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"All right, spill." She glides a pair of scissors along a length of wrapping paper and gets to work nipping and tucking it around the box with neat lines and square corners. She's magic where I'm all thumbs.
I recount the events of Friday night, withholding Ginger's name. There's no sense in naming names and pointing fingers.
“We hit it off, talking and laughing. The connection was...I don’t know how to describe it. Magnetic.” My fingers wiggle in the air as I gesture wildly. Parker’s so easy to talk to. She listens without interrupting, glancing at me as she cuts thin ribbons into long loopy strips. “Things went sideways during Dirty Santa. The minute I saw this, I knew it would be perfect for Christopher, the boy I mentor. So, I stole it from another player.By the rules. I didn’t do anything wrong.It didn’t sit well with other players and especially not the hostess.”
“The hostess? The woman you’re talking about hosted the mixer?” Parker’s quick fingers stop as she holds the knotted bow in place. She stares up at me, concern furrowing her brow. “She thought it was for you? Did you tell her about Christopher?”
“Are you kidding?” I scoff and run my fingers through my hair. “I barely got two words in before she threw me out on my ass.”
“Wait.” Parker cocks her head. “Ginger threw you out?”
“Not exactly. I kind of stormed out while she held the door.” I pause. Something doesn’t add up. I didn’t mention Ginger by name. “How did you know her name?”
“Oh, I...” She stutters and diverts her eyes back to the package. Her voice rings a little higher. “I hosted the singles mixer for several years. Ginger took over for me this year. Mayor Stanton asked her to take over hosting duties on my recommendation.”
“You know her?”
"Well, yeah, I know just about everyone in Cranberry Corner." Bells jingle, and she jerks her head up. "Killian."
“Are you hitting on my best girl, Connor?” Killian wraps an arm around Parker’s shoulder and kisses her forehead. Parker flashes a strained smile and squeezes Killian hard enough he winces.
“Nah, I’m just leaving.” I scoop up the perfectly wrapped present, wasting no time to give them some personal space. Something’s off, and I’m not prepared to watch them spar. “Thanks, Parker. Christopher’s going to love this. I owe you one.”
“Anytime.” She nods with a forced smile. I’m almost out the door when I hear her strained hiss.“You better fix this, Killian. If she doesn’t kill you, I will.”
TEACHER CONFERENCE
CHAPTER 5
***
Ginger
I luck out and catch Rachel midweek during lunch break. We haven’t had time to catch up with each other since the holiday mixer. I’m dying to hear all the juicy details of the mystery man she ran off with for coffee, but I’m equally down in the dumps and need a shoulder to cry on.
“Brought you fresh coffee.” I rap on Rachel’s classroom door and step inside when she glances up from her desk. “Thought you could use a warm-up.”
