Page 29 of A Very Merry Enemy
“Lucas James Jolly.” The full name means I’m definitely in trouble. “I raised you better than to be a quitter.”
“This isn’t about quitting?—”
I’m growing more frustrated with every passing second.
“It’s not?” She crosses her arms. “You’ve spent nearly two decades avoiding that girl. Running from whatever happened between you is quitting. It’s time to face it.”
“There’s nothing to face.”
“Then baking a damn cookie should be easy.” She walks to the door and opens it, allowing the cold air to rush in. “Contest is on December fourteenth. Two weeks after Thanksgiving. You’ll need to practice. You can’t use the family gingerbread recipe because Hudson and Emma used it last year. You need something new. Innovative. Delicious. The competition will be intense. Now, go get ’em, tiger.”
“Mawmaw. I’mnotdoing this.”
“You are. Because I said so.” She smiles. It’s sweet and deadly.
“You can’t?—”
“I can and I did. Now go home. Get some rest. You look terrible.”
She practically pushes me out the door. I stand on her porch, cookies and dumplings sitting like lead in my stomach.
“Oh, and Lucas?” She opens the door to go back inside.
I turn to look at her.
“The prize is five thousand dollars this year. Holiday can keep the money. You keep the trophy. Everybody wins.”
She closes the door before I can argue.
I walk to my pickup, shocked and ready to crash the fuck out.
After I get in my truck, I sit there gripping the steering wheel. Through Mawmaw’s window, I can see her dancing around the kitchen like she didn’t just detonate my life.
Partnering with Holiday in a high-stakes baking competition sounds awful. No way she’s agreed to it andthat’s what I’m holding on to. After what I’ve put her through, she’ll say no.
I smile like the Grinch who just stole Christmas.
Spending hours alone with her is too risky. I won’t be able to hold my tongue. I would make it awful for her because I want her to quit and show everyone, including my grandmother, who she really is.
I pull out my phone to text her—to warn her, to argue, to do something. But I’ve had her number blocked for fifteen years.
I don’t even know what I would say.
Hey, my grandmother signed us up for a couples baking contest. Quit and go away.
I unblock her, knowing she kept the same number she’s always had, then shove my phone into my coat pocket.
This is a nightmare, and I have no idea how to wake up from it.
I live a few minutes away from Mawmaw, so my drive home is short. I try very hard not to think about Holiday’s face when she finds out. There is no way I will be forced to stand in the same kitchen with her. No way I’d survive this without completely losing my mind.
The answer is no. But I’ll make her quit first, showing everyone she can’t commit to anything.
CHAPTER 7
HOLIDAY
The next morning starts like any other, except I actually got some sleep. No dreams about Lucas, no tossing and turning. I experienced blissful unconsciousness until my alarm screamed for me to get the heck up at four.
