Page 18 of Jingle All the Plays

Life will never be the same. And I couldn’t be happier.

Epilogue

Maisy

“Stop right there,” my dad calls from the living room just as Bo and I enter the house for Christmas Day. Shit. Am I in trouble? What happened? “Don’t you dare try to sneak out of it.”

“Out of what?”

My dad just points to the ceiling above our heads, so we both look up.

“Mistletoe,” he chuckles, like he’s the one who came up with the tradition.

“Any excuse I can get, sir,” Bo calls back and dips me in his arms, giving me a long—and maybe somewhat over the top—kiss.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” Blake grumbles as he walks into the room.

“You’re just jealous because you missed your shot.” Our neighborhood friend, Paige, swats my brother’s arm lightly while he grunts back an inaudible reply. Was that a twinge of redness on the tips of my brother’s ears? Couldn’t be.

“I know we just got here, but I’m dying to give Blake his presents.” I wrap my arms around my brother and squeeze tightly. “Can we do presents first?”

“Of course, everyone grab a seat.” My dad invites us all to the comfy chairs where he’s got eggnog and cookies laid out for us.

“We can save the rest for later, but I really want to do Blake’s now.”

“Eager much, little sis?” He teases me.

“It’s just…I think it’s a good one.” I was confident in this gift choice, but the sweat in my palms betrays me. And that shaking in my leg is uncontrollable. Until Bo squeezes my thigh with a calm presence.

“She picked something really good for you, man.”

Blake gives us both an eye. “Still weird seeing you two together. Maisy told me over the phone…but this,” —he gestures to Bo’s hand on my leg— “is going to take some getting used to.”

“It’s just a little PDA, Blake.” Paige plops herself down beside my brother and pats his thigh. “I didn’t think you were such a prude.”

And even though I’m focused on the gift I got Blake, seeing the contact between those two immediately steals my attention because I’ve never seen my brother clench his jaw so tightly. And he’s all of a sudden sitting like he’s got a stick up his ass. Weird.

“Just open the gift, Blake. I’m too excited. Or nervous. Or both.”

“Oh, so you mean you want me to open it now?” With the speed of a sloth, he slips a finger into the wrapping where a piece of tape holds it together and slowly peels it back until it pops. “Quickly? Like this?” He does another piece of tape in exactly the same manner.

Paige reaches over one of his hands to tear at the wrapping. “If you don’t open that faster, I will.”

“Thank you, Paige. I’m dying over here.”

“Alright, I’ll spare you the torture.” Blake rips open the box, throwing paper in every direction, until he sees the gift. Immense silence fills the room as we all wait for his reaction. But he’s just staring at the bat. “Are you serious?” he whispers.

“Umm…” My heart is in tatters. Like someone tried to cut out a paper snowflake but cut against all the folds in the wrong way. I was expecting the cut paper to be opened up, and then I’d be delighted with a unique snowflake, instead it’s a disaster. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No. Not at all. This is perfect.” He looks up at me, and I can finally see the admiration in his eyes. “This is the perfect gift, Maisy. Thank you.” He stands up to give me the biggest hug, and even though I didn’t see tears in his eyes, I’m taking the watery gleam for something.

My shoulders relax as we both slump back into our seats. I’m so happy that I finally gave something back to Blake that I don’t notice Paige’s phone ringing.

“I’m so sorry, guys. I need to take this.” She stands up and murmurs something softly into the phone. But that’s when I see her lean against the wall—not in a casual way, in a I-need-something-to-actually-support-me-right-now kind of way.

Recognizing her distress, Blake gets up from the coach and walks toward her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You okay?” I hear him ask gently, but she just shakes her head.

“I have to go home.” She says with a sniff. “I’m so sorry. I don’t mean to ruin—”