Under the Mistle-Foe (Christmas Falls: Season 2)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

REMY

Lunch was the busiest time for the diner. Atlas was calling out orders faster than we were putting them out.

I wasn’t as good of a chef as my dad, but growing up at the diner, I’d mastered most of the items on our menu. And for the dishes I couldn’t handle, I’d leave them to Rory, the chef who’d been working alongside Dad for years now.

The heat in the kitchen had gotten to me by the time the lunch rush died down. I used to work long shifts at the diner back in high school, but the years of studying and then working at a desk job took more of a toll on my stamina than I’d like to admit. I made a mental note to sign up at a gym once I returned to New York.

After cleaning up, Rory ended his shift and said his goodbyes in a rush, probably hurrying home to get cleaned up to attend the tree lighting with his family. The residents in Christmas Falls took what was essentially the opening ceremony of the holiday season very seriously.

I did one last check around the kitchen, making sure we were all set before sending everyone home. Atlas poked his head through the swinging door we had separating the kitchen and dining area. “You have a guest, Remy.”

“Who is it?” I asked. I wasn’t expecting anyone today, not that I got many visitors generally. I’d only stayed in touch with a handful of people after leaving town.

Before he could reply, brown hair popped through the door and Kaysen’s smirking face came into view. “Well, hello there, stranger. I was starting to think I’d never see you back here again,” he said, his arms crossed.

“Hey, man! What are you doing in town?” I wiped my hand with a towel, then went in for a hug. Kaysen was one of the few people I’d kept in touch with all these years, and from our texts, he’d told me he’d been splitting his time between visiting his boyfriend in a neighboring town and helping at the family farm, so he was rarely around anymore.

Kaysen’s family ran the Milton Falls Christmas Tree Farm, named after the town’s old name before the boom of Christmas decor manufacturing sprang up in the area and it was renamed Christmas Falls. The tree farm was located just outside of town, near the waterfall.

“I very well can’t miss the tree lighting, now can I? It’s tradition,” he said, shooting a smile at Atlas. Atlas nodded in agreement, which reminded me to tell the staff they could leave for the day so they could enjoy the festivities too.

With Kaysen and me the only ones left in the shop, I grabbed us a couple of drinks before sinking into a chair. It was the first time I’d been off my feet all day, and my sore legs were complaining about it.

“So, I was hanging out in town and a little birdie told me you dared to skip this tradition, so I had to come by and knock some sense into you,” Kaysen piped up as he watched me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why do I have a feeling this little birdie that’s chirping in your ear is my father?” Dad had left The Shack with Rob not too long ago for their card night.

“I might have run into him earlier,” he said with a grin. “So, you gonna come to the event with me?”

“I’m busy,” I said, taking a much-needed gulp of my drink. My body still hadn’t cooled down from the heat of the lunch rush. I undid my little ponytail to let my shoulder-length hair release some of that heat now that I was finally in the AC.

“Soooo busy,” Kaysen deadpanned. His gaze swept across the empty room. He had a point. Everyone in town was at the tree lighting, and business would probably be slow for the rest of the day, but Kaysen didn’t need to know that.

“Why aren’t you going with your family?” I asked, avoiding his gaze.

“Don’t feel like third wheeling,” he said with a shrug. I’d heard his oldest brother, Bruce, had gotten a boyfriend. One who was the complete opposite of his grumpy self.

“So really, you’ll be doing me a favor by keeping me company,” Kaysen said, batting his eyelashes. He finished his guilt-tripping with puppy-dog eyes. Being the youngest of three brothers, I was sure those eyes got him anything he wanted growing up. I tried looking away, I really did, but those sad eyes got to me.

“Fine,” I gritted out, and he instantly replaced thosecoercion weapons with a wide smile. I imagined Dad wearing the same exact smug expression when he found out he’d gotten his way after all.

The small park was filled to the brim with people, as I’d expected it to be. A fucking ginormous Christmas tree stood in the middle, unlit, with probably a thousand and one Christmas lights hanging on it. That was what everyone was here to see: the magical scene of all these lights to start off the holiday season.

We didn’t mention the fact that Thanksgiving hadn’t even passed yet. Growing up, I wondered if the residents would make the entire year the holiday season if they could.

Kaysen whistled as he looked up at the large evergreen. “That tree is quite a looker.”

“Why are you acting like it’s your first time seeing it? Didn’t your family donate the tree?” I asked, eyeing him. His family had provided the giant Christmas trees for as long as I could remember.

He shrugged. “Bruce is the one in charge of the trees. I’m just the marketing dude. Besides, where’s the fun in having a sneak peek when I can enjoy the full experience?” He swept his hand to all the smiling people enjoying the holiday season.

I swallowed down the urge to shout, ‘Bah, humbug!’.

We continued wading through the crowd of people and eventually made it in front of the stage where the deputy mayor and a man I didn’trecognize currently stood.

“Oh, my god! I didn’t think it was possible, but Heath Kelly is even hotter in person than on TV,” Kaysen squealed beside me.

“Heath who?” I asked. I looked at the handsome man and tried to place him, but nope. Never seen the dude before in my life.

“He’s only the Heath Kelly! Former soap actor. Current Hallmark movie star? Ring a bell yet?”

I returned his words with a blank expression. I didn’t watch many movies, much less Hallmark ones. Love wasn’t really my thing. “I think my dad did mention something about a celebrity being here today.”

“Gosh, sometimes I think you live under a rock,” Kaysen said with a shake of his head. His eyes focused on something over my shoulder. “Oh, hey. Isn’t that Jett?”

My head spun around so fast I was surprised my neck didn’t strain. And lo-and-behold, there was Jett Davis a few feet away. He was watching the stage, hearts practically shooting out of his eyes.

Very interesting. I hadn’t even known he was into men. My high school nemesis had a crush on the handsome celebrity.

Nemesis might be a huge exaggeration, but the dude didn’t make liking him easy. He was always buzzing around me in high school and saying things that got under my skin.

I wouldn’t say it went as far as bullying, but the man did get on my nerves, which confused the hell out of me because he’d only acted that way with me. He seemed to be on good terms with everyone else.

I studied him. He hadn’t changed much from high school, besides the even bigger muscles that were distinguishable even under the jacket he wore and the full facial hair that gave him the complete bad boy image fitting of his name.

Meanwhile, my facial hair, along with my shoulder-length hair and glasses, only made me look more hipster. I refused to shave it after I’d been teased about my baby face that lay underneath my beard.

Even in high school, Jett was one of the coolest kids I knew. He was part of the popular group, with both brains and brawn. He’d always gotten better grades than me—a fact he’d liked to rub in my face—and had muscles my scrawny teenage self turned green over.

I’d filled out over the years, and while I wasn’t winning any strength contests against him, I’d say our builds were pretty similar now, if we ignored his arms that were probably still twice the size of mine.

“It looks like he’s here alone.” I had a bad feeling about what was to come next. But before I could stop him, Kaysen was already waving his hand over his head and calling over, “Jett! Hey!”

I quickly looked away from the man I put in my past and prayed the crowd had drowned out Kaysen’s voice. It wasn’t that I was still hung up on what had happened in high school—we were adults now, for fuck’s sake—but I didn’t want to add more complications to my time back in town, and my relationship with Jett had always been nothing but complicated.

Moments later, I heard a deep, rumbling voice from behind me. “Hey, Kaysen. You didn’t drag your brothers here like you did last year?”

From what I remembered, Jett’s voice wasn’t that deep, so maybe it was someone else entirely. Luck was not on my side. When I turned around, there was the very man himself.

Jett fucking Davis.