Page 15 of Merry Kissmas

“What?”He looks away from his wife and scowls at me.

“Does she live in New York?”

He shakes his head.“Here’re all the details so that you can get off me about this.She was here for a job interview.”He stops talking, and my heart picks up pace.Could it really be?

“Interesting…”

“So, she’s going to get on the plane with us, and we’re going to drive her to the mountain cabins we’re staying in, where she’ll be reunited with her brothers, her niece, her sister-in-law, and her parents.Is that enough information?”He stands—to walk toward Kenzie, I presume.

“What’s her name?”

His shoulders slump, and he looks down at me.“Brynn.”

He stalks toward Kenzie, and good thing because I’m at a loss for words.I reach for the tag on the abandoned luggage and flip it around to see Brynn Russell written there with a Portland address.

Holy shit.There’s no possible way.

“Okay, who do you know at the airlines?”Brynn’s voice rings out, and I swivel around to see her standing with a book in the crook of her arm, a bag of Skittles, a pack of gum, and a water.“And don’t touch other people’s suitcases.”

She winds around me, pushes her suitcase with her feet, and sits one seat away from me.Choosing to sit next to some random guy who is consuming a burger as if he’s been starved in a cage for the last week.

She must not know who I am to Andrew, and it pulls a satisfied grin out of me that I get to be the one to tell her.

“Why are you sitting at my gate, Pierce?”she asks, placing her purse on the seat between us and opening her Skittles.

“It’s a funny story actually.”I turn so I’m facing her.

Her dark eyebrows rise, but she looks bored with the game I want to play with her.“What?You’re going to Utah?”She rolls her eyes as though the idea is absurd.

“In fact, I am.”

She tears the bag open too forcefully, and Skittles topple to the floor.“I’m sorry, what?”

All the kids nearby fall to their knees, picking up the candies.Their parents tell them to stop, but one little guy gets a handful into his mouth, and I cringe, watching him smile as his mum pulls him up off the floor.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry.”Brynn abandons her half-full bag of Skittles and bends down to pick up the scattered colorful pieces.

I join her, both of us kneeling on the floor, scouring to find all the candies.I hope she knows I’d only do this for her.

She looks up at me with eyes full of shock and wariness.

“Oh good, you guys met.Why are you both on the floor picking up Skittles?”Kenzie says from behind me.

I stand, taking my handful of Skittles with me.Brynn does the same.

“I’m clearly missing something,” Brynn says before walking to the trash can and tossing the Skittles inside.

I throw mine away too, and Kenzie grabs wipes from the diaper bag, handing them over to us.We both wipe our hands.

“Brynn, this is Andrew’s cousin, Pierce.He’s joining us on the trip,” Kenzie says.

Brynn glares at me.“He’s what?I didn’t know anything about this.”

Andrew, who is now holding Nolan, joins us, lowering his face closer to Kenzie’s.“So, I’m not the only one who forgets to tell people things.”

She narrows her eyes and disregards him.Andrew sits in his earlier seat.

“Oh great…” Brynn starts before anyone can say anything else.“So, first my family outvotes me and decides we’re going to spend Christmas in some mountain town instead of the family home, then I run into my fling from London, find out he’s my competition for my dream job, and now I have to spend the holidays with said fling.”She throws her hands in the air.“Plus, my Skittles…” She looks longingly toward the trash can.

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