Page 23 of Grinch Girl

“Fucking hell!” Nate bellowed. “I didn’t know that! Oh my God!”

“Stop yelling,” I hissed. His outburst was starting to make our cameraman look interested. He threw his cigarette butt on the ground but picked it up and threw it into a trash can after I glared at him. He bent over to retrieve his camera.

“Everyone else knew,” I told Nate. “Jim and Nicole decided they both wanted to participate to help the town and…move on from each other, or something.”

“That’s possibly the most idiotic idea I’ve ever heard,” Nate exploded.

I didn’t disagree. “Great for reality TV though,” I said cheekily.

He huffed down at me. The temp had dropped throughout the evening, and I could see his breath in the air. “Look, fun’s fun. I agreed to do the series to help out and hopefully get time with Bella. But I didn’t agree to get my face smashed in!”

Oh, but that would be so great for the series too,I almost said aloud.

His eyes narrowed anyhow.

If Jim did punch him, Nate would probably quit though. And then we’d be uneven in numbers again and I’d have to redo the entire schedule. Just the thought of more time at the computer was enough to make me weep.

I sighed. “Well, how did the date go? Do you intend to pursue Nicole after-hours?”

“No!” he exclaimed. “Good God. I am not in this for romance—you know that.”

I waggled my eyebrows at him. “I wasn’t talking romance, dummy. I mean, do you plan to hook up with her?”

“No!” he practically shouted again. The cameraman walked toward us with a determined stride, never mind that I was waving him away. “She’s a perfectly lovely woman, but no. She’s not interested in me. I’m not interested in her.No!”

“Fine, I’ll call off Jim,” I said, regretfully typing a warning text to Nicole’s apparently territorial ex. “Imagine if he’d done more than glower tonight. What a kick-off to the series it would have been.”

“I’m sorry my undamaged face displeases you,” Nate said stiffly through gritted teeth, and the proper phrasing made me laugh.

My phone beeped, and I nodded at Jim’s reply, satisfied. “Go about your evening, sir,” I said in my own terrible attempt at a British accent. “Your countenance will remain unpunched.”

The camera was in my face and the red light was on. “Get out of here,” I said to the cameraman. “Go film something else.” He looked reluctant, and I snapped, “I’ll cut this anyway, so it’s a waste of time.” He frowned at me. “Go find Tripp and Mabel. He’s probably trying to convince her to make out on Santa’s lap or get matching tongue piercings or something.” That perked him up, and he hustled away. He’d probably been annoyed he’d been stuck with a boring couple all night.

Nate’s lips curved, and he nodded down at my phone. “What did you say to Jim?”

I held it up so he could read my exact words.Stop being a caveman to the dude with Nicole tonight. He’s not going to bang her.

A sharp bark of a laugh escaped him. “Why, J-Bird, I had no idea you had such a talent for poetry.”

Brian returned, handed me a cocoa, and promptly yawned so wide I could see his molars. “Sorry.”

“Want to call it a night?” I asked. “I think we got enough.”

“Yeah.” He yawned again. “I have to get up really early for work.” He gave me a side-armed hug. “Thanks for everything, Jane.”

Nate watched him walk away and raised his eyebrows at me. “More thanks to you? You’re quite the puppet master for this little endeavor, aren’t you?”

Now it was my turn to yawn. God, what a day. “I guess so.”

Nate snapped his fingers. “I can repay you for my unpunched face! I know where Bella and Michael are right now. Let’s wander over there. I’ll distract Bella for a bit, and you can have a few recorded minutes with Michael.”

“Now?” I thought longingly of my soft bed. I wanted a nap so bad I could practically feel my cozy comforter wrapped around me.

“If the web series watchers never see you interact with Michael, they’ll never vote for you to be paired on a date,” he said.

Annoyingly, it made sense. “OK.”

As we walked back to the pavilion where the band was winding down, I saw Tripp and Mabel sitting on a bench. He was holding up a bicep and flexing, more to the camera than to her, and she nodded at polite intervals, clearly bored. Poor Mabel. I hoped she got paired with someone else next time.

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