Page 48 of The Holiday Grump
I stayed out of Noelle’s way, arriving in the morning after she’d left and leaving before she returned so our paths didn’t cross. I wanted her to have a home. A safe space she could return to after a long day at work without having to deal with another person.
It was a win-win, really, since I also needed to avoid temptation. If I was going to honor my promise and keep my hands off her, I couldn’t be around her in a closed bookstore after dark. I was already allowing this woman to infiltrate my thoughts on a regular basis. She was the star of my fantasies. Every time I touched myself, I undressed her. Touched her. I couldn’t stop imagining things I wanted to do to her. The nicest thing I could do was to keep my distance.
To make sure she felt at home, I’d cleared away my personal clutter and brought in all the linen I’d inherited from Uncle Glenn so she could choose her own. I wasn’t hugely surprised when she chose the most colorful option, featuring red poppies.
And now, apparently, I was also allowing her to make my store window look like a beacon guiding sailors through stormy seas. So yes, my niceness knew no bounds.
I stopped in front of the window, squinting at the scene.They’d warned me, very gently, of the big reveal, but I hadn’t prepared myself for the sheer opulence of it. Red baubles and glowing stars hung from a huge Christmas tree made of stacked green books. Traditional Christmas lights framed the window, and the entire ceiling was covered in fairy lights, creating a backdrop reminiscent of an Indian wedding.
As I stepped inside, a bell above the door jingled. What had happened to my doorbell buzzer?
There were also customers. Plural. They walked between the shelves, browsed back covers, sat in my armchairs, and chatted.
Any sane business owner would have been ecstatic, but I couldn’t summon any excitement, no matter how hard I tried. In its place was panic, like I’d walked in on burglars cleaning out my home.
Noelle stood behind the counter, ringing up someone’s purchase as Kailee slipped the book into a paper bag and handed it over with a smile.
I spotted my sister in one of the armchairs, enjoying a coffee and some flaky pastry that stuck to her black pants and the chair.
“Happy Holidays!” Noelle called after the lady squeezing past me at the door.
It closed with that jingling sound again.
“What’s that noise?” I asked.
“It’s your new doorbell!” Noelle grinned, stepping out from behind the counter.
She wore a short pink skirt and orange leg warmers with a reindeer sweater and some sort of homemade Santahat, like she was filming an aerobics video in the North Pole. “Wait, there’s more!”
She clicked on a remote, and “Jingle Bells” blasted at full volume from a pair of speakers installed above the door.
“I said nothing that plays music!”
“I thought you meantdecorationsthat play music.”
“So you thought speakers were a safe bet?”
She turned off the music, looking a little hurt. “I haven’t put together a proper playlist yet. I’ll find something better.”
God, no. I wanted no Christmas music. None.
Fighting nausea, I backed into the only empty corner I could find, behind the counter. “Why do I need a new doorbell?”
“For holiday cheer!” Kailee answered, joining the conversation. “It sounds a lot nicer than that buzzer you had before.”
“It made me think of losing a game of Operation,” Felicity added, dropping her empty pastry bag into my trash. “Every time I opened the door, it was likeErrr! You nicked an artery. You’ll never be a surgeon!”
They stood around me like a gang of school bullies, unified in their low opinion of me and my store.
I glared at Noelle. “Your store sells doorbells? And speakers?”
Christmas decorations were supposed to be temporary. She’d changed my damn doorbell.
Noelle blushed. “I had to go a bit further for the speakers. And your old doorbell is still there. We didn’t break it or anything. It’s just silenced.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who silenced it?”
Noelle and Felicity exchanged a look.
