Page 2 of Mr. Mistletoe
I sigh as I get dressed without lifting a hand. It’s weird but efficient. I take a run around the beach instead of using my godlike powers to tire out my body. I run around Fairhope, my home. The one place that lets me feel at peace.
Fairhope is a peninsula with the land connecting to Founder’s Island via the ferry that goes to the states. We’re known as one of the biggest peninsulas after the Arabian one. We have our wicked southern charm passed down from our founders and the accent rings true until this day. Our southern charm mixed in with our own version of the Hamptons and Cape Cod attracts people from all over, but instead of focusing on that, people focus on me; Deacon Fairhope, the Mayor’s son and one of the founding families of this country. Now, I am not only that, but I am a god, not just any god but the god of light, joy, purity, and so many others. No wonder I can never let go of Kimberly St. Andrews, not only was my love for her pure but I can forgive her a million times over. I sigh, shaking my head but is her love for me pure? Does she love me as much as I love her? What would I do if she showed up here in my face? Would I chase after her a third time or would I finally let her go?
Deacon
Kimberly St.Andrews, my best friend and my biggest crush just sent me a fucking wedding invitation, “Deacon, did you open your mail!” She shrieks.
“Yeah, Kimberly, I got it,” my Fairhope accent is much more pronounced now that my heart is broken into damn near a million pieces.
“So! What do you say?” she says. I don’t have to see her, to know she’s jumping for joy. “Say yes, Deacon? Please.”
Kimberly’s accent is close to nonexistent. She lost it when she moved to the big apple with her mother back when we were in grade school, but we never lost touch, and her mother came back to live here when she graduated high school and got accepted into med school. Plus, our mothers are best friends, so Kimberly and her mother always came down to visit complaining that our family wouldn’t really like the Big Apple. We didn’t care too much though since staying in Fairhope was just fine for us.
“I don’t know, Mamita,” I call her by my nickname for her. I blame my Colombian mother for helping me choose this nickname for her. Yes, choose. I shake my head and I sigh, “ I just don’t know if I want to be the man of honor. Shouldn’t you ask some of your city girlfriends or hmm, your forehead twin, Arden? That’ll keep her crazy ass busy.”
“Deacon Fairhope don’t play with me! Leave my best friend out of this and stop making fun of our foreheads, it makes us even more beautiful, asshole. You’re doing this because you’re my best friend and that’s what they do! I just emailed you your itinerary for everything. I’m coming to town for Christmas and wedding planning!” she shrieks again.
“If you don’t stop yelling in my fuckin’ ear,” I warn her.
“What you’re not going to do is fuss at me, Deacon Hiram Fairhope! I’m already stressed. I need you to be there for me.”
I shake my head. This is unbelievable. “Kimberly, you do know I have a job, right? I need to make sure everything in town runs smoothly.”
“Right and the mayor, your father, said he can give you the time off. I’ve gone through the proper channels. I’m working and I think you’ll be asleep when I’m there, so I’ll make sure not to miss my flight! They’re paging me, gotta go, love you, Deacon! Muah!”
Kimberly hangs up, and I sigh, running a hand over my face. I look up at my brother who cocks his brow with a smirk on his face. “Was that Kimberly?”
“Don’t play with me, Mack! You knew she was getting married and didn’t tell me? And that she’s coming home and no one TOLD ME!”
My brother, Maverick or as the town calls him Mack, stands up and straightens his suit pretending like he didn’t hear me just flip out on him. “You ready for the annual family Fairhope Gala?”
“Buffoon,” I answer but I stand and straighten my matching all-black attire. Before heading out, I take a swig of my parents Bourbon and try to relax. My nerves are acting out of place. Too much is swimming in my head.
Schmoozing with the town folks always takes a toll on me. Honestly, it drains me, and by the end of the night, I’m planning a trip to leave Fairhope for the holidays. Don’t get me wrong, I love Fairhope and the people here. My ancestors founded this place and I’m lucky, definitely grateful to be a Fairhope but sometimes I just need a break. It isn’t about expectations or nothing like that, it’s just that I feel like I’ve been runnin’ on borrowed fuel.
“You ready to see the woman who you gave your heart to at the tender age of ten?” Mack teases.
“I don’ know what you’re talking about.” I act like he doesn’t know what he’s saying.
“Don’ play with me now, Deac, you wear your heart out on your sleeve. You always have, that’s why you’re single. Why do you think any girl you were datin’ always ended up not likin’ Kimberly? They aren’t as stupid as you are. You whorin’ around town didn’t help either. Out here breakin’ and mendin’ the hearts all to drop them when ol’ girl Kimmie comes callin or is it because she once broke your heart when she chose med school over you?” He snickers.
I roll my eyes trying not to bring that memory up. Certain things will always remain deep in the vault of things I’ll never bring up again. “Is this your attempt at making me feel better about her getting married? I’m not whorin’ around, I’d rather be single, that’s all. Can’t a man enjoy being single and ready to mingle?”
Mack snorts as we work the crowd, “Uh-huh, so you’re just not settlin’ down at 33 years old cause you don’ feel like it? Yeah, right.”
“Yup,” I say.
I first met Kimberly when she was a baby. I mean I was one too but three years older. Ever since then, we’ve been inseparable. I fought her battles when someone tried to bully her at school. I didn’t care that I was nine and some six-year-old little boy tried to pull her hair. I made sure he knew she had a protector.
Mack’s laughter breaks my concentration, I turn to face him and glare at him. He’s lucky he’s my brother. Mack and I are spitting images of each other. A lot of people mistake us for twins, but we’re not, we’re a year apart. My hair is dark brown with blonde highlights and stops at my shoulders. His hair is close to being black with some streaks of blonde, his is cut shorter in the back with it being longer in the front. Our eyes are a dead giveaway since I have one green and blue eye and his are both ocean blue. With the dark hair and blue eyes, the runnin’ joke around town is him being called Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid. He hates it and we love it. I stand at six foot six inches, and he stands at six foot four inches. Other than that, we both have lean bodies, several tattoos in random places and that wicked Fairhope smile that can get us out of trouble. It definitely came in handy as kids.
Mama and Papa Fairhope only had three kids, two boys and one precious girl. Our baby sister, Valeria, is the apple of the family’s eye. She got married when she was 23 to her high school sweetheart Shay Montgomery, the captain of the football team and prom king. They’ve given me the cutest niece, Averie, who turns five soon. Valeria and Shay spot me and my sweet baby sister waves at me as if she didn’t know about the wedding either. Valeria is the blondest out of both of us. She looks like those girls that you pull out of the Southern Charm magazines. A young housewife, keeps up with modern fashion, keeps busy, updates her socials and still manages to take care of both her husband and child.
If you ask me, it’s a bunch of bullshit why that matters. I’m pretty sure Shay would’ve loved Valeria regardless. Besides, no one outside of the immediate family and friends knows that Valeria can’t cook for shit. She couldn’t even boil water. One time, she even burned Mama’s favorite pot all because she wanted to make her boyfriend some damned mac and cheese. Like right out of the box, mac and cheese. Everybody knows not to use Valentina Fairhope’s good pot. I shake my head as a smirk appears on my face. I wink at Valeria and look at Mack, “When does Kimberly come in? I know she told you. She clearly kept it a secret from me and the invitation thing? When did she get engaged?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “I mean…” When Mack hesitates, it means he and his partners-in-crime the forehead twins, Arden and Kimberly already talked about this.
I shake my head. “Fuck it,” I say not wanting to know. I signal one of the servers walking around for a drink. They work for us a lot, so they know my drink. As if they knew I was going to ask for one, another server, Kay, I remember her name because I slept with her, brings me bourbon. I take it and thank her but don’t spend too much time on her. She looks disappointed, but I’m like an occupational hazard, avoid me as much as you can. I give her a wink and she smiles as she walks off-putting more pep in her step.
