Page 106 of Mistletoe All the Way

“Finally,” he says with an over-the-top sigh. “I’ve seen too much of your ugly face online.”

I gesture from him to me. “Again, same face.”

“And it’s amazing what you can do with a smile,” he says, flashing a gleaming one.

Asshole.

“And a sweater,” he adds, gesturing to his getup—a red-and-black thing with an illustration of Darth Vader and the words Merry Sithmas on it.

“You’re such a nerd,” I say.

“Yeah, like you weren’t obsessed with Star Wars too.”

He’s not wrong. “Anyway, I’ve got the peanut butter biscuits. And I grabbed Millie’s sleigh bed,” I say, making sure we have everything. “We’re almost set.”

There’s one more thing we need. Since an awkward family photo at Christmastime isn’t complete without—

As if on cue, the clomp, clomp of boots crosses the small patch of grass to the shed, followed by knocking as Eloise calls out, “I’ve got the sweaters!”

Her knock is answered by a cacophony of high-pitched barks. I yank open the door and urge her in, quickly shutting it as the pups fly to Eloise, jumping and yipping and licking.

They’ve got the right idea.

“Oh my god. Look at you. Look at all of you,” she says, kneeling and offering open arms to the little creatures. Even the snoozy pup is up getting in on the action, and dammit.

My heart is thumping too hard.

I try to look away, but the sight of her being loved on by four little dogs is impossible to ignore.

After she gives endless pats and kisses, she pops back up, triumphantly brandishing a bag of dog Christmas sweaters. “They’re all extra-smalls like you said,” she says, then blinks, stopping in her tracks, pointing at the bigger boy in the pack. “Ohhh.”

Shoot. My shoulders fall. “Right. One of them is a little bigger than I’d thought.”

She furrows her brow, taking a beat to think. “Pretty sure the store had more. Let me go get another one.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely,” she says, heading out.

I stare at the door for a few seconds, imagining Eloise returning to the shop with a Can you believe I got the wrong size smile, then making friends with the shop owner as they bond over their love of reindeer headbands for dogs. The image brings a smile to my lips. One I quickly erase when I realize Chris is watching me closely with assessing eyes.

“That’s it? You’re still going to do nothing? That’s your move?”

I sigh, dragging a hand across my beard. “What do you want me to do? It just started up.”

“Date her. Try to make it work,” he says.

“She’s been hurt before by long-distance,” I point out. “She had a relationship once that didn’t work out.”

Chris rolls his eyes.

“What’s that for?”

“Did you ask her if she’d try it with you?”

I sneer.

“I mean it,” he says. “Sometimes things don’t work out in a relationship and you say you don’t want to try it again. But sometimes you make an exception for the right person. You take a chance. Are you that person?”