Page 42 of Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane

Right.

Of course I will.

“Guys, I’ve got nothing.” I plopped down next to Jo in one of the booths at the Wanderin’ Eats Diner after school later that same day.

Across the table, Sam lowered his menu. “What about your idea to hijack Mr. Bailey’s devices and make him go looking for them?” His eyes dropped back to the menu. “I liked that idea.”

“Yeah, but breaking and entering to steal said devices is easier said than done. I am not the world’s stealthiest person,” I said, slumping down in my seat.

“True.” Sam chuckled and then cried out after I kicked him in the shin under the table.

“Plus, you know, the whole illegal thing,” I added. Pretty sure I could kiss Italy and Sarah Lawrence goodbye if ‘convicted felon’ was included on my résumé.

“Here, have a cookie.” Jo took the lid off a container next to her and held the spritz cookies out for me. “I baked these today in Culinary II, for Eve’s consideration.”

I took a bite out of one covered in sprinkles and shaped like a Christmas tree and sighed happily. Light and buttery with vanilla and something…different. “Orange?” I asked her.

Her eyes lit up. “Yes! I was inspired by Nona’s batch of Befanini. Do you like them?”

I took another one and popped the entire thing in my mouth. “Duh.”

After Sam ordered a sandwich and milkshake and Jo and I ordered a basket of fries to share, I grabbed Uno from the game shelf and brought it back to our table. This was the one way to tell the difference between a tourist versus a local in the diner at Mullings Creek. Tourists always ate in a hurry. We knew to take our time and enjoy the conversation while playing a game that would ultimately lead to arguing over whether or not we could stack in this version.

But after our third semi-civil round of Uno, our heads were as empty as Sam’s plate and our fry basket.

“I’m starting to think we should let Nico and Marco streak through the town square again,” I muttered as I laid down a Draw Two on Jo. “It’s definitely more exciting than anything we’ve come up with.”

Jo pulled two cards from the pile. “Sounds good to me. Ow!” She scooted back. “You didn’t have to kick me that hard.”

“Toes and heels of steel, that one,” Sam said before quickly moving his legs so I couldn’t do the same to him.

I groaned, laid my cards face down on the table and lowered my head into my hands. “There has to be a way to get them to buy into what we do here.”

Someone tapped my head, and said, “Got room for one more?”

James stood smiling broadly at the end of our table, wearing a gray peacoat and collared shirt under a sweater, his cheeks and nose red from the cold. He looked like a completely different person than the one who sang in Chordcrafters last night, and my face flushed at the memory of it.

“Sure,” I said, pointing to the empty spot next to Sam, opposite me.

Sam rolled his eyes but scooted further into the booth, sliding his copy of The Two Towers with him, as James took off his coat and hung it on the coatrack, which looked like a skinny Christmas tree with its garland and angel on top.

“Even coatracks are festive here, huh?” James asked as he slid into the booth.

“Everything gets a Christmas makeover,” Jo said, collecting our cards and shuffling them. “Do you like Uno?”

“I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like Uno,” James said, tapping the table.

Glad we were on the same page.

James pointed to Sam’s book. “Such a good movie.”

“Book’s better,” Sam said as he picked up his cards and began to sort them.

“Agreed.” James picked up his cards. “Although I’d be okay with fewer songs, especially from the Ents.”

Sam snorted but didn’t comment further.

We played another game as James ate a burger and fries, and we told him about the events coming up in town and which ones were our favorites.