Mistletoe Mischief (Falling in Mistletoe #2)

Chapter Eleven

P ike stared into the bonfire in the Winters’ front yard, Anthony’s message weighing on his mind. Anthony had texted early that morning, letting Pike know that he was staying in Boise with his brother Bradley for the weekend and he’d be back early Sunday. Both brothers had ducked out of the family’s Thanksgiving due to high-stakes drama, but Anthony wasn’t ready to come back yet. Of all his siblings, Pike knew that Anthony was the closest with Bradley, but it was still weird that his frugal friend would drop several hundred dollars at the last minute on a hotel for the weekend. Especially with Alia and the Excursions crew in town.

Although Pike had tried calling him on his way back from dropping off the tree at Ryler and Alia’s rental, Anthony hadn’t answered his phone and still hadn’t returned Pike’s call. Anthony didn’t usually shut him out, but Pike kept thinking about the meeting with Merry and how put out Anthony had been. Then he’d been bitchy in his responses to Pike’s ornament suggestions for their tree on Tuesday, and when Pike suggested wrapping their snowmobiles in lights and riding them in the Parade of Lights, Anthony had snapped that they couldn’t do everything. Maybe he was sick of Pike, and this weekend was an intended break from him?

On a whim, Pike pulled up their location app. When they’d started Adventures in Mistletoe, Pike insisted they download it just in case either of them had an accident while out with guests. Anthony agreed it was a good idea, and the two had even gotten Nick and Noel to join them.

Pike tapped on Anthony, and it showed him in Boise, but when Pike zoomed in, it wasn’t at a hotel. Anthony was in a residential neighborhood. Had he decided to go back and try to make amends with his dad after all?

Or he’s hooked up with someone and is chilling at her house.

Pike glanced around the firepit, taking in the happy couples except for Sam Griffin, Clark’s very single older brother; he wished he’d had a date to run off to tonight. Everyone was sitting in chairs, close together or holding hands. Sam and his nephew, Jace, were roasting marshmallows, and Jace laughed when his uncle set one on fire and started puffing on it hard.

“You should let me teach you how to roast a marshmallow correctly, son,” Clark said, turning his marshmallow slowly in the coals. “Patience is the key.”

“I like mine burnt,” Jace argued, grinning up at Sam.

“Yeah, see, he likes it this way. You just mind your business.”

Clark rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything else about it.

Chris Winters stood and held a steel travel mug in his hand. “I just want to take a moment and say thank you to everyone for being here. I know some of you have other jobs, and this was your day off, but still, you showed up here to help out. I am a lucky man to have such an amazing family and circle of friends.” Chris held up his cup and said, “To family and friends.”

The group chorused, “To family and friends,” and Chris sat down, leaning over to kiss his wife’s cheek.

“I was comparing the numbers earlier,” Clark said, sandwiching his marshmallow between two graham crackers as he talked. Clark was the Winters’ foreman and helped handle the business side of things. “We did roughly twenty-five percent more sales today than we did on Black Friday last year.”

“That’s awesome,” Nick said, popping an uncooked marshmallow into his mouth. “It was interesting how many new faces showed up.”

“I was particularly intrigued by your new friends, Pike,” Merry called, grinning at him slyly. “How do you know a travel blogger?”

“Alia’s a podcaster, but I entered her contest on Instagram and suggested she come to Mistletoe because it’s an awesome place to visit, especially for the holidays.”

“She was not what I was expecting for a world traveler,” Merry said, licking her fingers. “Her boots were more for looks than for hiking the trails. ”

“I thought her friend was going to castrate Pike for a second,” Nick joked.

“That’s her assistant, Ryler.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Merry said.

“What does?” Pike asked.

Merry shrugged. “It’s not a bad thing. She probably makes her assistant do all the heavy lifting, and she comes in for the photo op.”

Pike frowned. “I’ve listened to her podcast. It would be hard to describe things the way she does without firsthand experience.” Although, he’d wondered the same thing earlier, he didn’t want to bad mouth Alia.

“Sorry, Pike,” Merry said, pulling her blanket around her shoulders. “I didn’t mean to besmirch her. I was just thinking out loud.”

“Have you heard from Anthony?” Nick asked.

“He texted me. He decided to stay the weekend in Boise with his brother.”

“Huh,” Noel added to the conversation. “I’d have thought he’d come rushing back with all these celebrities here because of you.”

“I thought the same thing,” Pike said, wiping off his hands with a napkin. “But he hadn’t seen his brother in a while, so I can’t blame him.”

“That’s weird,” Clark said.

“What’s weird?” Pike asked.

“I was driving back from a delivery and thought I saw his truck in town.”

Pike frowned. “Are you sure it was his? Because I checked his GPS location, and it says Boise.”

Clark shrugged. “Maybe he took a different car.”

“Ant doesn’t have another car,” Noel said.

“Maybe he decided to carpool with Delilah,” Holly offered. “She was heading to Boise to visit her parents.”

Pike stiffened. “Why would they do that? They don’t even get along.”

“With gas prices the way that they are, I’d carpool with my worst enemy if it meant being able to save money.” Holly laughed.

Doubt niggled at the back of his mind. Yes, Delilah had rejected him and he’d taken it like a champ, but he’d asked Anthony multiple times if he was interested in Delilah and he’d said no. Why would it even cross his mind to carpool with a woman he couldn’t stand and not say anything about it?

Pike shook his head. Anthony was his boy, his partner. There was no way he’d tell Pike he had no interest in Delilah and then go for her anyway. If there had been something going on, he would have told Pike.

“It probably belonged to someone else,” Pike said, cleaning off his skewer and sticking it in the coals. He climbed to his feet and yawned. “I’m going to call it a night. My parents are coming back tomorrow, and I feel like I need to be mentally prepared for whatever they brought home for me from my sister.”

“Good night, Pike,” Victoria and Chris called.

Nick stood. “I’ll walk you to your truck.”

“That’s so kind of you,” Pike said. Then he addressed Noel as he pointed at Nick. “You hang on to this one, missy. He’s a real gentleman.”

“Back off my husband, Fish,” Noel teased, bringing her fists up. “He’s mine.”

Pike wrapped his arms around Nick’s waist and grinned. “I had him first.”

“Are you seriously fighting over me in my parents’ yard?” Nick asked.

“Hey, you are a catch! I’d fight for you in front of the pope!” Pike said.

“So? You’re not Catholic,” Nick said.

“True.”

“You are all a strange bunch,” Sam muttered.

“You know, Sam, I’ve been thinking of getting a tattoo—”

“No,” Sam cut Pike off firmly.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not tattooing any of my brother’s friends and listening to you scream and cry about the pain. I’ll never be able to tolerate you lot again. I’ll make a recommendation, but I’m not going anywhere near you with my tattoo gun.”

“Fair enough,” Pike said, letting Nick lead the way to his SUV. “I probably would scream and cry.”

“What do you want a tattoo of anyway?” Nick asked as they headed around the house to the driveway where all the cars were parked. The front yard was filled with festive blowups, Christmas lights flashing along the trim of the farmhouse .

Maybe he should get a wreath at the very least for his front door. It might be enough to shake the holiday blues.

“I don’t know. Something that makes me happy. It’s hard because it just kind of popped into my head the last few months that without my family and you, Noel, and Anthony, I don’t have much going for me.”

“Is this the start of a premature midlife crisis, because if so, maybe hold off a few years. I think the minimum age is thirty-five for that kind of breakdown.”

Pike chuckled. “You’re not going to spoon feed me positivity and tell me things will get better?”

“I’ve tried that and it doesn’t seem to be working, so I figured I’d let you wallow a bit.” Nick nudged him with his shoulder. “If it lasts much longer though, we’re having an intervention. I don’t know what I’ll do if this gloominess persists.”