Page 38 of Merry Mayhem
“Okay, just leave your whiteboards and markers on your chairs,” Nora tells us. “Things will kick off tomorrow!” Jingle bells—not the song, just a cacophony of jingly bells—rings out, a mutedboomsounds, and green and red confetti rains down on us from the confetti canon next to Nora. The crowd cheers.
“Nora loves confetti,” I tell Josh with a laugh, pulling a piece off my bottom lip and brushing red and green paper from my hair.
When I look up, I freeze. Josh is staring at my mouth. I’d worry I still had confetti stuck there, but I can feel that’s not the case.
I press my lips together, but they keep tingling.
“Be sure to keep your phones close,” Nora says. “The first challenge is the relay race! Right here at ten a.m.! Unless…”
I finally manage to pull my gaze to Nora.
She turns her grin to all of us. “…unless there’s a surprise challenge before then! Be sure youallkeep your phones charged and on! The next three days are going to be…lit!”
There’s an expectant pause. But nothing happens. A few people laugh, but there’s an anticipation in the air that makes everyone just…wait.
Nora frowns and looks in the direction of the tree. “It’s going to belit!” she repeats, a little louder.
Everyone follows her gaze.
Again, nothing happens.
“Sorry!” we hear someone yell from down near the tree. “We have a glitch! I’m on it! Just a sec!”
It’s Everly Levette. The Parks and Rec department hires her company to do lawncare and landscaping for the city, and her contract also includes a lot of outdoor decorating for events, including the huge Christmas tree.
“Okay, do it again!” Everly yells again a few seconds later. “I’ve got it now!”
Nora snorts. “All together now! It’s gonna be…”
Everyone calls out “Lit!” together.
The tree lights up with red glowing lights from top to bottom, and everyone cheers as if that was how it was supposed to happen all along.
The contestants all stand, turning over their whiteboards and making small talk.
Which means that Sam, Ashley in tow, makes a beeline for me.
Dammit.
“Hi, Thea,” he greets with a big smile. “Nice to see you.”
“Hi, Sam.”
He looks expectantly at Josh.
But he knows who Josh is. Nora introduced all of us. She even included that Josh was Violet’s boyfriend, that he was the one who pulled her from her car and took her to the hospital, and that I was taking her place for Merry Mayhem since she can’t be here. We got a lot of “ahhs” and “ooohs” for that.
There’s no question that Josh is a fan-favorite going into this competition.
And I have a light-bulb moment. That’s why Sam is here. He’s sizing Josh up. Not because he’s Violet’s new boyfriend and Sam is jealous, but because Sam wants to win this contest and sees Josh as his number one opponent.
Well, he’s right.
“Sam, this is Josh Evans,” I say. “As you heard, he’s a firefighter and paramedic. He does marathons and donates the prize money to animal shelters. And he’s going to propose to Violet on Christmas.”
What.
The.
