Page 54 of Never Sleigh Never
“Sorry, Logan, the seat’s taken.”
I blink. “Uh… sure. No problem.” I move to the next one. “Hey, Frank, this one free?”
He flicks his gaze to the bartenders, then to the far end of the bar, then back to me. “Nope. The missus is in the bathroom.”
My brows pinch together. “Alright.” I continue down the row of stools. Every empty stool has suddenly been “claimed,” like there’s a secret no-Logan rule I didn’t get the memo about. By the time I reach the end, there’s only one spot left—next to Brie. I clear my throat. “Let me guess, this seat’s taken as well?”
She peers up at me through her dark lashes. “If I say yes, are you going to stand there until another seat opens up?”
“Probably.”
She motions to the empty stool. “It’s all yours. I’m about finished anyway.”
“Wait.” I take a seat. “Before you go, I owe you an apology. I was kind of a jerk the other day.”
She rolls the bottom of the beer bottle on the bar top. “More like asshole.”
“Kind of an asshole.”
She lifts a brow. “Kind of?”
I laugh. “Okay. A lot of an asshole. You didn’t deserve that. Especially being so nice to Josie.”
Her face softens. “She’s a great kid. Super smart. She even knew the conversions when we doubled the recipe. I was impressed.”
“She gets that from her mom.”
Brie playfully elbows me. “Give yourself more credit than that, Mr. Valedictorian.”
A smile pulls at the corners of my lips. She has no reason to be nice to me, but here she is cracking jokes. “Yeah, well. I haven’t been feeling very smart as of late. Anyway, I just want to say I’m sorry.”
She nods slowly. “Apology accepted. And… I’m sorry too. I should’ve asked before baking with Josie. If I were in your shoes, I’d be upset if a stranger was baking cookies with my kid.”
I shake my head. “You’re not a stranger. You’re forgiven.” I exhale a deep breath. “What ever happened to Minnesota Nice?”
This time it’s her turn to laugh. “Minnesota Nice is alive and well. But screw with the wrong person, and it turns into Minnesota Vindictive. You haven’t been gone that long.”
“It feels like a lifetime. Either way, you didn’t deserve my wrath. The holidays are… stressful.”
“You can say that again. This year especially.” She takes a sip of beer, her pink lips wrapping around the bottle. I force my gaze away before my imagination goes R rated. There’s one question that’s been on the tip of my tongue. Now that I know the truth, I want to know what her answer is. “How was your date with Simon?”
She chokes on her beer. “Oh! Uh… grrreat.”
I smirk. “So great it didn’t happen?” Her head snaps up. “Sloane told me the truth.”
“She would. Always the responsible one.” She takes another sip.
“Why lie?”
“Why do you care so much?” She arches a brow.
Clearly, these are questions neither of us want to answer. So I take a new approach. “Then why didn’t you show up to exchange the Christmas decorations?”
Something flickers across her face before she exhales. “Something came up.”
I nod, not buying it, but an interrogation doesn’t seem appropriate.
“Alright.” She swallows the last gulp of her drink. “I should get going.”
