Frosting Her Christmas Cookies - Alina Jacobs Page 0,48

said happily. “You came!”

“Apologies. I had a late meeting.”

“A late-night meeting with Greg?” Oliver asked drunkenly.

The look Belle gave him could have flayed him. Oliver sobered up very quickly.

“Can we sit on the roof deck?” Belle asked the hostess as she led us to a large table.

The hostess took in Belle’s boots, thin black jeans, and short-sleeved top. “Outside?”

I nodded. “It is boiling hot in here.”

The hostess gave us odd looks as she led us outside and had another of her coworkers sweep the snow off the table.

Owen took off his suit jacket. The waiter’s eyes bugged out of his head.

“So Mom and Dad didn’t even ask about your girlfriend?” Jack prompted after we had ordered appetizers.

“You have a girlfriend?” Owen asked as he continued to study the menu.

“No,” I muttered, the anger and hurt when I had walked in on Morticia’s rant about me coming back in full force.

“The internet says you do,” Oliver told me, holding out his phone. There was more than one fan page dedicated to me and Morticia.

“Good lord,” Owen said.

“She’s not like Jack’s or Owen’s girlfriend,” Matt told me. “She looks scary.”

“Maybe she’s tired of dealing with two-faced imbeciles with too much money and a serious empathy deficit,” Belle said.

I looked around. “You’re not talking about me, are you?” I asked, offended.

“She’s probably talking about Greg,” Owen said. “I can go beat him up for you.”

Belle screwed up her mouth.

I became very interested in my appetizer, which had just arrived.

The stream from our sister’s breath curled around her like smoke as she laid into Owen. “I don’t need my little brother to jump to my defense,” she snapped.

“I’m just saying,” Owen said, digging in his heels, “you were there for us when we probably didn’t deserve it. Mom and Dad did you wrong, and they never had to pay for it. But I can definitely make Greg pay for it.”

“It. What?” Belle’s voice was dangerously cold. Even I started shivering.

“I don’t know,” Owen said stubbornly. “But you’re my sister, and no one messes with my sister, not even the Svenssons. Not even if there are dozens of them and they’re crazy as hell.”

Belle’s face softened. “While I appreciate the sentiment, I’m fine. Just trying to keep my investment firm afloat and somehow keep Jonathan’s company from hemorrhaging money.”

“My company is doing great,” I bragged. “The bake-off is a huge success. We’re selling out like candy in an elf village.”

“I’m glad to see the attitude change,” she said, “because you can’t go back to your condo tonight; it’s being decorated. You need to stay with Jack.”

“No!” my brother and I both said at once.

25

Morticia

“Is there anything better than midnight shopping?” Lilith exclaimed when we arrived at the mall. Christmas hours were in full swing, and the mall boasted a closing time of two a.m.

“Midnight pretzels!” Emma said. “There’s an Auntie Anne’s on level two. Come on.”

“I have a whole list of things we need,” I reminded my friend as we rode the escalator up to look for the pretzel shop.

“I know, but I can’t shop on an empty stomach,” Emma said. “And you’re still in a bad mood and need carbs. Look! They have special sugarplum pretzel bites with cream cheese frosting dipping sauce!” Emma pulled out her credit card.

“I want a pretzel with spicy cheese dipping sauce,” Lilith said after reading the menu posted on the wall. “And Morticia wants the pretzel dog, because she couldn’t get the sausage from Jonathan.”

“I never wanted it.”

“You totally wanted to get laid,” Lilith said as she held out her hand. “Where is his credit card? Gimmie!”

“We’re supposed to be buying Christmas decorations, not pretzels, with Jonathan’s credit card,” I told my twin as she tried to wrestle my purse away from me. “We’re not going to be pretzel gold diggers. We’re not like Keeley.”

“I thought that was you all,” a dry voice said.

Lilith used the distraction to snatch my purse.

“Sarah?”

My cousin Keeley’s younger sister stood there, along with Karen and Larry, my aunt and uncle. We stared at each other. I hadn’t seen them since my grandmother’s funeral a little over a year ago. They had disappeared off the face of the earth, just like they had when Keeley had had me sentenced to a stint in the psych ward.

“Fancy seeing you here in the big, scary city,” Lilith drawled. “Come down to enjoy the holiday lights? You didn’t get mugged, did you?”

Our aunt and uncle had a serious aversion to any sort of urban area. Even