Page 5 of Christmas Wishes

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Before I shifted the truck out of Park, I checked the phone. There was a text from an unknown number. Must be the Airbnb guest. I figured I might get some weird questions from this one since the person who booked it said it was a surprise for his friend. I’d gotten a few odd bookings over the past few months, but this was a new one. I’d googled the name of the person who made the reservation to ensure there were no red flags. Luckily everything seemed on the up and up.

I shouldn’t even have that booking. I’d meant to turn off the option to accept bookings until I got through the holidays, but it was one on a list of many things I hadn’t gotten to. And now I had to make nice with a stranger for a week. At least he wouldn’t see me around much.

I answered my guests’ questions and did my best to come across as welcoming. When I’d told Doris I planned to honor the Airbnb bookings Nico had when he’d passed, she’d laughed. Then she’d patted my shoulder and told me to do my best to be hospitable. “I’m hospitable,” I grumbled aloud as I shoved my phone in my pocket.

Just because unnecessary small talk made me want to electrocute myself didn’t mean I couldn’t leave people snacks and bottles of water in their rooms. I didn’t need to be the king of small talk to maintain Nico’s 4.8-star average rating on Airbnb.

For the next two hours, I focused on the job. I survived Esther’s not-so-subtle attempts to find out how I was and sped through two appointments afterward.

I loved my job. It made sense. There was a logic and structure to it that I appreciated. What I didn’t love was the admin and having to be the face of the business Nico had successfully run for decades. Nico was supposed to be the smiling, hand-shaking public persona, not me. My brother had inherited all the schmoozing genes from our parents.

All I needed to do was keep my head down, focus on work, and survive the holidays. Things would slow down next month, and I could figure my shit out then. Even as I had the thought, my stomach clenched. More time meant having to face the fact that Nico was gone. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready for that.

Chapter3

Keaton

I tuggedat the collar of the coat I’d bought from a secondhand store in Juniper Ridge as I stepped into the cold. If it had bedbugs, I supposed it served me right.

The secondhand store had been as mediocre as expected, but I appreciated that it funded a local Veterans’ organization. The faint aroma of mothballs clung to cast-offs from recent decades. There were a few winter coats to choose from, but I’d had to pick between loud, outdated, and decently fitting or nondescript but awkwardly oversized. Reluctantly, I’d gone with the former, and now I had a slate-blue coat with a fur collar and red, gold, and white stripes across the top of my chest.

I looked like I’d stepped out of a seventies magazine ad for a winter holiday in Aspen. The cut did nothing for my physique, but at least my Snow Bunny sweatshirt fit underneath.I wonder if Amazon has overnight Prime delivery all the way out here.

There was nothing wrong with secondhand stores. Thrifting was a respectable and sometimes necessary option for many. I just preferred to vet a place if I planned to buy secondhand. A thrift shop in Juniper Ridge probably didn’t even have a Yelp presence. Damn. I should’ve found a place in Flagstaff before driving out of the city. I’d been too busy freezing my balls off to think clearly.

With cold-weather survival gear procured, I needed caffeine. It’d been a hell of a long day already, and I hadn’t even made it to the Airbnb yet. I took a calming breath. It would be fine. No, it would be a great week because I always found a way to have fun.

I took in my main-street surroundings and prayed to the coffee gods that I wouldn’t have to go far. The town was cute in a kitschy, Route 66 sort of way with the brick buildings, walkable downtown, and warm white café lights strung in zigzags across the street.

My caffeine prayers were immediately answered when I spotted a coffee shop sandwich board on the sidewalk two doors away.

I pulled open the door to Jitterbug Café and was hit with a wall of warm air. I unzipped the coat as I glanced around. I caught a few confused looks, but for the most part, the half-dozen people in the place ignored me. Good thing I’d been too tired to put on makeup beyond a swipe of mascara this morning when my alarm went off at the ass crack of pre-dawn. I wasn’t sure how the locals would take a sometimes femme-presenting twink.

Vintage metallic ornaments hung from garlands and a record player in the corner emitted a scratchy Christmas tune. Hopefully, they made a mean gingerbread latte. It was the only thing that could turn my frown upside down in these conditions.

I approached the counter. The barista with half-green, half-red hair initially gave me a strange look, but then she smiled. It seemed genuine enough. Maybe they didn’t get many strangers around here. Her she/her pronoun pin was a welcome sight, and the red bead hanging from her septum piercing gave her a charming Rudolph vibe I was digging.

“Welcome in. What can I get started for you?”

“Hi. On a scale ofThe Nightmare Before ChristmastoElf,how good is your gingerbread latte?”

She grinned. “Let’s just say that if you order one, you’ll say,It’s a Wonderful Life.”

I smiled for the first time all day. “Perfect. A+ pun game, by the way. I’ll take a large one and one of those cute Christmas tree sugar cookies.”

“You got it.”

I moved over to stand at the pickup area and pulled out my phone to kill time while I waited. I saw Arlo had replied to the photo I’d sent him of me wearing my new coat while flipping him off.

Arlo: I think I like that one even better than the one you’ve got at home.

Keaton: LOL, screw you. Make it to Dahlia Springs?

Arlo: Just got my rental car loaded and getting my GPS going.

Keaton: You should swing by Voodoo Doughnut! Isn’t that the place that makes the giant dick and balls one filled with cream?

Arlo: OMG! I am not going to buy a penis doughnut!

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