Micah tapped the button to end the call, and they were parked in front of Charlotte’s place and walking down the steps to the basement apartment as instructed in her text. He had to hand it to her; she was thorough. The walkway was clear and freshly salted. A giant red and white wreath of jingle bells and bauble ornaments hung on her door. He could practically feel the Christmas cheer pushing against the door, trying to get out and smother them in ugly Christmas sweaters.
Charlotte opened it with a flourish, and his breath caught at the sight of her. Her hair was down in soft waves of invitations to run his fingers through it. She had minimal makeup–but then; she didn’t need much. Her pink-hued skin glowed in the soft overhead porch light, and she wore tight jeans and a sweater that hugged her body in all the right places.
Their eyes met, and her lips formed a small O. He congratulated himself on shaving and changing into a V-neck sweater and a clean pair of jeans.
“Charlotte!” Lizzie exclaimed. “The wishes!” She pointed, and Charlotte glanced over her shoulder.
“Oh, no!” Charlotte slammed the door in their faces. “Not the tree!” he heard through the flimsy wood.
Micah blinked several times and glanced down at Lizzie.
She stared back up at him with worried eyes. “What do we do now?”
Micah lifted his shoulders. He was already outside his comfort zone, and now it seemed that they’d interrupted something. “Maybe we should go.”
Lizzie shook her head. “Wishy is in there.”
Micah dropped his head back and huffed out a cloud of air. Normal or not–this pretend pet was going to be the death of him this Christmas.
ChapterFive
“Get out of there, you two!” Charlotte hissed through her teeth. Her reprimand/command was so much like her mother’s when she’d scolded her children that Charlotte almost lost her composure and laughed at herself. No laughing! This was serious, and she had to maintain a straight face. “You need to learn to get along.”
The wishes bounced off one another as they worked their way out of the branches. Ornaments fell, and the whole tree shook like it was in the middle of a blizzard.
“What is wrong with you?” she scolded her wish. It drooped, repentant, even as it continued to bounce off Lizzie’s wish. “And you,” she turned to the other one, “a guest in my home, and you ruin my Christmas tree?” It too, hung low. She pointed at them. “I expect better behavior from you tonight, understand?”
They lifted slightly higher and then dropped again–in unison.
Charlotte brushed off her hands and spun on her heel. She needed to talk to Nick about this. Something was up with these wishes. She sent him a quick text:Wish situation. We need to talk.
There wasn’t time to type more; she had guests at the door.
Her ears heated with embarrassment. She’d slammed the door in their faces to keep the wishes from flying out into the night and being lost forever–but that meant she’d been incredibly rude to a handsome man and his daughter. She shook out her hands and flipped her hair over one shoulder.
“Okay. No big deal. Just smile,” she coached herself.
A tiny knocking sounded right before she opened the door again, plastering a smile on her face. Lizzie obviously understood, but Micah couldn’t see the glowing balls–er, Christmas wishes–and probably thought she was nuts. If he didn’t think that now, and she had to talk to them in front of him, he would before the night was over.
What was she doing inviting these two into her home? She wasn’t a normal person. She had a magical Christmas wish living with her. However, the wish had been a model citizen up to this point. Still, she should have been more cautious with all that transpired at the grocery store.
Too late for any of that now!
“Come in.” She waved them inside and shut the door on the frosty air creeping in with them. Micah’s face was a mask of disapproval as he took in the poor state of her Christmas tree. He wasn’t a fan of Christmas and probably thought she’d gone overboard.
Perhaps she had, she thought as she looked at the room from an outsider’s perspective. She’d covered the fireplace mantle in greenery, aspen branches, glass baubles, and ribbons. The two side tables held nativity scenes, complete with custom-made table runners. Christmas lights glowed in any place that reached an outlet and in some areas where a battery pack was needed to keep them lit. An oversized candy cane stood in the corner, and an army of nutcrackers filled the bookshelf. She adored books, but display space was at a premium over the holidays, so she switched them out.
“Sorry about that. The, uh, tree was about to fall over,” she explained, which wasn’t a lie. The wishes would have stripped it bare and laid it flat if she hadn’t intervened.
Micah reached down and grabbed an ornament off the ground. He took in the general mess the wishes had made, bouncing off one another like pinballs. “Looks like it was a close call.”
She laughed, the sound forced. “You’ve no idea.” Grabbing up the other ornaments, she placed them in the empty glass bowl in the middle of her small kitchen table.
“They look pretty.” Lizzie stared at the bowl.
The way the glassy orbs sparkled inside the crystal was pretty. Charlotte smiled and relaxed a little. Lizzie was the reason she’d invited them over. Not her father. He was gorgeous, clean shaven now, but not her type. Spreading Christmas cheer and baking cookies were two of her favorite things. Putting them together? Magic.
The wishes continued their strange dance around the room, but they didn’t hit one another with such force that they were out of control.
