Page 11 of Under the Mistle-Foe

“I’m actually here to see you,” I started, and his eyes widening comically. “Since you spoke so highly of the museum during our date, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind showing me the past houses from the light tour. As a favor to afriend.”

“Okay, good. Because I thought we both agreed on the date we’d be better off as friends,” he said with a sigh of relief.

“Ouch,” I said and pretended to stab myself in the heart.

Panic flashed over Harvey’s face. “That’s not what I meant! You’re a great guy! It’s just we…we…” He waved his hand between the two of us.

I was starting to feel bad for teasing him, so I said, “Yeah, I know. We’re better off as friends. And I do mean that I’d like to be your friend.”

Harvey relaxed, and a smile crossed his face.

He was one of the first matchmaking dates Nick had set me up on. And while Harvey was a cutie and a genuinely kind person, there was no chemistry between us.

“So, for the light tour, you said? We have pictures of the previous winning houses over there.”

I followed him to a wall lined with photos of elaborately decorated houses. Some focused on the color coordination of the lights strung up around the house, while others had inflatables in their front yard to create a Christmas scene. The residents here really went all out for the festival.

Snapping some photos to study them more intently later on, I determined the first mission complete and turned to Harvey with a smile. “You have time to explore the fair with me? I’ve been sent on the very important task of shopping.”

“Sure,” Harvey said with a laugh. “I’ve been popping inand out of the fair all day. Tell me what you’re looking for and I can be your guide.”

“I get a personal tour? I must be lucky,” I teased. He chuckled as we walked to the Festival Hall where the fair was taking place.

We walked between the booths, Harvey telling me some of the cool wares he’d seen earlier in the day as I browsed for gifts that might appease my mom’s broken heart from being unable to partake in this year’s festivals.

A nagging feeling pricked my skin the entire time we shopped. The itchiness in the back of my head like someone had their eyes on me, but whenever I looked around, I didn’t find anything out of place.

There were a couple of instances where I thought I saw a familiar bob of brown hair, but I chalked it up to my imagination running wild again because I knew Remy was at the diner. I’d seen him there just a few hours ago.

We walked a few more stalls before Harvey said he had to check on the museum again. I walked him to the door and thanked him for keeping me company before I returned to the frenzy of shopping to finish my task. Nothing had caught my eye so far.

Stopping at a stall of homemade tree decorations, I found ornaments of Mr. and Mrs. Santa made to be regal-looking cats I thought Mom would get a kick out of. I knew it was the perfect gift to cheer her up.

Once the new pair of ornaments were purchased and wrapped up, that same nagging feeling returned. I flipped my head around and this time, found Remy browsing the stall behind me.

His eyes widened behind his glasses when I suddenly turned to him, and he quickly picked up the item closest to him and pretended to examine it.

That was very…interesting.

I wasn’t egotistical enough to think he’d been following me around this entire time, especially when Remy had acted like he’d wanted nothing to do with me for most of the time we’d known each other. But his current actions were very interesting indeed.

Grabbing my purchase, I made my way over to him as casually as I could. “Fancy seeing you here,” I said, stopping by his side and leaning close to him to examine the item that he was currently fixated on. It was a handmade ornament of a frying pan with sunny-side-up eggs as eyes and a sausage to make a smiley face.

“It suits you,” I said casually. “Just what I’d expect a chef to hang on their Christmas tree.”

“What are you…” Remy’s sentence cut off as his gaze quickly flicked to me, then back to the object in his hand.

“It’s for my dad,” Remy said quickly before rushing to check out. An adorable pink crept up the back of his neck, and I presume his face, but from my angle, his hair blocked me from finding out. I wanted to sweep his hair back to get a clear view of him but managed to resist the urge.

I’d told myself that I wasn’t going to act the fool around Remy again like I had in high school. I needed to keep my mouth and limbs in check.

Remy quickly paid, then left the Festival Hall like his ass was on fire.

“Are you heading back to the diner? I’ll walk with you,” I called out as I caught up to him.

His steps didn’t pause even as he glanced at me. “Are you going to sit there all afternoon again? When you left earlier today, I figured you were heading home.”

“So youdidknow I was there.” I beamed at him, which only had him walking faster. His time in the Big Apple had clearly taught him how to walk like a true New Yorker. Hisspeed was double the leisurely pace that was normal for the folks around here. “Wait up!” I called out.

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