Green the Whole Year 'Round

By Rowan McAllister

Couples counselor Ted Freeman is still reeling six months after his partner left him. He desperately hopes a week of peace and quiet at a quaint mountain cabin will be just what he needs to regain his personal and professional confidence.

Neil Kelly is a computer programmer who just got promoted to full time and is celebrating over Christmas by going on his first real grown-up vacation at the Cabins in the Pines Inn. When he runs into Ted, his longtime crush, Neil can't believe his luck, and he vows to do whatever it takes to make Ted see him as something other than the dork next door.

Neil wasn’t part of Ted's plan for the holidays, but he might turn out to be exactly what Ted needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: Dec 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781632165923

Rowan McAllister

Rowan McAllister is an unapologetically romantic jack-of-all-trades and a sucker for good food, good cocktails, rich fibers, a great beat, and anything else that indulges the senses. In addition to a continuing love affair with words, she likes to play with textiles, metal, wood, stone, and whatever other interesting scraps of life she can get her hands on. She lives in the woods on the very edge of suburbia—where civilization drops off and nature takes over—sharing her home with her patient, loving, and grounded husband, her three rescues, and a whole lot of books, booze, and fabric. Her chosen family is made up of a madcap collection of people as diverse as her interests, all of whom act as her muses in so many ways, and she would be lost without them. Whether her stories have a historical, fantasy, or contemporary setting, they always feature characters who still believe in true love, happy endings, and the oft-underappreciated value of sarcasm. Email: [e-mail] Facebook: www.facebook.com/rowanmcallister10 Twitter: @RowanMcallister

Book preview

Chapter One

TED STOOD alone and silent in the middle of a clearing as heavy snow blanketed everything around him. A curtain of it separated him from the rest of the world. The only sounds were the quiet hissing of snowflakes and the occasional creak and crackle of overloaded tree branches. The scene was exactly what he’d come up here looking for—a quiet place where he could think, where he could figure out what went wrong.

Just breathe.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

In. Out.

His mantra wasn’t helping. He was a couples counselor, for chrissakes. His job, all of his training and education, revolved around facilitating communication, around helping people work to stay together, but his own relationship had disintegrated right under his nose. One day Franklin had simply sat him down in their kitchen and told him it was over, and nothing Ted could say or do would change his mind.

Ted grimaced and tried to squeeze the bridge of his nose, but the expensive, high-tech ski gloves, sunglasses, and hat got in the way.

Just breathe.

The pulsing pain behind Ted’s eyes and the tightness in his shoulders and neck—his near-constant companions for the last six months—were making themselves known. He wasn’t quite relaxed enough to dredge all that up yet. He’d only arrived at the inn a short while ago. He needed to let the place and the distance from his real life work their magic first.

With effort, Ted shifted his attention back to his surroundings and stared out through his brand-new, polarized, anti-eyestrain sport sunglasses at the fat, wet snowflakes falling through the air, sticking to every needle on every branch of the giant fir trees surrounding him. He concentrated on the absence of traffic noise and screaming, stomping children from the apartment above. He reminded himself he had no work, no volunteer projects, nothing to do but stand in the snow and enjoy—the perfect formula for finding a little peace of mind and some closure. He just had to open himself up to it.

When he and Franklin had reserved the holiday vacation package at the Cabins in the Pines Inn nine months ago, it had looked ideal for a romantic Christmas vacation. They’d been sold the second their travel agent handed them the brochure. The gorgeous Victorian main house and cute little private, rustic cabins, nestled among the massive firs and surrounded by extensive private grounds, had made it seem like the perfect spot for one of their annual getaways. And now here he was, alone, trying to put the tattered remnants of his confidence back together.

Ted rolled his shoulders, dislodging the pile of snow from his jacket.

Franklin would have loved this place.

Or maybe he wouldn’t. He might’ve hated it. Ted didn’t actually know anymore.

He frowned and wrapped his arms tightly around himself. He wasn’t really cold. He’d researched the highest-rated ski jackets before he’d ordered the sleek black one he was wearing. A little snow wasn’t going to bother him. Mostly, he needed the physical contact. After five years of having a partner to share perfect moments like this with, he was finding it hard to go it alone. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to be.

He’d listened. He’d communicated. He’d compromised. He’d made sure Franklin felt valued and appreciated. He thought he’d always taken Franklin’s needs into consideration as much as his own, and still Franklin had been unhappy.

Ted groaned in frustration and forced himself to look at the gorgeous scene around him again. He’d been over this ground. He needed to move on to the part where he put his life and his confidence in his profession back on track. The key was figuring out what he’d missed.

Chapter Two

NEIL STOMPED his way through the quickly deepening snow, loving the crunching sound his boots made. The snow was coming down in buckets now, sticking to his eyelashes and melting on his cheeks. The branches of the pines were brushing the ground they were so heavy with it. Everything about the scene was awesome, just as beautiful as the pictures in the brochure. Back home, he never got to see snow like this. He couldn’t have asked for a better start to his first real grown-up vacation.

When Neil had said he was going out alone, Mrs. Quinn, the little old lady who owned the inn, had looked terrified for him. But Neil was finally out of his car after an eight-hour drive and so psyched about being in the snow he wasn’t going to let a little thing like a whiteout stop him. He did relent and promise her he would stay within sight of the house. Otherwise he was afraid she was going to call a search party before he even got ten feet outside the door. But man, he really wanted to just go running out into it like a ten-year-old and throw snowballs, build a snowman and a snow fort, and do all the other things he’d never gotten to do growing up in Florida.

Even Durham, where he lived now, never got this kind of snow. It was magical—at least until Neil realized the knitted gloves and suede hiking boots he’d bought for his trip really weren’t meant for spending hours slogging around in wet snow. Thank goodness for the puffy orange nylon coat his mom had bought him as an early Christmas present. It, at least, was made for this weather, even if it did make him look like the Michelin Man.

Undaunted by his damp gloves and socks, Neil kept walking as far as he could while still keeping the house lights in sight. Eventually he realized how dark it was getting, and he could barely see anything but snow past ten feet in front of him. With reluctance, Neil gave in to caution and decided he needed to cut his first hike short and head back. His hands and feet were now tipped with finger-cicles and toe-cicles anyway, and he had a whole week to enjoy the place. The snow didn’t look like it would be going anywhere.

Neil cut through some towering pines, taking a shorter route back. Unfortunately, he jostled a few branches in the process and ended up getting dumped on. He was laughing and pulling clumps of it out from inside his collar when he stumbled across another set of tracks in the snow, and he paused. The footprints looked newer than his, and even with his nearly nonexistent tracking skills, he could tell they were headed away from the house.

Neil bit his lip and searched the area, but he couldn’t see anyone. Mrs. Quinn had asked him to pass along her warnings if he happened to see anyone else crazy enough to be out in the storm. He’d feel terrible if someone got lost and he hadn’t at least tried to check on them. With that thought, Neil changed direction and followed the tracks, just in case.

Luckily, he didn’t have to go far before he spotted a dark shape standing in the middle of a small clearing.

Hello? he called out, but whoever it was didn’t turn around, didn’t even twitch. A little worried, Neil tried again a little louder. "Um, hello? Excuse me. I’m sorry to bother you, but the nice lady at the main house asked