The Mistletoe Kisser - Lucy Score Page 0,61

Sammy wondered.

“Just the Dr. Sammy Roundtable,” Eden smarted off.

“We’re up to forty-two members,” Layla said.

“Meetings are every other Tuesday,” Bobby teased.

“You run yourself all over town working and elbowing your way to the front of the line to volunteer for every damn thing. What’s left for you? When’s the last time you did something for you like blow-dried your hair?” Layla asked.

“Or got a facial?” Bobby suggested.

“Or sat in front of your fireplace with a big ol’ glass of wine and a sexy book?” Eden added.

“Or ate an entire tray of brownies?”

“Exhausted people aren’t sexy. They’re not the life of the party,” Liz, the town florist, chimed in from the table next to them. “They’re too tired to have fun.”

Sammy felt a little stunned.

“It’s a good news-bad news kind of thing,” Eden told her.

“Good News: You’re hot AF, dummy,” Layla said fondly.

“Bad News: You’re the one who needs to make the effort,” Eden said. “Until you start taking care of yourself and remembering what a brilliant, beautiful badass you are—”

“Awesome alliteration,” Bobby cut in.

“Thank you, Bobby,” Eden said with a quick grin. “Until you start taking care of yourself, no one else is going to excavate under the layers of exhaustion and pathological helpfulness and self-neglect to find your sexy center.”

The women at the tables around them broke out into spontaneous applause. Eden and Layla leaned back in their chairs, wisdom dispensed.

“Raise your vibe, honey, and watch the world fall at your feet,” Bobby told her.

Sure. She’d just schedule in longer showers and some online shopping sprees in between calving seasons and vaccinations and renovations to the farm. Maybe take up paragliding or pottery. Didn’t they understand? There was no time left over in the day for herself.

But she was too damn tired to say just that.

The shop door opened on a burst of cold. With it came one stubbled, scowling Ryan Sosa. He was wearing glasses today. They made him look like a rugged, crabby poet.

Sammy felt her vagina flutter in appreciation. He was still here! Still gorgeous! Still grumpy! And he was looking right at her.

“Yeah, that’s the look of a man who finds you repulsive,” Eden whispered, picking up a menu and fanning herself with it.

“Shut. Up,” Sammy hissed. God. She was a mess. She wished she would have actually washed her hair instead of just cramming a hat on her head that morning.

“Here he comes,” Layla sang under her breath.

“I can see that,” Sammy growled.

“Sparkle,” Ryan said, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

Eden kicked her under the table. “Ouch! Uh, hi. Ryan,” she said. “These are my sometimes friends, Eden and Layla.”

“Ah. Those friends. Did you ever get confirmation on Dirk?” he asked Eden.

Eden choked on her soda. Layla snorted. “Maybe this guy’s not such a dumbass after all?”

“Maybe I’m not,” he agreed.

“You’re still here?” Sammy asked a little too loudly. “I thought you’d be long gone by now.”

“I thought so too,” he said, oblivious to the fact that Bobby was making a heart symbol with her fingers behind the counter. “I may have underestimated the complexity of my uncle’s filing system.”

“Well, I need to get back to the inn,” Eden said, pointedly looking at her bare wrist.

“And I just got a call from dispatch,” Layla lied.

“No, no, no. Nope. Not this time,” Sammy said, standing abruptly. “This time, I’m leaving.” She dragged on her coat, which today smelled like a chicken farm. “Thanks for the lunch and the lecture.”

Turning to Ryan, she looked him up and down one more time. God, he was so stupidly gorgeous. “Good luck with whatever it is you’re doing,” she said to him. “And goodbye again.”

She marched out the door, head held high.

Blue Moon Emergency Text Alert: All citizens with any level of accounting experience are encouraged to attend tonight’s emergency town meeting at Take Two Movie Theater. Please do not call Beckett Pierce’s house or office to ask for details prior to the meeting.

20

So maybe she’d overreacted the smallest, teensiest bit, Sammy thought in the concession stand line. Take Two was the town’s Art Deco movie theater that showed second-run movies. It was also commandeered as a venue for town meetings like the one tonight, which were arguably just as entertaining as the films.

The smell of fresh popcorn and gallons of organic butter tantalized her nose. Her stomach let out a plaintive groan. She’d left half her salad on the table at Peace of Pizza when she’d stormed out into the cold.

But that was the effect