Page 61 of 10 Things I Hate About Mistletoe

“The couch is fine, sir. I want to assure you that I would never disrespect you or your wife’s hospitality in any way.”

“I appreciate that,” her dad said.

“Honey,” her mom said, putting a hand on his arm. “Anthony and Delilah can share the guest room.”

“Really, ma’am. I’ll be fine downstairs.”

Delilah scowled at him, but her mom just shrugged. “It’s up to you. If it gets too cold or the couch isn’t comfortable, you have the option.”

“The man said he’s fine, Natalia,” her dad said. “Are you going to stay through the weekend?”

“I’d planned on heading back to Mistletoe tomorrow morning and coming back for Delilah on Sunday.”

“Well, that seems like a waste of gas! If you don’t have anything that requires your attention, you should stay the weekend.”

“I’ve got to talk to my business partner. We’re planning the Mistletoe Winter Games and the committee wants us to pitch activities tomorrow.”

“What kind of a winter games?”

Bernard sat forward. “We’ve thrown around a couple of ideas. Snowmobiling. Skiing.”

“What about keeping it simpler?” Bernard asked. “Igloo building. Snowball fighting. Sledding or tubing. You don’t need fancy equipment to make things exciting.”

“That’s true,” Delilah said. “Plus, if you make it simple, even people who aren’t necessarily big winter sports enthusiasts can enter and kick butt.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Anthony said. “I’ll shoot Pike a text and discuss it with him.”

“Wait, your business partner is Pike?” her mom asked, shooting Delilah a heavy look. Delilah figured her mom was wondering why she was interested in Pike’s partner, but she couldn’t exactly explain to her mom in front of Anthony that it was a happy accident.

“Yeah, he is. We’ve been best friends our whole lives and decided to go into business together.”

“I think that’s great,” she said. “Do you want some pie?”

“No, I’m okay. My niece fed me most of hers and mine.”

“How old is she?” Delilah asked.

“She’s five and her little brother is two. They’re my brother Bradley’s kids.”

“I will never know what it is like to have nieces or nephews because my parents refused to have any more children,” Delilah said, shooting her folks a sour expression.

“Why bother when we got it right the first time?” her dad teased.

“Besides, you can have them if you marry someone who has siblings.”

Delilah’s face burned. “Touché.”

“Should we play a game before bed?” her mom asked.

Her father groaned. “Why is it anytime we’re sitting around relaxing, you insist we play a game?”

“Oh, wah wah! Anthony? Have you ever played Hot Words?”

“No, ma’am, I haven’t.”

“It’s actually really fun,” Delilah said, getting up from the table. “Anthony’s my teammate.”

“Rude!” her father called after her.