Page 16 of A Merry Mountain Christmas

“Yeah,” I say. “He said he was looking forward to it.”

To be fair, he looked like he was going to shit his pants while he said it, but Harry looks like that about a quarter of the time. I’ve never met someone so tightly wound. He’s a good guy, though—a solid guy—and dating Oliver might mellow him out.

I mentally curse myself. I can practically see Holly giving me a knowing look, saying something likethe matchmaking apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Goddammit, maybe she’s right.

“He did, huh?” Oliver says with a slight smile on his face. “Have you noticed he’s been avoiding me since he moved into your place?”

I can’t say that I have, to be honest, but I’ve been told before that subtext needs to hit me in the face with a two-by-four before I pick up on it.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he says, chuckling. “When I came over to borrow some tools last week, he practically dive-bombed into his room. I’m surprised he didn’t break his nose.”

“Huh. Should I not have asked him?” I ask, scratchingmynose. This isn’t going very well. So much for having matchmaking blood. The only other time I’ve tried to set two people up was Oliver and my sister, Willow, and given that he’s gay and she’s engaged to a writer, you can see how well that turned out. I make a mental note to never try anything this stupid again.

“No,” he says thoughtfully. “If he knows I’m here, it’s fine.”

“Um, is this where I should ask if something happened between you two,” I say.

He laughs in my face. “Shit, Rowan, you’re really bad at this.”

“I’m trying. Does that count?”

“Sure,” he says. “But we don’t need to talk about this, man. I can’t remember the last time you told me about any of the women you’re dating.”

“Wait, you’re dating him?”

“I’m obviously not doing a very good job of it if he’s dive-bombing out of rooms to get away from me.”

I tilt my head. “But you want to date him.”

“Undecided,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “I find his neuroticism charming, but I’d prefer to date a man who can stand being in the same room as me.”

I feel like I should press him for details—I know my sisters would—but truthfully, I’d rather not. After all, he might decide to pressmefor details, and I have a whole lot of nothing to share. The last time I brought a woman home, my sister nearly hit me over the head with a baseball bat, for fuck’s sake. That’s not an experience I’d like to repeat.

I tell myself that’s why I’ve been on a dating and hookup drought—my sister is cock-blocking me. Truthfully, though,she’s hardly been around. I have to acknowledge that part of the problem is that I’m bored of meaningless sex with tourists who’ll only be in Highland Hills for the weekend or a week, and the last local woman I arranged a date with gave her number to someone else in my presence.

Holly says I’m too much of a grump.

Bryn and Willow tell me I’m emotionally unavailable.

My baby sister, Ivy, probably has a fucking opinion too, but she keeps herself too busy writing romance novels to bother much with the rest of us. Or maybe she just has the sense to stay away.

“What’s got you all broody?” Oliver asks, nudging my shoulder.

“Christmas,” I say. “The mayor’s paying me to string lights on his house this year. He told me, unironically, that he wants it to look the house inChristmas Vacation.”

He clucks his tongue. “Make sure you do it when he’s not there. He could talk the ear off a dead person. The last thing you need is to go tumbling off the ladder because he’s chatting you up about the recycling schedule.”

I laugh. “Thanks for the hot tip. I don’t want to go out stringing Christmas lights.”

“I dunno. It’d be an ironic way for a grinch to go out.”

I lift a hand and gesture at the pine trees on display, the log cabin where people can buy hot chocolate or cider. Canned Christmas music is piping from somewhere. “Would a grinch come here?”

“Yes,” he says, slapping my arm. “Absolutely. He’d come here, and he’d steal all of it to keep other people from making merry.”

Another car pulls in as he finishes saying it. It’s Harry’s Prius, and I can see his beanie-clad head in the front seat.

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