Page 5 of Under the Christmas Tree

Rea grinned up at her. “How are you doing?”

“Good. A little one born to Mariah Carey. What a great way to kick off December,” Maggie said, leaning on the counter with her elbows. She nodded back towards the staffroom. “Is Katie in?”

“Maybe,” Rea said, her brow creased.

Maggie laughed. “Okay… You haven’t seen her or—”

“Hi,” Katie said, popping up from behind Maggie and making her jump.

“Jesus, Katie,” Maggie gasped, gripping at her chest.

Katie laughed and, even through the adrenaline suddenly coursing through her system, Maggie couldn’t help but notice the gleam in her eyes. It suited her.

“Warn a woman next time,” Maggie said, sucking in a careful breath.

“What, like how you always warn me?” she asked, giving Maggie a pointed look.

“I don’t jump out and scream at you.”

“I didn’t scream,” Katie insisted, laughing. “You’d know about it if I did.”

Maggie’s nostrils flared and her cheeks heated up. She’d normally brush it off as her hearing what she wanted to hear—or what she wished she could hear—but Rea heard it this time, too, and she was looking between the pair of them with intrigued, probing eyes.

Katie did that sometimes—said something that could be flirty. Or something that could be completely innocent, but her voice would drop a little deeper, become unintentionally seductive, and, every time, Maggie would be unwittingly seduced. She was sure Katie wasn’t doing it on purpose, but that only made it worse. Especially when other people picked up on it.

Sure, they were friends, and they were both bisexual, and they both enjoyed each other’s company, but that didn’t mean anything. Sure, Katie made those inadvertent comments sometimes, but, as she’d never done anything on purpose, or addressed it directly, Maggie had resigned herself to having a secret, teeny, tiny, little crush on her best friend.

Which was fine.

Unless someone was watching. Like Rea was doing. Too intently.

She leaned forward, grinning at the pair of them as Maggie silently begged her cheeks to return to their normal color. “Say, Katie, has your mom ever met Maggie?”

Maggie shot her a look of betrayal, one designed to stop what she was doing, but Rea just looked up at Katie with a faux innocent smile.

Katie blew out a breath. “No. You heard just a snippet of her on the phone earlier. If they met, do you think she’d ever stop asking when I’m bringing her over again?” Katie looked at Maggie with a soft smile. “She’d never let you escape.”

They’d had that conversation many times. Maggie couldn’t count the number of times she’d thought about Katie saying she wished she could bring Maggie to some family dinner or other, that she didn’t get much time off and she wanted to hang out with Maggie but also see her family, and how much easier it would just be if they could exist in the same space. Katie had no idea how much the idea messed with Maggie’s brain.

But, Maggie had overheard enough calls between Katie and Irene to know her assertion wasn’t wrong. If Katie brought Maggie home, the questions would be endless, and the demands to bring her around again would never stop, and they might never get another minute alone ever again. Every time they were hanging out, there would be no excuse not to go over there. They weren’t a couple, what would they need alone time for?

Maggie knew her answer. She wasn’t sure what Katie’s was, and she was perpetually afraid of asking, but, whatever the reason, Katie valued their alone time almost as much as Maggie did, and Maggie wasn’t going to question that, or offer it up as time with the whole Smith family instead.

Rea’s eyes gleamed. “Oh, I’m sure Maggie would fit right in with your family. She’s a natural around people, always photographing families. Plus, you two just… oh, I don’t know. Fit. Together.”

Maggie wanted the floor to open up and swallow her.

Up until that moment, she’d always liked Rea. What Maggie could possibly have done to deserve such a betrayal, she wasn’t sure, but she was going to have to have words with Rea.

Just not when Katie was in earshot.

“She’s my best friend,” Katie said, smiling at Maggie in a way that turned her stomach soft. “Of course she would fit in with them. I just don’t want to share.”

“Do you not, indeed?” Rea said, leaning closer still as she shot Maggie a loaded, pointed look.

Maggie felt her face burning so brightly she felt like she might be giving the Christmas lights a run for their money. She felt like she might be sick.

She really needed to know how she’d hurt Rea because this could not be anything but revenge.

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