Page 12 of Grinch Girl

Carol adapted her scheming tone, terribly disguised by a thoughtful tilt to her voice. “The only problem is that now we have an uneven number of women and men for the show, so it’ll be a little more complicated to arrange the same number of dates every week.”

Not ideal, but we could work around that. Which I was about to say when Michael blurted, “I’ll just sign up, too, then.”

Bits of rage began to form in my brain and rain down the insides of my body, like ash from a brewing volcano. Freakin’ perfect. I’djustmade up my mind to finally pursue Michael—the best guy in town, hands down—and then Bella waltzed in here, blinked her big blue eyes at him, and he was immediately hers again?

The dark-haired stranger frowned deeper now. “Bella, if you’re involved in this web series thing while we’re here, we’re not going to have much time to—”

Bella cringed, looking guilty. Did she seriously forget she’d brought a dude home with her? Someone who may not like her going on videoed dates with old boyfriends?

“Easy solution!” Carol crowed, looking him up and down critically. “If you need extra time with Bella while you’re here, you should sign up for the series too!” Ignoring the way Michael stiffened, Carol glanced at me excitedly. “Right, Jane? Viewers may easily pair them together for dates.”

I smiled. Now this was a little better. Drove me nuts that Bella was back in town for five minutes and had two of the best-looking men in a hundred miles already vying for her time. But a love triangle! That was the bread and butter of reality TV.

I wanted to hold up my fingers to make a frame around the three of them right now: Bella in her light blue coat and gorgeous blond hair. On her left, the hometown honey: tall, broad-shouldered Michael, with dark golden hair and wearing flannel and fleece. Even still frozen, he looked stalwart and loyal and kind. On her right, the big-city boyfriend: somewhat shorter and less broad than Michael, but slim and fit with an honestly great face, laughing dark eyes, and a wicked mouth. And a British accent never hurt anything. If Michael’s stance was stalwart, the stranger’s was vibrant. He didn’t look like he’d stay still for long. He looked ready to burst with movement and slyness.

He sighed. “Fine, whatever, sign me up.” Hmmm, easy sell. Either he was extremely confident that he’d prevail with Bella’s affections or I’d misunderstood their relationship.

I settled myself back at the table with my laptop and started to enter our three new contestants into the schedule. Tried to ignore the resentment ignited by those falling bits of rage-ash inside me. Creating the web series to help the town had beenmyidea,mycontribution. Yet Bella—who hadn’t even visited in more than ten years—outshone me as always.

Not only had she given money for the Village, she was now going to be the star of the series. A beautiful woman with two men in competition for her. No doubt, it would be great for the show. We’d kick off the series with brief character profiles anddo confessionals to the camera, where the daters could talk alone about how the date went. I knew Bella well enough to know she’d hate discussing dates to anonymous strangers, and she’d loathe being in a love triangle, but her agony about it would be great to watch. Viewers trained on Christmas movies and reality TV shows would eat this up. I almost giggled—her name was Bella, after all. Too bad we couldn’t rename the men to be Edward and Jacob.

Which reminded me. “What’s your name?” I asked the stranger, fingers on the keyboard.

“Nathaniel Wright.” He flicked his eyes from his phone to my face. “Nate.”

I held eye contact with him. Did he even remember our exchange in the pub a few hours ago? If he’d been wandering in and out of places, meeting people all day with Bella, I probably didn’t make an impression. I certainly didn’t stand out from other folks around here. There were lots of short, makeup-free women in sweatshirts and jeans, with dark hair in messy ponytails.

“Jane.”

His lips curved in a quick smile highlighting the contrast between his white teeth and dark hair. “What did Bella call you? J-Bird? Is that what I should call you?”

My polite smile turned into a snarl. “Only if you want to get punched in the face.”

A loud truck pulled up in front of the diner, and Carol screeched. “The tree! They’re here to stand up the tree! Look, everyone!”

She opened the door and dashed outside, quickly followed by Diane and Jim. Bella, Michael, and Nate filed out after, and all of them stood on the sidewalk, watching as the huge fir was unloaded and carried to the center of the square. Diane burstinto an off-key rendition of “Oh, Christmas Tree,” and Carol joined in while the others laughed.

It was so silly and so stinkin’ sweet that it almost made my eyes water.

It was a random moment of joy in a town that didn’t get a lot of those.

I should have been right in the middle of that group, rolling my eyes in spite of the enjoyment, humming the tune to keep Diane on key, too cold in my thin coat.

But I wasn’t. I was sitting here by myself just watching them while they sang and laughed and gathered Bella to them in a grateful embrace. Bella was their sweet beauty, their pride. Bella was saving the town, not me.

I turned my head from the impromptu celebration and plopped back down at my computer, wiping an angry tear from the corner of my eye. I looked at the dating schedule and let out a huff. Now that Nate had signed up, too, we were back at an uneven number. So aside from creating the website tonight, I’d also have to redo the entire dang schedule.

Outside, the group burst into laughter again when no one could remember the second verse of the carol. Through the window, I could see them all clearly. Bella had not one buttwomen currently smiling down at her face. No matter that I’d finally decided to go after Michael myself or that she’d be leaving town again as soon as the holiday was over.

Bella had always gotten what she wanted. Always.

Why did life have to be so damn easy for her? And why was Ihelpinglife be so easy for her right now?

I looked at the web series dating schedule again, and an evil thought skittered through my mind. What had I said earlier?Reality shows are about archetypes…the hero/heroines and villains.

An unfamiliar smile formed on my face as I typed my own name into the final slot on the web series dating sign-up list. So Bella was our heroine? Fine.

I’d be the villain.

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