Mistletoe Mischief (Falling in Mistletoe #2)

Chapter Twenty-nine

P ike pulled into the supermarket parking lot, considering his next move. Ryler had left snowshoeing angry and upset, which meant Pike needed a gesture to show her how sorry he was. Although they’d spent the last five days together, Pike didn’t know her all that well, especially not her likes and dislikes. Unless he wanted to go back through six years of podcasts to trigger something, he needed to look for a universal romantic gesture.

Flowers. Candy. Card. It could all be found behind the automatic glass doors of Mistletoe Market.

Pike got out of the car and headed inside, smiling and greeting anyone who called out to him. He should have gone back to Adventures in Mistletoe to see how it was going, but that would mean talking to Anthony. Pike had seen enough of his former friend for one day.

He headed for the corner of the store where there were several buckets of bouquets, looking through each of them, but they were pretty wilted. He made his way to the candy aisle, searching for something to strike inspiration. He grabbed a bag of Dove and kept walking, debating on a bottle of wine from the front.

When he rounded the corner, he nearly crashed into someone’s cart. “Sorry about that.”

“My fault.” Delilah stared up at him, nodding. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Pike’s gaze traveled over the contents of her cart. “Looks like you’re having a party.”

“Book club,” Delilah said. “Don’t ask me how I got roped into hosting. It was supposed to be Holly’s bag, but with the lights displays on Evergreen, she was afraid no one would be able to get in. ”

“Makes sense,” he said, glancing behind her. “I should let you finish. Enjoy your night.”

Pike started to step around her cart, but she said his name, and he stopped.

“I’m sorry for coming between you and Anthony. You should know that we aren’t … seeing each other anymore.”

Pike shook his head. “When did that happen?”

“About five minutes after your fight on the side of the road.” She cleared her throat. “He loves you, you know? Anthony and I had a moment, a long time ago, but he didn’t want to get in the way.”

“So he said.” Pike couldn’t believe Anthony had spent the weekend with Delilah and risked their friendship for that relationship, only to turn around and blow it. “Exactly what did he do to drive you away?”

“He wanted to take a step back with me and fix things with you. I told him that he was trying to fix the barn after the animals got out, but you’re important to him. You should think about that before you throw away your friendship.”

“Anthony lied to me. Just because he regrets it now doesn’t change the fact—”

“Oh, jeez, do you hold yourself to those standards as well? Did you ever make a mistake or hurt someone and regret it after the fact? When you tried to make it better, did they forgive you or drop you? Maybe consider how you would feel if the roles were reversed and Anthony wouldn’t forgive you.”

“If you’re so angry at him, why are you defending him?” Pike asked.

“Because I can’t turn off my feelings as well as you, apparently,” she said, pushing her cart away from him and disappearing down the snack aisle.

Pike headed toward the wine aisle, Delilah’s words heavy on his mind. Yes, Anthony had lied, had pursued Delilah after she rejected Pike and not come clean about it, all of which he deserved to twist for, but was it worth completely obliterating their friendship? Destroying their business?

He had a lot to think about, but first he had to figure out how to make a woman forgive him .

RYLER

Ryler and Alia walked down Main Street toward A Shop for All Seasons, drinking their shakes from Lord of the Fries with gusto. Alia was still spitting fire over Neil’s reaction to her pregnancy, especially his worry that Ryler knew. She’d tried to assure her cousin that there was nothing going on with Neil and hadn’t been for many years, but she wasn’t sure if Alia believed her.

“I can’t believe the stones on that son of a bitch. If he’s at the house when we get home, I might just kick him for being a flipping idiot!”

“I can see why you might be tempted to do that,” Ryler said, thinking about Pike and his obnoxious affront to not being party to her business. Ryler was pretty sure she’d set him straight, but still, the unmitigated gall.

Ryler grabbed the shop door for Alia and let her cousin walk through first. Ryler followed behind and waved at Holly, who was talking to a young Black woman behind the counter.

“Hey, Ryler, welcome back!”

“Thanks. My cousin hadn’t seen your shop, and we’ve had a pretty awful day, so we figured it called for shakes and some Christmas cheer.”

Holly laughed. “Well, this is my support system, Erica Pace. She keeps me from losing my mind.”

“Unless I start talking about hockey, and then all bets are off,” Erica said, grinning at them.

“Maybe Neil should play hockey,” Alia said, an evil glint in her eye. “Then some big, burly enforcer could knock him into the wall.”

Ryler smiled. “Her special friend is being a douche.”

“A total d-bag,” Alia agreed.

“If you’re looking for somewhere to get away from your worries and blow off some steam, you should come to book club with us,” Holly said.

“Don’t we need to have read the book to attend?”

“No, it’s not that kind of book club. We all read something different and then come together to enjoy wine and conversation and talk about the books.”

“Holly came up with the idea because my dark romance picks would scare some of the older ladies. But if you’re into the morally gray heroes, I got some book recs that would blow your mind and break your vibrator.”

Ryler laughed. “Now that sounds intriguing.”

“We’ll talk later,” Erica said with a wink.

Ryler glanced over at Alia, who was examining a Baby’s First Christmas ornament. “What do you say, Alia? Want to go have a girls’ night?”

Alia nodded rapidly, dropping the ornament back on the tree. “More estrogen and less testosterone, yes, please.”