Page 15 of The Grump Who Stole Christmas
It wasn’t until I’d reached the coffee pot and opened the kitchen cabinet that I remembered where I’d left my mug.
Oh my God! Did that mean I actually had to walk all the way upstairs again?
It was too far!
“Here, did you want to use this mug?”
I turned at the sound of my nemesis’s voice. He was currently washing out MY MUG in the kitchen sink. It was just Paul and me in the kitchen. My dad was nowhere to be found. Probably, hopefully, he was already over at the inn greeting some last minute check-ins.
Paul slowly rinsed out the mug, dried it, then carefully placed it on the counter next to the coffee pot. The boss lady logo facing me.
We stared at each other, each of us understanding that battle lines had been drawn.
He smiled mischievously, even as he raised his hands in the air like an innocent.
“I was so afraid when I couldn’t find it in the cabinet this morning that someone might have stolen it. Good thing, it was just you keeping it safe in your room. Clever.”
“You came into my room?” I accused him.
“I knocked first. The door was slightly open and I could see the mug just sitting there on your nightstand.”
“And you just walked in and took it? While I was sleeping?”
He shrugged. “Not my fault you sleep like the dead.”
“You think you’ve won,” I said softly, letting the darkness fill my voice. “You think this is a war and you’ve won. This, my friend, is just the opening skirmish. Are you really prepared to got to battle over a coffee cup?”
He bent down to me, his beard a little too close to my face.
“Kay-Kay, it’s a really, really good mug. So…yeah. Worth it.”
I blinked. “Excuse me, Kay-Kay?”
“Short for Kris Kringle,” he smiled. “It kind of fits you.”
I glared at him. “Do you have a death wish?”
He took the mug and filled it with coffee from the still half-full pot and then pressed it into my hands.
“Seems you’re a little cranky in the morning, Kay-Kay. Why don’t you drink this and then we can discuss some business?”
I took the mug and pressed it close to my chest in case he had thoughts of snatching it away. I took my first sip. I didn’t tell him how delicious it was this time because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
Also, I was secretly planning my revenge.
Also, I was trying not to wonder if, when he came into my room while I was sleeping, he caught me drooling.
Also… HE CAME INTO MY ROOM!
Thoughts swirling through my head, I took another sip of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table.
“What business do we have to discuss?” I asked him, trying to convince both him and myself I wasn’t internally losing my shit.
“I had a chance to think last night when I got back to the house. You were worried about the inn not being filled. Is that because it usually is during this time?”
“Oh, just every year for the last twenty or so years. So you might understand why I’m a little concerned.”
He brow furrowed and I could see deep creases in his forehead.
