

As soon as she reached Emily, the mischievous giggles got louder, reaching a fever pitch when Ethan jumped out from behind the sofa to announce, "You gotta kiss now!"

Alex and Emily shared a look of alarm, both apparently struggling to figure out why they needed to kiss...

"Ethan, what are you..." Alex started to ask.

Emily, though, suddenly realized that she had, in fact, walked into a trap, as she'd suspected... She tapped Alex on the shoulder to get her attention, then pointed upwards to indicate the mistletoe that had been tacked there.

Alex glanced up, then back to Ethan, then to Emily, without ever saying a word.

Then, because of course Ethan hadn't come up with this plan on his own, Derek came into the room (doing a rather excellent job of pretending he'd just happened upon the scene). "Kid's right," he said, "Those are the rules of mistletoe."

Emily sputtered for a few moments, trying her level best to come up with a logical and airtight argument to explain why they didn't actually need to kiss just because some plant told them to...only to be surprised when Alex leaned to kiss her cheek.

"Boo!" Derek jeered.

"Yeah!" Ethan agreed, "That doesn't count!"

Emily shot Derek a glare that threatened bodily harm if he didn't keep his nose out of the matter...but that only made him grin even more. She heaved a sigh, realizing there was no way they were getting out of this situation without a liplock...and there was ice cream melting in the grocery bags, so...

She leaned in to capture Alex's lips, soft and timid and definitely more PG than most of the kisses they'd previously shared (since they had a grade schooler present afterall...). She expected more hesitation from Alex, but she melted into the kiss surprisingly quickly and Emily could almost forget they had an audience.

Or, she could have...if it weren't for the fact that as soon as their lips touched, Ethan and Derek both applauded.

When they pulled apart, they were both blushing furiously, as if they were schoolchildren who were sharing their first ever kiss...

They didn't have long to dwell on their discomfort because Ethan came running over to break the tension...by digging in the grocery bags and exclaiming with excitement when he saw that Emily had gotten ice cream. As he carried his prize into the kitchen, Emily took advantage of Alex's distraction to shoot Derek a glare and mouth to him, I hate you so much...

He just smirked all the more, shrugging as if he were completely innocent in the matter...as if he'd ever been innocent a day in his life.

She shook her head, not buying the act. She paused, sighed, then mouthed a reluctant, Thank you!, knowing full well that he was only trying to help. And God knew, she needed all the help she could get...especially once they found out where she'd been that day...