Page 76 of Mistlefoe
“That’s right.” I can tell by the man’s voice that this pains him just as much as it does me. “Of course, I’ll offer you a refund.”
“I—I understand, thank you. If you don’t mind, I have to talk with my colleague now to come up with a plan B.”
“Right, sorry for the inconvenience.”
“No, thank you,” I grumble and we disconnect the call.
“Conor!” Sierra grabs my shoulders and gives me a shake. “You’re killing me, what happened with the booths?”
“We’re going to be short by three.” I explain the situation through gritted teeth. “Sorry, it looks like I jinxed it.”
“I didn’t know you had the power to make it snow.” She cries, throwing her hands in the air and letting them fall on her face. “Ugh, this ruins the whole plan. What are we going to do now?”
Sighing, I get up and pull her against me, wrapping my arms around her. It works, because she immediately relaxes against me. I bury my face in her curls. “We could call every carpenter in town.”
“The lead time is too tight, I’m sure they’re full booked by now,” she mumbles against my chest. “Or they’re all on holiday already.”
“What if we go to a hardware store, buy some plywood, and make the booths ourselves?”
“I know you like chopping wood but have you ever worked with it before? Because I haven’t.”
“I’m afraid not.” I run my hands up and down her back. “Are there any booths we could transform into simple tables?”
“Sure, but where’s the magic in that?” She sounds deadpanned at the suggestion. “If only there were Christmas booths just laying around that we could borrow.”
I lift my head, blinking hard without seeing anything. ThenSierra does the same, and a microsecond later we pull away and speak at the same time.
“The Christmas fair!”
I snap my fingers. “That’s it, Christmas is saved.”
“Don’t jinx it again, Mahoney.” She twists out of my arms to palm her pockets until she produces her cellphone. “First, we need to see if it’s still open.”
“If not, I’m sure someone at the convention center can give us a lead.” I grab my car keys with one hand and my coat with the other. “I’ll drive until the end of the earth if it means I can come back in time for the event with three damn booths.”
“Let’s go.” Sierra nods at me and rushes to her side to pick up her things.
That’s when someone else clears their throat.
We both freeze in midair and I guess Sierra is having the same realization as me—which is that we got so wrapped up in the disaster, we might have forgotten that we weren’t on our own.
All our colleagues, including our freaking boss, watch us with equal levels of interest. Except for Rachel—she seems more amused than surprised. I guess Sierra must’ve told her we started dating already.
“What just happened?” Lewis asks with his mouth hanging open.
“I think…” Kaylee starts slowly. “That y’all just lost a bet, suckers!”
“Hah!” Rachel jumps to her feet and claps her hands. “Pay up.”
Sierra’s expression grows sour and she mumbles something in Spanish that I have no hope of understanding from my Duolingo skills alone. As she finishes shrugging her coat on, she says, “Let’s deal with this later. We have more pressing concerns right now.”
“Right.” I clear my throat and give her a wide berth as we head over to the elevators.
Except right before we’re out of our colleagues’ sight, Sierra slips her hand in mine and the stooges explode in hoots and hollers. I turn to Sierra but she’s smiling like she did it on purpose.
And that’s how the entire company finds out the formerly bitter rivals are now an item.
CHAPTER 26
