Page 11 of A Little Merry

“I don’t justlikeChristmas, Iloveit and everything that goes along with it.”

“So, that’s the package, huh?”

“Yep. And I don’t give out my kisses or anything else if that isn’t part of the deal. I’m stubborn that way.”

“Stubborn? More like willful, inflexible, persistent, inexcusably joyful. I don’t know if I’m up for… this is a big…” I sighed and regrouped. “What makes you think I’ll ever go along with all this glee?”

We stopped walking in front of Ethan’s collapsed booth in the town square. She turned and gazed up at me with a cute smirk, while those sweet eyes of hers bore a hole right through my icy heart and said, “Because you’re worth it.”

Fuck if I didn’t pull her in tight and drop one on her. Only this time, there was tongue action. Deep, soft, sexy-as-hell tongue action that I could cream my pants over.

“Last I looked, I didn’t see any mistletoe around here,” Ethan said, sounding a bit miffed. “Can we hold off on all this hot suck-face shit and get on with the task at hand.”

We instantly stopped kissing, although, for the first time in way too long, I’d fallen deep into it. I couldn’t pin down what I was feeling, exactly, but I knew for damn sure, I wanted more of this Christmas elf, despite all her exasperating bliss.

“Sorry,” she told him. “We just got carried away for a moment.”

“Believe me, it lasted more than a moment. Nice to see, but this booth must get up before tonight, so the powers that be can inspect it and give me the green light. We only have about six more hours to get it all done, including hanging a few of the larger paintings to see if they’ll hold.”

“I understand,” she said. “I left my tools right inside my door. I’ll be back in a flash.” Then dashed away like she looked forward to building this thing.

“Her tools?” Ethan asked.

“Get this, she grew up helping to build homes and barns and shit with the Amish. Don’t ask me for details ‘cause I can’t remember them. The story stopped registering when she told me she had her own fucking tool belt.”

“Like the one you’re wearing?”

“Exactly. I can’t even tell you what a turn on this whole thing has been. It’s like I’ve fallen under some kind of magical spell. I can’t explain it, but it’s the first time I’ve felt anything for a woman since, well, since…”

“You dated… what was her name… over two years ago?”

“Brandi Cruz, the woman who tore my heart out, then stomped on it on her way out of town on Christmas Eve. Yeah, exactly like that. You would think I wouldn’t want anything to do with this woman, but it’s just the opposite. I want everything to do with her. Even her package deal.”

“Package deal? What the hell is that?”

“Everything Christmas… down to her music in the middle of the night.”

“Sounds like she’s put a spell on you. Sure, she’s not some kind of witch?”

“If she did, and she is, I’m all in,” I told him, meaning every word. I spotted her walking across the street, carrying a tool case… a big tool case. So big, I wondered how the hell she could lift it, let alone carry the damn thing. Problem was, it was painted pink… a bright, scruffy pink.

“Holy shit,” I said. “What the fuck am I getting myself into?”

Merry 4

We worked all day at getting the booth up, which I knew exactly how to do, and even had to show the guys easier ways to get it done. Noelle stopped by with more hot cocoa, which gave me the opportunity to apologize for falling asleep last night.

“No worries, sweets, I knew you were tired. It’s fine. Really. Besides, as soon as I left, I went right to bed. Enjoy the cocoa!” she said and took off to deliver more drinks to other folks. She pushed some kind of electric cart around that seemed to be loaded down with drinks, candy canes, muffins, and even a few cupcakes with holiday sprinkles. The woman was a ray of sunshine wherever she went.

Unlike Ethan’s paintings that were a ray of death and destruction and terrible sadness.

We hung some of Ethan’s paintings and prints of originals, which was tricky considering how large and heavy some of them were. We weren’t going to leave them out overnight, due to the weather, but we had to make sure the hooks we’d anchored would hold them, which they did.

I made sure of it. These guys wouldn’t have been able to finish this project without me, but that was beside the point.

The artwork was the point and although it was well done, it was way too depressing for this event.

How he thought he would sell even one when they were so dark and anti-Christmas, was totally beyond me. He painted street scenes, or deserted factories, bleak, utopian street scenesof cities and towns in ruins. Not so much burned out, but rather uncared for after decades of neglect.

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