Sophia said she didn’t need to look it up but went immediately for the computer. I followed her, standing before the desk. She quickly printed out a similar form and passed it to me.
I glanced down at it. It was actually identical to the form I’d handed her except that the date was in fact for next weekend. What the hell?
“Oh God,” I groaned as I looked at the signature.
Who the hell put Bryan Clifford in charge of this? Bryan was our resident fuck up. He’d only gotten through the last three years of medical school because his mother was on the board and kept bailing him out. I prayed for anyone who had him as a doctor after we finished all of this. Lord save me from mediocre white men.
I had no idea how it had gone from my name on Cézanne’s list to Bryan ordering the wine and putting the wrong date on it. But I was sure going to find out after all of this.
“You’re right. It is for next weekend,” I said dejected.
“I’m really sorry,” Sophia said quickly.
“Do you have the wine in stock?” I asked hopefully.
“Sure, I have it,” she said quickly. “But my drivers are already gone for the day. I don’t even have a van here tonight to deliver it myself.”
My heart sank. “Can’t you call someone?” I asked, teetering toward desperate. “It’s like a three thousand dollar order. You’ll lose that if we don’t figure this out.”
She shot me a panged expression. “I have a meeting after close. I don’t know who I could get to come in time. I can text a few drivers, but I’m sorry. It seems like a stretch.”
“That would be really great. I’d appreciate it. I don’t know what else we’re going to do.”
Sophia patted my hand across the desk. “Let me shoot off those texts. We’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks,” I said with a sigh and then pulled out my phone to text Cézanne about the disaster. I had a feeling Bryan Clifford was about to get eaten alive by her after she found out.
“So far it doesn’t look good,” Sophia said just as the bell over the door jingled.
I looked up from my phone, praying to whoever would listen that one of the drivers had come back for some reason or another. Some serendipitous reason that would save my shitty day. We could pack up the van, drive out to the ranch, and I’d look like a hero.
Instead, I turned around and found the last person in Lubbock I wanted to see. The one person who had fractured my trust and left me a little more cynical than I’d been before. Who I still avoided like the plague. A line had been drawn in the sand and no matter that we’d had a one night stand with the best sex of my life, I wouldn’t open myself up to even a friendship that could shatter me the way one look into Jordan Wright’s deep dark brown eyes were capable of.
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A L S O B Y K. A. L I N D E
Like stand alone companion novels about one big family—
WRIGHTS
The Wright Brother
The Wright Boss
The Wright Mistake
The Wright Secret
The Wright Love
The Wright One
A Wright Christmas
Wright with Benefits
Serves Me Wright
Like adult Gossip Girl meets Cruel Intentions—
CRUEL
One Cruel Night
Cruel Money
Cruel Fortune
Cruel Legacy
Stand alone companions novels about four friends on the Upper East Side—
THE SEASONS
His for a Season
The Lying Season
The Hating Season
The Breaking Season
Like scandalous political romance—
RECORD SERIES
Off the Record
On the Record
For the Record
Struck from the Record
Broken Record
Like angsty second chance romance—
AVOIDING SERIES
Avoiding Commitment
Avoiding Responsibility
Avoiding Temptation
Avoiding Extras
Avoiding Boxset
Like rockstars—
TAKE ME DUET
Take Me for Granted
Take Me with You
Like drama-filled sports romance —
DIAMOND GIRLS SERIES
Rock Hard
A Girl’s Best Friend
In the Rough
Shine Bright
Under Pressure
Like vampire paranormal romance about blood whores—
BLOOD TYPE SERIES
Blood Type
Blood Match
Blood Cure
Like YA fantasy about a girl who discovers magic in a world where magic doesn’t exist—
ASCENSION SERIES
The Affiliate
The Bound
The Consort
The Society
The Domina
Like YA fantasy about a half-Fae, half-human who falls for a dark, cursed Fae prince—
ROYAL HOUSES
House of Dragons
House of Shadows
Like a heart-pounding love story of one girl desperate to find herself again—
Following Me
Acknowledgments
The Nutcracker has always been a big part of my life. I always knew that I wanted to write a story centered around it, but then my husband and I started going to a different Nutcracker in a different city every year. We’ve seen it in Lincoln Center with the wonderful Sara Mearns as the Sugar Plum Fairy for the New York City Ballet. We saw the incredible production in San Francisco and Atlanta and Charlotte and Fort Worth and Lubbock, of course. And due to the covid, this will be the first year in nine years we don’t go to a Nutcracker together. So, I decided to bring the Nutcracker to me. It was a real joy writing Peyton and the fictitious Lubbock Ballet Company into existence and to be able to donate some of the proceeds to the actual Ballet Lubbock to help the underprivileged youth have access to the arts. So thank YOU reader for helping me do just that!
Also to everyone who put their hands on this book, you’re the best. Thank you to Danielle Sanchez and Maria Blalock for being sensitivity readers for the Medina family. I wanted an authentic Mexican American experience and you helped me find it. Also to Korrie Noelle for opening a space to find sensitivity readers and helping create a more diverse and inclusive story. And Nana Malone for always inspiring me and our long talks about doing the work!
Thank you Rebecca Kimmerling, Rebecca Gibson, Anjee Sapp, Devin McCain, Kimberly Brower, Sarah Hansen, Jovana Shirley for all that you did to make this book incredible. And the audio production company Blue Nose Audio for getting the amazing Zachary Webber and Marisa Blake to bring Isaac and Peyton to life. I was so excited to get a Mexican American narrator to portray Peyton. Representation matters!
Joel, my rock, my world, my fellow lover of all things Nutcracker. Thanks for loving ballet almost as much as I do and insisting on traveling the world to see more and more of them! You bring me so much joy.
And of course, my mom. Thanks for paying for all of those years of dance so that I could be happy. Thanks for taking me to see the Nutcracker as a kid. And thanks for believing I could do anything I wanted, this one is for you! For your love of Christmas romance novels!
About the Author
K.A. Linde is the USA Today bestselling author of the more than thirty novels. At the age of ten, Kyla annoyed her mom enough to get into her first dance class and has never looked back. She began teaching at sixteen and has since served as the head coach of the Duke University dance team, the University of Georgia club dance team, and taught at local studios in Texas and Georgia.
She wants to bring her love of dance to all that wish to pursue it, which is why a part of the proceeds for this novel will go to promote dance education for underprivileged youth.
She currently lives in Lubbock, Texas, with her husband and two super-adorable puppies.
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