Page 80 of How My Neighbour Stole Christmas
“Why would I let you do the talking?”
“Because you’re snarling, and I don’t think we want to put them on the defensive. We need to ease it out of them, you know? Get them to make the mistake of telling us. Catch them in the lie sort of thing.”
“Fine,” I say as we turn into their walkway and then head up to the porch.
When we reach the door, Max whispers, “Be cool,” before knocking.
“I don’t need the reminder.”
“Oh, you definitely do,” he says just as the door opens to reveal Taran standing on the other side. Storee and Taran share the same facial features, but what sets them apart is Taran’s dark hair compared to Storee’s deep red. That and Taran seems to have more of a snarl to her lip.
“Hello,” Max says cordially. “You must be Taran. I don’t think we’ve officially—”
“Where is she?” I ask, throwing “cool” out the window as I blow past Maxand Taran and let myself in. I glance into the living room, where I spot Storee sitting on the couch, her feet in a bucket, multiple blankets wrapped around her, and an ice pack on her head held in place by a tightly wound scarf.
“Uh, Cole,” Max calls out. “Remember what we talked about.”
“What are you doing here?” Storee asks, her eyes narrowing on me.
“Oh, Cole,” Cindy says as she walks into the living room with the aid of her walker. She’s looking rather…alive! Imagine that! “How nice to see you.”
“You,” I say, pointing at Storee, who’s clearly trying to warm herself up after attacking our lights. “You fucked with our light display.”
“What?” she gasps. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“There’s something wrong with your display?” Cindy asks. “Oh, what a shame.”
I’d expect Storee to stoop to such a low level, but Cindy…now this is a new rock bottom for her.
“You both know exactly what’s going on. You know what you did.”
“Are you accusing me of something?” Storee asks.
“No, no,” Max says, stepping up. “We’re not accusing anyone of anything. Actually, we came over here to have a nice—”
“I have camera footage,” I say…even though I don’t, but there’s nothing like scaring them to get the truth out.
Storee’s eyes widen. “You…you have camera footage of what?” She clutches the three blankets wrapped around her.
“Of you tampering with our lights and making a strand go dark.”
“I have no idea what you’re—”
“Cut the shit, Storee,” I say, causing Cindy to gasp.
“Cole Black, is that how your mother taught you to speak to women?” Cindy asks. I ignore her, not wanting to talk about my mom at all. For the record, the answer is no, but I’m certain confronting a woman who sabotaged your light display warrants directness.
“I think what he’s trying to say,” Max says as he grips my shoulder, “isthat he’s disappointed in the conduct that has been going on between our two parties.”
“The conduct?” Storee asks as she shifts, her ice pack slipping closer to her forehead. She props it back up and continues, “You’re the one going around town telling people that I’m turning you down romantically.”
“I said it once and it was a joke.”
She shrugs. “Well, I guess this was a joke too.”
“Ah-ha, so you admit it.” I point at her.
“I admit nothing.” She tilts her chin up in defiance, her lips pursed.
