Page 27 of Blame It On The Carols

She pulled a small envelope out of her back pocket and gave it to Makayla.

“It’s a fifty-dollar gift card to Sugarplum Sweets. Congratulations, you knocked it out of the park with those.”

Andi smiled and walked off while Makayla held the envelope in her hands, staring in disbelief.

“I can’t believe I won.”

“I can. Those are amazing. You’re very talented.”

“It was actually quite therapeutic,” she replied with a laugh. “It let me get out of my head for a while, and before I knew it, I was on a roll.”

“I’m glad it helped.”

“All of this has, Aiden. You went out of your way to bring all of these wonderful people together just to show me what Christmas can be like and it’s not even Christmas yet. No one has ever done something like this for me before. Christmases with my mom in Sugarplum Falls were always great, but I’ve never seen an entire town come together like that. We always just stayed home and celebrated together. We didn’t have a lot of money, so she worked a lot, which meant we didn’t do stuff like decorate cookies or spend a lot of time with people.”

“You deserve it, Mak. You deserve all the joy and happiness in the world, and if I can help give it to you, I will.”

“I’m so lucky to have a friend like you,” she said softly, looking away before she could see the hurt in my eyes.

Eighteen

Makayla

It had been over aweek since Aiden arranged the little holiday party for me at the bar. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about how wonderful it felt to have everyone drop what they were doing to join us. I had forgotten what small-town life felt like after being in the city and constantly in a rush for so long. My mom had come to LA to visit a handful of times when I couldn’t make it home, but it wasn’t the same. Having my mom around was wonderful, but there was something to be said about what this town could do to someone. It was almost like it filled an emptiness in my heart that had been hollow for so long. Or perhaps that was from being around Aiden so much.

I also hadn’t been able to get the sad look on his face out of my mind after telling him that he was such a great friend. But what was I supposed to say? We both knew that the love we once shared was still there, but I wasn’t stupid enough to think that things would work any differently for us now than they had six years ago when I left.

I sat on the couch, going through the brochure my mother had given me for the competition tomorrow. I had expected it to be on some grander scale with lots of other choirs they were competing against, but it turned out there were only five total, including the Sugarplum Sweethearts. I would have laughed at how ridiculous my mother had been when she obsessed over how theyhad to win this, but being back in Sugarplum Falls made me remember just how competitive everyone was. From decorating houses to sugar cookie decorating, there was a competition for everything.

It felt weird being in the house without Aiden, but I was thankful that he had at least relaxed a little bit and allowed me some space once my real security detail arrived. I was more than happy to say farewell to the Men In Black and sighed a breath of relief when greeted by Tony and Patrick once they got to town. They were so good at what they did that I didn’t even feel or notice their presence most of the time.

My phone vibrated on the table, the noise startling me.

“Hello,” I answered, pressing it to my ear without bothering to check the caller ID.

“Hi, Makayla,” a deep voice answered, sending chills immediately down my spine. I jolted up and scanned the room for Tony or Patrick, not even a few seconds passed by before Tony was by my side. His brows furrowed in concern as I nodded my head.

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