It had been six whole miserable fucking months. Minus the fucking. I was probably the only celibate cupid in all of Cupidale.
Six months is far too much time to wonder why you were rejected by not one, but two beings of the veil. What’s even worse…I can’t seem to move on.
That night was magical, everything I ever wanted. But by morning, I was alone, abandoned without a word from either male suitor.
Life was looking gloomy.
“Oh, Candy, not again,” Gloom says. The reaper Gloom, not the status of my pathetic love life.
“Leave it. Let me organize.” Gloom looks over at me with pitying eyes.
“I say this with all the love I have left to give, Candy. I think you’ve hit rock bottom.”
I gasp, clutching a soup can as if I might throw it at him, though I never would. Gloom somehow slithered his way into my heart—platonically of course. Not only is he my best friend with zero attraction between us, but I’m not stupid enough to get on Ladybird’s bad side. And messing with one of her men was a surefire way to end up on the tall, stunning cupid’s shit list.
“Well, I have some gossip that might cheer you up,” he says with a wink. Gloom grabs the soup can and puts it on the shelf.
“Gossip? What sort of gossip?”
“Well, you know how the interim Head Cupid is one of my best friends?”
“Yes.” I try not to roll my eyes.
“Well, she has the guest list for the Christmas Ball,” he says from where he leans against the shelves. “Figured you might want to know if a certain scary under lord or kind-of hot beast are attending.”
“They RSVP’d? Mortem and Krampus are coming to the ball?”
“They did, and neither of them has a plus one.”
I clear my throat and rub my hands down the side of my thighs. “Well, it’s not like I should care… right?” I ask, and he looks unamused.
We’ve had far too many rather pathetic moments in this pantry.
“You liked them. You haven’t stopped thinking about them for months. Maybe it was a misunderstanding? Now you can talk to them both and figure out what happened. You deserve to be happy, Candy.”
Tears well in my eyes as I look up at Gloom. “What… what if it wasn’t a misunderstanding, and they just didn’t like me?”
The kind reaper grabs my face and smiles.
“Then they’re the stupidest motherfuckers I ever met. Now, let’s get out of the pantry and find you a dress that will have these two idiots drooling over you.”
I nod, pushing back unshed tears.
When Gloom opens the door, Cupio and Ladybird practically tumble into the small storage space, caught red handed in their snooping.
Ladybird recovers faster and Cupio’s cheeks turn a darker shade of pink.
I search their gazes and Ladybird flings her hands in the air. “What, I’m still a cupid. God, change out of that hideous apron, Candy. We’re going shopping.”
Gloom gives me an encouraging nod as Ladybird all but drags me to the best boutique in Cupidale.
Ladybird commands everything around her, and it feels like the shopping attendants are going out of their way to make this experience perfect—starting with settling Ladybird in a chair and handing her a sparkling drink.
The women running the shop are collecting dresses in my size to try on as Ladybird clicks her tongue.
“You know, you never told any of us what happened that night.”
“Oh. Well. I mean, the Love in the Veil Mixer was great,” I say, silently praying that the cupids running the shop help save me from this conversation by insisting I try on dresses.
