Page 61 of The Holidays with Dr. Mitchell
“They paid a pretty high price to get the largest tree on site and for a group of people to come here and decorate it. They probably told them some sad story about how they weren’t going to have Christmas Eve now that they’ve missed everything because of their broken sleigh,” I answered.
Carmen rolled her eyes, “They are smug bastards who want to keep this concealed for fear of embarrassment.”
“I can’t wait until we drag it out of them,” Nat said.
“Maybe it’s petty on our part,” I started, “but I think it’s a perfect way to end it all.”
“Hearing the men try to lie through their teeth and defend themselves in this situation is enough for me,” Nat said with a smile. “We need to play dumb and drag it out of them that way. We’ll start with how everything was perfect on Christmas Eve until our men weren’t home in time. They’ll ruin it from there with their lies and excuses, and eventually, they’ll be caught and have to admit they screwed up.”
“We start with the Christmas tree,” Avery said, “and go from there.”
“I still can’t believe they’ve convincedother peopleto decorateourtree, which was supposed to be the big, family Christmas crescendo,” I added.
“I was looking forward to that, too,” Carmen winked. “It’s a shame they changed that part of the festive Christmas plans after having it in motion all week.”
“Quite the shame,” Nat added to the mischievous spirit escalating in the room. “I wassolooking forward to singing carols around the tree and decorating it while holding hands with Spence.”
As we decided our next move, we saw the men coming up the driveway in a van, pulling a trailer with a massive tree. I covered my mouth and smiled when I saw another van pull in behind them, and a large group of cheerful people stepped out.
“Looks like they’re all here, tree decorators and all,” I said.
“Time to switch up the game,” Nat said. “Now, let’s watch these lying little holiday elves cough up the truth about breaking sleighs and getting stranded in the woods untilwesent out help for them.”
I guess this was bound to happen in the end. We saved the men, and they were too damn arrogant to show gratitude forit. Instead, they chose to lie and have others deceive us before daring to admit anything went wrong.
It was petty, but everyone who knew our husbands could understand.
Once we stepped out of the house and heardall the men, not just Jake and Collin, singingBlue Christmas,we knew it was time to settle the score.
CHAPTER 33
Jake
Five minutes before pulling up to the chalet…
Thank God Mrs. Gersbach went along with our little white lie and informed Ash that we were all fine and good. We didn’t want to lie to our wives on Christmas Eve—of all the nights—but we also didn’t want them to know we’d nearly screwed up the whole thing either.
Ultimately, it was determined that the women were enjoying the festivities far too much for us to ruin it with a tiny little mess-up, most notably, not behaving like the responsible adults we were supposed to be and bringing our phones.
Ah, who am I kidding? We voted unanimously not to tell the women because we’d fucked up massively, and no one wanted to get drilled for it. We’d banded together to save our egos,especially because the ladies had saved our asses by calling the tree farm to see if we were okay.
“All right, everyone knows where we go from here?” I said, turning around from the front seat and eyeing the rest of the pathetic pack of wannabe alpha males sitting in the back two rows in this van.
“You think singing some Christmas carols will distract them from the fact that we hired a crew to decorate a tree we purchased?” Jim asked, arching an eyebrow at me.
“I’m beginning to think you’re only going along with this idea because you want to watch me and Collinfinallyfuck it up,” I said.
Jim smirked as he eyed Spencer, sitting next to him in the back row, then returned his relaxed expression to me. “That’s exactly why I’m going along with it and have offered zero advice about how to ensure the women don’t find out that your festive sleigh ride into the middle of the Alps didn’t end in disaster,” he chuckled.
“Zero advice, eh?” Collin quipped. “What do you call your statement when we hired people to help us decorate the stupid tree?”
“Right,” I answered. “I think you said that if we allow the women to believe we hired these people, they won’t ask questions because it showed we were doting on them and the kids.”
“They’re not wrong,” Spencer said to Jim. “You’re the one who added to this nonsensical scheme to save your ass, too.”
“What can I say?” Jim smirked. “I’m in the mood for bourbon with a splash of eggnog and watching my three best ladies enjoy their Christmas Eve. I’d hate for them to waste it watching me kick my brother’s ass.”
“All of you can say what you will, but this plan is doomed,” Mark said. “Carmen will see right through our scheme, and wewill end up looking like cowardly fools for not showing gratitude to the women for saving our behinds,” he said with a laugh while ruffling the top of John’s head.
