Before Serena got started on her portrait of Max, she took a few days to pitch in with the Thanksgiving preps. Once she immersed herself in the painting process, it was hard to think about anything else. Max didn’t mind waiting, since he thought the whole thing was a joke anyway.
She bundled up in her wool jacket and went into the woods with Nicole to cut pine boughs to decorate the table. Heavy gray clouds loomed overhead; everyone was placing bets on when the “first snowfall” would happen.
Apparently, the official first snowfall had to be at least a quarter inch of accumulated snow to qualify, and they hadn’t quite hit that mark yet.
As a “welcome to Rocky Peak” gift, Griffin had given Serena a hunting knife—the same kind she’d been eyeing in the sporting good store in town. She had i
