Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 145731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Isla laughs, and Wanda gives a little bark of agreement. I look at the critter in disappointment. “I thought you’d be on my side, at least, wonder pup.”
But she wags her tail Isla’s way, giving puppy-dog eyes to my best friend’s sister. Damn, even Wanda is making this hard for me.
“Nice sweater,” Isla says, while nodding to the dog. “She’s full of holiday spirit.”
I pluck at the offending garment. “Mia put this on her.”
Isla smirks a little. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
“She did,” I insist.
“Sure.” Isla lowers her voice and murmurs to Mia, “Or maybe your dad is a secret holiday fanatic.”
“Like someone from Whoville,” Mia interjects enthusiastically.
“I am not like anyone from Whoville.”
“A ‘Deck the Halls’ devotee,” Isla counters.
“Not one bit.”
“A ‘Let it Snow…’” Mia begins, and Isla finishes, “Lover.”
They high-five each other, then Isla turns back to me. “It’s fun teaming up against you. I can’t believe you were trying to pull off a practical version of an Advent calendar. Why don’t you just make one for chores while you’re at it?”
“Nothing wrong with chores.”
Isla grins and singsongs, “On the first day of Christmas, my grinch-father gave to me…a new vacuum to help clean!”
Ouch. Mia laughs, the perfect audience for Isla’s a cappella routine.
“On the second day of Christmas, the practical grinch gave to me…two wash rags and a new vacuum to help clean.”
Another burn.
Mia claps like the studio audience at Isla’s comedy special.
“On the third day of Christmas,” Mia and Isla sing together. I don’t know what’s worse—the lyrics or the fact that Mia has joined in on the opening line. Isla finishes with: “he gave to me…three brand-new brooms.”
More laughter blooms between them. Damn, the pair went from acquaintances to fast friends in the span of ten minutes. Sure, I’m still wary about who hangs out with my daughter—especially if that person is a woman for whom I harbor an inappropriate crush—but I don’t mind that they get along.
Doesn’t mean we need to do this every day. And it definitely doesn't mean anything more will come of any of this.
It just means this—right now—doesn’t suck.
Yeah, I hardly have a hate list.
When Mia stops laughing, she says, “See? She’s right, Dad. More books are more fun.” Then she swings her gaze to the woman in the snowflake scarf. “What a great idea, Isla.”
Isla grins at her. “I can’t resist reading or games.”
My sneaky kid grasps my hand. “Can I pick some books out now, Dad? I don’t have to be at Sabrina’s rink for fifteen minutes.”
“Make it fast,” I say, trying to wrestle some control back over the situation.
Mia hustles through the shelves like she’s a Supermarket Sweep contestant. I keep an eye on her even as I turn to the chestnut brunette. Isla’s teasing isn’t the worst thing in the world, but hell if I’m going to let on that being in her spotlight did something funny to my chest.
“Are you done poking fun at me?” Playing the hard-ass is safer with her, I reason.
“Was it that difficult to handle, tough guy?”
I shake my head. “Damn, you can dish it out.”
“And you can take it. I’ve seen you play hockey.”
Do you enjoy watching me on the ice? I want to ask. But that question needs to stay unasked for so many reasons. Like, one, it’s best not to flirt when I’m not looking for anything romantic, and two, she’s Jason’s sister.
I settle for a cocky, “So you’ve seen me win, then,” expecting a retort.
But Isla turns her attention to Mia, who’s standing on tiptoe to grab a book from the shelves. “That’s a good way to be practical. Fast book picking,” Isla says with fondness as Mia plucks a copy of The Reindeer Riders Club.
Isla looks back at me, giving me her trademark smile. “A book Advent calendar is pretty thoughtful,” she says in a soft voice.
“You were the one who worked out all the details,” I point out, giving credit where it’s due.
“Nah, you started it,” she says. “You had a good idea—I just made it better. Teamwork, right?”
In this moment, it almost feels like we’re friends, like she said the other night at the auction. But I don’t want to get lost in that feeling when we’re clearly either enemies or frenemies at best.
Speaking of teamwork—the underhanded variety—I grab my phone from my pocket at last, while checking to make sure Mia is still keeping busy in the kids’ section. “Guess I should see what the little meddler did. I hadn’t even read your full text yet.”
“That’s okay,” she says, lightly. “I was asking if you wanted to get together to talk about next steps for your Christmas matchmaking.”
I groan, dragging a hand down my face. With some dread, I open the text thread with Isla, and yup. Mia took all the way over, responding with: Sounds great! Why don’t we meet at An Open Book right now!!! Be there in fifteen minutes!!!