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“Ah, well…good news for my belly, if not my eyes. Hey, Erika, can I get a Grey Goose martini with a twist?”
She lifts a hand in acknowledgment of the order and reaches for the vodka behind the bar, only to give it a quick shake and a frown.
“Hey, Hugh, it’ll be just a sec, ’k? I need to run downstairs for another bottle of Goose.”
She slips out from under the bar, and one of the servers comes in to take her place temporarily.
“Okay, darling, I haven’t seen nearly enough of you,” Hugh says, helping himself to a sip of my wine. “Tell me you’re going to the parade. Mom’s setting up an eggnog stand, and I promised to recruit customers. She figures if there’s enough demand, the sheriff will turn a blind eye to booze on the streets.”
“I’ll be there. Actually…” I lean forward
and pause with fake drama. “I’ll be one of the stars.”
“Gingerbread Princess again?”
“Nah, I passed on my crown to Kayla Teek. I’m…” I do a drumroll with my fingers. “An elf.”
Hugh lifts his hand for a high five. “Hot.”
“Right!” I smack his palm with mine. “That’s what I tried to tell Mark. Guys like girls in elf costumes, don’t they?”
“I’m not one to know much about heterosexual preferences, but even I know women in tights is a good thing. Not as good as men in tights, but…” He gives a shrug and wink. “So, who are we impressing with our great butt in green tights?”
I open my mouth, then shut it. Who am I impressing? When I’d originally hatched my plan, I’d assumed that there’d still be some exes in the running. I’d figured that maybe I’d have found The One, and that me looking adorable would result in a winter’s-night kiss in front of the whole town…
Now when I picture how it’ll go down, the only face I can see is…
“Hey, there he is,” Hugh says, nudging my knee with his and nodding toward the back archway that leads to the kitchen.
I glance up to see Mark coming through the doorway.
At the exact same moment Erika comes bounding up the stairs from the storage room to the left, vodka in hand.
She rams into his side, and they both stumble back slightly, although Mark reaches out a hand to steady her.
He says something that makes her laugh, and Mark smiles back. A real smile, the kind that lights up his whole face and isn’t all that common.
My stomach knots with…
Jealousy.
Yup, there it is. I’m jealous.
Not as jealous as I’m about to be, though. Remember how just a few seconds ago I was all “Oh, Hugh’s so great”?
That was before he cups his hands over his mouth and calls out “Mistletoe!” to Erika and Mark.
They give a startled look in our direction. Mark’s eyes lock on mine for a fraction of a second before glancing upward.
Erika looks my way, too. Then at Mark, then at the mistletoe. The tables nearby start chanting “Kiss…kiss…” as do a handful of people at the bar.
Hugh gives me a quick elbow jab in the ribs as though we’re in on this together, and I somehow manage a smile so wooden it feels like my face is splintering.
Mark doesn’t do mistletoe, I remind myself. Or at least he reins it in with a puny kiss on the cheek, as I learned last night.
He’ll give Erika that same indifferent peck, and then—
Erika’s free hand slips around Mark’s neck, and she brings her mouth up to his.
