Page 24 of Christmas in Coconut Creek

“Woah, hey now,” Frankie interjected. “What the fuck, guys?”

I gaped at my friend. “Did you make bets on us sleeping together?”

“I knew you wouldn’t,” Nat boasted. “I know my best friend.”

“I knowmybest friend,” Mateo added. “Pike, I was rooting for you.”

“Not exactly up to me.” Frankie scratched the back of his neck.

“Where’d you two run off to just now?”

“I was giving myself a tour of the house,” I said to Mateo. “The place is gorgeous, but it’s seriously lacking in Christmas decor. It’s the middle of December! Where’s the tree?”

“We haven’t taken it out yet.” Mateo motioned toward the hallway.

“Taken it out?” I gasped. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, no.” Nat sighed at her boyfriend. “You got her started now.”

“I mean—it’s in a box. In the closet.”

Frankie hopped off the stool he was sitting on and padded the few feet down the hallway to a storage closet, reaching inside and pulling out a rectangular box that couldn’t have been three feet tall—then a smaller plastic container filled with ornaments.

“Where’s the rest of it?”

“What do you mean?” Frankie flipped the larger box upside down and shook it. A lame little tree fell anticlimactically to the floor in a heap of plastic pine needles.

“You’re kidding?Thatis not a Christmas tree. That’s a decoration at most.”

“We put it in the window.”

My jaw hit the floor. Florida would freeze over before I spent Christmas without a real, bark and needle tree. There were some things I was willing to compromise on, and this was sure as hell not one of them.

“Okay, I’ve heard enough.” I stood. “I’m declaring Operation Christmas on this residence. First order of business is the tree farm.”

Mateo and Frankie both snorted, sharing a glance at each other and then back at me. Even Natalia hid a beguiled smile behind pressed lips.

“Why is this so funny to you three?”

“Phee.” Nat put her hand on my shoulder. “You’re in Southern Florida. There’s no such thing as a tree farm.”

“But hey,” Frankie intervened. “We can go to a treelot, okay? There’s plenty of already cut ones to choose from.”

“We have a tree already,” Mateo argued.

“Cap.” Frankie’s eye twitched at his friend. “Don’t be a scrooge. Maybe O is right. We could use a little holidaysprucing.” He nudged me with a shoulder and winked at the pun.

Natalia and Mateo groaned as I high-fived Frankie. I could afford him one geeky tree pun if he was the only one on my side. I wasn't sure he wason my side,so much as he was trying to get in my pants—but he was on a mission for the latter anyway, and I could use his sway with this.

“So, yes?” I steepled my fingers together and stuck out my bottom lip.

The three of them shared a few hesitant looks before Frankie tilted his head and shrugged at his best friend.

“Fuck, fine.” Mateo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “Get in the car.”

8

Therewasaten-minuteride across Coconut Creek with Nat and I tucked into the backseat of Mateo’s truck while the boys argued over the height of their living room ceiling from the front.

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