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I flick my tongue across my bottom lip and try to remember if I had onions on my chicken salad sandwich at lunch. Crap, is there still time to sneak a mint? I need a cool and sophisticated way to say, “Don’t kiss me yet. I ate onions at lunch.”
He frowns.
I said the words out loud.
Horror washes over me as my cheeks flame. I’m vaguely aware of the sound of my voice from the tablet. I’m discussing the different types of orgasms that women can achieve.
“Truck is empty,” Grizz says. He pulls the keys from his pocket and places them on the counter. Then he turns and walks away, leaving my heart behind.
3
GINGER
I inhale the scent of warm cookies as I settle at a sticky table in Courage Cookies. It’s been three days since Grizz found out about my show. I haven’t even told my best friend Mackenzie about what happened. It’s too humiliating. Besides, she’s just now finding happiness with her new boyfriend, Ace.
I take a sip of my latte. This is my favorite little place to get coffee with my friends. Today, I’m with Susie. She’s only lived in Courage County for about a year, and I like her.
“I don’t even know how I got roped into being an elf!” Susie exclaims as she takes another sip of her hot chocolate. She’s always drinking one of those.
“The Kringles are pretty cool people,” I tell Susie, thinking of the cowboy brothers that run the Christmas tree ranch. The oldest brother, West Kringle, and his wife usually play Mr. and Mrs. Claus at the holiday events around town. But sometimes, they do holiday events for charities too.
“If it weren’t for Hale, I definitely wouldn’t have agreed,” Susie says, referencing her boss and the owner of the gym. She’s loyal to the hulking mountain man who recently married the love of his life. I think Susie’s loyalty goes beyond the fact that he gave her a job. There’s more to the story, and I want to ask her about it, but then the bell above the door chimes.
Mackenzie joins us at the table, sending me a grateful look when she sees the coffee I ordered for her.
I expected her to be practically floating today. Three days ago, after my disaster with Grizz, I dragged Mackenzie to a nightclub in another town. Ace showed up and carried her out, insisting no other guy could even look in her direction.
My bestie should still be in that blissful, happy bubble that couples experience. That’s when I remember her dad. Ace is best friends with Mackenzie’s dad, and that’s complicating their relationship. “Is your dad still mad at you?”
“I think he’s furious with me. He won’t even return my calls,” she admits.
I drum my fingers on the table and swallow hard. It was my idea to go to Vortex. I dragged her there even though she didn’t want to show up. She didn’t even know what my big plan was. “Do you blame me for my ridiculous plan to make Ace jealous?”
She frowns. “That was your plan?”
I went to a lot of effort to make sure the word got out that we would be there. Getting the gossip train going in Courage isn’t all that hard. But finding a way to keep that same gossip from getting back to my brothers was anything but easy. “Duh, that’s why I took you there. How else would I get Ace to drag you back to his cave like a total Neanderthal?”
She laughs. It’s not her usual full-bellied sound, but I’ll take the win.
Beside me, Susie chuckles too. “You’re devious.”
“Maybe that’s what it takes to get his attention,” I muse to myself. Maybe if he thinks someone else wants me, he’ll make a move. Is Grizz the jealous type? Does it make me a horrible person if I want him to be?
“Who?” Susie asks.
“You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking,” Mackenzie says with a clear warning in her tone. She knows how long I’ve crushed on Grizz, and she probably thinks it’s a hopeless situation. Except maybe it’s not as hopeless as I’ve been telling myself.
Sure, I haven’t seen him for the past three days. It hurt when he didn’t show up for our family’s Thursday night dinner like he normally does. But then again, how would I respond if I found out the burly mountain man ran a sex podcast in his spare time? Maybe I’d feel awkward too.
Susie frowns, so Mackenzie quickly fills her in on the details of my crush on Grizz. Our new friend nods and asks, “Is he cute?”
“He’s big and grumpy and so handsome,” I sigh softly. “But he won’t pay me any attention because I’m just Greer’s younger sister.”
Before we can talk more about my unrequited crush, the bell above the door for Courage Cookies rings. The three of us look up to see Mackenzie’s dad striding toward the table. He keeps his gaze on her the entire time.
