Frosting Her Christmas Cookies - Alina Jacobs Page 0,125
angry anymore, just sad. “I am sorry, Jonathan, that I made that collage. They’re shipping it back to me, and when it arrives, I’ll burn it. Just do yourself a favor and stay away from Keeley. She’ll ruin your business and your life.”
She shut the door quietly in my face. I wished she would have slammed it.
I believed Morticia. I believed every word. Keeley had always rubbed me the wrong way. Who could set up their own family member like that? Spending Christmas in a psych ward—it sounded horrible.
Do not feel sorry for her, I told myself. She could have ruined your business.
But no harm no foul, right?
I stared at the closed door. I wanted to knock on it and beg her to talk, but there was too much between us. I needed some holiday magic to mend the chasm, but there wasn’t any. There was only the cold wind of winter.
67
Morticia
My friends stared at me in shock after I shut the door in Jonathan’s face.
“Holy shit,” Lilith said after a moment.
“I think I need to find somewhere else to live.” I rubbed my arm and looked down at the floor. “There’s an artist’s retreat in the winter in Florida.”
“There are snakes and aggressive iguanas there,” Emma told me. “You don’t want to move to Florida.”
I slumped down on the floor beside the bed. “I shouldn’t have made that collage,” I groaned.
“Fair is fair. Jonathan cost you the scholarship.”
“That I won because I made art of him without his consent. Maybe I do belong in a psych ward.” I tipped my head back and stared at the cracks in the plaster ceiling.
“Men can make anyone criminally insane,” Lilith assured me. She cut off a slightly smushed piece of the cake I had made for the bake-off and handed it to me. “You need chocolate and sugar.”
“And alcohol!” Emma added. “We’re going to stick to wine, though, since that is not produced by you-know-who’s company.”
The next morning, I still didn’t have any clarity.
I didn’t know where I was going to live. I didn’t know where I was going to work. And it was the day before Christmas Eve. The city, normally bustling, had emptied out. Snow flurries erupted every so often, belching big, fat flakes that slid down the back of my neck as Lilith and I trudged across town to meet with our friend Holly. Emma had a meeting for her investment group with Dana and Belle.
The gray sky and empty streets were depressing. Everyone who was out was clearly doing last-minute Christmas shopping or taking their kids for one more visit to Santa Claus. I, however, was filled with existential dread at having to spend Christmas alone, unable to even go to a restaurant. Instead, I would be forced to contemplate the terrible reality of my life.
The lobby of the Quantum Cyber building was empty when Lilith, Salem, and I walked in. Holly, Owen Frost’s fiancée, was sitting on a barstool behind the glass case, reading War and Peace.
“That’s heavy for the holidays,” Lilith remarked.
Holly laughed and peeled back the cover of the book to reveal the actual title.
“His Curvy Alien Holiday Abduction,” I read.
“Don’t judge me!” Holly said. “I needed something to pass the time. Owen’s employees all left at the beginning of this week. There are some people in the hotel upstairs, so I’m a little busier in the evening, before the hotel restaurant opens, but it’s been boring.”
She pulled out two sandwiches from the glass case and stuck them in the panini maker. “On the house,” Holly said. Then she leaned on the counter and looked at me. “I’m still shocked that you, of all people, were in The Great Christmas Bake-Off.”
“And I wish I had never done it,” I complained. “It was such a disaster.”
“At least you got paid for it,” Lilith reminded me.
Holly sighed. “I wish it had worked out with Jonathan. I was looking forward to being your sister-in-law.”
“Whoa, whoa, we weren’t like that,” I insisted. “We were barely even dating.” But a part of me had wanted a happily ever after with him.
“Really?” Lilith asked incredulously. “Because you were obsessed with him.”
I cringed.
“And not just sexually,” my twin added. “You were constantly over at his place, making him food, taking care of his cat, and watching Christmas movies. You were really happy when he texted you.”
“The way Owen recounted his brother talking about you,” Holly added, “Jonathan already had your whole lives together planned out.”