Page 29 of Merry Mayhem
“Oh. Yeah, we should do that.”
We should. That will make this official.
I will berequiredto spend time with this guy.
I’m feeling like a really bad sister right now because that gives me butterflies.
This is such a bad idea.
“But the thing is,” I say. “The schedule is really erratic. There will be events scheduled at certain times, but they also have surprise challenges where they just text us and tell us that we have to meet somewhere, or go do something, and then reportto a central location. We’re not going to know when those might come in.”
He chuckles, and the curl of heat in my stomach simply cannot be ignored.
“You’re kidding.”
I lift a shoulder. “The word mayhem is right in the title.”
He nods. He’s still smiling and dammit…my attraction to him isnotmy fault.
Probably.
I really need Andi and Nora to confirm that, though.
“So, Autre is forty minutes away, give or take,” he says. “That could be complicated.”
I nod. He’s not wrong. “Last year, Violet and Sam got a text at six a.m. saying they needed to gather all of the ingredients to make sugar cookies and then report to the community center kitchen for a bake-off. At that time of day, no stores were open, and a lot of people were in bed, so if Bruce hadn’t already had everything available, they would’ve been in trouble. One pair had to make no-bake cookies. They did get points for being resourceful. And one team frosted graham crackers.”
“Did that count?”
I nod. “Half the points. For the decorating. But another team just didn’t get any points because they couldn’t pull it all together.”
He lifts a brow. “Wow. Brutal.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“And how long did they have to get to the community center?”
“An hour.”
He blows out a breath. “I guess I need to get a hotel room.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Harley says as he comes into the kitchen carrying a handful of silverware and a few glasses.“There won’t be any hotel rooms available. Everything is booked up.”
With another person in the room, I am now able to step back from Josh. It’s like the magnetic force between us is broken. I should probably feel relieved about that, but I don’t. Which is a huge red flag.
Anotherhuge red flag.
Then I think about what Harley just said. Dammit, he’s right.
“Yeah, things probably filled up weeks ago.”
Josh’s eyes widen. “This really is a big deal.”
Harley laughs. “Course it is. Nora doesn’t do anything small.”
“Well, he can just stay in one of your bedrooms,” I say to Harley.
Bruce comes into the kitchen carrying more dishes. “Sure, but it would be a lot easier if he just slept in Violet’s room.”
