Page 3 of Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane

He threw his hands in the air and said, “She knows that but claims she’s trying to ‘shake things up’ this year,” startling the Salvation Army Santa ringing his bell two stores down.

“What’s wrong with shaking things up?” Eve asked, stepping into the street.

Phineas mimicked her, hopping over the curb, leaving his snowman behind. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, Evelyn.”

“The only one who calls me Evelyn is my mother, Phineas, and need I remind you that if I so much as whisper to her about you stealing my pie recipe for your diner that she will tell your mother?”

Oh snap.

I thought that pie tasted familiar.

“I never stole your recipe.” Phineas shoved his hands into his jean pockets. “I may have been…inspired by it, though.”

Eve pinched the skin above her nose. “Look, I don’t enjoy making pies anyway, so why don’t I send people your way if they ask for it, and you send them my way for breakfast pastries?”

“That’s…not a bad idea,” Phineas mumbled before going back toward his snowman and propping him to the left of his door.

“Can you believe that guy?” Eve sighed and picked up her snowman and set him to the right, twisting him until he was facing forward. “I mean, to think that moving a snowman to the other side of a door would throw off the whole town’s display when we have bigger things to worry about now…”

Bigger things?

Like what, keeping Nico away from the eggnog?

I mean, sure, we don’t want a repeat of the disastrous ending to last year’s Eggnog Chug, but hopefully, he’s learned his lesson?

Eve stopped speaking and took a step back, cocking her head to one side and then the other while pursing her lips. “Well, fudge. It does look better on the left.”

I laughed and looked over my shoulder at Phineas, who was pretending not to watch her with great interest but doing a horrible job of it. “Will you move it back?” I asked.

“Eventually,” she replied, winking. “But I’ll let him sweat about it for a few hours. By the way, love your earrings. Dana’s?” She reached out to touch one of the silver chords with colored gems that looked like a strand of Christmas lights.

“Yep! She made them for me as a thank-you for folding those brochures for Creek Gems.” I grabbed my bike and threw my leg over it. “I gotta go find Mom before helping the rest of the fam, so I’ll catch you later, okay?”

“Okay, sweetie.” Eve took out her phone and began scrolling. “I still can’t believe it. I mean, I always assumed he’d outlive us all, but—”

“I gotta go!” I cut her off and sped away.

The last thing I needed to do was stick around for Eve’s latest round of gossip.

Besides, whatever she was talking about would catch up with me eventually. Secrets never stayed secret for long in a small town like ours.

Sadly, I only made it a block before I had to help Hal and his son hang the big “Mullings Creek Holly Days” banner across the street near the town square. Normally, the mayor would be here barking out orders about the big Christmas tree and the fence of candy canes that would surround it, but there was no tree, no candy canes, and no mayor to be seen.

Weird.

Mayor Moore was the most punctual person I knew.

After giving the banner the “official Gianna seal of approval,” I pedaled toward The Market, a big barn-shaped structure with a dark green roof and matching green shutters. My best friend Sam—a paperback book sticking out of his back pocket, as usual—stood near the entrance, one hand holding a cookie, the other steadying a ladder. His friend Isaiah stood several rungs up where he looped lights around the old sign, his sweater rolled up to his elbows of his dark brown arms.

“Fair warning, Mancini,” Sam said to me as I propped my bike against the closest light pole. “Marco and Nico are already in there complaining about your being late.”

“Tell me something I don’t know, Holt,” I replied, bumping his shoulder—technically his arm, since he’d decided to grow a foot in the last few months—as I brushed by him.

“Pine trees are one of the oldest living organisms,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Already knew that.”

“Well did you know that they have male and female—”