Page 6 of A Little Merry

At least I thought I kissed him, but maybe that part was the dream.

Now, I wasn’t sure about anything.

“Do you want your I.V. to go, or should I set you up at one of our tables, Ms. Gilmore,” he said, straight faced, staring right at me. Then he gave a little nod to the guy behind me and wrote something on the large white paper cup he pulled off the stack.

I was confounded, gobsmacked, disoriented, and generally confused.

“I… I… You recognize the quote?”

“I serve coffee. I make it my business to know everything about the stuff. Including coffee quotes fromGilmore Girls… not that I’ve ever seen an entire episode, but I know what went on with Lorelai’s obsession for coffee. Again, is that for here or to go?”

“It’s to go. It’s my absolute favorite show. If you ever need someone to guide you to the best episodes, just let me know. I’d be happy to tell you or even watch a couple of episodes with you in case you need an interpreter… not that you would… it’s in English. What I mean is that sometimes the dialogue comes out so fast, it’s hard to keep up. I can help… if you need help, I mean.”

He stared at me for a moment. “I don’t know how to take that invitation. It must go down as one of the best pickup lines I’ve ever heard.”

“I wasn’t… I mean… I didn’t… You’ve got me all wrong. I was merely saying…”

“I’ve got news for you,” the guy behind me said in a low voice. “That was an absolute pickup line and probably one of the best.”

I turned to him. “No. You’ve got it all wrong.”

My throat tightened. I wasn’t trying to pick anybody up. Hell, I could barely pick myself up without coffee, let alone one of these two adorables.

“Aren’t you the new neighbor Lucas was telling me about who’s been playing Christmas music at all hours of the day and night?” the coffee barista asked.

Oh, here we go,I thought.This must be Connor Frost.

Noelle told me all about this guy last night. He lived in 22B and resided in the same Scrooge camp as Lucas, only he probably had good reason. His bride did the fifty-yard dash away from the altar on Christmas. The entire town was there. The bride stood in the open doorway looking all angelic, he and his groomsmen waited with the preacher, and she turned and did the runaway bride routine.

No wonder he hated Christmas and Christmas music. Who wouldn’t? The organist had playedAll I Want For Christmas Is Youwhen his bride showed up in that doorway, then disappeared out of his life… forever. Even moved all the way to the East Coast to get away from him.

“I am, and I’m sorry if it was too loud. It’s just that I love Christmas, and I moved here because everybody in this town seems to love everything Christmas. Just look around at all the decorations. It’s the absolute best!”

I gazed around and noticed there wasn’t even a hint of Christmas in this shop.

Way too sad.

“Not everybody,” he said, and my heart broke for him.

“Oh, so, you’re the one,” Mr. Adorable number two said, as he stood behind me wearing a black shirt and no coat.

“What one?” I asked.

“The one who blasts that horrible music. It’s not bad enough we have to endure it outside, but now, it’s also in our building.”

“You must be Ethan Wreath.” I stuck out my hand. “I’m Merry Everleigh. The Christmas music DJ in 12A. Sorry about that. I’ll keep it down from now on.”

“Thanks. I work from home, and my apartment is right above yours.”

“Sorry about that.”

I was going to promise that it wouldn’t happen again, but then thought better of it. These guys totally needed some Christmas cheer.

Noelle told me that Ethan used to paint happy, cheery scenes and people, but he couldn’t sell any of them. He almost gave up until he started painting dark, utopian scenes. Then his work started selling, and he got caught up in it. Now, he only paints in shades of gray and black.

“Anything else?” Connor asked.

I craved something festive.

---