Page 6 of A DIY Christmas Miracle
“Hmm,” Cassy said. She reached for her beer bottle, pushing my head off her shoulder in the process, and took a sip. “You definitely need help with that part.”
“I do?”
“Yes.” She nodded vigorously. “You need to be the vanguard that gets everything ready for our arrival… and we need to spin it in a way that, for some reason, only you and Will can do the job.”
“Yeah, I already figured that part out,” I said, grabbing another slice of pizza. “The problem is: how do I do that?”
“With our help.”
“Whose help?”
“Well, mine, Josh’s, Marc’s, Juliet’s, and Linda’s… fuck, I’m sure that even Sophie will join in so we can leave Jack out of it.”
I frowned. “You can’t very well tell them all about my plan, can you? They’ll just make fun of me.”
Cassy grinned. “And rightly so. But no, I don’t have to tell them you want to get snowed in with Will. However, I could campaign for us to give you and Will some alone time. The others are as sick as I am of how sad you are every time you see Will. You may think you’re being subtle, but after more than two years, even the most oblivious of us has figured things out. Except for my brother. He has the emotional sensitivity of a potato. It still baffles me how he managed to get someone as great as Sophie.”
“They know?” I squeaked and would have slapped my hands dramatically in front of my face if I wasn’t still holding that damn pizza.
“Of course — and that’s a good thing. They’ll help you. Actually, it’s pretty simple. All we have to do is make up excuses as to why we can’t go until Christmas Eve. We’ll just say we can’t get the days before Christmas off. Since you don’t have school, you, Will, and Jack don’t have that problem.”
“I was thinking about something like that, but I didn’t want to lie to Will and just tell him that no one could come earlier while giving the others the wrong dates. That would’ve been a step too far.”
Cassy snorted.
“Hey!” I said. “I’m not lying to him. There are just certain reasons for this vacation that I’m not sharing with anyone.”
“Sure. If it makes you feel better, tell yourself that. It doesn’t really matter. We’ll make sure you and your Will will get some alone time.” She winked at me with a devious smile on her lips.
“Thank you,” I replied and let out a little laugh. “Now I just need the weather to cooperate.”
Chapter 3
Eli
“Okay, so how do we want to do it?” Will asked. He was sitting next to me on the couch. As in, right next to me. As in, so close our thighs and shoulders were touching, and I was inhaling the heady aroma of his cologne with every breath I took. My heart sped up as Will shifted, his knee firmly pressing against my thigh.
“How do we want to do what?” I asked, trying to focus on the conversation we were having. Had I missed something already?
“The drive,” Will explained, giving me an amused smile that made my heart skip a beat. There they were again, the tiny little laugh lines that made his warm hazel eyes shine bright.
“Oh, right.” I cleared my throat.
Across from me, Marc was grinning widely and waggled his eyebrows while his eyes ping-ponged between me and Will.
Dear lord, please don’t let Will have noticed that.
“Uhm… you can just pick me up on the twenty-second. I mean, the twenty-first is the last day of school, so I’m free afterward.” I smiled at Will, praying he’d agree to my plan. That’d mean we’d spend at least one whole day together. Just the two of us.
“Sounds good.” Will nodded, adjusting his glasses. “When do you want me to pick you up? We’re taking my car, aren’t we?”
“Yeah, definitely,” I said quickly. “If it’s my small sedan verses your pickup, I know which vehicle I’d put my money on to get us out there safely. Spoiler alert: it’s not mine.”
“Oh, if Will takes his pickup, you two can be in charge of getting us a Christmas tree,” Jack said, a devious grin on his face. “That way, it’ll already be set up when the rest of us arrive.”
“You just want to get out of helping with the tree,” Sophie accused, shaking her head and giggling. “Well, considering what happened last year, it’s probably safer this way.”
Nobody had to ask what happened last year. By now, everyone had not only heard the story but seen what’d happened thanks to Cassy, who’d caught everything on video and had the time of her life showing us how well Jack could handle a Christmas tree stand.
