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Prologue

“Emma! Emma! Emma!”

“Mom! Mom! Mom!” I put my overenthusiastic mom on speaker, so I could continue to write my report for work

“Funny, sweetie”

“I thought so”

“I have soer than her fifty-four-year-old self

“I already know it’s six months until Christmas today I’s have been crazy at the plant”

My reen She lived for Christmas, or pretty much any holiday, but Christmas was her favorite If she didn’t have at least half her shopping done by July, she thought so aould happen, like the couple from The Notebook would break up I never had told her that Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdao She would have blamed it on the fact that she only made seven side dishes instead of ten for Christot to buy the postift

“Then it’s a good thing that I already knohat I’ to the tune of “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”

Perfect It was so hard to think of at least twenty things I wanted Soot I was thirty—not thirteen—and that I owned a house, a Jeep, and even had a big girl job as a ist for the steel plant “I can’t wait to see what you picked out”

“Oh, honey, he is a cool drink of water—ht Actually, he’sto want to unwrap all year long”

I ave Mo but decided to try and divert her “Are you finally gettingfor since I was nine?”

“Emma Elaine Loveless, you knoanted to, but your sisters were allergic and now you work all day, and ould you raise it with?”

“Mos all the time”

“But it would be so nice to share a puppy with someone Or you know, maybe a baby?”

I pinched the bridge of et this report done by the end of today Do you think we could talk about this for the 76,985th tiht?”

She giggled “It’s only been 56,321 tioing to look fantastic in our Christmas photos Seriously, you will be the cutest couple Even cuter than that Notebook couple They’re still together, right?”

“Uift?” I hated lending fuel to her unquenchable fire, but I couldn’t bring myself to torture her

“Oh, honey, really, he’s the one I have this feeling I got tingles all over”

I hoped she didn’t have nerve daine she would be tingling When it came to me, she had horrible taste For herself, she had picked tinners

“Tingles like when you set as station and it turned out he had stolen the Mercedes he was driving that you admired so much?”