Cody Laughman, a lonely firefighter in New York City, gets a blast from the past when his late father’s lawyer approaches him with news. It has been three years since Cody’s father’s death, the family house needs to be sold. Although Cody is glad to get rid of this part of his life, there is one final thing he needs to do -- fly home to Muffin, Alaska, and make the property presentable.<br><br>He expects this to be a quick visit, just cleaning up some old memories he usually ignores. But memories are stubborn, and on top of everything else, he finds a real Christmas elf living in the attic of his house. Not a tiny fairy, but a full-grown, deliciously handsome man. He doesn’t even have pointed ears.<br><br>But can Cody open up to the possibility of finding love, when the ghost of Christmas past is still haunting him?

The Firefighter in the Snow

It was just then, when he was thinking what Terence and Gladys were doing this moment, when it hit him that really he should be thinking about what hewas doing this moment. More specifically, what he was doing in a city he didn’t like, with no friends and a job he had lost the passion for, when he could be in a town that used to be his home, surrounded by people who cared for each other. People who cared for him. This afternoon, he should be having Christmas dinner with Terence and Gladys, and then call Jessica Vanderbelt to see if she had ended up marrying Scotty Cramer, the boy she was dating all through school. He very carefully did not linger on the rogue thought that after that, late at night, he should be having hot chocolate with Candy. But then he was called in to rescue twins out of a blazing apartment, and luckily, he couldn’t dwell on that last thought.


Chapter 17