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

Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

REMY

I didn’t see Jett for the rest of the day. I was worried that I’d scared him off with my attitude this morning, and I couldn’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to be around someone like me either.

The next morning when I went to take out the diner’s sign to the front, Dad called something out to me. I looked back at him, distracted, as I opened the front door and took a step forward, which caused me to crash straight into someone.

“Easy there,” a deep voice rumbled in my ear as he steadied me and the sign in my hand. The glass door of the diner swinging shut behind me pushed me forward and deeper into the other person’s embrace.

Strong arms wrapped tighter around me, and a sweet scent filled my nose, which made complete sense considering all the candy the man ate.

Jett’s lopsided grin appeared in my vision. “You okay?” he asked with a hint of teasing in his eyes.

“Yeah, just feeling silly for almost falling when I’m always warning Dad about that these days,” I muttered and put as much space between us as I could, with the door behind me and all. Jett’s hands dropped as he stuffed them into his pocket. He was probably cold again. His fingers felt almost freezing.

I placed the sign beside the door, then flicked my gaze back to Jett. He was watching me, because, of course, he was. Even back in high school, he’d always been looking at me, but back then, I thought it was because he had some kind of grudge against me and was studying his enemy to form the perfect revenge.

I didn’t think that anymore, but his strange glances still confused the hell out of me.

There was a happy smile on his face, like yesterday hadn’t happened, but I knew I couldn’t just bury my mistakes like this. I was a jerk, and I should own up to that. At the very least, he deserved an apology.

“Listen, about yesterday…” I suddenly felt tight again and undid my little ponytail to release some of the tension. My hair floated down around me. I’d grown it out mostly as a whim, and to piss off one of the friends I’d made in New York since he’d said I wouldn’t look good with long hair. Joke’s on him because I looked fucking great.

Focusing back on Jett, I could see the conflict inside his eyes as he looked at me. “I’m sorry if I overstepped,” he quickly said before I could continue my words. “I know how hard it must be spending the holidays here without?—”

“No. I mean, yes. It does suck, but that’s not what I meant.” A sigh of frustration slipped out of me. Was articulating feelings always this hard? “What I wanted to say is that I was a jerk yesterday. Any issues I had were mine , and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. So…will you accept my apology?”

There was a beat of silence, and I wanted to look away, but those dark eyes held me captive, suffocating me until I saw the sparkle in them. “If I don’t forgive you, are we going to stand out here until we kiss and make up, like Adam and Rob were forced to?”

My confusion must have shown, because he suddenly pointed up. I followed his action to see that we were under the mistletoe.

Most people knew it as the symbol of love, but it was also known to represent peace. Back in the day, if enemies found themselves under a mistletoe, they would let go of their grudges for the day and call it a truce.

Mom had taken the meaning seriously and would chase Dad and Rob to work things out under this very arch whenever they’d gotten into a huge fight. But since they were both so stubborn, they would often stand outside the diner, glaring at each other and making all the customers who walked through the door feel awkward.

“Are you going to torment yourself with the cold by picking up bad habits from them?” I asked back with a grin. I could tell he was only teasing me and wasn’t actually angry with me.

That was one thing I’d come to like about the man. From interacting with him these past couple of weeks, I’d learned that Jett truly was a kind person. He wasn’t one to hold grudges against others and was always willing to open his heart.

“Fortunately for you, I’m not a masochist, so I’ll forgive you just this once,” he said with a laugh.

“Good, because I’m not wearing a jacket and it’s getting kinda cold even for me,” I said as I opened the door for us. Jett followed me inside, shivering off the cold as he shrugged his jacket off.

I followed him to his usual spot and lingered even after he’d set up his laptop. Jett glanced up at me with a raised eyebrow. I rubbed the back of my neck. “One more thing…I al so wanted to thank you. For being there and helping my dad when I couldn’t.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he replied. The smile that lit up his face did something strange to my insides. I rubbed my chest as I made my way back to the kitchen to do the morning chores.

Both the morning and lunch rushes went by in a haze as my eyes kept drifting to the front. Jett stayed the entire time, as usual. Mostly in his booth working on his laptop, but he would occasionally wander around chatting with others.

An unfamiliar feeling spread through me as I watched him laugh and be merry with our fellow townsfolk. I’d never been the possessive kind of friend, but damn if I wasn’t feeling jealous of how popular the guy was.

Was this how people felt with their best friends? Always wanting to hang out and be in their presence? My closest friend was probably Kaysen, but even then, we’d never hung out all the time. He’d been busy with the farm and me with the diner.

It worked great for us, in my opinion, so why did I feel so different about my friendship with Jett? Maybe it was because I was so used to him hanging out at the diner that I’d started getting possessive of his time?

I didn’t know, but now that the day was ending, my mind was fixated on what Jett would be up to tomorrow with the diner being closed and all. He probably had to work or had something else equally important he needed to do. He had a life of his own.

All the contemplation was really making me crave another smoke. But I’d already had one too many this week and was already going back on my plan of cutting back. So instead of driving myself through the wall with all the wondering, I marched my ass up front and asked him what he was up to tomorrow.

Jett blinked at me in surprise. Well, I was surprised too, buddy. I was never the clingy friend, and now here I was, intruding on his life just because I didn’t like the idea of not seeing him for a day.

“I was gonna take a look at Santa’s Helpers Animal Shelter. Word around town is they need more foster homes for the pets while they continue working on the pipes. Heard there was a pretty big leak not too long ago.”

See? I knew he’d already have plans.

Jett paused and chewed on his bottom lip. They were always an alluring red color, most likely stained from all the cherry flavor lollipops he was sucking on. The pop of color was too eye-catching on him, and that was probably why I sometimes had a hard time shifting my gaze away from them.

“If you’re free tomorrow…would you want to come with me?” he asked, almost shyly. I couldn’t say what I said in reply, because all I could remember was that damn crooked smile beaming back at me as we made plans to meet tomorrow.

I had a hard time falling asleep in anticipation of the following day. I didn’t even particularly like animals. They were cute and all, but I wasn’t one of those people who obsessed over fur babies so much that I’d lose sleep over them.

But that was exactly what had happened last night as I crawled out of bed feeling like I’d slept for exactly two hours. Not that I was counting or anything.

It took everything to drag my body through the morning motions. “You look like shit,” Dad commented when we sat down for breakfast. “You should plop yourself back into bed after you eat.”

I touched my face, wondering if I really looked that bad. “Can’t. Meeting up with a friend later.”

“Jett?” Dad asked, then took a bite of his buttered toast. I hummed in reply. He shot me a toothy grin, looking silly with all the crumbs littering his face. How he even got some on his cheeks, I had no clue.

“I’m glad you’re making friends with him. Jett’s a good man,” he said. I hummed again, because this was something I already knew. His eyes studied me, as if trying to glean something from my expression, but I only gave him a raised brow in reply. “It’s nothing. Go have fun. Rob’s picking me up later, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

When it got close to the agreed meet up time, I made the short drive to Jett’s house. The nice thing about small town life was that practically everything was a short drive away.

He was already waiting for me outside his house, bouncing from one leg to the other like he was trying to generate warmth.

I rolled down the window and told him to hop in quickly. A cool rush of air followed him inside the car. He placed the pet carrier in the back seat before shooting me a smile in greeting.

He was wearing my red scarf and beanie again, looking all bundled up and cozy. The red yarn was almost the same color as the red on his lips. He probably had another one of his cherry lollipops.

“Why didn’t you just wait inside? I could have texted you when I got here,” I said, but then realized I didn’t actually have his number. There hadn’t been a reason for us to exchange numbers since I’d returned to town, considering we were together almost every day.

Jett only laughed in reply, then turned the topic to the animal shelter. I could hear how excited he was to foster a pet or two. It was kinda cute.

I could see him face me out of the corner of my eye. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You look a little tired.”

I couldn’t very well tell him I hadn’t really slept last night because I was thinking about today. That would be absolutely bonkers to say, so what was a little white lie between friends? “Was up late doing inventory for the diner.”

“You need to have your rest too. Aren’t you technically here on vacation? And yet here you are practically working every day at the diner,” he commented. There was obvious concern in his tone.

Something nudged me in the back of my head, wondering if I’d told him I was on leave from my company to be here with Dad. If he knew, I must have. And I was probably just too tired to remember when exactly this conversation had happened.

“Working at the diner is like a little break. I like being there,” I said. It was the first time I’d admitted it out loud, but as my words flowed into my own ears, I realized how true they were. The stress of working at the diner was different from the company I’d worked at.

Team projects sometimes meant long overtime or busy weekends. Long hours over a table felt more laborious than the physical hours in the kitchen did. But best of all, when it was time to clock out at the diner, I didn’t bring the stress from work home.

It was a different kind of pace, a much slower pace than the big city life. Not to mention the people here were a lot nicer as well.

I’d forgotten how much I’d missed it until living back here again. There was a sense of community here that didn’t exist in New York. People came together in times of fun but bonded even harder when someone was in need, just like how Jett was willing to help foster when he heard there was trouble at the animal shelter.

There were already quite a few people inside by the time we arrived at Santa’s Helpers Animal Shelter. A slightly frazzled looking man caught sight of us and came over to greet us.

“You must be Elias, right? The guy running this place,” Jett said.

“That’s me. Though recently it feels like this place is running me in circles instead of the other way around,” he said with a chuckle that sounded equal parts exhausted and self-comforting.

“Are you two here to foster some of our fur babies? We could really use the volunteers,” he asked, a hint of desperation in his tone.

He was obviously stressed about the current circumstances, and I felt for the dude, I really did, but Dad and the diner kept me plenty busy already. Plus, I wasn’t home enough to look after animals.

“Sorry, I’m just here to accompany him,” I said, gesturing to Jett. “But he’s very excited about taking one or two home.”

“That’s wonderful to hear! We really do appreciate all the help we can get. Feel free to take a look around, and once you find your furry friend, let me know and we can fill out the form.” Elias barely got the words out before someone was calling him over. He shot us an apologetic look before going where he was needed.

“So, where should we start?” I asked Jett. He placed his pet carrier near the wall, then pointed to where the cats were being kept.

“I’m thinking of fostering a cat or two. Dogs are nice, but I dread the thought of having to walk them in this cold weather.” Jett shivered as he finished speaking, causing me to chuckle. He really was weak to the cooler temperatures.

Thankfully, it seemed a lot of the animals had already been fostered out, but we still spent a good half an hour visiting with all the different cats. Even if I had a heart of steel, it would melt from hearing those cute little meows .

We stopped to play a bit longer with a pair of cats who’d initially been cuddling with each other but separated when we drew closer. The black and white one—a tuxedo, Jett had informed me—had snuggled up to me almost instantly, purring like a machine. Meanwhile, the orange cat was climbing up and down Jett’s leg, letting out an excited meow every time he let the kitty play with his hand.

“Ah, typical orange cat behavior,” Elias said with a grin. “These two are Sugar and Spice.”

“Let me guess. The one I’m holding is Sugar,” I said.

Elias laughed again and nodded. “Yep, she’s a sweetheart. And that little guy currently trying to tackle your friend’s hand is our beloved Spice.”

Jett was now sitting on the ground play fighting Spice with his hand as the cat rolled over and over. Jett laughed as he tried to tickle Spice’s belly, but that only made him wiggle even harder.

“Sugar and Spice are bonded siblings, so we’ve been having a bit harder time finding a foster home for these two.”

I looked down at the precious girl, who was still snuggled contently in my arms, purring. How anyone could say no to taking her home was beyond me. And sure, her brother was a bit on the energetic side, but that just meant he’d surely keep you entertained.

Jett was now looking at Spice with a contemplative expression. He glanced up and met my gaze. I would tell him to pick these two, it was obviously meant to be, but I wasn’t the one doing the fostering, and I didn’t have any weight to make decisions for him.

Our eyes locked for another second before he turned to Elias and stated, “I’ll take these two home with me.” My opinion of him grew even more.

Elias was ecstatic about the foster match, to say the least. We followed him to the front, with both Sugar and Spice in hand, then settled them into the carrier Jett brought. Sugar obediently climbed in herself, and while Spice was a bit more reluctant, he soon followed his sister in. Thankfully, Jett had the foresight to bring a bigger carrier that allowed the two to fit comfortably inside.

I stayed with the cats while Elias took Jett to go through the formal procedures. It didn’t take long for Jett to return with clearance for us to leave.

When we hopped into my car, Jett insisted on holding the carrier in his lap. He opened the flap at the top and stuck a hand inside to play with the cats. The cats instantly molded their bodies around his hand like water and cuddled together. The purring started again.

Jett and I turned to each other at the same time and burst out in laughter. Not too loud, though, so we didn’t disturb the sleepy felines. Our happiness rang out in the car, and there was a gentle warmness that filled inside of me.

Being here with Jett? It felt good. And I hadn’t felt good like this in a long time.

“You’re a nice guy, Jett. I’m glad to have you as a friend.”