Page 10 of Under the Mistle-Foe

CHAPTER 5

JETT

“Okay,Mom. I got it. I’ll make our house the grandest and brightest for the lights tour!”

“It can’t be gaudy either, honey. It needs to be a bang but still be tasteful,” Mom insisted.

“Mom, don’t worry. I’m heading to the Festival Museum now to get some ideas from past houses.” Only after reassuring her did Mom let out a sigh of relief.

“Good, good. We want to make sure we’re all ready for the start of the light tour next week. I might not be there personally, but my reputation is still on the line!” There was a pause, then she added, “I’m sorry we can’t make it home for Thanksgiving. Are you sure you don’t want to come here for the weekend?”

I could hear the sadness in her voice. I knew she was upset about missing a family holiday together, but I was sure she was more depressed about not being able to return to Christmas Falls for this festival season.

Christmas Falls was her favorite place in the world—which was why our primary address was here instead of New York, where their company was located.

But I didn’t want to leave Christmas Falls now either. Like mother, like son. It was also my favorite place, now made extra special with a certain person back in town.

“It’s fine. Plus, would you and Dad even have time to spend with me with the negotiations going on? Isn’t that the whole reason why you’re missing the festival in the first place?”

A literal growl came from over the phone. I pulled it away from my ear to make sure that it was still my mom on the line. “Don’t these people take the freaking holidays off? Who pushes out deals during the most magical time of the year, anyway?”

She let out a huff of frustration, and I smiled. Mom was one of the kindest people I knew, unless someone tried to get between her and the Christmas Falls festival.

The software company my parents created twenty years ago had turned from a two-person team to having its headquarters in New York City. They’d never expected it to grow this big or that they’d catch the eye of a major corporation. And that was what led to this whole mess in the first place.

In the past few years, my parents had ideas of me taking on more of a leadership role within the company in the hopes I could run it one day, but I was happy simply coding behind the scenes. I didn’t want the stress of having the fate of hundreds of people on my shoulders, nor did I want to leave my charming little town.

Thankfully, my parents never pushed the issue too hard.

They’d always advocated choosing your own path in life and doing whatever made me happy. I was very blessed to have parents who let me be me. Whether it was my career choices or my sexuality.

When I was in college and told them I only liked men, they took it in stride. There was none of that, ‘Are you sure? Maybe you’re just confused’ bullshit that I’d heard someother people had to deal with. The only thing they showered me with was love and support, allowing me to be free to choose who I wanted to be andbe with.

“Alright, I’m walking into the museum now. Tell Dad not to work too hard and get some rest,” I said as I opened the door and quickly entered the warm building. I loved Christmas Falls, but one thing I’d never grown out of was my sensitivity to the cold.

“Hey! What about me?”

Snorting, I retorted, “Do I even need to worry when you’re with Dad? He’ll shuffle you to bed at the first sign of fatigue.”

Mom laughed. “Your dad knows how to treat his partner right. Okay, love you, honey. Oh! Today’s the first day of the fair, right? Get me some local goods to heal my soul from all this overtime!”

I laughed and promised to add to her already full room of holiday decor she’d gotten over the years.

The Festival Museum was where the town kept memories of all the previous festivals. Inside the museum was Festival Hall, where they held the Arts and Crafts Fair, but the two areas couldn’t be any more different. The bustling of the fair sounded almost deafening in the silence of the empty museum.

A slender man had his back to me as he looked at one of the previous years’ floats.

“Hey Harvey,” I called out, causing him to jump.

“Shit! Jett! You scared the life out of me.” Harvey turned to me with a hand to his heart.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting…” He gestured toward me.

“Me?” I supplied.

“Well, anyone, for that matter,” he said with a chuckle andscratched the back of his hair. “We don’t get many visitors around here. Anyway, what are you doing here?”

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