Page 5 of Mistletoe Madness

“Oh, um. Yeah, of course.” I tried not to let my surprise show. He’d been hinting for a couple of weeks now that we really needed to watch the last season.

“It’s just that, well, I have a date tonight.”

“Oh. Right.”

“And you know, given what happened, I wanted to mention it in case … well, you know.”

“Right. Say no more.”Please, say no moreI silently begged.

“Okay.” He cleared his voice. “There’s pizza in the fridge. Help yourself.”

“A bribe?” I asked, injecting my voice with a hint of levity. As if to say, I’m the cool chick roommate. I don’t care if you bring a girl home. In fact, I’m so cool about it, I am totally fine with hearing you two fuck through our adjoining wall. It’s not weird. It’s not weird at all.

“A peace offering,” he said.

“Ah, well. Thank you.”

“No. Thank you, Mik.”

“There’s nothing to thank. Have a nice time, Nick.” And I truly meant it. If anyone deserved to find love, it was Nick. He was the type of guy every girl could ever want. Unfortunately, I was starting to realize that also included me.

When I hung up the phone, I checked my email to find my client had finally signed off on their announcement. Ten minutes later it was queued up for distribution in the morning, and I was heading out the door. Instead of O’Brien’s though, I made a slight detour to Best Buy. I needed those noise-canceling headphones tonight.

4

Nick shuffled into the kitchen scratching the dark scruff on his jaw. “Morning,” he murmured, making his way to the coffee pot on the other side of the room.

“Rough night?” I looked up from the book I was reading on my Kindle, my empty plate pushed off to the side.

He poured a giant mug of coffee and then sidled up to the table where I sat and slowly lowered himself down into the chair across from me. “You don’t know the half of it.” It was rare for Nick to sleep in past ten o’clock in the morning. Even rarer for him to wake up looking like something the proverbial cat had dragged in. His hair was sticking up in all directions and the dark bags under his eyes were carrying bags of their own. And yet, even looking like death warmed over, he was still the most attractive man I’d ever known.

He groaned as he reached for the pot of sugar sitting between us. “I swear, I need a day off from all these holiday parties.”

Immediately, all of my warm, fuzzy feelings were doused with a bucket full of cold reality. I’d lost most of my friends in the break-up with Brayden, which I suppose just proved they weren’t actually my friends, buthis. Instead of going out every night like Nick, I’d been sitting at home eating cold pizza and watching reruns onCSI Miami.

“And what were last night’s festivities?” I asked, trying not to let the self-pity I was currently experiencing seep into my voice.

His eyes flicked up briefly, and then back down to his mug. He ran his finger in circles along the rim. “You remember Bethany?”

I lifted my coffee to my lips. “Mmm-hmm.” Bethany was his best friend Rudy’s girlfriend. The three of them had met in junior high when Rudy moved to town, and he and Bethany had dated all through high school and college. They’d been over a couple of times when I’d first moved in, but I wouldn’t say we werefriendsor anything like that.

“Her younger sister Beckett just moved back to town.”

“How nice for her.” Unfortunately, my words came out sounding bitchier than I’d meant for them to. I didn’t begrudge a family spending time together at the holidays, especially sisters. I figured I was probably just bitter because Christmas was two weeks away, and my own sister hadn’t even sent me a card yet.

Most people might not find that alarming, but like clockwork, she sent them out every year the day after Thanksgiving. I could only surmise my lack of perfectly posed family photo accompanied by a two-page newsletter meant that she’d dropped me from her list this year. Not that I was all that surprised about it. She’d also forgotten to invite me to my niece’s tenth birthday party at our parents’ house earlier this summer. I’d only found out about it when my mom had called to ask why I wasn’t there yet, and could I pick up some more grape soda on my way over.

Come to think of it, maybe it wasn’t only my friends that I’d lost in the break-up, but my family, too. After all, Penelope was married to Brayden’s cousin, Rod. That’s how I’d met, him, actually. The four of us had been practically inseparable once he and I had started dating, and when we’d gotten engaged, I thought Penny might have been even happier about it than I was.

I’d give Penny a few more days, and if I didn’t hear from her, I’d pull up my big girl pants and ask my sister why she was giving me the cold shoulder. I’d have to see her at my mom’s Christmas Day brunch anyhow, so I figured it was best we get all our problems out in the open now. No one wanted a repeat of Christmas 2013, when my Aunt Calliope had shown up drunk and accused my mom of being an uppity snob who’d turned her back on her family when she’d married my dad.

I shook my head to chase away those unhappy memories, only to find that I’d somehow missed part of my conversation with Nick.

“I can’t keep up with those two, I swear.” His lips quirked to the side, and he shook his head at some inward memory I wasn’t privy to. “Beckett, man. She’s nuts.”

Picturing a younger version of Bethany, I was assaulted with images of a gorgeous blonde cheerleader type with tight, toned legs and boobs so perky she could get away with never wearing a bra. Basically, the exact opposite of me. While Bethany was a total sweetheart the few times we’d met, she also had the energy of a Jack Russell terrier who’d just shotgunned a Red Bull or three. If Beckett was anything like her older sister, it was no wonder he looked haggard.

“Well, we’re not getting any younger,” I mumbled, hating myself for being unable to pull myself out of my sudden funk. In addition to the stuff with my family I’d dredged up during my short, uncomfortable walk down memory lane, I was jealous with a capital J of all the people Nick was spending time with lately, and my green-eyed monster was ready to play.

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