I give a quick glance to Holly, Tom, and little Savy who have all gathered around with long faces, trying to understand what this disruption is about. If I say yes, it will be the end of many things, starting with the bakery. And just like that, our lives will unravel one unpaid bill at a time. I glance to Graham who looks just as confused as anyone else here. His brows are doing that vexingly sexy hard V, and it’s all I can do to not burst into tears. He’s always been far too handsome for someone like me. I’m sure once this nightmare is over—once his vacation in Gingerbread is over, he’ll forget me as soon as his plane hits the stratosphere. Can I really risk losing the bakery over something that’s not even a sure thing?
Graham takes a deep breath. “I’ll answer for her.”
My lips press white as I try to keep from vomiting up the truth.
He clears his throat as he looks to Sabrina. “Missy isn’t in love with me. The truth is, she’s out of my league. Always has been.” He gives a sad glance my way before reverting back to the queen of mean. “In fact, I’m leaving day after next. And I don’t think either of you has to worry about seeing me again.”
Sabrina looks to me with venom shooting out of her eyes. “Is it true? You don’t love him?” Her jowls move from side to side. I’m sure she’ll have that nipped and tucked once she reviews the footage from this evening. The entire night is recorded for posterity. Or in my case, to commemorate my spectacular downfall. “Say it!” she shouts so loud the entire room reverberates with the sound of her voice.
Nick steps in and nods for me to do it. I glance to Holly who shakes her head no, and lastly I look to Graham.
“Come on, Sprig.” He nods my way, the look of hurt hiding out in his eyes. “You know we were just fooling around. I’ve got an entire harem waiting for me back home. You’ll always be Nick Winters’ kid sister to me.” He swallows hard as if he wanted to say more, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. “That’s it.”
That’s it?
“Well?” Sabrina gives a slow blink as if she’s losing patience with me.
“I don’t.” I shake my head as if refuting the claim. “There. I said it.” I glare at Graham for taking it down a notch when he didn’t have to. That is, unless he meant it. And if he did, I hate him for it. “I guess I don’t love you after all,” I say it first because with Graham I always did like to draw first blood. It’s a protective mechanism I’m used to around him. And just like that, my heart shatters all over the room, and all I see is red.
I run out of the community center, hop into my car, and just start driving.
I can’t go home. I’m in too close of a proximity to the enemy.
And oddly enough, it’s not Sabrina Jarrett.
Graham
What the heck just happened?
I pant breathless as I watch the taillights from Missy’s car disappear into the night. An impulse tells me to jump into my own truck and track her down, but something far more persistent says get back in there and get to the bottom of the madness that ensued tonight. There’s no way Sprig wanted to see me seated next to Sabrina, did she? And that odd exchange at the end? I got the distinct feeling she didn’t want to admit that she loved me for far more reasons than the fact her brother was standing right there. I played along, but I’ll admit, toward the end, it didn’t feel as if either of us was playing. It was hard, and I hated every minute. Worst of all, I have no clue if I did or said the right thing. Deep down, I know I didn’t. I shouldn’t have stooped to whatever level Sabrina was forcing us to. Sprig and I love each other, and we always will. I just hope she’s feeling something far more than platonic with me. Sprig and I have never been good at being just friends. I think that alone is what spurred on the banter all these years. We wanted something more—and the one time we achieve it, some scary woman with a crown goes and ruins it for us. This can’t be happening, and yet it is.
A body blows past me and turns around a moment as they hit the parking lot. It’s Nick in all his ticked off glory.
“Dude”—he backtracks my way with a look that suggests he’s about to rip my face off—“I will deal with you later. I told you—told you not to mess with my sister.” He takes a few more aggressive steps in my direction. “And really? Sabrina Jarrett?” He shakes his head, not bothering to hide his disappointment in me. “I guess you’re still messing with the wrong girls. Looks like you got tangled in a web you want no part of. I’m betting you wish you sat this Christmas out like you did the rest of them. Maybe you’ll do us all a favor and sit the next five or ten out, too.” He jumps into his truck, and I stand there absorbing his harsh words as the snow from his tires washes over me. My heart thuds over my chest as if it just lost its fervor to keep on beating, and in a way, it has. I head back in with an unwilling heart, but before I track down Missy, I need to know what I’m truly up against.
The music in the community center has picked back up. The roar of laughter and a dozen different conversations filters through the air as I amble my way back in. I crane my neck over the crowd, looking for Holly or Sabrina herself. Although, I’d much rather speak with Holly. She and Missy are close, and if anyone understands what happened here tonight, it’s her. I spot Tom and Savanah by the overgrown gingerbread house, but no luck with Holly. Mom waves to me with wild eyes toward the back of the facility, and for a fleeting moment, I pretend not to see her. My God, my parents. As much as I hate how visceral everything was, I also can’t stand that we had a cloud of witnesses.
Just as I’m making my way through the tangle of bodies, I spot a blonde flame of hair near the kitchen, looking like it could be Missy’s sister, and it is. I make a beeline after her, and as soon as her eyes latch to mine, her mouth rounds out in horror.
“What just happened?” I move like a lion out to trap its prey as I corner her near a stack of boxes brimming with wrapped gifts for Santa to distribute in just a few minutes.
Holly moans as she drops her face in her hands. “I told her she was wrong.” She looks at me through her fingers a moment before dropping her arms. “When you showed up in Gingerbread, the two of you picked up right where you left off.” She swats me over the arm. “Now, why did you have to go and do that? I’ve known the two of you were right for one another for years. I even suggested Missy ask you to her prom.”
I back up a notch as I try to digest the idea. A slow smile comes to me. “Really? That would have been great.”
“Oh, I know it would have been great, but nobody listens to me!” She tosses her hands in the air in an act of outrage. “And you know what? Missy didn’t even follow through with her instincts when she so ruefully decided to pair you with Sabrina.” She slaps a hand over her mouth, and my stomach plummets with the revelation.
“So it’s true. What made her think Sabrina Jarrett would be my perfect match?” I wince as I look out the opened door to our left at the dark cold night. Had I become so repugnant to Missy that she felt my perfect bookend was someone as shallow as Sabrina?
“Because you were tormenting her per usual!” Holly’s voice rises to its upper octave before she shrinks a little as if she didn’t want any part in what comes next. “Sabrina might have been holding a rent hike over our heads for months. And if you and Sabrina fell in love—who knows? She might have jet set her way to Manhattan with you. Anyway, as soon as Missy suggested you to Sabrina, she was all over it. And then, well, Sabrina became smitten with you, and so did my sister.”
Everything in me warms just hearing those words. “Smitten, huh?” My spirit soars at the thought. “So, what was all that bull she was slinging in there?”
Holly slaps her hands to her cheeks. “I have no idea what possessed her to say those things. The only thing I can guess is that she’s really afraid of the fallout with the bakery.” She shivers as she struggles to warm her arms with her hands. “The truth is, if Mr. Jarrett decides to triple our rent—to raise it by three cents, the bakery is doomed.” She sags as she casts a glance to the floor. “If I had to guess, i
t’s because Missy didn’t want to bring that kind of financial destruction on any of us.” She looks to me as tears glide down her face. “The bottom line is, if Sabrina Jarrett doesn’t get what she wants, the bakery is burnt toast.”
“And what she wants is me.” I pull Holly into a partial embrace. “I’ll find Tom and send him in.”
“Thanks. Oh, and Graham?” she shouts after me, and I backtrack. “Missy does feel as if this entire thing between the two of you is too good to be true. Maybe you can assure her it’s not? That is, if you truly feel that way.”
“I do.” I can’t help but grin. I do love Mistletoe Winters, and I’m about to make sure everybody knows it. I head over to the stage and hop up as the band enters into “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and I swipe the mic from the lead singer.
“Sorry,” I say into it, and my voice echoes around the room as the rest of the band cuts out. The crowd gives a simultaneous gasp as they look to me in horror. “I promise this will take less than a minute. But I have to apologize for that public display you had the misfortune to witness. I feel bad that I hijacked any of your time tonight.” Mom and Dad surge forward through the crowd, and I spot Tanner to my left, right along with Sabrina, who looks white as a sheet as if her life were passing before her eyes. And she’s right, something is dying—our fake relationship. “I want everyone here to know that while I’ve been in Gingerbread, I fell in love with a spectacular girl, and it caught me off guard.” Sabrina instantly brims with a greedy smile. Her hand presses to her chest as she breathes violently in and out. I’m guessing she’s about to get a little more violent in a moment when she hears the rest of what I have to say. “And that girl unfortunately was being blackmailed into staying away from me.”
The entire room gasps in horror, and that smile glides right off Sabrina’s face.
“But that’s not how love works. You can’t force someone into feeling something that they don’t.” I look right at her as I say it. “It doesn’t mean you’re unlovable or that you’re a bad person, it just means they’re not the right one for you. And I also know that love makes you do crazy things—especially when you feel threatened. But the wrong thing to do is turn around and threaten another person and their livelihood. It’s not okay, and I will not tolerate it.” I spear Sabrina with a look as she shrinks toward my brother. I glance out at the crowd and find Holly with her husband, Joy and Jack Winters by their side. “I want everyone in here to know that I’m in love with Mistletoe Winters.” I look to her parents with a sheepish smile, to her sister whose face is washed in tears. “There’s no one else for me. That’s all—and I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening. Merry Christmas.” I hand the mic back to the lead singer and hop off the stage.
Holly and her mother practically tackle me, and as I welcome their riotous embrace, I can’t help but notice Tanner is embracing someone, too, a sobbing Sabrina Jarrett.
“I’m so happy for you!” Joy Winters cries out as she pinches my cheeks as if I were a little boy. “Welcome to the family. You know that I’ve loved you like a son for years!”
“That’s very sweet of you.” I’m quick to detangle myself. “I’ll be right back.”
Holly stomps her foot while growling at her mother. “Now look what you did! You scared him off!”
“Tanner!” I shout as he and Sabrina start heading toward the exit. They turn around, Tanner looking his usual ticked self and Sabrina red-faced and teary. “Wait.” I pause a moment to catch my breath. I have no idea how to ask the question, so I just dive in. “Sabrina, did you threaten Missy’s business if I didn’t fall in love with you?”
Her mouth opens, and a series of croaking noises escape as she grapples for words. “Listen, I alone am the reason she still has that business to begin with. My father has been insistent on raising their rent for years, and I’ve singlehandedly stopped him each and every time.” She looks to my brother with a smug little grin. “I’m practically a hero.”
Sabrina Jarrett is a lot of things, a hero she is not.
“Hero, huh?” I sigh as my gaze drifts out the door and into the dark, dark night. I certainly don’t feel like a hero. I pull out my phone, my fingers already twitching to call Missy. It’s becoming clear now that Sabrina was a thorn in Missy’s side that she was looking to get rid of, and when thorn number two popped into town—aka me—she thought she found her solution. But we found each other instead—together. And that’s exactly where we should be, together.
Tanner steps forward as Sabrina heads outside into the icy night. “I’ll make sure she gets home safely.” He nods into the night. “Why don’t you go find Missy and make sure she’s okay?”
I can’t help but scowl at Sabrina. “Why are you being so nice to her? You’re not nice to anybody.”
He glances her way, then back and sighs. “Because she saved the factory. It turns out, I’ve reached out to a few of our suppliers, and every single one of them is interested in samples. Sabrina Jarrett has been an answer to prayers all along.”
A heavy sigh comes from the door, and we look to find Sabrina shivering. “Fine,” she hisses as if talking to herself. “Missy may have had a little more to do with it than I first let on.” She growls over at me, “But she let me have that idea in order to impress you. It was strictly her doing. In no way did I steal anyone’s bad pie concept.”
Tanner inches back. “What about those suggestions at the factory? The new uniforms to boost moral? Christmas music in the dining hall? The mural on the side of the building with the company logo?”
“All mine,” Sabrina beams with pride. She steps in close to Tanner. “And I still think delivering them in a mini wooden crate would be a great idea, too.”
My brother looks to me and nods. “I looked into it, and I can get them at a decent price.”
“It sounds great.” I can’t seem to get enthused about any of this, though.
Sabrina jumps into my brother’s arms. “I have a few I can bring over tomorrow. That is, if the offer still stands.”
“What offer?” I’m suddenly deeply concerned for my brother.
He looks to me with those sad eyes and slowly a guilty grin emerges. “I invited her to dinner. I figured if the two of you were dating, it was a no-brainer, but now that you’re not”—he looks to her—“the offer still stands. You can be my guest.”
“Oh, thank you!” She hops up and offers him a kiss right on the lips. It’s safe to say her Holiday plans are still up and running full throttle—only this time I’m not the Holiday in question.
“I guess I’ll see the two of you tomorrow.” I step out into the ice-cold night and wonder if I’ll ever see Missy again. Judging by this heaviness in my heart, it may not be an answer I want to hear.
* * *
I drive for an hour, making a loop to the bakery, to her home, and back to the bakery in the event I missed her in the interim. I called and texted before I left, and she didn’t pick up, didn’t respond in any way. At this point, it’s clear she has no intention of being found—at least not by me. So I just keep driving until I end up at the tree lot and pull in next to Nick’s truck. I hop out and spot him on a ladder taking down the sign.
He looks over his shoulder at me. “Go away. We’re closed.”
“I guess I’m the last person you want to see.”
“You guessed right.” He hops down from the third rung, wincing as he wipes the sweat from his forehead. “And I bet you’re looking for my sister.”
“I am, but you were next on the list of people I wanted to speak with.”
Nick strides forward, his jaws set tight, still clearly ticked as ever. “Get it over with, dude. And make it quick before we both freeze.”
“I love your sister.” There. I said it, no warm-up, no warning.
He closes his eyes and bucks as if I shot him point-blank. “Why?” He comes up for air and glares my way.
“Why not?” I pick up a stray pinecone off the ground and chuck it over the trailer. “Mis
sy is everything I’ve ever wanted. She’s perfect.” My heart aches because I’m afraid a part of her perfection is decoding the fact I may not be perfect for her.
“She’s not your type.” His chest flares out as if he’s still up for a fistfight. “You like ’em fast and loose and out of your bed by morning.”
“That’s not me anymore. It hasn’t been for a long time.” I take a few steps out and stare up at the sky. I hate that it was me for so long.
“Yeah, right. Until the next woman you stumble upon.”
“That’s not happening,” I snap. “There’s just one woman for me, and it’s Missy.” I meet up with his heavy stare. “Nick—you’re more of a brother to me than Tanner ever was. You know I wouldn’t treat your sister like that. You have to believe me.”
Nick glances toward the woods and lets out a roar. “Why did it have to be my sister?” He shoves me hard in the chest and sends me stumbling back a good six feet. “You could have had any other girl in this entire state!” His voice ricochets off the mountain. “Did I piss you off last year? Is this some vendetta to get back at me for not returning a phone call? What the heck were you thinking?”
A thousand thoughts sail through my mind, a thousand different ways to convince him that Missy is the one for me—and yet I doubt he wants to hear any of it, so I turn to leave.
“Where are you going?” he shouts after me.
“Anywhere but here.”
“Stop.” Nick jogs over, and I turn to find him grimacing as if he were in pain. “Do you really have feelings for my sister?”
“Yes,” I say, exasperated. “I love her. And if she’ll have me, I’m going to marry her. I don’t want to waste another second without her in my life. Tonight has made me realize that.” A rush of adrenaline grips me, and suddenly I feel as if I could lap the circumference of the earth twice at least to prove this to Missy.
Just Add Mistletoe: Christmas in Gingerbread, Colorado Page 15
