“You don’t know anything about cooking. Or baking, or running a shop.”
“I just won the lastBake-Offepisode, I am a billionaire, and I am clearly running a successful shop,” I countered.
“Argh! You are insufferable.”
“You’re just mad because I’m right,” I retorted as her phone rang.
She answered it and held it to her face. “What is it, Mom?” Merrie snapped. “Really…you might want to—” She tugged at the phone. “Fuck.”
Her hands flopped to her sides. The phone stayed stuck to her face.
I bit back a laugh.
“It’s not funny! No, Mom, not you. Yes, I’m sorry the cat escaped…I can’t, Mom! I’m busy! I can’t help you look for Mr. Snuffles.”
Mr. Snuffles?I mouthed.
“Uggh.” Merrie released a breath. “I’ll be over there in fifteen minutes.”
She turned to me. “Get out of my shop.”
As if. I was right, Merrie was wrong, and I was going to prove it to her.
After ringing up the next customers, I made a few calls…
49
Merrie
It was late when I finally dragged myself back to town hours later. Turned out that Mr. Snuffles had been disappearing to take care of a whole colony of feral kittens. In addition to the tree sap, I was now covered in cat fur and leaves after helping my mom chase down all the cats.
At least Brody wasn’t there, I reminded myself.
I didn’t bother going to the shop. I knew Matt would be waiting for me. And I knew he was just going to say, “I told you so.” I had seen the crowds. They wanted the cookies, not the ornaments. My big Christmas idea was bad.
God, he had been so smug about it too.
“Screw him!”
I mean, I still kind of wanted to.
I couldn’t even sleep at my mom’s house. She had said Brody was coming over.
Blech.
I limped to the nativity scene; I didn’t want to face Matt.
“Hey!” a man shouted when I walked in. “This is already occupied.”
“Fuck my life.”
I stood in the middle of the town square looking up at the night sky. “Can’t I just have one Christmas miracle?”
A glop of snow fell off a tree and hit me in the face. “No, not like that.”
“People are trying to sleep here,” the guy in the nativity scene yelled. “Keep it down.”
Snow was falling. My sleep options were dwindling. Did I dare text Matt and say I was sorry for yelling at him?
