Page 33 of The Mistletoe Makeover

“Not really, but I’m trying to see the silver lining in all this.”

“You think there’s a silver lining in getting stuck at the Pine Paradise Motel?”

I suddenly realize how terrible this experience has been for him. He’s used to luxury hotels and being waited on. The poor guy had to eat generic Funyuns for dinner last night.

There’s no silver lining except getting as far away from this situation as possible. Because I’m certainly not the type of girl he’d choose to getstuck with.

His eyes drift over his shirt, which I’m still wearing, and I cross my arms, suddenly self-conscious.

“You probably want your shirt back.” I turn toward the bathroom door, grabbing my clothes and shutting myself inside.

As I change into my sweater, I slide my hand over the curve of my waist and think of his arm slung over me.

I won’t bring it up,I tell myself, folding his shirt into a neat square.Pretend it never happened.Even now, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the shirt smells like him, which means I’m wearing his scent. Pine and musk. His arm wrapped around me.That dimple.

How am I even going to survive today?

When I step out of the bathroom, the room is silent.

I glance outside and track Jace’s footsteps in the snow, headed toward the road, but he’s nowhere in sight.

Jace is gone.

NINE

Jace

Everything shimmers in the soft morning light, making me hope today is going to turn out better than yesterday. Even the Pine Paradise looks improved with a fresh coat of snow covering its faded exterior.

But it doesn’t help me feel better. Because I still don’t know how to make sense of what happened last night.

When I woke this morning, my arm was wrapped around her waist, and she was cocooned against my chest. Both of us were clearly violating the imaginary line, making it unclear who was responsible.

Given our history, I don’t want to bring it up and make things worse. It’s already bad enough that I can’t stop thinking about it.

When I enter our room, Mia’s sitting on the bed, dressed again in her sweater and jeans. She stands, a puzzled expression on her face. “You’re back.”

“Of course I’m back. Where’d you think I’d go after a snowstorm?”

She lifts a shoulder. “I thought you left for good.”

“I tracked down our old friend Edith. I hoped she might have coffee.”

She tilts her head. “Let me guess... she didn’t.”

“Welcome to Pine Paradise. A true budget motel.” Then I hold up two drinks. “But she told me about a gas station not too far away.”

I hand her a Styrofoam cup that’s still warm, and her face brightens like I just gave her a winning lottery ticket.

“Is this...” She sniffs at the plastic lid. “Heaven?”

“As close as you’re going to get.” I take a sip from my cup. “It tastes like coffee-flavored dirt, but at least it’s hot. Yours is a gas station version of a mocha.”

“Otherwise known as chocolate-flavored dirt,” she says and grins.

“Look what else I found.” I pull out several packages from my pockets: two yogurt cups, three cereal bars, and a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. “I thought this might make your day better.”

“You remembered?” she gasps, before tearing open the package and dunking the peanut butter cup into her coffee.

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