Page 30 of The Holiday Hate-Off
My gaze flits back to Enzo’s seat. He’s still staring at me, even as he says something to his date.
The absolute nerve!
What if Curtis is that poor woman’s soulmate, and now she’ll never know?
Sure, I’d decided within two seconds of sitting down across from Curtis that he wasn’t Mr. Perfectly Okay. There was a crumb sticking to his lips that had made the thought of kissing him abhorrent. He’d seemed pleasant enough, though, and he’s probably taken care of the crumb problem by now. It’s perfectly possible Enzo cut a beautiful romance short before it could even get started.
I have to get that jerk out of here before he ruins more potential love stories…
I glance at Eileen, whose attention is on a red-haired Santa who’s having a lively conversation with a woman with wavy black hair. My heart swells when I see him remove his hat and offer it to her.
Oh, good! We haven’t had any love matches yet, so this?—
I crane my head in response to movement in my peripheralvision. It takes a second for me to process what happened: Daisy just threw a whoopie pie at Mark’s face. It bounced off his fake beard, leaving behind a dollop of whipped filling.
“You’re an asshole,” she says, then stomps off, leaving him staring after her with his mouth agape. Seconds later, the front door opens and then slams shuts, wafting chilly air into the room.
Enzo meets my eyes again, hiking up his eyebrows in an expression of innocence that is infuriating.
“But…buthe’sthe asshole,” Mark says, way too late for her to hear him. He’s pointing at Double Beard, who’s laughing so hard he’s bent over, the end of his Santa beard dipping into his hot chocolate like a paintbrush.
Oh, this is a disaster. And it’s all Enzo’s fault. If he hadn’t interrupted my mini-date with Mark, then Mark wouldn’t have asked me out after the five-minute mark, and this unpleasantness could have been avoided.
I motion to Eileen to call a temporary halt to the proceedings. We’re one woman short now, but on the plus side, we have one extraneous jerk who isn’t supposed to be here. If we send our party crasher away, we’ll be back on track.
Eileen walks into the middle of the room and clinks a mug with a spoon to get everyone’s attention. “My wonderful guests,” she says, “let’s take a moment to consort with our friends and enjoy a wonderful Christmas treat. My dear assistant Lucy got you all some delectable candy canes from Portia’s shop.”
“Are they free?” Double Beard asks.
“Yes,” I say, rubbing a tense spot between my eyebrows.
He stands up so abruptly his chair almost falls over. “Well, sign me up. I had to pay twenty bucks to get in here, and I haven’t gotten a single number yet.”
“Theydidguarantee love would be in the air,” Mark reflects, as if he’s considering whether he’d have a case to sue us.
“No one can guarantee that,” I say morosely. “It was a heartfelt wish.”
Like the one I made on the bridge yesterday.
I glance over at the red-haired Santa, hoping I’ll see the woman across from him wearing his hat, but it’s back on his head now, and there’s an awkward tension between them that says she rejected him.
What was left of my optimism tanks.
I sigh as I get up, making my way through the crush of festively dressed people practically climbing over each other to access the free candy.
Enzo is standing placidly by his seat, watching me.Waiting. As I reach him, I press my teeth together, making an unintended clicking sound. “I need to speak with you.Alone.”
“I’m glad, Lucy,” he says with an amused look on his face.
“So you figured out my name. Someone should give you a detective badge.”
He shrugs. “Maybe it was a lucky guess. It was between Lucy and?—”
“I don’t care,” I say. “I’m sure you were raised to think everything you have to say is very important and interesting, but it’s not, not to me.”
“Yes, you obviously couldn’t care less what I think. I’m guessing that’s why you need to speak to me.” His eyebrows wing up. “Alone?”
My pulse pounds in my ears. This man is so smug. So arrogant.
