Page 106 of 10 Things I Hate About Mistletoe

The sadness in her mother’s voice twisted the knot of guilt tighter. “I know that, and I miss you, too, but I am really heartbroken right now and I just need to vent.”

“Vent away, my love. I’ll just listen,” her mother said, her voice warm and understanding.

Delilah took a deep breath at the stoplight to center herself before beginning. “So, I got rejected by all of the publishers for the fantasy book series my agent took out, but I’ve been trying to see the silver lining, like Holly always tells me to do. As a result, I researched self-publishing and got the ball rolling on getting my book edited and formatted, but in the meantime, I got this job offer from a magazine in Colorado—”

“Colorado!” her mother cried, already gearing up to naysay it, but Delilah cut her off.

“You promised.”

Delilah’s mother cleared her throat. “You’re right, please continue.”

“They offered me a really great opportunity, in a well-compensated position, but it was for an outdoor magazine and I am not outdoorsy at all. That should have been the end of it, because even though I considered taking it, Anthony told me on Sunday that he loves me.”

“He did?” her mother squealed. “Oh my goodness! What did you say?”

Delilah smiled, relishing this bright spot in the sad news. “That I love him, too, of course. Mom, he is so great. I mean, he got into a fight Sunday”—her mom gasped, but Delilah plowed through without allowing her to ask questions—“which was really stupid, but it was in defense of me. How can I get mad at that?”

“How was it in defense of you?” she asked. “What happened? Did someone hurt you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I mean, I got a concussion, but I’m better now!”

“Someone gave you a concussion?” she shrieked. “I’ll kill them.”

Delilah realized that she’d forgotten to tell her mom about her snowboarding accident a moment too late. “Oh, no, I got the concussion while snowboarding. The guy Anthony fought with was just calling me nasty names and Anthony lost it.”

“Does he lose it with you?” her mom asked quietly, her voice laced with concern.

“No, never. He is so sweet.” Delilah drove past Adventures in Mistletoe but didn’t see Anthony’s truck. “He’s been saving for ten years to build his dream house and he finally has all his ducks in a row and he wants me to be a part of it. He’s got his business, the land, all the utilities in place … ”

“Delilah, I don’t mean to rush you, but with the exception of the fight and concussion, I haven’t heard an end-of-the-world problem yet.”

“I’m getting to it.” Delilah took a deep breath as she took a side street back onto the highway. “All of this really good stuff with Anthony has been overriding all the badness, but then I got a letter today that they’re selling my duplex. I have thirty days to move out and find a new place, but I can’t afford anywhere else in this area. I can’t live with Holly because it’s not fair for her and her boyfriend to have me third-wheeling them for who knows how long. Anthony keeps talking about how he wants my opinion on his house, but I can’t ask him if I can stay with him. It’s too soon, right?”

“I don’t know. I knew I loved your father pretty soon after meeting him.”

“But you didn’t just say, ‘Hey, I know we just started dating and we’re in the honeymoon stage, but do you want to move in together?’”

There was a heavy beat of silence before my mother agreed, “You’re right, I did not say that. However, he did ask me to marry him a few months after we started dating.”

“That’s my point.” Delilah stopped at the three-way stop sign, looking to the left at the curvy road that led to the Winters’ farm and Anthony’s place, but he wasn’t home or out with tourists so …

Wednesday. It was set-up day for the Mistletoe Winter Games.

“Delilah? Did I lose you?”

“No, sorry, I lost my train of thought,” Delilah said, making the right toward the town center. “What was I saying?”

“You were talking about it being too soon to move in with Anthony.”

“Right. I have no idea if he is serious or not about this house stuff or if he is going to freak when he realizes I’m a stray puppy looking at him like he’s got a doggy door I want to crawl into.”

“That is a unique analogy,” her mother said dryly.

“I just … I feel like the universe is trying to tell me that this is it and I should just bite the bullet and leave Mistletoe. Take the job in Colorado”—her mom make a loud clearing throat noise and Delilah rolled her eyes—“or some other equally well-paying position and settle in somewhere else.”

“What about Anthony?” her mom asked.

“I don’t know. This is where I need your sound, motherly advice.”