Page 2 of A Jolly Christmas Disaster

She tosses an envelope on the table, telling us how she’d received her family’s annual Christmas invitation. Chloe’s the first one to pick it up, asking Laoise about it before Tali grabs it from her.

“What’s it say, Tali?” I ask, already trying to read it over her shoulder. My eyes grow wider with each passing second. What the ever-loving hell is wrong with her mother?

“Gods, she is the worst.” I have to agree with Chloe as Tali throws the invitation back onto the table. “You’re obviously not doing what she says, right?”

Laoise laughs. “Hell no. My mother should know better than to try to control me by demanding that I not only come to the annual Christmas party, but then she has the gall to choose who I’m to be betrothed to. She’s been trying my entire life, and she has yet to succeed. No, I have a plan. Kind of.”

Tali leans forward, resting her chin on her hand, her bad mood obviously forgotten. “Do tell.”

Laoise breaks down her plan for us about bringing home the most inappropriate dates. I’m both shocked and a little bit in awe of her right now. She wants to bring home the worst suitors for her parents to meet, and basically tell them to fluff off. I could never do anything like that. I’d never had a backbone before leaving my childhood home.

“I’m sorry to interrupt.” I nearly jump out of my chair when a man speaks from behind us. All four of our heads snap in his direction and he just grins. “I’m Vincent. You might have seen me here a time or two. I’ve seen you ladies in here rather frequently.”

He does look familiar, but since I’m never the one who orders coffee—at least not unless I have to—I’ve had less reason to interact with the staff.

“Yeah, I’ve definitely seen you here before.”

I roll my eyes because, of course, Laoise is flirting with him. I wonder if she even realizes she’s doing it. It’s almost second nature to her.

Vincent pulls some cards from his pocket and Laoise reaches for one. “We’ve been told to keep an ear out for anyone who might be in need of this, and you, my dear, sound like you’re in great need.”

Laoise plucks the card from him and reads it with a frown. “Love -N- Shenanigans? What is this? I’ve never heard of it.”

It sounds vaguely familiar to me, but I can’t quite figure out why. I listen as Vincent explains that it’s a new dating app for both supes and humans, which is surprising. Apparently, people are finding their fated mates? I almost scoff at the idea, but somehow manage to bite my tongue. It’s not that I have anything against the idea of fated mates, it’s just that it’s hard for me to believe that there’s a perfect person, or persons, out there waiting to meet me.

Why the hell would anyone ever want to date me? I’m nothing, no one. I don’t have anything to offer someone else except trauma.

But of course Laoise thinks it’s a great idea and hands each of us a card—not that I’ll be making use of it anytime soon.

“Yeah, right. With my love life? I’ll probably end up meeting your guys’ mates, not my own.” Chloe wrinkles her nose and I hate that she’s been so unlucky in love. I might not believe in fated mates for myself, but for my best witches? They deserve the world.

“Come on, Chloe. That can’t keep happening. You’ve just had some bad luck. Eventually, you have to meet your own mates, right?” I glance between Laoise and Tali, begging them to back me up.

Only they don’t—they change the subject instead.

Fine, if they don’t want to reassure Chloe, then I’ll make sure I do. I’ll let it go for now, but I definitely think she should sign up. I’m going to convince her somehow. We chit chat for the next hour before heading home.

Somehow, the card ends up in my purse—though I’m fairly certain I left it on the table when I stood up. One of the girls must have put it in there when I wasn’t looking. As long as they don’t think I’m going to sign up, what harm is there in keeping the card?

I wake my computer up and get back to it. It takes me another three hours to get the cover exactly how I want it. I know I could’ve spent less time on it, but it’s a Fantasy cover and it’s for a huge name in the indie romance biz. If she likes my work, she might come back to me again. I’d kill to do all of her covers. It would be great marketing for me.

My phone rings and I glance down to see who could be calling. “Chloe?”

“Hey, Belle. Sorry, I know you’re probably busy—“

“Absolutely not. You know I’d drop anything for you, but I just finished the cover I was working on, so you’re good. What’s up?”

She’s silent for a few moments, but I don’t try to rush her. She obviously has something she wants to say. I can be patient.

“My old coven is throwing a Yule gala and they want me to go,” she finally says with a sigh.

“Okay?”

“The exes and their mates bombarded me and said they were worried about me. How they didn’t think I should be alone anymore and that I should try this new dating website.”

I laugh. “Let me guess, Love -N- Shenanigans?”

“You guessed it. They said I should use it so I’ll have a date to the gala. I really don’t want to because we all know how it’s going to end because of this damn curse—“

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