Page 11 of Grinch Girl

Oh…but no. Carol was looking at him with a crinkled brow and the suspicious set of her lips reserved for strangers who were clearly not tourists. He wasn’t who she was expecting to be at the door.

The stranger saw us gaping at him and offered a winning smile. To Carol, he pointed out the door. “She’s right there.”

Carol looked outside and this time she beamed, first toward the late arriver and then back at us. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I please introduce you to this year’s builder of the Christmas Village, a most beloved and successful daughter of this town, the only two-time winner in the history of the county’s Christmas Princess pageant—”

Oh. Fuck.

My skin went cold from head to toe. My breath caught in my chest, and the cup of coffee I’d just thrown back became lava in my stomach. Please no.

Next to me, Michael scrambled out of his booth and stood on the balls of his feet, hands clutching into fists at his sides.

Carol spun us all toward the inevitable conclusion of this sudden nightmare. “And last but not least, treasured granddaughter of our recently departed Greta. Please welcome and thank our own darling…Bella Bradley!”

And there she was. Standing tall in the entryway, blushing and beautiful, as always. A lot of people around here peak in high school, but Bella was clearly still ascending to a peak the rest of us couldn’t even see. Her thick blond hair still fell in long waves, and her clear skin was glowing. Behind her shy smile, her teeth were white and even. She wore a light blue peacoat that highlighted her coloring, and she had a pair of glasses pushed high on her head, holding her hair back like a headband.

“Hi, everyone,” she said softly.

There was a moment of silence as everyone blinked at her dazzling arrival, the way you’d blink at a gentle sun rising after a long, freezing night of despair.

Then everyone except Michael and me swarmed on her like locusts, burying her in hugs and kisses and general shouts of joy.

How long had it been since Bella deigned to come home? Greta had specifically asked for no funeral to be held, so Bella hadn’t come home for any sort of service. Since the lawyer hadn’t settled the estate yet, there’d been no need for her to sign papers or assume ownership of property. Oh, who was I kidding? I knew exactly how long it had been since she’d spent any significant time in Falworth—more than a dozen years.

Next to me, Michael twitched as though he didn’t know whether to join the hugging crowd or stay back here out of the fray. For such a normally relaxed and easygoing guy, right now he was strung tight. His grip on the chair in front of him was white.

I wasn’t the only one Bella had abandoned all those years ago.

Carol didn’t let us miss out on the reunion joy, however. After a few minutes, she grabbed Bella out of the crowd and pulled her over to us. The dark-haired stranger followed.

“Now, Bella, these two you know very well, of course.” Carol looked at our faces expectantly, as though we’d dive into a weepy pile of happy tears. Which was stupid. She’d been Greta’s best friend. She had to know that Bella and I hadn’t spoken in more than a decade. Although Greta visited Bella in Chicago often and the two of them traveled together every holiday, I hadn’t laid eyes on Bella since we were teenagers.

Michael extended both of his hands clumsily. “Bella. Wow. Welcome back.” Such a gracious gentleman.

She grabbed his hands and stared back him. “Michael.” I still knew every note and nuance of Bella’s voice; it was threaded with nerves.

They continued their weird hand grasp and staring contest for almost thirty seconds. What in the actual hell? Was Michael kidding me? Were they having some sort of weird romantic moment?

The dark-haired stranger behind Bella looked just as annoyed as I was. If Bella had brought a big-city boyfriend home for a holiday visit, heshouldlook infuriated at his woman gazing adoringly into the face of her smitten high school boyfriend. I wanted to stamp my foot on the ground.Of courseBella showed up with a hot Brit just following her around.

Finally, Carol emitted a giggle, and Michael and Bella dropped hands, both flushing. It was so cringingly adorable, I wanted to barf. Had to appreciate the sardonic eye roll of the dark-haired stranger. Lucky for Bella, he didn’t seem to be the jealous type.

Then Bella was in front of me, silently blinking. Carol drew in an audible breath and held it.

I raised an eyebrow. “Hell’s Bells,” I intoned sarcastically, invoking a much-hated nickname only I’d called her when we were teenagers.

Her eyes narrowed. “J-Bird,” she coolly returned the favor.

Carol drew both hands to her heart and made a little crooning sound, as though we’d fallen into one another’s arms and were hugging with joy instead of glaring at each other. “Isn’t this wonderful? The two of you back together and working to help our town. Wherever she is right now, Greta is thrilled.”

Both Bella and I looked at the floor. If there was one—one—thing we could agree on, it was that we never wanted to disappoint Greta. She’d been the most important person in our lives.

“Even better news, Jane,” Carol peeped. “Since Bella is going to be in town for the entire month of December, I’ve convinced her to be a contestant onSingle Bells. She’ll be the heroine everyone will root for! Can you imagine how perfect?”

WTF?No!I didnotwant to spend the next month arranging dates for Bella and editing video of her and watching her captivate everyone with her constant sweetness.

But Jesus, Carol did have a point. Bella was extremely photogenic and telegenic, and as a character, she was gold. Falworth’s long-lost sweetheart-turned-big city successful career woman returning to her small-town roots to save Christmas?

Wasn’t that the starting premise to ninety percent of the Christmas movies on TV?

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