Page 9 of Blame It On the Secret Santa

“Is she drunk?”

I shook my head and wrapped my arm around her waist as she started to lean against me while sliding down.

“She’s on Percocet,” I confirmed. “She fell on ice in the parking lot at Waldon’s. I took her to the ER and they confirmed there weren’t any breaks or fractures, but gave her the Percocet for the pain.”

“Shit.” Sam closed his eyes and tossed his head back. “She doesn’t handle Percocet well.”

“I can see that.”

She turned toward me, smiling a smile I never thought I would ever see again, and booped my nose with her finger.

“Hey, Cass,” he said, trying to get her attention as he waved at her.

She turned to the side and smiled slowly at him. She reminded me of a sloth with how delayed her movements were.

“Yeah?” she replied, her words slow and drawn out.

“You need to go home and sleep.”

She frowned and pouted her lip.

“I want coffee,” she insisted. “A mocha cinnamon vanilla latte with extra gingerbread buttery sprinkles.”

“That’s not even a real drink.” He shook his head at the guy working the register beside him as his customer took an interest in what Cassidy was attempting to order. Sam was known for his lattes, and people went crazy every time he came up with a new flavor. This was something I learned quickly in the first few weeks of being back in Sugarplum Falls. The people in Sugarplum Falls were serious about their coffee.

“You need sleep, Cass. Mom and Dad went out of town for the weekend or I would have you go stay with them since you’re in no condition to be on your own until the Percocet is out of your system.” Sam rubbed his hand over his face and then looked me in the eye. “Can you take her back to your place until the Percocet wears off? It should only be a few hours, and she’ll likely sleep the whole time.”

My eyebrows rose dangerously high off my forehead.

“You want me to take her back tomyhouse?”

“I know, I’m sorry. I don’t have any other options. We’re short-handed here today or I would leave and take care of her myself. I hate to ask but if you could help out, I would really appreciate it.”

“You do know that once the Percocet wears off and she remembers how much she hates me, there’s a good chance she’ll try to kill me, right?” I leaned in and lowered my voice so everyone else couldn’t hear.

Cassidy leaned against me, her eyes closed as she hummed a song that was too hard to make out. It sounded like a mix between a Christmas song and something from the seventies.

“Would a free latte help?” Sam offered, scrunching his face as he put his hands together and begged.

“It couldn’t hurt. Her butt is going to be sore for a while, but I’ll need that extra caffeine to get away from her before she tries to kick mine.”

Sam chuckled and took my order while I focused on keeping Cassidy upright. She turned into my chest and sniffed the sweater I was wearing, holding it close to her nose.

“You smell like happiness, sunflowers, and wishful thinking,” she murmured as I leaned forward to take my drink from Sam while still trying to hold onto her.

Maybe getting a latte was a mistake because I had no idea how I was going to get it to the car while practically carrying Cassidy. I thanked him for the drink and turned just in time to see my parents walk in. My mom’s eyes widened with surprise to see me, then narrowed in confusion as she saw Cassidy.

“Hey,” I said, already feeling out of breath from trying to carry her and my drink. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We came to grab some lattes before doing some Christmas shopping,” my mom answered softly, still staring at Cassidy. “I think the real question is, what areyou guysdoing here.”

“Cassidy fell at work, so I took her to the hospital, and then she asked me to bring her for a latte on our way home.”

“Ourway?” my mom questioned.

I knew how much my parents loved Cassidy and how heartbroken my mother was when she found out we’d broken up. I didn’t have the guts to tell her that it was all Declan’s fault because I was too heartbroken myself at the time. She didn’t seem to know what had happened; she just knew that Cassidy and I had broken up and that Declan and I had a fight that neither of us would talk about.

“I told Sam I would stay with her until the Percocet wore off,” I said, pulling myself out of dreadful thoughts about the past.

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