Page 56 of Mistletoe All the Way

But Lucy barely hears me, it seems, since she’s turned to Chris now. “Hi. My mom is obsessed with your show. She told me to tell you she’s watched every episode.”

Lucy doesn’t seem to share her mom’s obsession one bit. Or her aunt’s with Christmas. But Chris flashes her a smile like a movie star, saying, “Tell your mom I said hi then.”

“Can I record you saying that? I’ll score major points with her.”

“Absolutely,” Chris says, laying on the charm, and why did I think I could truly play him? The dude is legit this way. He was born smiling.

Lucy whips out her phone, and Chris smiles for the camera and says, “Hey there, Lucy’s mom. It never gets old having you watching The Hot Vet.”

Lucy hits the button to end recording. “Perfect. This’ll make her happy,” she says, like she’s flummoxed why anyone would like such a thing, and I can seriously appreciate her can’t-even-deal-with-these-shenanigans attitude. She turns to me. “And good luck, Other Dr. Lennox.”

It’s said with a bit of a smirk, and do I detect a dig in there too?

I’m tempted to reply with something snarky like Good luck with this soul-sucking competition. But Eloise’s hand clamps down on my arm—I bet she actually wants to slap it against my mouth.

“Thank you so much,” Eloise says to Lucy. “And we should make sure to coordinate to add our ornaments from class to the tree in the town square. Good fodder for socials and all in the middle of the contest.”

“I’ll reach out.”

“Oh, I just had another idea. What if we have the contestants hang them? Just for a fun photo op. Brings even more attention to the competition.” She turns to me. “Wouldn’t that be fun, Other Dr. Lennox?”

No, that would not be fun. But I see what Eloise did there—took the dig back and made it her own. “Officially endorsed by reindeers kind of fun,” I say, forcing a smile for Eloise’s benefit.

“Can I use that as a caption for the pics?” Lucy says. “If I have to come up with another Christmas pun, I’m going to die. It would be so much more fun to come up with puns for Halloween and horror flicks.”

She’s asking my permission for a caption? “Um, sure.”

“I can handle it all and make graphics,” Eloise offers.

“Thanks. Rosario has her hands full,” Lucy says, then adjusts her elf hat like it costs her something—maybe her dignity—before she takes off.

Eloise turns to me in slow motion, her eyes saying I told you so. “Look at you. Using those Christmas-isms. You’re a veritable jolly.”

“I’m not,” I say. But I’m happy for Eloise. I want her to woo so well that the mayor forgets about any and all big-city firms. “But I’ll hang ornaments on the town tree for you.”

“Thank you,” she says softly.

And for a few seconds, it feels like the crowd disappears and it’s just us, here in the town square. When I’m with Eloise, it’s not so hard to do the things I don’t want to do. She makes it… weirdly easy.

But the photo op doesn’t solve the problem of the stiffer competition in the form of my cousin. The life of the party. The toast of the town.

He’s a few feet away and he’s finally, finally, finished passing out his treats. “That’s it! All the peppermint bark has found a home,” he booms, a stark reminder it’s not just Eloise and me.

Mayor Bumblefritz gives a pleased nod, then raises her voice over the crowd, taking control of the megaphone once more. “And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for. The reveal! The first challenge is… enter a float in the Christmas parade—two days from now!”

She says it like it’s the easiest thing in the world.

When, really, it sounds tougher than getting a cat to take a pill.

“ ‘Now we really have a cousin competition.’ ” I repeat aloud my gramps’s words that evening at Chris’s house. That’s what he said after Stephen joined us, coming over to hug Gramps—and me—and Gramps smiled and said, “This is going to be so fun.”

Yeah. Fun. “I’m competing against the king of the town.”

Chris takes a pause in perusing his wine collection in the dining room, tilting his head. “Is our cousin king of the town or is that me? Wait. Nope, I’m the prince.”

“And I’m the town outcast.”

“True, true. But let’s not lean into that.”