Page 50 of The Grumpiest Elf

Once I’m through the line for food, I station myself in a corner that lets me keep an eye on the whole room so Sarah can’t make off with Lydia.

The room’s filling up more, and several people try to engage me in conversation, but since I can’t keep my focus on them for more than a few seconds, none of them last long. Until Nora sidles up next to me, biting the head off a gingerbread man. “After your apology this morning, I thought you were turning over a new leaf,” she says around a mouthful of cookie.

I look at her, surprised, but she’s watching the people filling up the living room and not looking at me. “What are you talking about?”

Laughing, she holds her hand over her mouth, turning her head my direction at last. “Seriously? You’re over here glowering at everyone, scaring off your friends as much as Mom and Dad’s. So much for turning around your bad attitude.”

My brows come together. “I don’t have a bad attitude,” I protest. “I helped set up. I didn’t complain or sigh or act like an asshole once.”

“Uh-huh,” she agrees, munching on an arm now and nodding. “That’s true. But now …” She waves a hand up and down, gesturing at me. “Now you’re doing this again. It’s how you’ve started every morning at ChristmasFest too, standing off to the side, frowning at everyone and everything until it’s time to slap on a smile for the kids. Do I need to find Sophie? Will she turn that frown upside down?”

I dodge her attempt to poke my face. “No,” I grumble. “Stop it. I’m not mad about the Christmas party.”

Nora scrunches up her face, then looks around. “Ooooh,” she says after a moment, her face smoothing out. “I get it. You’re mad that Sarah’s stolen your new girlfriend.” She nods decisively. “That’s easily remedied.”

And before I can stop her, she slips through the crowd, headed straight for Lydia and Sarah, who’ve been joined by Shane at some point in the last few minutes. All smiles, Nora inserts herself into the conversation, and part of me thinks I should go over and rescue Lydia from the lot of them. All we need is Ty joining in, and it’d be a full sibling strike.

After debating with myself for several moments, I’m about to intervene, but just as I take the first step, I see Nora slip away from the group, Lydia trailing behind her. Nora leads Lydia to the dessert table, casting a meaningful glance in my direction as they go.

Since I’m not an idiot, I follow, stepping up behind Lydia. “Hey,” I say softly. “I see you survived.”

She turns to face me, smiling, her eyes dancing. “It wasn’t so bad, though I admit once Nora joined us, I was afraid I was going to be overwhelmed. What if your brother came up with his girlfriend too?” She glances toward Nora. “But then Nora asked if I’d tried the cookies yet and told me the Russian Tea Cakes are her mom’s specialty, which had Sarah protesting that it’s the gingerbread men that are her real specialty, which made Shane laugh and turned the argument into something between them, and Nora led me away while they were distracted.”

“You’re welcome,” Nora says pointedly from across the table, where she’s picking up a brownie.

“Thank you, Nora,” I say dutifully, slipping my arm around Lydia’s waist. “Sarah’s right, though, about the cookies,” I tell Lydia. “Mom’s gingerbread men are the best. The tea cakes are good too, if you like those, but that’s not what she’s known for.”

“Your sister seems nice,” Lydia says, reaching for a gingerbread man and adding it to her plate.

I grunt in response and add one to my plate too. Might as well, since we’re here.

Lydia laughs. “You don’t think Sarah’s nice?”

Shrugging, I give her a smile. “I’m not sure that’s the word I’d choose for my older sister, no. She means well, though. Careful, or she might adopt you while you’re not looking. That’s what happened with Shane and Sophie.”

Eyebrows raised, Lydia glances at Shane and Sarah, still engaged in conversation, too focused on each other to notice anyone else. “She adopted him while he wasn’t looking?”

“Sorta. She decided she needed to make him and Sophie have the best Christmas possible after their parents died in a car crash the summer before—Shane is Sophie’s older brother and guardian because of that. Sarah found out, decided to involve herself, and hey, presto, now they’re married.”

“Hey, presto, huh?” Lydia says, a smile on her face as she turns to look up at me.

“Something like that.”

“And you’re worried that she’ll involve herself with me and hey, presto, I’ll end up married to them too?”

That makes me laugh, and I shake my head, leading her off to an out of the way spot in the opening to the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. “Given that polygamy still isn’t legal, no, I’m not worried about that. Besides, I’m pretty sure you like me too much to dump me for my sister and her husband.”

She gives me a cheeky grin. “I’m glad you think so.”

“Mostly I just don’t want her to monopolize your time here. I want to keep you all to myself.”

And that must be the right thing to say, because she steps in, lifts onto her toes, and kisses me.

It’s brief—too brief—just a brush of her lips against mine. And I’m desperate for more. For her, all to myself.

With a quick glance around the room to be sure no one’s paying attention to us, I usher her farther into the hall with my hand on her back. “This way,” I prompt. “Second door on the right.”

Her eyes dart between me and the crowd, then she’s following my urging and ducking through the door to my room. When I close it behind us, we can still hear the muffled sounds of people talking layered over “Silent Night” coming from the sound system.

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