“Oops,” Hazel said, lowering her arms. “Sorry, boss. And Daisy.”
She took another slug from her eggnog, which was almost gone.Almostbeing the key word as it slipped from Hazel’s clumsy grip and clattered to the carpet, spilling over all their shoes.
“Oops,” Hazel repeated, dropping to her knees. She grabbed at the whipped cream, grimacing as it smeared over her fingers. “Crap!”
“Daisy,” Emma began.
“Already on it,” Daisy said, pushing through the party toward the kitchen for cleanup fodder.
Emma examined her boots, now stained with snowandeggnog. That old irritation flared up again, mixing with the stress of tonight and not enough alcohol. It was obvious enough to show on her face because Hazel only looked more nervous when she glanced up.
“I got it,” she said unconvincingly, dabbing uselessly at Emma’s boots and smearing whipped cream into the leather. “Crap. I’msosorry.”
Emma entertained a brief fantasy of yelling at her. Maybe it would make people finally stop pressing all around her and give her some air. It would be so satisfying, unleashing her anxiety on Hazel, who had pissed her off so much already.
Emma took a deep breath and squatted down. “I haven’t been that nice to you.”
Hazel paused. She was in the middle of slopping some of the carpet cream back into the mug, with mixed results.
“You’re alright,” Hazel said, fast and a little frightened.
“I’m an asshole,” Emma replied. “I know how hard it is, starting a new job. And even if it’s not coming naturally to you, I see how hard you try. You try harder than any of us. So…thank you. For that.”
Hazel blinked hard, eyes bright in the dim party light. “I swear I’ll be better soon. It’s my New Year’s resolution! No customer complaints about how bad my coffees are.”
“Let’s aim a little lower,” Emma told her.
Microphone feedback screeched around the room. Emma and Hazel flinched, a few monsters letting out a pained cry as their sensitive ears were assaulted.
“Sorry,” came Rusty’s not-so-apologetic voice. “Sorry, everybody. If we could get everyone toward the back of the room, we have a few words from our stars.”
Emma’s stomach dropped. She took another hopeful mouthful of her eggnog, then decided it wasn’t worth it. Shots would be a hundred times better than this sickeningly sweet swill.
She turned to find Arthur and Jennifer standing queasily close, leaning over the shared microphone.
“We just wanted to say thank you for your hard work,” Arthur began. “You guys were fantastic. Can’t wait to see this in theaters next Christmas. Jen?”
He tilted the microphone. In the background, Rusty darted around taking pictures on his phone. He motioned at Jennifer, who smiled even wider. She even managed to make it look natural.
“I had reservations about the wig,” she admitted, with a resounding laugh from the makeup team. “But you guys made it work!”
She slipped her hand into Arthur’s. “I looked good, right?”
Arthur laughed. They suited each other, Emma realized resentfully. That specific brand of Hollywood perfect, teeth too straight and hair too shiny, completely relaxed with all eyes on them. Except for that barely there tightness around Arthur’s eyes, betraying his discomfort.
“You looked amazing,” he said. He turned toward the crowd. “I wanted to thank the residents of Claw Haven for letting us show off their home for this movie.”
“Your home, too,” came a shout from the crowd. It sounded a lot like Jasper Dawn, that annoying vampire who worked at the hospital.
Jennifer nudged him. “Was it good to be back?”
Arthur cleared his throat. “It was great. It was…it wasreallygreat, being back. I—”
He stopped, his smile freezing as he noticed Emma through the crowd.
Emma’s stomach twisted. She’d never seen him lost for words before. Jennifer eyed him curiously, and Rusty paused in his picture-taking to shoot him a pointed look.
Arthur didn’t seem to notice.
