Page 39 of Mistletoe & Magic
“Not much, just catching up,” Rowan shrugs.
“What’s going on at your shop today?” My mom asks as sheglances over at the doorway between the shops that’s been cut and taped up for now.
“It’s coming together,” Rowan says. “I need to finalize the plans for the grand opening, but I don’t have dates yet because we’re held up with the permits.”
“It’s going to be perfect,” I try to reassure her.
“Yes, everything will work out,” Mom says as she beams at all of us.
“And Ivy has Lola and her things back, and she was just telling us how much she loves working with Remy,” Willa grins.
I kick her leg from where she’s standing at the edge of the counter, which makes her duck out of the way and grin even bigger.
“I do like working with Junie and Remy,” I tell them. “And it was nice of him to take me to get my things back.”
“Very nice…” Rowan says with a wicked grin.
Which I ignore.
“Did Derek give you any trouble?” My mom asks, tilting her head at me as if she already knows the answer.
“Surprisingly, no,” I admit.
My sisters exchange a knowing look.
“What did you do?” I demand. “Iknowyou did something.”
My mom smiles, and Rowan looks away guiltily. Willa stands to pour my mom a cup of coffee.
“Tell me now.”
“Okay, well…I might have put Derek on ice for you,” Willa shrugs.
Which means she put his name in a jar of water and froze it. Something that she likes to do when someone is bothering her or someone in our family. Oh, great.
“Well, that seemed to work. He has left me alone. Thanks for that. I guess,” I tell her. “And what about you two?”
“I decline to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me,” Rowan says with a serious face.
My mom laughs and shrugs. “Same.”
“Put it this way, times might get hard for Kristin and Derek,” my mom says as she sips her coffee.
And this is why I love my family. They have my back, even if it’s in the most unconventional ways.
They always have my back.
It’s pizza night at the house, and I have the list of groceries that Remy requested. Tonight he says it’s just us, Junie, his mom and Finn. We’re going to watch a Christmas movie and make reindeer poop. Every time I brought up reindeer poop, Junie laughed so hard. It’s basically muddy buddies, also known as puppy chow. But she loves when we make everything silly and fun.
I take my time at the Wisteria Cove General Store, pausing in an aisle when I hear Remy’s name and glancing down to listen as two women talk.
“He’s Wisteria Cove’s most eligible bachelor,” one of them says. I think her name is Vanessa, but I’m not sure. I’ve seen her at Rowan’s yoga classes when I’ve filled in for her. I remember her as being kind of snarky and having mean girl energy.
“He really is. I heard he used to be a big hotshot Boston lawyer. He gave it all up to work on a tree farm. He’s like a real-life Hallmark movie come to life,” the other woman says, her back to me so I can’t see who she is.
Both women seem to notice me and turn. “Oh, hey, Ivy,” the woman—Marilyn—says sweetly. Too sweetly. “How are you? I heard you were a nanny for sweet little Junie.”
I shrug. “Yeah, she’s a great kid. How are you guys? Been keeping up with yoga?”
