The blonde blinked at me. “You’re tall.”
“That is true,” I said. I realized that two of the girls had waylaid Dex, chatting to him which made him look decidedly uncomfortable.
“You owe me a kiss,” the blonde said, putting her mistletoe above my head.
“Um…” I wasn’t certain how I was going to get out of this without insulting the Bennet’s guests.
“Hey! He’s mine!” the brunette objected, waving her mistletoe wand at the blonde.
“I have a girlfriend,” Dex explained to the other bridesmaids.
For a moment I thought of telling them that Jane was my girlfriend, but I didn’t dare without her permission.
“You can’t just claim every good looking guy at the inn!” The blonde put her hands on her hips.
The music turned louder. A pop version of a Christmas song filled the hallway. It sounded like a marching band had collided with a candy store.
Lucy appeared next, arms crossed as she surveyed the scene. “What is going on here?”
Dex immediately reached out, pulling her to his side like a shield. “See? My girlfriend.”
She looked up at him with a startled expression before a smile grew on her lips. “About time you said so.”
A bridesmaid with glitter on her cheeks to twirl past us. The girl waved her mistletoe stick under a wreath and declared she had blessed the decorations.
Then I saw Jane.
She stepped out of the reception room holding a tray with used items from the coffee station. Her hair had come loose on one side. She stopped as she saw us, her eyes locking in on the bridesmaid who still had her hand on my arm.
I was about to say something when the bride spotted her. “There she is! Our cookie queen!”
Another bridesmaid raised her mistletoe wooden spoon in the air, going towards Jane. “A kiss for our cookie queen!”
Jane froze mid-step. She held the tray too tightly. She looked unsure of how to refuse without insulting them. Before she had to decide, I walked forward and placed myself between her and the mistletoe.
The bridesmaid skidded to a stop. She blinked at me, then at the stick. “Well, I guess he got here first.”
My face felt warm. I cleared my throat. “Maybe move the mistletoe toward someone who is not holding breakables?”
“Oh, I suppose that makes sense.” She looked up at me hopefully.
“Not me,” I firmly said.
“The internet said you were single,” she pouted.
“I’m interested in someone and I don’t want her to think that I go around kissing anyone under the mistletoe,” I truthfully told her.
“He’s in love." she gushed in a singsong voice before she turned to her friends. “Don’t bother him! He’s in love!”
My face felt like it was on fire but my declaration had the desired effect as the bridesmaids drifted away in search of safer prey. Lucy gave me a look of approval. I turned around, but Jane had disappeared.
The office door opened and William poked his head out. “Is it safe again?”
Lucy laughed. “Yes. They appear to have gone wandering down the hall. However, who gave them liquor? We only have wine for at dinnertime.”
“They must have smuggled it in,” Dex theorized.
“Well, I had better go round them up and try to get them to stay in their rooms,” Lucy decided.
