at me. “It’s exactly like the movies. A brooding townsperson with a grinch-like heart. All he needs is a stranger to change his mind.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
Worried my friend was actually having a stroke, I reached out and pressed my hand to her forehead. “Are you sure you are feeling alright?”
She swatted my hand away. “You jest, but eventually you’ll find out I’m right.” Then she tapped her chin. “That questionnaire finally makes sense.”
My entire body froze. “Questionnaire? I didn’t fill out a questionnaire.”
Em didn’t look bothered as she smoothed out her jacket and glanced over at me. “I filled it out for you.”
“What? What did you say?”
She narrowed her eyes. “On a scale of one to jolly, I said you were a one in terms of holiday spirit.”
A feeling of dread filled my chest. “Why would you say that?”
Em looked innocent as she studied me. “They want to give you a personalized experience.” Then she grinned. “I said that I was a Cindy Lou Who.”
I stared at her.
“You know, from the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas? She wants to find the true meaning of Christmas. Except I already know the meaning.”
My friend had officially jumped off the deep end. I’d known her most of my life, but I’d never seen this part of her.
“So, what are they going to do to me?”
Em chuckled. “You make it sound like they are going to murder you.” She patted my knee. “Don’t be scared. It’ll be fun, and by the end, I’m sure you’ll love Christmas as much as I do.”
I wanted her to take that back. In fact, I had half a mind to hijack this truck and head back to New York. After a few cleansing breaths, I decided that there was no need to commit a felony in order to get out of here. I could check into our room, and if I wanted to leave later, I would just call a cab…even if the ride back home would cost me my entire paycheck. I had options.
I wasn’t a hostage to this town and their Christmas spirit. I could leave if I wanted to. That thought gave me some semblance of control.
A few minutes passed before Ethan pulled open the door and waved for us to get out.
“Oh,” I said as I followed after Em.
Once we were on the ground, Ethan turned to face us. “Johnny is going to get your tire fixed.”
“That’s great,” Em said and then elbowed me. “Isn’t that great, Bea?”
I shot her a dirty look and then nodded and smiled at Ethan. “That’s great.”
Ethan studied the two of us for a moment before he nodded. “Great. Well, I guess I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah.”
“Wait.” Em reached out, her fingers lingering in the air just above Ethan’s arm. “Could you give us a ride to the North Pole?”
Ethan’s gaze dropped down to Em’s hand and then back up. “You’re going to the North Pole?”
Em nodded. “We won an all-inclusive package. We’ve got the master suite.”
Ethan pulled out his keys and was fiddling with them. Then he sighed and nodded. “Well that just happens to be where I’m going too.”
“Really,” Em said, purposely dragging out every letter as she glanced over at me. “That’s quite a coincidence.”
I wasn’t sure what was going on, but the fact that Ethan not only had shown up to give us a tow but also just so happened to be going to our bed and breakfast…well, I was starting to wonder.
Then I shook my head to dislodge those thoughts. I wasn’t going to go crazy like Em. I was going to stay levelheaded, and there was no way I was going to drink the Kool-Aid that was this town.
“Yeah.” Ethan looked confused but seemed to brush it off. “Wanna get your bags? I’ll pull my car around.”
“Definitely.” Em linked arms with me and started pulling me toward her car, which had just been lowered from the tow truck. After grabbing our bags, we made our way toward the street where Ethan had parked.
He was leaning against his car with his arms folded. I wasn’t sure who he was looking at, but for a moment I wondered if he was looking at me. Heat flushed my skin as I chided myself. There was no way that I was going to become Em. There was nothing fishy going on here. Despite Em thinking that everything was orchestrated, I was going to choose to remain on the sane side of town.
The place where common