Page 29 of Mistletoe Mischief

“Because, like you said, even assholes have soul mates.”

“Fuck you, bro,” Pike laughed. “Later.”

“Later.”

Pike ended the call and set his phone on the table. He continued eating, his gaze moving over his empty apartment, a heavy weight settling in his stomach. Until last night, he’d thought his life was looking up, and things were going his way, but here he was on a major family holiday, alone. No family. A pity invite. No girlfriend.

“Happy Thanksgiving, you sad sack,” he muttered, dropping his fork back onto his plate. Pike leaned back in his chair and picked up his phone again, tapping on the Instagram app. When he ended up on Excursions profile, he searched through all the pictures, looking for any of Ryler, but there was nothing. He checked out who Excursions was following, and of the ten people, she was number seven.

@rylerroams345 didn’t have a plethora of smiling selfies on her profile. Her main photo was a big, white flower with green foliage in the background. As he went through her pictures, he noticed most of them were of scenery. Two guys kept popping up throughout, either drinking together or paddleboarding or lying on the beach. One of them was a tall Black man with his head shaved, and the other was a shorter man with spiky black hair. Further back in her posts, he found a photo of Ryler with her cheek pressed against the face of the taller guy, their eyes crossed and mouths wide open, tongues hanging out.

I love traveling the world with my partner in crime @TheRealNeilDeal34

Pike clicked on the guy’s name, grinding his teeth when he saw that Neil’s Insta was mostly pictures of Ryler and Alia, although the other man, @KitsgotPics90 showed up in a few. There was one picture that caught his eye of Ryler slung over the back of The Real Neil’s shoulder, pushing herself up and laughing at the camera as he seemed to be carrying her into the ocean.

Was this guy part of the crew? Were they dating? Had she come on to him while her boyfriend wasn’t in town yet?

Pike set the phone face down with a groan, dragging his hands down his face. One brief interaction with this woman, and he was Insta-stalking her and all her friends? Not to mention his jaw was aching because he’d been clenching it for a good ten minutes without realizing it. What was wrong with him?

Get it together, man. Tomorrow, you’re going to take Alia and the rest of the Excursions crew out and pretend like last night never happened.

Chapter Eight

Ryler stepped out of the rental car with a smile as she scanned the Winters’ Christmas Tree Farm. There were quite a few cars in the gravel parking lot, and Ryler could see people popping out between the rows of trees in the distance. Despite Wednesday night’s disappointing interlude with Pike, she’d had a great time yesterday with Alia, eating junk food all day and watching seasonal rom-coms. Although Alia had scoffed at the predictable storylines and cheesy romantic moments, it was the first time they’d had a girls’ day in a while.

Now that Thanksgiving was over, Ryler was ready to light this Christmas season up!

“Do you smell that?” Ryler asked, breathing deep.

“I smell dirt.” Alia pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and sniffed. “Maybe a hint of pine.”

Ryler closed her eyes and took another long breath before she murmured, “I smell Christmas.”

“Of course you do,” Alia deadpanned.

“Let’s go!” Ryler pulled her purple knit cap over her ears and headed down the marked trail to the trees. She could see a large, white tent at the bottom of the trail and figured that was where they needed to go.

“Hey, Ryler,” Alia called, and when she turned around, Alia had her phone up. “Smile, babes.”

Ryler smiled, throwing her hands up in the air. Alia laughed. “Perfect. We should post it to the Excursions Insta.”

Ryler shook her head. “No, I’ll take one of you when we find the perfect tree.”

Alia frowned. “The podcast feed doesn’t just have to be me. We could include pictures of Neil, Kit, and you.”

Ryler stopped, waiting for Alia to catch up before she asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Me? Nothing. I’m doing what I promised and trying to be full of holiday cheer.”

“I get that, but you’re also someone who loves the camera. Why you trying to give up the spotlight?”

Alia snorted. “You make me sound like such a witch.”

Ryler pulled up short and reached for her cousin’s hand. “Hey, I didn’t mean it that way at all. I was kidding.”

Alia blinked her lashes rapidly as if she were trying not to cry. “Ugh, don’t mind me. I’ve just been in my feels lately.”

“Do you want to talk about it? Is it about a guy?”