Page 27 of 10 Things I Hate About Mistletoe

“Bye.” Delilah ended the call and stared up at the ceiling. An editor at a major publishing house wanted to work with her. Even if there wasn’t anything concrete, she felt like celebrating.

She sat up and checked the time on her phone. Holly would be at A Shop for All Seasons by now. Delilah could drop Anthony’s blanket off at his store, then go next door to Kiss My Donut to grab two mochas and deliver the news to Holly at the year-round holiday shop. That way, she wouldn’t be tempted to linger with Anthony and make an ass out of herself again, the way she had Saturday night. When she replayed running back outside and jumping into his arms like a love-struck idiot, she wanted to crawl under her comforter and never emerge again.

Delilah could blame it on being drunk, but that only made it more embarrassing. Despite her initial protests, Anthony picking her up and carrying her easily to the front door was the biggest turn-on she didn’t know she wanted. After cleaning up in the shower, Delilah couldn’t stop reliving Anthony’s strong arms around her or how his pinewood-scented cologne distracted her from the mess she’d been underneath the blanket. She’d pulled her seafoam green “assistant” out of the drawer and imagined Anthony carrying her all the way inside and into her bedroom, where he’d put her in the shower and helped her clean up.

While the reality of scrubbing vomit from her body hadn’t been remotely sexy, in her head, it was erotic as hell.

Delilah sat up, catching Leia’s eye as the dog was wiggling on the floor by her feet. “Do you want to go for a ride and visit Aunt Holly?”

Leia bounded to her feet at the word “ride” and disappeared down the hallway before Delilah could even get off the bed. She followed her bouncing dog. Delilah grabbed the blanket from the table, disappointed that it no longer had the lingering scent of Anthony on the soft fabric. She helped Leia into her harness and snapped her leash onto the metal loop on the back before heading out. She admonished her dog for pulling ahead, and Leia did a neat circle back to her side.

While it would have been a short walk into town, the temperature had dropped ten degrees since yesterday, and Delilah didn’t feel like going inside for her heavy coat. Her Easily Distracted sweatshirt was warm enough for short bursts of outside activities. She’d put on her tennis shoes because she had every intention to stop by the gym and sign up. Part of her journey to change would include some form of physical activity in a climate-controlled environment with access to watch a hit show to distract her from the pain.

Once Delilah had Leia settled in the passenger seat, she circled around the front to the driver’s side to start the car. She turned the heater up, but the first few minutes of air were frigid, so she turned it back down. Having lived in Idaho her entire life, she should know to warm up her car before she got in it, but she’d rather sit in a cold car than make two possible trips along the walkway where she could easily hit a patch of ice and slip, cracking her head against the ground.

While she waited for her car to warm up, she pulled out her phone and scrolled through TikTok. She followed a few prominent fantasy romance authors, but most of her For You page was delicious recipes and hot men cosplay dancing. It was a weird obsession, but she couldn’t look away.

She clicked her notifications, and the first one that caught her eye was that Pike had followed her. She hadn’t posted videos yet, except a few of Leia, but he’d liked all of them. She clicked on his profile and checked out his pinned video.

Pike and Anthony sat on the couch playing a video game, throwing shade at each other. Pike suddenly screamed, and Anthony tossed his controller on the couch. The camera moved with them, and Nick’s voice came through from behind the camera, “I think you hurt his feelings, bro.”

“Aw, don’t be mad, baby!” Pike laughed, jumping across Anthony’s lap. The bigger man stood up and curled Pike in his arms several times.

“You might have killed me in the game,” Anthony growled, lifting Pike in his arms, “but I could break you in half.”

“I don’t know whether to feel turned on or emasculated,” Pike said, making kissing noises at Anthony.

“Get the fuck out of here,” Anthony said, tossing Pike onto the couch, all of them laughing. Delilah paused the video, staring at Anthony’s smile, and her heart accelerated.

How had this happened? A year ago, she’d have been losing her mind over Pike following her on social media, and instead, she was scrolling through his videos and ogling his friend.

What was wrong with her? Anthony Russo was not into her. The only kiss between them had been a drunk one-off that he had cut short, clearly because he wasn’t interested in hooking up with her. His actions on Saturday, except biting her head off, had been those of a concerned acquaintance and not a protective potential love interest. She needed to get her head examined because something was malfunctioning up there.

Delilah set her phone in the cup holder and addressed Leia. “Tell me the truth. Do you think Mommy is crazy?”

Leia wiggled adorably, but her ears flattened against her head, and her eyes darted away almost guiltily as if to say “I probably shouldn’t answer that but yes.”

“I appreciate your honesty.”

Delilah put the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway, heading toward the main street. The house on the corner sported a giant blow-up turkey on the lawn, which was at odds with the house directly across from it that had a massive Santa. A sign staked in Santa’s yard was directed at the turkey’s owners.

No one cares!

She craned her neck as she pulled up to the stop sign, and sure enough, there was a sign she hadn’t noticed before. It’s too early for Christmas!

While Delilah agreed with Mr. Turkey, she would never tell Holly that. Her best friend lived and breathed Christmas, and although she supported her in all things, Delilah thought people took it too far. All those videos that would start popping up on social media of teens asking for expensive gifts or Christmas trees with fifty thousand presents underneath? No wonder kids were so entitled today; society taught them to consume, consume, consume!

Bitter, party of one!

Delilah pulled into the first parking spot she found, arguing silently with the little voice in her head. Her parents hadn’t wanted her to be a spoiled brat and had kept Christmas simple. Maybe that was why she didn’t understand going overboard.

Delilah grabbed the blanket she’d tossed in the back and got out of the car, rounding the hood to gather Leia. They’d parked across the street from Adventures in Mistletoe, and Delilah checked both ways before she and Leia jogged across.

“Delilah Gill, don’t make me write you a ticket for jaywalking!”

Delilah waved at Officer Wren Little, who had spotted her from down the street and was now on the other side.

“There was no one coming,” Delilah said.