Wild Ride
Sneak Peek
“What’s happenin’, Mel?” Andre asks, his green-brown eyes glinting in the moonlight as he lifts a broad shoulder.
“Some kind of surprise?” Elliot asks slowly, drawing out the question.
“Hey,” Chase interjects. “If Pinky has something to say, I, for one, am always gonna listen.”
I shoot him a smile, then glance around at the whole group of friends who have become family to me. All of them are incredibly beautiful, inside and out, all in their own, unique ways.
I let myself feel a rush of warm gratitude for a quick moment, before refocusing on the imminently important task at hand.
“Okay, you guys.” I grin brightly and clasp my hands together. “You know what we all have to do, right?”
“Leave milk and cookies out for Santa?” Asher asks, the sparkles of Christmas joy practically visible in his smile.
I point at him. “Yes, of course. Important. But…come on.” I turn my gaze back up to the adults.
Whitney gives me a glance. “This is about Coach and his wife, isn’t it?”
I squeal a little. “Yes!”
“Wait, what do you mean?” Kendall asks.
“Everyone…” I lower my voice and lean in close. “We’re gonna get Coach Watson and his wife back together on Christmas Eve.”
Elliot chuckles, and Frankie gasps softly.
“Wait, seriously?” Matt asks.
“Christmas Eve…” Ellie looks at her husband and then back at me. “Is in two days.”
Jessica laughs sharply. “How would we ever do that?”
The group quickly turns into a low mumble of questions and surprise and mostly looking at me like I’m crazy.
Chase runs a hand through his dirty-blond hair. “I assume you have a plan, then, Miss Matchmaker? Or, I guess, re-matchmaker.”
Everyone goes quiet, and all eyes fall on me.
“Hear her out,” Dylan says, holding up a hand and squeezing me tight against him with the other one. “It’s actually as brilliant as it is nuts.”
“Okay.” I take a deep breath and shut my eyes quickly. “Christmas Eve, as we all know, is in two days. Coach told us that beautifully romantic story about the night they met. On…” I look around enthusiastically.
“Christmas Eve,” Kendall says softly, her smile widening.
“I propose that we…” I gesture in a circle around the group. “All of us…come together to re-create that first night together on its twenty-year anniversary. We get every little detail as perfect as we can, getting them right back to where they started in a heaping pile of magical Christmas romance!”
“You mean like…” Matt lifts a brow. “A setup?”
I nod. “Precisely.”
Whitney smiles and shakes her head, and I can see her wheels turning as she mulls over my wild little idea. “They’d fall in love all over again.”
“It’d be impossible not to,” Andre agrees.
“Melody…” Leo steps forward and places his hands on my shoulders gently, laughing a bit. “I love this energy, I really do. But Coach met his wife on a sleigh ride in Vermont in, like, two feet of snow. How the hell are we gonna re-create that?”
“Well…” I chew my lip. “It wouldn’t be perfect, obviously. But just like with any other Christmas gift, it’s the thought that counts. The love behind the gesture.” I look around, locking eyes with Chase for support. “Isn’t that the whole meaning of Christmas, anyway?”
“You know what?” Chase straightens his back and ruffles my hair. “I’m in. Coach Watson has done way too much for every single one of us for us not to at least try to save this for him.”
“We all love Coach Watson, but…” Frankie furrows her brow, thinking it through. “Snow? Pine smell everywhere? A literal reindeer? How in the world can we pull that off?”
“We have to make it perfect,” Kendall jumps in. “Or as close as we can physically get to perfect. And while that seems like an impossible task to accomplish in seventy-degree South Florida in only forty-eight hours…” She glances up at Andre, and he gives her a sweet wink. “I really want to try. I’m in, too.”
“Hell yeah.” Andre pumps a fist.
“Yes!” I exclaim, bouncing a little on my toes. “We’ll do the best we can.”
Elliot shrugs and holds up his hands. “We gotta at least try.”
“You’re right,” Leo agrees, propping Sammy on his hip. “He’d run through fire for us. I wouldn’t feel right without giving it a shot, crazy as it may be.”
“You know, it’s true.” Frankie gathers her hair over one shoulder. “Let’s do it, gang.”
“Everyone’s on board?” Dylan asks, holding me against him and giving me a proud little kiss on the top of my head.
“Damn right we are.” Matt and Ellie high-five with their little Mason between them.
“Okay…” Kendall looks at me, pulling out her phone to make notes in true Kendall fashion. “What’s the plan?”
