Page 2 of Mishaps and Mistletoe

“Touchy subject,” Courtney mumbled out of the corner of her mouth.

“No, he didn’t.” Josie raised her chin. “His father had a mayoral appearance this morning, and Scott said he’d meet me after.”

Actually, he’d said, “We need thingsto go smoothly this year.” But Josie didn’t feel like getting into that part.

“What kind of mayoral business takes place on Thanksgiving morning?”

Max and Courtney stifled a chuckle.

“He’s pardoning a turkey.”

And now it was Johnny’s turn to laugh. “Yeah. That’s right. Weren’t you there for that last year?”

Josie didn’t answer. Johnny knew darn well she was there. The whole town did. After all, she was the reason for—what did the newspaper headline call it?—Turkeygate.“This is their family’s last Thanksgiving, just the three of them. They wanted one last photo of them together.”

Without Josie.

Courtney walked to her sister and put her arm across her shoulders. “Well, next year you’ll be married and definitely in the photo.” Josie appreciated her optimism, but she doubted she’d be in the photo even then. If Scott’s family was a Thanksgiving dinner, Josie was the cranberry sauce—there because she was supposed to be, but no one’s favorite. And nobody knew quite what to do with her.

She could still hear his mother’s bark last Thanksgiving morning. “Contain her.”

That’s what she’d said when the turkey got loose and took off through town, running through—where else?—the town’s annual Turkey Trot 5K race.

Josie had warned them. When Scott’s family told her to sit on a hay bale for the photo, she mentioned she was allergic to it—something she’d found out in high school when she did the same thing for a photo at the Sadie Hawkins dance. Nothing saideat your heart out, boyslike a bright red rash running down the back of both legs.

This time, she would have killed for a rash. Instead, her allergy presented as a single, turkey-startling sneeze. Right as the photographer snapped the picture.

Last week, when Scott gave her the whole “last Thanksgiving with just the three of us” line, she’d bought it. Sort of. The disconcerting feeling in her stomach told her maybe she hadn’t.

“Look, he’ll be at Mom and Dad’s and then he’s coming over tonight to decorate the tree. And he promised to bring the bourbon for our old-fashioned cocktails—” Which she’d forgotten. And he’d griped about. She reminded herself that his snippiness as of late was just a reaction to the stress. It was a lot of pressure being an up-and-coming politician, she assumed. Except,as of latewas becoming more of a lifestyle, and she wondered how much longer she should stick around and wait for the sweet guy she fell in love with her last year of college to reappear. But she’d been with Scott for nearly a decade. The investment of her time in this relationship was worth seeing this through. Wasn’t it? Lately, she wasn’t so sure. “Please, guys—let’s just have a nice day and kick off the holiday season, okay?”

“Does that mean we can’t mention Turkeygate?” Johnny grunted as Max elbowed him in the gut. “Does your girlfriend condone this kind of violence? Wait—where is Courtney?”

“I’m right here, you goons,” she responded as she emerged from her bedroom with a small white box. “And stop hitting each other, you two.” She handed the box to Josie.

“What’s this? My birthday was last week, and you already gave me a present.” Josie glanced over at the newest snow globe in her collection with a village of merry people decorating their tiny town.Old-Fashioned Christmas,the script on the base read, fitting since the Ward sisters drank that cocktail each year while they trimmed the tree. And Courtney said she could always count on Jojo to “shake up” the holidays.

“I know we usually exchange ornaments, but I did something a little different this year.” Courtney’s voice hitched. “This will be our last Christmas here, together, living under the same roof. You’ll be married next summer, and our holidays won’t ever look quite the same. I wanted you to have this, so you could keep the spirit of Christmas with you—not just during the holiday season.”

Josie’s hands shook. Yes, everything was going to be different next year for the reasons she said. But the knowing glance Max shot her warmed her from the inside out. Just last week, he’d asked their father for his permission to ask Courtney to marry him, so Josie’s wedding would be just the first of many changes in the near future.

She gasped as she lifted the lid of the box. “Courtney—my goodness.” A turtle dove charm shone back at her as she lifted the delicate silver bracelet from the box. And when she saw Courtney raise her arm to reveal an identical one on her wrist, Josie cried.

“It’s just like inHome Alone 2,” Josie said through snorts, sniffles, and other snotty noises Scott probably would have cringed at the sound of. She always envied people in movies who could cry and still look pretty. Human, even. She wasn’t one of them.

“Yep. You keep one and I keep one, and whenever we look at them…”

“We’ll think of each other,” Josie finished as she secured the clasp around her wrist. “Thank you.” She wrapped her sister in a hug.

“Jeez, you guys,” Johnny said with a wobble in his voice that contradicted the unnaturally stoic look on his face. “Were you cutting onions in here this morning or what?”

“We’re taking pumpkin pie to our parents’ tonight,” Courtney answered.

“So you say, and yet, here I am.”

Yes, here they all were. Growing, changing, moving on with their lives. If this was going to be their last holiday season together, just like this, they had to make it the best one yet. One they would treasure forever, because they’d never share a holiday like this ever again.

ChapterOne

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