Page 24 of Storybook Christmas

I turn to see him standing frozen with a gaping jaw. “You,” he says, his voice hoarse, his jaw twitching ever so slightly, “Look stunning.”

A smile stretches across my face as tingles rush across my skin. “Thank you.” I look him up and down, too. A tuxedo hangs perfectly off of his insane body, and the green bow tie he’s wearing makes his eyes almost glow in the reflective lights above. “So do you.”

His cheeks go rosy, and he glances away, scrubbing his chin. When he looks back, he grunts, “Food. Must have.”

“Oh, yes. How rude of me to keep you from it.”

“yYou’re coming with me.”

He puts a hand on my back, and we rush up food table that has an ice sculpture of flying doves, which is Sutton & Sutton’s logo.

I cannot believe how much I love having his hand on my back—it’s a shame he has to take it away.

My phone buzzes, and I check it to see another missed call from Eleanor. I can’t talk to her now, not tonight. She kept the most important news of her life from me for three months—she can wait three days to talk to me at our parent’s house on Christmas day.

When I finish at the food table, I return to my spot near the dance floor, balancing my glass of sparkling wine with my plate of hors d’oeuvres, which has Prosciutto and Gruyere Pastry Pinwheels on it.

With a heaping plate, Finn returns with an entire pastry puff in his mouth.

“Don’t hold back, Finn.”

He manages to swallow his enormous bite. “Are you kidding? I’m going to stuff myself like a turkey. I don’t know when I’m going to have food this nice again.” He holds up a shrimp. “This is the size of a baby’s arm.”

I smile, shaking my head.

“You gotta try it.”

Finn’s feeding me a jumbo shrimp when Isaac Sutton taps his spoon on his champagne glass. “Everyone,” Isaac calls out. “If we could get your attention. We’d like to take a few moments to award The Sutty to this year’s winners.”

The room goes quiet and nerves flutter in my stomach. Winning a Sutty would be such an honor.

Isaac and his brother, Ian, alternate announcing the winners of each imprint, and the tension in my shoulders mounts with each award presented.

My imprint has to be next, as the Suttons are announcing alphabetically, and they just finished Onyx Press, the literary imprint.

“Next up is Platypus Press, our children’s books imprint,” Isaac booms, holding up The Sutty, which is a statue of a man in a suit carrying a stack of books. I don’t like that it’s a man, but it’s fitting at this company.

Anyway, it’s about what the awardmeans.

Bertha inches over to me and squeezes my arm. I’m grateful she opts not to pinch me.

The room goes painfully silent, the only sound the clinking of silverware. Somehow, this ratchets up my nerves another notch.

Isaac smiles his best smile, hesitating for what seems like an eternity before he says, “And, The Sutty goes to Suttons & Sutton’s newest associate editor, Finn Hayes, for Rudolph the Red-Tailed Reinbot.”

My stomach plunges—for a swift moment—until I see the look on Finn’s face. It’s like a child getting his first puppy. A tween getting a text from his long-time crush. It’s pure joy, and it plays on every heart string.

Finn’s utterly beaming. And he’s beautiful.

My hands clap, slowly at first, then increase in speed as I watch him humbly approach Isaac for the award.

Finn needs this more than I do.

And maybe he deserves it more, too.

Just because the reinbot idea didn’t resonate with me doesn’t mean it won’t resonate with others. This is a reminder of just how subjective this business is.

Finn’s gaze meets mine from across the room, his eyes dancing, and my heart does the rumba in my chest.

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