Page 116 of Falling for the Grinchy Bad Boy

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JOY

Isat on Aunt Victoria’s couch with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey in one hand and a bottle of Kahlúa in the other, alternating between spoonfuls of ice cream and sips of coffee liqueur like they were medicine for a broken heart. Which let’s be honest, they basically were.

The image of Lynn draped on Cooper’s arm kept playing in my mind like a movie I couldn’t turn off. The way she’d pressed close to him, claimed his attention, made their interaction look intimate and familiar. The way people had turned to watch, whispers already starting to spread through the crowd like wildfire.

One little second had changed everything. Lynn had staked her claim. That was it. She had the balls to claim her man. I couldn’t blame her. She realized what she lost and that was that.

She was back.

I didn’t really believe Cooper was still in love with Lynn. Despite all my fears and insecurities. I knew him well enough to recognize that whatever he felt for his ex-fiancée, it wasn’t love. But Lynn had made their interaction so public, so performative, that it didn’t matter what Cooper actually felt.

People were already talking about them like they were some kind of celebrity couple getting back together. One of the busybodies practically tackled me near the hot chocolate stand, wanting to know if it was true that “our Cooper and that Ziegler girl were working things out.” By the time I had managed to mumble some excuse and escape, I could see other festival-goers glancing in my direction with that particular look of small-town pity that made me want to crawl under a rock.

That was one of the worst things about small towns—everyone knew everyone’s business or thought they did. In the city, you could have your heart broken in blissful anonymity. Nobody cared about your personal drama because they were too busy dealing with their own lives. There was something beautifully liberating about being just another face in the crowd.

All the more reason to get back there.

I took another sip of Kahlúa and felt the warm burn slide down my throat. Whatever was happening with Cooper, it was too much bullshit. I didn’t sign up for ex drama and public humiliation. When I started having feelings for him again, it felt natural. Easy. I wanted simple love, the kind where two people cared about each other without all the complications and manipulation and small-town gossip.

If I had to jump through a bunch of hoops to win Cooper’s attention or compete with his perfect ex-fiancée for his affection, then he wasn’t the man for me. Real love shouldn’t require that kind of performance.

The front door opened, and I heard Aunt Victoria’s familiar footsteps in the hallway. She appeared in the living room doorway, took one look at my ice cream and liqueur combination, and her expression immediately shifted to concern.

“How are you holding up, sweetheart?” she asked, settling into the chair across from me. “I made sure everything wrapped up properly at the festival. The night was a complete success, as far as the event itself is concerned. I heard about that business with Lynn, though.”

The kindness in her voice was my undoing. All the emotions I’d been holding back since fleeing the market came pouring out at once—humiliation, hurt, disappointment, and a bone-deep exhaustion that went beyond just the physical demands of organizing a community event.

“I don’t know,” I said, my voice cracking. “I feel like I’m on some kind of horrible emotional roller coaster that I can’t get off.”

She moved to sit beside me on the couch.

I held up the bottle in silent offering. She shook her head.

“Talk to me,” she said gently.

“I was feeling so terrible after losing my job and having my whole life in New York fall apart,” I began, the words tumbling out between tears. “I felt worthless, like everything I had worked for had been for nothing. Then I started working on the festival, and that felt good. It felt like maybe I had something valuable to contribute after all.”

I paused to take another spoonful of ice cream, trying to steady my voice.

“And then Cooper and I got close again. Closer than we had ever been, even in high school. For the first time in months, I felt like maybe everything was going to be okay. Like maybe I had found something real and lasting and beautiful.”

The tears were flowing freely now, and I didn’t bother trying to stop them.

“But now it feels like it’s all crumbling around me again. The gossip, the drama, the way everyone’s looking at me like I’m some kind of cautionary tale. This isn’t how anyone’s supposed to feel at Christmas time. Ever.”

Aunt Victoria handed me a tissue and waited patiently for me to compose myself.

“Joy, honey, I need you to listen to me,” she said finally. “Cooper does not want Lynn back. I saw how wrecked he was after what she did to him. That’s not the kind of betrayal a man forgives, especially not a man like Cooper who loves with his whole heart.”

“Then why⁠—”

“She’s here causing trouble,” Aunt Victoria interrupted. “She’s trying to rob him of his happiness again, and she’s using you to do it. She knows that if she can make you doubt yourself, make you run away, then she wins without Cooper ever having to choose between you.”

Her words hit me with uncomfortable accuracy. Lynn was manipulating the situation expertly, using my own insecurities against me. And fucking with Cooper.

That’s what pissed me off.