Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances

durn it!”
A stream of water nailed him between the eyes, and I clapped my hand to my mouth.
“Don’t think you got it,” John Number Two observed.
The water chugged from the pipe. Christina looked like she was about to cry.
“Oh God, I am so sorry,” I said. “Please make your face go back to normal. Please?”
“Why, look at that,” John Number Two said.
The  gurgling  sounds  slowed.  A  drop  of  water  trembled  on  the  rim  of  the  pipe,  then  sploshed  to  the
floor. After that, nothing.
“It stopped,” I said in amazement.
“I  disconnected  the  main  line,”  John  Number  Three  announced,  emerging  from  the  back  room  with  a
towel.
“You did? That is so cool!” I exclaimed.
He tossed the towel to John Number One, who dabbed at his pants.
“You’re supposed to mop the floor, not your pants,” John Number Two said.
“I already did mop the floor,” John Number One grouched. “With my pants.”
“I better call an actual plumber,” Christina said. “And Addie . . . I think you should take your break.”
“Don’t you want me to help clean up?” I said.
“I want you to take your break,” she said.
“Oh,” I said. “Um, yeah, sure. That’s what I was going to do before, but then Crazy Travis showed up,
and then Crazy Mayzie—”
She pointed toward the back room.
“It’s just that you were the one who asked me to stay. I mean, who cares, right? But it was—”
“Addie, please,” Christina said. “Maybe it isn’t about you this time, but it sure feels like it. I need you
to go.”
We stared at each other.
“Now.”
I jumped and headed for the back room.
“Don’t worry,” John Number Three said as I passed him. “She’ll be over it by the next time you break
something.” He winked, and I smiled wanly.

---

Chapter Eleven
I
sloughed off my wet shirt and borrowed a new one from the shelf. It was for Starbucks’ DoubleShot and
read,
BRING ON THE DAY
. Then I fished my cell from my cubby and punched in Dorrie’s speed dial.
“Hola, cookie,” she said, picking up on the second ring.
“Hi,” I said. “Do you have a minute? I’ve had the weirdest day, and it just keeps getting weirder, and I
have got to talk to someone about it.”
“Did you get Gabriel?”
“Huh?”
“I said, did you get—” She broke off. When she spoke again, her voice was overly controlled. “Addie?
Please tell me you remembered to go to Pet World.”
My stomach slammed down to my feet, like an elevator whose cables broke. I quickly closed my phone
and grabbed my coat from the hook. As I was leaving, my phone rerang. I knew I shouldn’t answer, I knew
I shouldn’t answer . . . but I gave in and answered anyway.
“Listen,” I said.
“No, you listen. It’s ten thirty, and you promised Tegan you’d go to Pet World at nine o’clock on the dot.
There’s no excuse you can give that’ll justify why you’re still at Starbucks futzing around.”
“That’s not fair,” I argued. “What if . . . what if an iceberg fell on my head and left me in a coma?”
“Did an iceberg fall on your head and leave you in a coma?”
I pressed my lips together.
“Uh-huh,  well,  let  me  ask  you  this:  Whatever  your  reason  really  is,  does  it  have  to  do  with  you  and
some ridiculous new crisis?”
“No! And if you’d stop attacking me and let me tell you all the weird stuff that’s happened to me, you’d
understand.”
“Do you even hear yourself?” she said incredulously. “I ask if it’s about some new crisis, and you say
‘No, and by the way, let me tell you about my new crisis.’”
“I didn’t say that.” Did I?
She exhaled. “Not cool, Addie.”
My voice went small. “Okay, you’re right. But, um . . . it has been an unusually bizarre day, even for
me. I just want you to know that.”
“Of course it was,” Dorrie said. “And of course you forgot about Tegan, because it’s always, always,