"Ethan and I hung ours this morning," Olivia announces, looking smug. She's wearing another designer ensemble.
Emily snorts into her wine glass. "The kitchen doorway? Could youbeany more obvious?"
"It's strategic," Ethan defends, his jaw tight. "Everyone has to go through there at some point."
"Yeah, and everyone knows to look up when they do," Emily counters. "Might as well have hung a neon sign saying 'MISTLETOE HERE.'"
"Where's yours then?" Olivia challenges.
Emily grins wickedly. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"What about you, Charlie?" Dad asks. "Have you and Sebastian placed yours yet?"
I take a sip of wine to hide my smile. "Let's just say we have a plan."
"Charlie refuses to tell me anything," Emily pouts. "And we tell each other everything."
"Some things are meant to stay between a couple," Mom says with a knowing look that makes me want to sink into my chair.
"Speaking of your young man," Dad says, checking his watch, "where exactly did he run off to? Dinner's almost ready."
"Yeah, Em." I tease, just as a strange whirring sound cuts through the evening air.
Everyone falls silent, heads turning in confusion.
"What on earth is that?" Mrs. Harper asks, peering over her glasses.
I press my lips together, fighting to keep a straight face as the whirring grows louder.
"Is that..." Emily begins, her eyes widening as she spots it.
"A drone?" Mr. Harper finishes, squinting upward.
Olivia is the first to notice what's dangling beneath the small drone hovering about ten feet above our table. "Is that a mistletoe?" she asks.
Right on cue, Bash appears at the top of the patio steps, a remote control in his hands. He's wearing that confident half-smile that makes my heart do gymnastics.
"Evening, everyone," he says casually, as if piloting a mistletoe-carrying drone is perfectly normal dinnertime behavior. "Did I miss anything?"
My father throws his head back and roars with laughter. "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"
Bash maneuvers the drone until it's hovering directly over my parents, who are sitting side by side at the head of the table.
"Richard and Margaret Whitaker," Bash announces formally, "you have been caught under the mistletoe."
My mother blushes like a teenager as Dad leans over to kiss her cheek.
"Unacceptable," Emily calls out. "That's not a real kiss!"
Dad grins and dips Mom back in a dramatic, old-Hollywood style kiss that has us all cheering and laughing.
When they break apart, Mom's cheeks are flushed, and Dad looks twenty years younger.
"I believe that makes Charlie and Sebastian the winners of this year's Mistletoe Challenge," Dad declares, raising his glass.
Mr. Harper raises his glass as well. "Most creative use of technology I've seen in all our years doing this. Well played, son."
Ethan looks like he's swallowed something sour. "That's cheating. The mistletoe has to be stationary."
