“Season of Light”

A fake holiday date creates very real feelings between two friends in this joyous queer love story by Amy Sariego.

Georgia says:

Who’s ready to make the Yuletide gay? *Shoots hand up*. Ever since I saw Happiest Season, I’ve been obsessed with queer holiday rom-coms. That’s why I’m delighted to kick off the most wonderful month of the year with this adorable love story by Amy Sariego.

When Olive’s best friend, Nora, begs Olive to be her fake girlfriend for one night only, Olive agrees—she’d do anything for Nora. But dressed under the mistletoe, fake dating slips into real feelings. Will these best friends make the transition into something more? String up some holiday lights and cosy up with a hot chocolate for the first of our festive reads, all month long at Heartbeat!

“Season of Light”

Skipping her afternoon coffee run had been a mistake. Olive yawns as she pushes through the glass doors of Parker & Schnell, the law firm she’s worked at for the last five years.

It's going on 9 p.m., and there’s a bite in the air. Olive’s fingers start to ache with cold as she types out one last client email on her phone. She’s so distracted that she almost careens right into a couple on the sidewalk, walking hand in hand. Around her, people are laughing and talking, the city gleaming with Christmas lights strung between buildings. Balconies are dripping with lights and crammed with inflatable Santas, and, in one case, a Christmas pig.

Olive can’t think about Christmas just yet. In fact, all Olive really wants right now is to be home, warm, and on the couch with a glass of wine, live-texting her best friend, Nora, through an episode of Love Island. More than anything though, Olive wants all of these late nights at work to start paying off. Her boss, Ethan, has been dangling the carrot of a promotion in front of her for the better part of a year now, and Olive feels like it’s so close she can almost taste it.

She’s about to give her freezing hands a break and tuck her phone away, but it rings before she gets the chance, her mother’s face beaming up at her.

“Olive!” Her mother nearly shouts in excitement, making Olive laugh.

“Mom!” Olive does her best to match her mom’s enthusiasm, masking her complete exhaustion. She knows her mom is probably curled up on their well-loved living room sofa, the Hallmark channel playing something ridiculously adorable on TV. Knowing Linda Hudson, she probably had a fire going, too.

“You’ll never believe it. Your father surprised me with a cruise for Christmas! As a retirement present!” Her mom continues in a rush. “Two weeks, straight through the new year. Of course, that means we’ll be away for the holidays. It’d be the first time we’re not all together for Christmas.”

Her mom’s emotional journey from ecstatic to teary nearly gives Olive whiplash, but she does her best to reassure her. “You can’t turn down a beautiful trip!” Olive says. “Plus, you both deserve it. I’m sure Nora will be in the city with her family for the holidays, anyway,” Olive adds. “It’s not like I’ll be alone. You guys go. But tell dad to invite his favorite daughter next time to make up for it, alright?” This is her mom’s favorite joke. As the only daughter after two boys, Olive is the baby of the family—the “favorite daughter” by default.

“Will our favorite daughter actually take some time off work? Because if you can, I’ll see if he can update the tickets!”

“I can’t, unfortunately. But don’t worry about me, you guys go. Seriously though, next time! Have an amazing time for me.”

When they hang up, Olive’s just the tiniest bit relieved to have the extra holiday time here in Philly to wrap things up as the year ends, rather than fight the holiday travelers on her way back to her Massachusetts hometown.

As she nears her Rittenhouse Square apartment, Olive stops to take in the lights draped delicately in the park across the street from her building. It really is beautiful, all lit up like this. She takes a picture and sends it to Nora.

Olive [9:08 PM]: Think your mom will mind a guest appearance by yours truly this Christmas? My parents will be out of town on a cruise and I’ll actually be in town for Christmas for once!

Olive enters her building and gets into the elevator with no response from Nora, a notoriously fast texter, rarely without her phone in her hand. Her best friend had moved to New York after they graduated college and Olive started law school at UPenn, but they stayed as close as they’d always been, if not more so, sending links and memes back and forth, FaceTiming at least once a week, blocking out time to catch up, taking the train back and forth. Olive’s thoughts are scattered between Nora and work when she reaches her door. When she lets herself in, it takes her a few seconds to process the sight in front of her.

Christmas lights hang crookedly from the ceiling to the floor. A Christmas tree is up and half-covered with ornaments. There’s a poinsettia on her counter, and Nora is standing in the middle of all the chaos. Her face is alight, a reflection of rainbow Christmas lights dancing across her features, her green eyes brighter than ever.

“Merry Christmas, Olive Hudson! Will you be my girlfriend?” Behind her, a string of lights falls with a crash.

Olive stares at her. Surely she’d heard that wrong. Also, what is Nora doing here in her apartment, on a random Friday night in December?

“Just for one night!” Nora amends, dropping her arms. “Oh, don’t look so horrified.”

“I’m not horrified,” Olive admonishes. The opposite, really: she’s thrilled Nora’s here, presumably having used her spare key to make a well-intentioned mess of the place. “Confused, maybe. What are you doing here, and what have you done to my poor Christmas decorations?” Olive gestures at the mess of boxes, the lights still hanging limply. “Hi, by the way,” she adds, looping an arm around Nora in a half hug before setting her work bag down.

“Hi,” Nora repeats, tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. “Well, it is the weekend, and I haven’t seen you in two months, which is way too long, and I wanted to ask you for a favor in person. And, since it looked like Scrooge McDuck was living here, I figured why not make it a whole grand gesture? Except I ran out of time and now it’s all kind of a mess, which I can tell from your twitching eyebrow is already driving you crazy.”

“Just a little.” Olive smiles, stacking empty ornament boxes together on the floor. “Let’s back up for a minute. You wanted to ask me to be your girlfriend… for one night?” Olive lifts an (totally normal, not at all twitchy) eyebrow at Nora before turning to the kitchen and pulling down a bottle of wine and two glasses and filling them.

Nora sighs. “Well, Lily and her new girlfriend, Helen, are throwing this huge, over-the-top Christmas party on the 18th and she invited me. I said I’d go, if I could bring a date. And I may have mentioned that that date was you.” She takes one of the wine glasses, their fingers brushing together briefly, and clinks it against Olive’s. “I just…really want to show her I’m not the cold, distracted girlfriend she thinks I was when we were dating.”

“Okay, but why would I be your date?” Olive asks.

“I already asked everyone else.”

“I’m your last choice!?”

“A minute ago it seemed like you didn’t even want to be a choice.” Nora laughs.

“Two things can be true,” Olive reasons.

“I did ask a few other people first, but everyone either has plans or never liked Lily to begin with, so…” Nora trails off.

“Because I am so well-known for being a fan of the woman who broke my best friend’s heart?” Olive rolls her eyes.

Nora and Lily broke up six months ago. Nora seems to be in a far better place now than she was at the time, but she’d been devastated when it happened. Lily had broken up with Nora after almost a year of their semi-long distance relationship, calling her distant and distracted, even when we’re in the same room. Nora may be a lot of things (loud, bubbly, unhealthily obsessed with Christmas), but she’s far from distracted, especially with people she loves. Plus, New York and Philadelphia are hardly worlds apart; surely it takes two for a relationship to grow distant. Olive and Nora make it work, after all, but then again, Olive and Nora always find a way to make things work.

“This feels like a terrible idea.” And not worth risking our friendship for, Olive doesn’t say. It would be too weird to put themselves in this position, surely Nora can see that. “Plus, would she even believe that we’re suddenly dating?”

“Please,” Nora begs. “I don’t have anyone else! It’s just one night, and I promise it’ll be fun. You need a little fun in your life! All you do these days is work. We’ll get you in the Christmas spirit! We’ll go to the party like the perfect couple I know we can pretend to be, and Lily can see what a perfectly doting girlfriend she gave up. Then we can spend the rest of the week of Christmas with my parents. I did see your text, by the way. Good for Linda and Jim!”

Olive hesitates, thinking it through. It would be weird, definitely, but when she thinks back to how upset Nora had been after the break up, well… she can put that weirdness aside for one night, right? She’d do just about anything for Nora, especially if it means helping her prove to Lily that she’s the furthest thing from a distant and distracted girlfriend.

“Fine,” Olive says, taking another sip of wine. “I’m in. But you’re helping me fix these decorations.”

Nora actually squeals her thanks. “It really will be fun, I promise. If not, I’ll owe you one huge, Christmas-sized favor. Or a batch of Grandma Johnson’s magic Christmas cookies,” she adds. She knows Olive can’t resist the top-secret Johnson family cookie recipe.

“Not even a little bit fair,” Olive says, and Nora just laughs.

They spend the rest of the night re-hanging lights and ornaments, moving with a practiced, comfortable ease around the tree. By the time they’re done, the living room looks festive and cozy, and Nora and Olive are sprawled on the couch, taking it all in as they finish the last of the wine. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad pretending to date. They know each other better than anyone. And, Olive thinks, it might be nice to have a “girlfriend” for the holidays for once. Besides, it’s just one night.

The days fly by in a blur of late nights, reheated Chinese food, happy hours with her colleagues, and far too much screen time. On the bright side, Olive’s clients are happy and her boss has been making more and more comments about Olive moving up the ladder. It would all be very exciting if it wasn’t for the fact of the party staring her down.

Olive knows it’s a crazy idea to pretend to be her best friend’s girlfriend, even if it is only for one night (their consequent “break up,” and the ensuing explanation is something she's been putting out of her mind). Olive isn’t normally one to step this far out of her comfort zone, but Nora is her best friend. Plus, it's been so long since Olive had actually gone on a date that she can’t help but enjoy the process of getting ready. A glass of wine, music playing in the background, her makeup scattered over her bathroom counter… It’s fun. She’d almost forgotten that the holidays should be this way. An unfamiliar but not unpleasant mix of nerves and excitement tightens in her stomach. It'd been way too long since Olive had allowed herself the time to go on a first date with someone, man or woman, so it had been especially fun to pick out the perfect black dress, fun to style her hair. Fun to dress up to impress a girl. Even (especially?) since that girl was Nora. The best person she knows.

Now, with less than an hour until Lily’s party is set to start, Olive distracts herself by touching up her lipstick one last time, spraying her perfectly curled, chestnut hair into place and triple checking that she hadn’t ripped her tights along the way. If she only gets to be Nora’s girlfriend for one night, she’s going to do it right, and she’s going to look amazing. The next thing she knows, there’s a knock at her door.

“You look amazing!” Nora says by way of greeting. “Is that new?” She gestures to Olive’s dress. “I don’t think I’ve stolen it. Yet,” she says. In college, Nora had shopped in Olive’s closet more than she had in actual stores. The tradition had carried on, when the occasion called for it, admittedly less often now that they were salaried adults.

“Yet she says!” Olive teases. “The tags are hardly off. That skirt is perfect, though.” A short, silvery thing that sparkles when it hits the light.

They make their way out, Nora calling an Uber and hopping from foot to foot in an attempt to keep herself warm as they wait.

“Is this where I offer my girlfriend my jacket?” Olive teases. “Or make fun of you for coming out in December without one?”

“Both?” Nora asks hopefully.

Olive gives her the jacket—her dress is velvet and has sleeves, and Nora looks truly unfortunate standing there all shivery.

“Have I mentioned I love you?” Nora says as she slides her arms into it.

“Not nearly enough times considering what I’ve agreed to tonight.”

It’s a fast enough ride to Lily’s, and by the time they’ve warmed up in the car, they’re climbing back out into the winter night once again. Nora offers Olive her hand and keeps hold of it as they head up the steps and into Lily’s apartment building. It’s a single brownstone that Olive can only dream of living in, and it’s beautiful inside, spacious and modern and covered in beautiful Christmas decor.

“This is incredible. I feel like I’m inside one of my mom’s Christmas magazines,” Olive murmurs as Nora leads them into the kitchen.

“Mm, yeah, it’s nice,” Nora says quickly.

Olive can tell that she’s trying to be cool, to act like she thinks nothing of being back in the place she once spent so much time with Lily. Olive gives Nora’s hand a reassuring little squeeze. I’m right here.

In the kitchen, Olive recognizes Lily’s tight blond curls immediately and recognizes the woman at her side as her new girlfriend, Helen. Helen’s dress is candy-cane red, working in perfect contrast to her dark hair and blue eyes. Olive can’t help but notice that she couldn’t be more opposite from blonde Nora.

“Hey! Merry Christmas, you guys!” Nora calls, her voice rising with (no doubt forced) cheer. “You remember Olive?” She holds up their joined hands.

Olive smiles and waves a hand, feeling immediately awkward to be in the middle of this reunion.

“Of course,” Lily says, smiling a bit too brightly at her. “I have to say, I was surprised when Nora told me you guys had gotten together, but the more I thought about it, it just makes sense. You guys always were perfect together, even as friends. And you look so happy, Nor,”  Lily adds. “I’m really happy for you.” She gets them drinks and thanks them again for coming before vanishing into the next room with Helen to mingle.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Olive says encouragingly. “She thinks we’re perfect together. Those Christmas cookies are calling my name.” She’s gaining confidence now that the hard part is over. Now all they need to do is spend the rest of the night together, maybe play some games, and leave before anyone finds out it’s all a ruse.

Nora gives her a smile and wraps an arm around Olive’s waist, leading them into the living room, glasses in hand. It really is surprisingly easy to be together this way, tucked in close together as they greet their friends and make introductions.

“Oh! Darcy, hi,” Nora says, stopping by the couch. “It’s been so long. You met Olive at a few happy hours, I think?” Darcy had been Lily’s friend first, but Olive remembers Nora being excited about clicking so easily with Lily’s friends.

Darcy smiles, nodding. “When did this finally happen?” Darcy gestures between them, at the way Nora’s hand is resting easily on Olive’s lower back, her hand warm and familiar, even in this new way.

Finally?

“Not too long ago,” Nora says. “My birthday was a few months ago and Olive threw me this big surprise party. At the end of the night, after everyone left and we were cleaning up, she kissed me and, well, the rest is history.”

Olive is surprised by how quickly and easily the lie came out. Nora had clearly come prepared. The party part was real, the two of them cackling late into the night, their attempts at cleaning up her apartment only half-hearted as they talked and laughed before finally falling asleep right there in Olive’s living room.

“That’s adorable!” Darcy exclaims.

Olive turns to smile at Nora, only to find that she’s already looking at her, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Well, don’t give me all the credit,” Olive says. “This one broke into my apartment to surprise me with Christmas decorations. I’ve been so busy with work lately that I hadn’t had a chance to get so much as a pine candle. Nora decorated my entire apartment for me while I worked late one night.” Olive hears herself gushing, but suddenly, she can’t help it. She feels a warm, happy glow from the inside out. She’s missed this feeling, being with someone like this, even if it is just pretend.

It’s so easy, pretending with Nora.

Before they can get too over the top with their storytelling, Helen is dragging them into a circle for a game of Christmas charades, which, Olive knows, will only end one way. Most people are surprised to learn just how competitive Nora can be when she gets really into something. Olive expects it by now, which is how she knows they’re definitely going to win tonight. Lily and Helen go first, making them all laugh with Helen’s impression of an elf and Lily’s guess of Mrs. Claus. A few more couples and groups of friends take their turns, before Darcy points at Olive and Nora.

“Lovebirds, you go next!”

Nora locks eyes with Olive, reads the card, then grins. She points to the Christmas tree and dances.

Olive nearly jumps up and down as she yells, “Jingle Bell Rock!”

“Yes! Next!” Nora marches in place, beating an invisible drum.

It’s an easy one. “Little Drummer Boy!” Olive calls.

The third and final one, which has Nora fumbling around almost nonsensically, is impossible for a minute, but then something clicks, and Olive really does jump up when she yells "Christmas Vacation!” and wins the round for them.

Nora’s acting wouldn’t win any awards, and honestly, Olive herself isn’t quite sure how she managed to guess correctly. None of that matters though, when Nora slams herself into Olive in an excited hug. Nora fits against her perfectly, Olive realizes. They’ve hugged a million times before, but tonight, Nora keeps her arms around her for a few beats longer than normal, face pressed into Olive’s neck in a way that just feels new.

They sneak into the kitchen for another drink as the game winds down, and it’s comfortable, the quiet between them. Easy. “See, I told you it would be fun,” Nora says, nudging Olive’s shoulder with hers.

“I should have put a “no I-told-you-so’s” clause in my contract.” Olive smiles.

“Spoken like a true lawyer,” Nora replies. She clinks their glasses together. “To winning, And perfect Christmas dates.”

“Cheers,” Olive says. They’re not alone for long. Another group comes in from the living room, followed by Helen and Lily, who look at Nora and Olive mischievously before looking back at each other.

“What?” Olive asks, glancing at Nora, who shrugs.

“Look up!” Lily gestures to the ceiling.

Olive looks up, but she already knows. Mistletoe.

Lily and Helen and some of their friends are calling out to them, playfully, “Kiss!”

Nora’s eyes meet Olive’s and she gives her a smile and a little we should have seen this coming shrug. One little kiss under the mistletoe wouldn’t hurt, right?

It’s Nora who moves first, sliding one arm around Olive’s waist, her perfume a warm, familiar haze Olive would recognize anywhere. Nora’s other hand cups Olive’s jaw, smiling a little as she leans in and brings their mouths together, and just like that, they’re kissing.

The music and people all fade away, until all Olive can think is: oh, and of course. Tonight had been pretend but this moment is suddenly, entirely, real.

  Kissing Nora is perfect, a homecoming and a new adventure wrapped together in one, picture-perfect Christmas box. Nora holds onto Olive like she’s something precious, at first. Then she deepens the kiss and the party is gone, forgotten. There’s nothing but Nora’s hand in Olive’s hair, and the kiss, careful and desperate in equal measure. Olive’s pretty sure she could spend the rest of time just like this, savoring the kiss like it’s the last homemade, secret-recipe Christmas cookie.

Someone, somewhere, clears their throat, and Olive realizes all at once that they are still very much in the middle of a party, very much in public. She and Nora pull apart. Nora coughs quietly, Olive brushes an invisible speck off of her dress, her mind reeling. What had they just done? Olive’s heart races with the realization that she wants nothing more to kiss Nora again, followed quickly by the fact that she can’t. Her mind reels: where had that feeling come from?

“Aw, Nora, your face is as red as my hair,” Helen teases, and Olive’s pretty sure she is the only one to see the brief flash of nerves flit over Nora’s face before she laughs along with the group.

“Are you sure you can’t stay?” Lily asks as Nora finds their bags and Olive’s coat. Nora hands it to Olive, not taking it for herself this time. Nora is studiously avoiding eye contact. Something has definitely shifted between them.

“We should get back, it’s getting late,” Nora says. “Thank you for inviting us though, it really was fun!” Her voice has that high, nervous edge to it again, just like it had when they first arrived, and Olive’s stomach sinks nervously.

“Of course! It was great to see you, and I really am happy for you. You’re like, all lit up like this,” Lily says, hugging them both as they may their way back into the biting December night.

​​Outside, the street is quiet, only a few cars still on the road. Olive turns to Nora to say something, to acknowledge that what happened inside felt nothing like a one-time, cursory kiss to prove something to an ex-girlfriend.

Instead, all she says is: “We could’ve stayed, if you wanted. I signed on as girlfriend for the whole party.” Olive tries to sound nonchalant, but Nora’s sudden change in mood is making it hard.

“It’s okay, I really should…” Nora trails off, looks at Olive for a beat, then continues. “Make my way to my parents.’ They wanted help with the tree first thing tomorrow,” Nora says, and Olive knows she’s lying, making it up on the spot the way she did with their story earlier. But why?

“What? Just come back with me and go home in the morning. You’ll wake everyone up coming in at this time,” Olive points out. What she really wants to say, though, is please don’t go before we can talk about this.

Nora shakes her head. “I shouldn’t have done that, in there, I’m sorry.”

“That” of course, refers to the kiss. For Olive, it felt life-changing, opening her eyes to feelings she’d managed to ignore, or misunderstand, for the better part of ten years. Clearly her best friend not only doesn’t feel the same way, but regrets it entirely.

“You don’t have to be sorry, it was just for fun. Mistletoe in the moment, that’s all.” Olive hears how flimsy the lie is, even to her own ears, and she knows Nora can, too.

“I just I need some time to think, okay? I really am sorry. I’ll text you later,” Nora promises, and then turns and walks down the quiet street.

She doesn’t look back, and she doesn’t text Olive.

Three days before Christmas, all of Olive’s hard work pays off in the form of a phone call from Ethan.

“We’re announcing your promotion first thing in the new year,” her boss says. She can hear the pride, the smile in Ethan’s voice as he says it, and she’s thrilled, of course. She’d worked her butt off for this for years, and now everyone will know. Maybe she’ll finally be able to start saving for a bigger place, too.

She’s torn, too, though. Her parents are away, Nora still hasn’t replied to Olive’s texts. She’s not sure she even still has plans for Christmas Day, let alone someone to celebrate this huge win with. Nora has been her first call for everything, good and bad, for so long now that Olive just feels empty without her. Something in Olive’s chest feels splintered, her gut twisting with nerves the way it has just about every time she’s thought of Nora in the week since the party. How had she been completely oblivious to her own feelings for over a decade? But the next question is much harder: what, if anything, is she going to do about it?

Though Olive had never been as into Christmas as Nora, this year feels like all of the light has gone out of the holiday. Her parents are on their cruise, so even if she’d wanted to go home, no one would be there. Now, it’s Christmas Day, and Olive is stretched across her couch in a pair of holiday pajama pants, The Holiday playing on the TV, though she’s barely watching. Instead, she picks up her phone only to set it down again. The worst part is, Olive still isn’t sure where it all went wrong.

She’d lost the best friend she’d ever had over one stupid, heat-of-the-moment kiss.

A perfect kiss. That night had unlocked a supercut of memories of the two of them over the years, laughing and crying and fuming and everything in between. Nora had always been there, right by her side, and Olive was only just now realizing that there was no one she’d rather have there. It’s no wonder she’d let months go by without so much as a cursory swipe on a dating app. Nora had always been enough for her, in so many ways, and now, Olive knows why. Her feelings for Nora run deeper than friendship, even best friendship.

There’s a knock on Olive’s door. She freezes in place. There’s really only one person she wants it to be, only one person it realistically would be. Olive is up off of the couch and in front of her door, heart hammering.

When she opens it, Nora’s standing there, a tin in her hand, looking as tired as Olive feels.

“Hi,” Nora says quietly. Her voice is rough like she, too, had spent the last few days tossing and turning and wanting to cry without letting herself. “Merry Christmas.”

Olive huffs a dull, dry laugh, because she feels anything but merry. “Merry Christmas,” she repeats. “What are you doing here?” It feels so completely different from the last time that Nora had appeared unannounced that it’s almost comical. Almost.

Nora sucks in a breath. “First, I made you my grandma’s cookies. As a thank you for the other night, and… to say I’m sorry.” She holds out the tin, a bright red bow on top, and Olive melts, just a little.

“I shouldn’t have left like that, for one thing. I really am sorry about that. Lily hinted at something a few times while we were still together but I always fought her on it,” Nora starts. “She thought I might have feelings for you. I never wanted to admit to myself that she might be right, because what would that mean for us? Our friendship was too important to me. But when I heard about the party, I just… wanted to see what that could be like. Once. That night, everything felt so real. And then I kissed you and I realized I might never get the chance to do it again, and I ran away instead of telling you how I felt. It turns out Lily was right. I… definitely have feelings for you.” Nora looks over at Olive uncertainly, clearly every bit as anxious as Olive’s felt these last few days upon her own realization.

“It wasn’t fake for me either,” Olive confesses. “The kiss, any of it. I was so afraid that us pretending to be together was going to be weird and ruin everything. But it just felt right,”

Nora blinks at her, processing. “You have feelings for me, too?”

Olive nods, choosing her words carefully. “I don’t think I really knew it until that night,” she says. “But I’ve been a mess ever since. I thought I ruined everything before I could even tell you that I have feelings for you, too.” Olive smiles when Nora’s mouth falls open in pleased surprise.

She’s still smiling when she draws Nora in close, kisses her again, softer and slower but just as perfect, just as magical as the first time, because this time it’s real. No crowd of people, or mistletoe, or pretense. This one’s just for them.

“Merry Christmas, Olive,” Nora murmurs against her lips, dragging her in for another kiss.

“Merry Christmas, Nora.” This, here with Nora, feels like the best gift she could have asked for.

Amy Sariego is a content strategist by day and a fiction writer by night, fueling all of it with lots of books and coffee. 

Next week on Heartbeat, get ready for a short story from Rachel Grate.

Follow Heartbeat on Instagram at @storiesbyheartbeat for upcoming behind-the-scenes sneak peeks at Rachel’s story!

Three quick things from Georgia:

1. This holiday season, I’ll be gifting two new scents from my fave candle company, The New Savant. “California Christmas” smells like warm desert air and sun-baked sea salt with base notes of cognac and caramelized sugar. “Only in New York” combines warm cinnamon, whipped caramel macchiato and almond extract for a scent that evokes Christmas trees sold on sidewalks and brownstones aglow. Get 15% off your order with code HEARTBEAT15, through 12/31.

2. Are you just as hooked on queer holiday rom-coms as me? Keep the love coming with Heartbeat contributor Alison Cochrun’s new release, Kiss Her Once For Me. A heartwarming romance chock-full of queer kisses and holiday cheer. Out now!

3. Looking for stocking stuffers? To stay toasty under my various overalls and jumpsuits, I swear by Bombas long socks. Not an ad, just a fan.

   
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