Page 27 of Mistletoe Kisses

“Yes, please.”

My plate was nearly full when I heard a familiar laugh. Sure enough, it was the dickhead older brother of one of my high school friends.

“If it isn’t Trip. Trip on anything lately?” he asked, grinning.

I managed not to roll my eyes. His wife gave me an apologetic look. I shrugged and smiled at her.

“Good one, Braxton.”

I felt Arlo’s attention on me. I wanted nothing more than for Braxton to disappear and for Arlo not to ask about it. Part of me wanted to tell him because he seemed like a safe person to confide in, but I didn’t want to show him the most embarrassing part of my past.

“What are we going to see this year?” Braxton chuckled to himself.

“Nothing. I haven’t participated in over a decade.” And yet, people still remembered. They always remembered.

“Come on, Brax. We need five more stamps.” His wife mouthed, “Sorry,” before pulling him away.

I added two more cheesecake bites to my plate. “Want to go look at more books?”

Arlo assessed me with his kind eyes. He paused, and I nearly offered an explanation, but I chickened out. I didn’t want to burden him with my stuff when he had more serious struggles to contend with.

“Sure. There’s a series I’m curious if you’ve read.” He gave me a knowing smile.

I was grateful for the out and grateful for him.

Chapter11

Arlo

“Then,when the angel tree topper’s eyeball fell off, my little sister Gina pulled an eye off one of her dolls and found some superglue in Dad’s toolbox. Instead of gluing the eye to the angel, she attached it to her hand.” Lucas shook his head.

My sides ached from all the laughing. I hadn’t had many good belly laughs since I’d gotten laid off, but they came easy with Lucas.

“What happened?”

“Dad took her to the ER while Mom stayed home with the rest of us. That creepy angel hasn’t been the same since.” Lucas looked down at the angel tree topper in his hand. He had a thoughtful expression as he put the angel back on the shelf in the antique store.

“Your family seriously loves Christmas, doesn’t it?”

He laughed. “You don’t know the half of it.”

We continued wandering around and pointing out things we remembered from our childhoods. There were a ton of McDonald’s toys still in wrappers on shelves in the store’s glass cases. Keaton’s mom had a huge box full of them. He said she’d always sworn they’d be worth a ton of money one day. Judging by the low prices we saw, she’d made a poor bet.

I spotted a vintage aqua train case that would be perfect to hold some of his cosmetics, and I made a mental note to come back tomorrow to buy it for Keaton. It would make a great Christmas gift.

“Ready for the next stamp?” Lucas draped his arm around my shoulder, handing me a cocktail taster in a small plastic cup. The sign next to the cups said it was a gimlet. He clinked his against mine. “Cheers.”

The proximity to him was heady. He smelled like peppermint and made me feel safe.

“Not a fan of gin, but a free drink is a free drink.” He swallowed the rest, which made his Adam’s apple bounce.

It was fun that each participating business offered a free cocktail or mocktail alongside passport stamps. Fortunately, they were in tiny cups. Otherwise, I’d get tipsy. We had to be careful since we were both driving.

Lucas pulled his arm back, and I immediately missed it. “I think Live, Laugh, Luxury is next. Have you been in there yet?” There was a teasing smile on his kissable lips.

Stop thinking about his lips!

“I haven’t. Should I be scared?”

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