Page 36 of Mistletoe Mistake
“You guys should be thanking me.”
Both Nick and I remain silent, and Brandon starts to sputter indignantly.
“You told me to stay away from her,” Nick accuses, cutting Brandon off.
“Yeah, three years ago.” He shrugs. “Three years ago you were a drunk asshole and I would have killed you if you touched my sister. You’re not a drunk asshole anymore. Why wouldn’t I want my sister with the best man I know?”
I hear Nick swallow hard behind me, but he doesn’t say anything.
“C’mon, honey.” Amy pulls Brandon toward the door and throws us an apologetic look over her shoulder. “Let’s go get some food before I move from hungry to hangry.”
“But we need to talk about the rules.” He looks back at us. “I might be okay with this, but I still have ground rul—” Amy slams the door, cutting him off.
We stand there in silence, both of us still processing what just happened.
“Did you have any idea he kne—”
“Nope, not a clue. You?”
“Fuck, no.” He spins me around and pulls me up flush against him. “So tell me about this crush.” He smirks down at me and all I can do is shake my head, laughing.
“Nick.”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
He glances up at the ceiling before turning back to me. “There’s no mistletoe.”
“Hmm, you’re right,” I concede. “I guess I can wait until we find some more.” I start to pull away, but he stops me.
“That would be a mistake, I think. Who knows when we’ll stumble across more mistletoe?”
“What are you talking about? We know there’s some out on the deck.”
“Holly?”
“Hmmm?”
“Kiss me.”
And I do.
Epilogue
Holly
Six months later…
“Will you please relax and just enjoy yourself.”
Billie glares at me, but it loses some of its heat when you take in the floppy hat on her head and the colorful cocktail she is holding.
“That’s easy for you to say, you didn’t just lose your job.”
I play with the straw in my own drink and consider her thoughtfully.
“You didn’t lose your job, you lost yoursecondjob. Do you really need a second job?” I prod as tactfully as I can in making what I think is an important distinction. “I mean between working atAvondaleand the pizzeriaandschool, you were burning yourself out.”
