Page 58 of Mistletoe Misses
“Ah, the Henderson boys.” A woman inside the gazebo clasps her hands under her chin and makes her way to us, her short, black hair bobbing above her shoulders with each step. “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate you signing up. You’ll be quite the draw.” Her brow wiggles above thick, red-rimmed glasses.
Another groan of complaint escapes Cooper’s throat.
“What’s the matter, Cooper?” she asks, frowning. “A few hours of kissing doesn’t sound like the bachelor’s paradise?”
“A few hours?” he screeches.
“Come on. I’ll get you set up.” Back to her peppy self, she waves a gloved hand and struts back to the gazebo, expecting us to follow. When two of us don’t move, she stops on the steps and motions again. Behind her, Aaron mimics her enthusiasm, almost drawing a grin out of me. Almost.
“If we don’t do this, we’ll have Nana to deal with,” I say to Cooper, talking through our sticky predicament aloud.
“You want to kiss strangers and women we’ve grown up with all our lives?”
“Hell no, but what choice do we have?”
“Plenty. We have skills no one else here has.” He gives me a side-eyed smirk, clearly more intoxicated than I thought, and I laugh. It’s nice seeing my brother relax for a change. He’s always been the serious one of us three boys.
Following his lead, I play along. “True, but we can’t use those on all the women who’ll want a sliver of us to satisfy their fantasies.”
“Itisnice to be wanted,” he gets out before a chuckle. “Come on. Let’s get it over with.”
We climb the stairs, and Joanna—apparently, that’s our kissing booth pimp’s name—positions us around three square tables covered in green fabric and shaped like a U inside. She explains the two rules in greater detail than necessary—in summary, no tongue or touching the customers (other than lips and cheeks, of course)—and leaves us with, “Have fun.”
I set Trixie on a small blanket at my feet and settle in for an interesting evening. Thirty minutes before the booth opens, a line of customers begins to form outside the gazebo. With each passing minute, the line grows, snaking through Loving’s Park until I can no longer see the end.
“Where did all these women come from?” Cooper leans back to ask me.
“Who knows?”
From my vantage point, facing the entrance, many faces in line are unknown to me, but I recognize Jada and the mayor’s granddaughter, Harper. Guess she isn’t happy with our mistletoe misses.
With a sigh, I zip up my coat as a breeze presses through the gazebo, jostling the string lights lining the ceiling. They flicker and draw my attention, along with a few four-letter words. I shouldn’t be surprised a Christmas-themed kissing booth has mistletoe, but I’m caught off guard nonetheless. There’s a bunch hanging over each table with another in the center … exactly where I’d installed it on Carmen’s eighteenth birthday.
“What’s wrong?” Cooper asks, and I answer with a point to the offender. “Ouch.”
“Yeah.”
“Alright, ladies,” Joanna begins, taking her position at the entrance. “The kissing booth is now open. Make your donation with Veronica here.”
She motions toward my new friend sitting at a table by the steps, and I’d give anything for her stellar advice on how to get me through yet another uncomfortable situation. I seem to be stumbling into a lot of those lately.
“Enjoy!” Joanna says and steps aside to assume her hostess position at the steps.
Cooper sucks in a quick breath. “Shit.”
“Agreed.”
“Bring on the chicks,” Aaron says, rubbing his bare hands together like he’s about to eat his favorite sandwich.
At that, my and Cooper’s eyes roll with annoyance.
“Hey, Aaron, did you see Addie’s in line?” Cooper teases, and Aaron’s head whips around so fast I worry about him getting whiplash. “Who do you think she’s here for?”
“You see her? Where?”
“I doubt she came for you, given your history. She must have a crush on one of your handsome older brothers.”
“What happened to sticking together through this?” Aaron whines, his happy buzz sufficiently doused.
