Page 41 of Acting Merry
“Great.” She grabs the doorknob. “Let’s do this.”
“Hey.”
She stops and looks at me.
“How do you wanna strategize?”
She gives me a funny look. “I mean…I wanna win. I’ve lost the gingerbread house competition every year, but one thing I’ve never had to do is wear the sweater.”
“That’s a lot of pressure.”
One side of her mouth quirks up. “All that talk about you knocking my socks off as a fake boyfriend? Time to pay the piper.”
“I wanna win too. But, and hear me out, if wedon’twin—obviously through no fault of mine?—”
“Ormine.”
“And through no fault of yours. This would be due to unforeseen, catastrophic events. If, heaven forbid, that were to happen…would you prefer to reach the mistletoe before or after Megan and Brady?”
Her smile flickers and her eyes fix on me, but I can tell her brain is elsewhere. The hesitation lasts long enough to make me nervous, even though I don’t even know what answer I’m hoping for.
“After,” she says.
After. That means she wants them to see. It means it’s a performance.
Or maybe it just means she doesn’t want to seethemkiss.
“All right,” I say. “Let’s go win. Again.”
We’re the last ones to join up with the group in preparation for the game.
Tess runs through the rules, and five minutes later, the four groups break apart in search of the fabled mistletoe.
Reese grabs my hand, and we’re on our way.
The cabin is bigger than I’d realized. Reese is convinced the mistletoe will be in the basement, which I hadn’t even realized the cabin had. It’s just a sequence of storage and utility rooms, and our phone flashlights locate precisely zero sprigs of mistletoe.
We pass Tess and Dylan when we get back to the main floor, but Reese is so laser-focused on the task that she barely acknowledges them.
I’m vaguely amused by her intensity and the strong grip she keeps on my hand, like she worries I’ll wander off if she doesn’t hold onto me at all times.
“I thought weweren’ttrying to win,” I say.
“Yeah, but I’m not trying to lose, either.”
“Maybe we should just follow Brady and Megan,” I suggest.” That way we’re sure to find it right after them.”
“Yeah,” Reese says, “and have to watch them kissandkiss in front of them. No, thank you.”
Timing this right—to come after Megan and Brady but not lose—seems pretty unlikely to me, but arguing isn’t going to help the situation, so I continue to follow Reese around like a puppy.
“Oh!” Reese stops abruptly, and my heart does too.
But it’s just a stray piece of pine bough hanging from the doorway.
The main floor yields no results, either.
“Reese,” I say as she looks through another cupboard. “I don’t think we’re gonna?—”
