Page 34 of A Very Merry Enemy
“Oh, you’re on speakerphone and she heard the entire conversation, so go ahead,” he says, giving me a shit-eating grin.
“Honey, can you explain to me why you won’t work with my grandson?”
I sarcastically laugh. “Because he’s impossible. Hehatesme. He’s mean, and he says horrible things. We can’t be in the same room without fighting.”
“That’s not true,” Mawmaw says sweetly. “You’re in the same room right now.”
“And we’re fighting,” Lucas points out.
“I’m sure it’s just normal bickering,” she offers. “There’s a difference. Now listen, both of you. I already paid the two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar entry fee from my Christmas fund.”
Lucas grits his teeth. “Mawmaw?—”
“That was money I was going to use for gifts. But I thought keeping our family’s twenty-year winning streak was more important.”
Guilt slams into me. Twenty years?
“The rules changed this year,” she continues. “Teams only. No solo entries. If one of you withdraws from the team, neither of you can reenter with another contestant. That’s so no one can cheat. So, either you work together and win, or you both lose.”
“That’s not—” I start.
“That’s the rules,” Mawmaw singsongs.
Lucas and I stare at each other in horror.
“I guess you’ll both be quick and let me down easy,” Mawmaw says, her voice taking on that steel-beneath-sugar tone.
The silence is deafening.
“I really had my heart set on this. Everyone was so excited to see you both working together after Lucas supported you so openly and bought all those cookies.”
Lucas looks like he wants to murder someone. Possibly me. Possibly his grandmother.
“We’re not doing the contest,” he says flatly.
Silence.
“Lucas James Jolly.” She only says that when he’s in trouble.
He closes his eyes.
“Your parents raised you better than this.”
“This isn’t about?—”
“Twenty years, Lucas. Twenty years our family has won. Your brothers won. And now it’s your turn.” Her voice cracks slightly. “This is the last thing I’ll ever ask of you.”
“Don’t pull the guilt card, Mawmaw,” Lucas mutters. “I see what you’re doing.”
“I’m stating facts.” She pauses.
“I’m leaving it up to Holiday,” Lucas says, smirking.
My mouth falls open.
“Holiday! Honey, please do this for me.”
He completely trapped me. We both know it.
