Page 29 of Blame It On The Reindeer

“I mean, I guess we’ll have to,” I said with a heavy sigh, rubbing a finger against my temple.

“Woah, what’s wrong?” Sam asked, joining us and looking around as he handed me a cup of coffee.

My eyes widened when I saw my name on the side.

“The Claus sign broke,” Andi explained, taking the other cup from him that had her name on it.

“You brought me coffee?” I asked in disbelief.

“Well, technically, I had Jeremy make you coffee. He brought the orders over after he closed up, so they should still be hot.”

“Thank you, that’s so sweet. You have no idea how badly I’ve been craving a gingerbread latte,” I replied with a soft laugh.

“Trust me. I know. I told Jeremy not to forget the extra whipped cream as well.”

I glanced up to find Brody standing there with his arms folded over his chest and brows furrowed.

“You know her drink order?” he asked Sam, a new level of assertiveness laced in his deep voice.

“I do.” Sam nodded, lifting a cup to his lips as Jeremy came over, carrying two more to-go trays filled with drinks. “I know everyone’s orders. It’s my gift.”

They stared each other down and I couldn’t help but wonder who might win if they ended up in a brawl. I initially thought Sam could kick Brody’s ass, but seeing them next to each other, I wasn’t so sure. Both were about the same height and build, but Brody had defined muscles in places I hadn’t noticed on Sam.

“Interesting,” Brody muttered, looking away before Sam pulled a cup from the tray and handed it to him.

“Salted caramel cold brew. I know you said you don’t care for sweet drinks, but I noticed the way your face changed when you had a sip, so I thought it was a safe bet.”

“You remembered what I ordered?” Brody questioned in disbelief. “I went thereoncewhile you were working. Some other guy helped me the other time I went in.”

“I’m always there and know what’s happening. Trust me, I know what you ordered.”

“Well, thank you.” Brody lifted his drink and took a sip.

“Alright, now that we all have caffeine, thanks to Sam and Sugarplum Lattes, let’s get this tree decorated,” I announced, lifting my cup in the air as we all cheered Sam and his crew for the drinks.

Everyone scattered about, knowing who would handle what. The guys worked on getting the ladders to begin stringing the lights around the monstrous beast of a tree while the rest of us began sorting through the different bins of ornaments.

“What’s the theme this year?” Andi asked, holding up a red glittery round ornament in one hand and a white snowflake in the other.

“I think, since we’ve had such a wild winter already, we go withCold as Ice. All white decorations which will go well with the white lights. I can work on getting some white lanterns that we can float throughout the mall to help pull things together as well.”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll get everyone started on picking white decorations, and then we’ll put the rest back in storage.”

I smiled at Andi, loving how helpful she was.

I pulled out my phone and made a few notes to look for more white decorations to pull everything together. As I tucked it back into my pocket, I looked up to find Brody headed my way.

“Hey, do you have some extension cords?” he asked.

It felt odd to see him stick around and help out when he could have easily saidsee yaafter getting the tree unloaded. He had made it clear that he had no intentions of making friends, so why was he still here?

“Yeah, they’re in my office. I’ll go grab them.”

I turned and headed there, only to find him falling in step beside me.

“You can wait here, and I’ll bring them to you,” I snapped, hating how much he was getting under my skin again.

“That’s alright. I don’t mind coming with you.”

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