Page 27 of Jingle Bell Jilt
I raise a brow. And all I get is fake snow down my shirt and in my hair? Maybe next time warn me and I’ll wait for the next turn. I look around the empty store. I might have had to wait a while.
She slaps a calendar on the counter that saysElves of the North Poleacross the top. “There’s your winnings! Come back and visit us next year.” She winks. “Unless you’re up north.”
Up north? Why would I be up north? I lift the calendar and examine it. Would she be offended if I just left it on the counter? Because there’s no way in the North Pole I’m hanging this up anywhere.
But she makes the decision for me when she plucks the calendar out of my hands and tucks it into my bag sitting on the counter.
I hurry and grab the bag before she does anything else odd. Because, I’m sorry, Christmas spirit aside, this lady is weirding me out a little. Okay…a lot.
I walk quickly to the door, making as wide a sweep of the mistletoe as I can, just in case another guy happens to enter the store at that moment.
I lift a hand. “Merry Christmas,” I wave.
“Merry Christmas to you, dear.” She’s still waving when I turn my back on her and sprint to BR.
CHAPTERELEVEN
EVAN
Shay hurries out of the store and hops into the car before I can even step foot on the asphalt to open her door. She slams the door and looks at me. “Just drive.”
I look at her and my brow creases. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve robbed a bank.”
She tilts her head to the side. “Really? Do you actually know what that looks like on me?” She shakes her head and glances over my shoulder out the window. “That old Mrs. Claus lady is just odd.”
I glance at the Christmas store. “What do you mean, odd?”
She shakes her head. “She totally picked out the present and had it wrapped before I even knew what was happening.”
I put the car in gear and pull out of the parking lot. “Then how do you know you got the right one?”
She clutches the bag to her in her lap. “I asked her, and she described it to me perfectly.”
I shrug. “She must have seen you looking at them earlier.” I pull out into traffic. “It says she’s a good salesperson that she actually remembered which one it was.”
“Yeah, maybe.” But she does not sound convinced.
I merge into traffic and glance over at her. “Did something fall on you? It looked like you were trying to wipe something off.”
She runs a hand through her long, dark brown hair. “Apparently I was the ten thousandth customer, and I won a shower of fake snow and a calendar.”
I look over at her. “A Christmas calendar?”
She rummages around in her bag and pulls out a spiral bound calendar with a holly border. I burst out laughing. “Elves of the North Pole?”
Her face relaxes into a smile and she joins me in laughing.
“I triple dog dare you to put that up in your house.” I laugh even harder. “Or better yet, next to your desk.”
She’s still grinning. “Wow. You went straight to the triple dog dare. That’s unprecedented.”
I lift a shoulder. “It should tell you how I’m approaching these contests today. I’m going big or going home.”
“As we’re staying at your house, I don’t find that very threatening.”
I stare at the road in front of us, because I realize how easy it could be to get caught up in watching her. Which is not a good thing while I’m driving.
I glance at her out of the corner of my eye. I just can’t reconcile what I’m seeing with what Nathan has told me about her. Sure, she has made a lot of the decisions for this holiday celebration we’re having. But I get the idea that if I pushed back at all, she would have backed off. I think she’s just trying to make the best of it for both of us this Christmas. She seems determined to do as many of my holiday traditions as we’re doing of hers. And some are just new to us.
