Page 24 of My Secret Snowflake
“Tessa and Bella,” he says. “They’re in the basement fetching the decorations. You should also find the fake belly pillow in the Santa costume box. It’s nice of you to dress up as a pregnant woman.”
“Great.” I make my way through the crowd and open the door next to the bar that leads into a hallway. It’s relatively quiet in here, the bar noise muted by the thick walls. Upstairs is our living space. I open another door and head down the steep stairs to the basement. I can hear Tessa and Bella laughing.
The basement is well-lit, as a working part of our bar/restaurant where all the deliveries are received and stored. It even has one of those metal gravity conveyer belts to deliver supplies down from the street. As a kid, I thought it was the coolest thing.
Tessa, a tall woman with blonde hair, and Bella, shorter with riotously curly black hair and glasses, stand between banks of iron shelving in the back of the storage area. They’ve located the three boxes labeledBar Xmas decorations. We hug hello.
“Maddie and Lily are coming too,” I say. “We probably have more people than we need.” I open the Santa costume box and pull out the fake pillow.
“Well, when your dad offers a free dinner, you know we’re all showing up,” Tessa says. “This event always feels like the unofficial start of the holiday season.”
“How’s your latest book coming along?” I ask Bella, who is a romantic comedy writer. “I need a feel-good book right about now.”
“I’m stuck.” Bella pushes her red-framed glasses up her nose. “I can’t decide about the second lead. Should he be perfect? Or clearly no candidate for her affection?”
“No triangle,” Tessa says. “I hate second-lead syndrome. I get so sad when the guy I like—the one who has no red flags—gets passed over. And I definitely didn’t like it when I thought I might be the second lead in my own romance with Zeke, although maybe I did have some red flags, but only if you didn’t know the context.”
Bella pats Tessa on the back.
This is my goal for the new year—only green flag guys.
“But it does create tension if the second lead is perfect and you wonder if the protagonist might go for him,” Bella says, twisting one of her curly strands uncertainly.
“I’m here,” Lily yells out from the top of the stairs.
“We’re coming up,” I say.
Tessa and Bella each pick up a box, and I stick the pillow on top of the third bin. We meet Lily at the top of the stairs, and I leave the pillow on the steps that lead upstairs for pick-up later. We proceed single file through the narrow hallway back into the bar.
“That shirt is perfect for a librarian,” I say. Lily is wearing a shirt that saysBooks are a Uniquely Portable Magic.
“I’m getting quite a collection. They’re perfect to wear to work.” Lily pulls me aside. “That guy I wanted to set you up with—he came in to the library with a girlfriend. They were holding hands while reading.” Lily pouts.
“That’s okay—but so cute, right? You and Rupert should double-date with them.”
She playfully punches me. “I want to sextuple-date with you and all my girlfriends and their guys.”
“We’re getting there,” I say.
“Should we do the windows first?” Lily asks. “Or wait for the guys?”
I say, “It’s only going to get colder. Best to do it now.”
Lily lifts the two stepladders my dad left by the table as Tessa grabs the box of snowflake decals. I carry the garlands through the bar—with some good-natured ribbing from some of the regulars.
“Watch out! A tree fairy is coming through,” one yells from his barstool.
“At least she’s not carrying a hawthorn tree,” yells another, “with the fairies gathered round waiting to abduct a human who’s caught their fancy.”
“Be careful with what you say,” I reply, “or I might just hang the mistletoe above your barstools.”
They both laugh.
At the front window, Tessa is supervising the application of snowflake decals to make sure we get proper coverage—unlike the very uneven arrangement we ended up with in the Accounting Department.
“Hey,” Maddie says.
Maddie made it. I hug her tightly with my one free arm, the other still full of garlands. Maddie’s reporter schedule can be similar to mine, with the sudden need to work long hours covering a story in her case, or in mine, responding to a cybersecurity incident.
