Page 12 of A Very Merry Enemy
“Right.” She pulls garland and ornaments from the box. “We need to be shitting out Christmas spirit in here. We’re on a tree farm!”
Before I can protest, she’s stringing garland along the counter and hanging ornaments from the light fixtures. Then she pulls out several bunches of mistletoe.
“Absolutely not,” I tell her.
“Come on! It’s tradition.”
“Bethany—”
“Already cleared it withEmma via text.”
“She’s on bed rest! Leave that woman alone.”
“She said the bakery needs all the Christmas magic it can get.” Bethany drags a chair over to hang mistletoe in the entryway. “Oh, I heard a rumor about you.”
The icing bag explodes in my grip, spewing white frosting everywhere.
“What?”
“Small town, remember? People saw your car at Moonshiners on Friday. Who were you there with?” She grins. “Was Lucas there?”
“I’m not having this conversation with my sixteen-year-old niece.”
“Was he?”
“Work on stocking the display case.”
“Already on it!” she snaps.
At seven forty-five, the bell jingles. I tense, stupidly thinking it might be Lucas, but then I hear Sammy’s voice and relax. He’s wearing his firefighter uniform, a navy shirt and slacks, clearly about to start his shift.
“Want some coffee?” Bethany asks him.
“Please tell me it’s the strong stuff,” he says, pushing through the swinging door of the kitchen.
The look on his face tells me this isn’t a social visit.
“What?” I ask, already defensive.
“What did you say to Lucas on Friday?”
“I knew it!” Bethany calls from the front.
I glare at my brother. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know you two talked. What happened?”
“I told him to leave me alone.”
“Holiday.” His voice gets serious. It’s the big brother voice he’s used on me our whole lives since he’s a minute older. “I’ll tell you what I told him. This has to stop. He’s been in a shit mood since you got back, and after going to Moonshiners, he’s been worse than ever.”
My stomach flips. “That’s not my problem or my fault.”
“You can’t pretend like you don’t care,” he says.
“I don’t. I really don’t. I want him to leave me alone. It’s that simple.”
Bethany soaks up the entire conversation.
