AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 13
Abby
“Here you go. And have a nice night!”
Abby replaced her ladle in one of the array of slow cookers she’d laid out at her Mistletoe Fest booth, keeping the batches of mulled wine that she’d crafted especially for the occasion warm.
She hoped that her supply would last through the evening. She’d seriously underestimated the amount of people that would want to try some.
Of course, since the chill in the air bit deep, she supposed she should’ve figured that any drink that combined both warmth and alcohol would probably be a big hit.
She even had a few batches of warm apple cider for the kids, but that wasn’t flying off her shelves nearly as fast. Not when there were so many other booths selling decadent varieties of hot cocoa.
She looked up to see who was next in line and saw Gen and Ella there, exchanging glances and giggles like seventh graders whose crushes had just winked at them.
Abby laughed. The merriment was contagious. “Hey, ladies. What’s so funny?”
“We came to take over for you,” Ella said.
“Yeah, you’re needed up by the stage. The presentations are about to start,” Gen added.
“What? Why would I be needed for the presentations? I’m not part of the program.”
“They’re doing a surprise bit. I roped Gavin into it, and I said you’d participate, too,” Gen explained.
“If Gavin’s participating, why don’t you do it? You all are dating. That would make way more sense.”
“It’s not that kind of thing,” Ella said.
Abby wrinkled her brow. This was starting to feel like the kind of conversation she had in her dreams sometimes, where a lot of words were spoken but not a whole lot of sense was made. “Well, what kind of thing is it?”
Gen rolled her eyes and stepped around the folding table that formed the front of Abby’s booth. She grabbed her arm and pulled her out and toward the stage, calling back to Ella over her shoulder, “Mind the booth, Ell!”
“Got it!” Ella replied, her voice sailing over the heads of the crowd that was already in between them as she and Gen made progress across the town square.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Abby said, shaking her arm free.
The freedom was short-lived, however, because Gen just grabbed it again in her viselike grip and they continued to make their way up toward the portable platform set up at the southeast corner of the courtyard.
“Can’t you just relax and go with the flow?”
Abby barked out a laugh. “Could you, if the situation was reversed?”
“Hell, no. But that’s not the point.”
“What is the point?”
Gen grinned. “That the situations aren’t reversed.”
By that time, they’d reached the stage, and Abby lost the will to argue because, standing there right next to Gavin, was Jet. She knew it made her wishy-washy, but if Jet was involved in whatever this was, she’d go along with it. Any excuse to spend time with him.
She didn’t love what that said about her independent spirit, but she decided not to think about it too deeply, but rather just go with the flow and enjoy it for as long as he was around.
Gen finally let go of her arm and told the guys, “Okay. Here she is. She was a gigantic pain in the ass about it, but here she is.”
Abby smiled at Jet. “You got roped into this, too, huh?”
Jet returned her smile, and suddenly the night didn’t feel so cold anymore. “What exactly is it we’ve gotten roped into?”
