Page 11 of Blame It On The Carols

We stepped to the side as my mom put her card back into her wallet.

“Do you mind waiting for the drinks? I want to pop over to Sugarplum Sweets to see if Andi has any truffles ready yet this morning.”

Before I could agree, she rushed out the door and left me there to wait for our drinks by myself.

A few minutes later, Sam called my name, likely having seen that my mom had left.

“Thank you,” I said, grabbing the two large cups from him.

“No problem.”

I was about to turn and leave when he stopped me.

“Hey, would you mind taking this one to Aiden for me? He texted me that he wasn’t going to be able to make it in after all, and since you’re heading that way, I thought maybe you could deliver it for me?” His eyes pleaded as mine narrowed, wondering what he was up to.

“How did you know I was headed there?”

“It’s a small town,” he answered with a cheeky smile as he grabbed a drink tray and loaded all three in for me before adding a few candy canes as well. “Everyone knows everything in a small town. Enjoy the latte.”

“Thank you. Are the candy canes for Aiden?” I asked, not wanting to mess up whatever he had ordered.

“There’s one for each of you.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if he was trying to recreate that scene from Lady and The Tramp where they share the same noodle in the spaghetti. Things weren’t like that with Aiden, and at this rate, he would be lucky if there was still a candy cane left for him by the time I got there. Stress eating was a real thing, and I was beyond out of sorts this morning.

Nine

Aiden

Iwas an idiot foragreeing to allow Jill to use the stage at the bar for rehearsals. I knew she was just doing it to force me and Makayla to spend more time together. There was nothing wrong with the church, which was where the ladies usually practiced. They had only recently started coming to karaoke night to get some extra sessions in there, but even then, it wasn’t like you could really call it rehearsal when they had to share the time with everyone else who wanted to sing.

I was in the back when I heard the front door open and stiffened, not sure if I was ready to see her again. I had tried to force myself to accept that I would see her while she was in town, but I hadn’t quite expected to see so much of her so soon.

“Hey,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets as I attempted to smile at Makayla and her mom.

“Hi, Aiden,” Jill cooed, coming in to give me a hug. “Thank you again for letting us do this. It means so much to the ladies that we can squeeze in some extra rehearsal time with Makayla before the big event.”

---