Page 1 of A DIY Christmas Miracle
Part 1: Eli
Prologue
Eli
And they lived happily ever after.
I closed the book and sighed. The book hadn’t said that verbatim, but it’d been heavily implied. Two people had found their happy ending, their‘happily ever after,’their ultimate and incredibly cheesy end, which had been garnished by a marriage proposal in the epilogue.
I hadn’t expected anything else. The protagonists were smiling on the cover, two men in love, standing arm in arm, beaming right into the camera. I’d have been incredibly disappointed… hell, I’d have been furious if theyhadn’tended up together. I wanted them to be happy. I wanted them to find the missing half of their soul, their counterpart in everything; otherwise, I’d be reading tragedies, not romance novels that had guaranteed happy endings.
I loved books with lots of drama, heartache, and so many achingly sweet moments that I was always low-key afraid I’d have to make a doctor’s appointment because all the kitsch had given me diabetes. I really did love these books; I just wished something like that would happen tome. That I’d find someone I could build a life with. Someone who completed me, who made my heart beat faster, and who made my stomach flutter like there was a swarm of butterflies living inside of it.
I got up with a sigh and walked to my bedroom — that was where I stashed my secret collection of treasures: a huge bookshelf filled with romance novels. Full of books that promised a great life for two, three, or more people — who was I to judge? They told stories of incredible coincidences and events so unlikely that only fate herself could have planned them.
What wouldn’t I give for something like that to happen to me. For someone who looked at me the way Drew had looked at Sammy in the book I’d just read.
Of course, I didn’t want it to bethe exact samethingfor me. God forbid! I shuddered. That’d mean I’d be falling in love with my best friend’s big brother, and that thought was weird, disgusting, and just plain wrong. After all, Jack was kind of my big brother, too. And straight. And married. And a soon-to-be-father.
Just the thought of me and Jack made me break out in hives.
I quickly placed the book I’d just finished back in the right place on the shelf — the Holiday romance section — and looked at all the books on that shelf.
I clearly didn’t just have a special fondness for romance novels, but a special fondness forChristmasromance novels. And for printed books. If I continued collecting books at this rate, I’d need a new apartment — one with the space for a small library.
Shaking my head, I looked at the spine of the last book in the row before pulling it out with a smile. It was one of my favorite Christmas romances ever.
In early October, itwasstill a little early for reading Christmas stories. But to me, as soon as it was cold enough outside to snuggle up in front of the fireplace with a hot chocolate in the evening, it was cold enough to read a Christmas romance. Besides, it wasn’t like there was anyone to tease me about it. I lived alone, after all.
Because I didn’t have anyone. Not my best friend’s big brother, fortunately, not my best friend, also fortunately, and not anyone else,notfortunately.
Maybe I should just get a cat or two. Actually, I’d rather have a dog, but it wouldn’t be fair to leave them alone the whole day, five days a week.
I sighed again.
Maybe instead of getting a pet because cheesy romances made me feel lonely, I should give up reading said cheesy romances for a while.
However, I immediately dismissed the idea of giving up my personal drug, even if just for a while, as I marched back into the living room, settled down on the big, comfy couch, pulled my blanket over my legs, and opened the book.
That it was my favorite book was obvious. The spine was broken in several places and the pages were tattered. The soft cover sported a couple of teardrop stains and scratches. The pages of the bottom right corner were discolored because of that one time I’d fallen asleep on the couch with a hot chocolate in one hand and the book in the other.
But it was okay; the book was still readable, and I’d certainly enjoy it at least two or three times before Christmas.
I mean, the story was simply perfect. It made me want to tear my hair out, despair, shake the protagonists, and cry, all the while melting at their cute antics.
I blindly reached for the mug of hot chocolate waiting for me on the coffee table as I got sucked into the story of how the protagonist, along with his big brother’s best friend — because there was always something about best friends and big brothers — drove to a lonely cabin in the woods to prepare for the family Christmas celebration together…
A small sigh escaped me. What wouldn’t I give to be in a situation like that? Preparing Christmas for the family — it’d just have to be Cassy and Jack’s family — with my crush in a small cabin in the woods when a snowstorm hit. We’d be alone for days. There’d be no electricity, just the fireplace to provide us with warmth, and we’d have to snuggle up together in front of it so as not to get cold. And at some point, over the course of those days, my crush wouldfinallyrealize that he loved me, that we were perfect for each other. Just because fate had decided to send a snowstorm by.
Fate,pah!As if there was such a thing as fate!
You have to take fate into your own hands,my father had always said.
I paused for a moment, sipped the not-so-hot chocolate, and stared into the crackling fire in the fireplace.
Why the hell not?
If the cabin and the snowstorm couldn’t come to me… then I’d have to go find the cabin and the snowstorm myself. Easy as pie.
