Page 38 of A Little Merry

“I can’t tell you, but it’s a doozy.” She was dressed in green and red and looked like an elf. I couldn’t remember if she always looked this way, or was it simply because it was Christmas Eve?

“Great, I don’t want to know, and I’m not going.”

She held a plate covered with a large, white napkin.

“That’s fine, but we just thought you might be hungry, so Merry and I put a plate together for you. She even made a pie.”

I loved pie. “What kind?”

“Cherry.”

I took the plate, uncovered it, and noticed that despite the turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and corn, there wasn’t any pie on it. “I thought you said there was pie?”

“There is, two of them, back in Merry’s apartment. We’re just sitting down to eat. Why not join us for dinner and dessert? You don’t have to even talk. You can sit there in silence, but why sit alone on Christmas Eve in a dark apartment?”

I couldn’t deal with it any longer. I hated being alone on Christmas Eve. All I did was recapture those horrible moments when my life changed forever.

“Fine, but don’t expect me to have fun.” As soon as I said the words, I knew I’d said them to my mother when she tried to get us all together the very next Christmas.

I’d turned into my younger, foot-stomping self.

This shit had to end.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she said, sniggering, which caused me to laugh, which caused her to laugh louder until we were bothheaded down the hallway to Merry’s place, laughing for no other reason than I was being a total ass!

The door to her apartment was wide open, and as soon as I saw Merry, taking a seat at the head of the table, looking positively radiant in a blood-red, tight dress, I handed Noelle my plate, walked right over to Merry, took her in my arms, and kissed her to whistles and applause, a hard kiss, one that she willingly returned.

When we stopped, I said, “I’ve been a complete ass.”

“I know,” she said, smiling while she gazed up at me.

“Can you forgive me?”

“You were forgiven as soon as you walked through that door.”

Then I kissed her again. Only this time, I fell into it so deep, if we had been alone, it would have progressed into something much more.

“Okay, guys… either take it to the other room or give it a rest,” Ethan said. “We’re hungry, and the food is getting cold.”

I reluctantly stopped the kiss, but only because Noelle yelled, “Oh. My. Santa! I can’t believe it’s happening. Look. Look, everybody. It’s happening.”

When we all gazed her way, as she stood in front of the open doorway, still holding my plate, she looked completely different.

She shook her head a couple of times, and her hair, now sleek and long, covered her shoulders. Her face looked at least ten years younger, and damn if she didn’t seem taller. Like a lot taller. And that figure… wow!

I didn’t know what had just happened, but the middle-aged Noelle, who had been niggling all of us for the past couple of weeks, had just morphed into some kind of hot bombshell.

I didn’t know what was going on, but damn if it wasn’t some kind of Christmas miracle.

“It happened! It really happened!” she said, almost crying.

“What happened?” Connor asked. “Where did Noelle go?”

“Is that you, Noelle?” Billy Ray asked. “Is that really you?”

She didn’t answer him. Instead, she looked right at me. “You love her, don’t you? You’re in love with Merry. You might as well say it because I know it’s true. I mean, look at me! I’m… I’m not an elf anymore.”

I didn’t know what to say, both about what Noelle had just said and my feelings for Merry. This wasn’t the appropriate time. I wanted to tell Merry when we were alone. “I… ah… How did you…”

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