Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
MARISSA
“Liv, how’s it going?” Marissa greeted her cousin with a hug. “Are you the official Santa breakfast welcome committee?”
“Yep. And I have so much power.” Olivia held up a roll of red tickets. “I have more power than you can even imagine. I’m ticket sales, too.”
Marissa laughed. “How’s the breakfast going?”
“I don’t know. We’ve been checking guests in. I have thirty minutes left on my shift, and then we will work on the next challenge. It has to be pictures with Santa, right?”
“That’s why I’m here.” She gave the lobby a once-over. “You haven’t seen my teammate, Jack Frost, have you?”
“I cannot believe you’re partnered up with Mr. Graff. Did you know that half the girls in my class have a crush on him? I mean, obviously, he’s way too old, but I get it. He’s hot. What’s he like? He seems like he’d be chill.”
“He’s fine.” Marissa wasn’t about to admit that she was crushing on him, too. “It’s strictly business with us.”
“Business?” Olivia stuck out her tongue. “How old are you? Like forty? You cannot be spending that much time with Mr. Graff and not give me the dirt. Like seriously, what’s he like?”
“He’s old and boring.” Marissa ruffled her cousin’s head. “Listen, kid. Enjoy the lush life while you can. These are the best days. You’re on the cusp of adulthood with a bunch of freedom and none of the pressure or responsibility.”
Olivia’s smile vanished. “Hey, that’s not cool.
Do you remember what it was like to apply for colleges and scholarships and take like a thousand AP tests?
Figure out how I’m going to pay for college, that is, if I get into any of the schools I’m applying to.
Not to mention, keep up with my schoolwork and activities. I wouldn’t say this is a dream life.”
Marissa could tell that she had upset Olivia with her flippant response.
“You’re right. I’m so sorry. I was just teasing, and to be honest, I’m stressed about my situation.
I didn’t mean to belittle what you’re going through.
” Marissa blew Olivia kisses. “Forgive me? Or just let everyone know that your cousin is an asshole.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “You’re not. I get it. I know what you were trying to say, but I’m so frustrated right now by every other person asking me at least once a day if I’ve made a decision about college and what I’m going to do with my life. It’s so annoying.”
“Fair. I promise I will not utter another word about college.” Marissa made an X over her heart.
“What are we promising?” A familiar smoky voice sounded behind her.
Marissa could tell William was behind her without even turning around. She recognized his voice and his woodsy holiday cologne.
“Not to be an ask-hole,” Marissa answered, giving Olivia a wink. “See what I did there?”
“I’m going to need more information.” William came up next to Marissa, letting his shoulder brush against her.
She scooted away. “Olivia was lamenting about how she constantly gets asked about college and her future.”
“That’s the worst.” William gave Olivia a conspiratorial grin.
“Here’s an idea, tell anyone who asks that you’re packing one single bag, a bow, and an arrow and are going off the grid to live off the land for a year.
You’ll forage for your own food, hunt, build a shelter.
No cell service. No social media. No contact with the outside world. That will shut them up.”
“Bow and arrow?” Marissa gaped at him. “Where did that come from?”
“Outdoor school. Didn’t you do the bow and arrow unit?”
Marissa shook her head.
“You missed out. It was my favorite activity. They were Nerf arrows, but I’ve always thought that would be a romantic way to propose. Shoot an arrow with a ring tied to it to my future wife.”
Why was he talking to her about proposals?
“Wouldn’t you be in danger of hitting your future wife with the arrow?” Olivia teased.
“Not me.” William flexed. “I have perfect aim.”
Marissa sighed. “We should get moving. See you later, Liv. And seriously, try not to sweat school and college applications too much. I promise it will all work out.” She marched toward the ballroom without bothering to see if William was following her.
“Where’s the fire?” William asked, glancing at the welcome table. “I didn’t even get a lousy candy cane.”
“We here for one purpose,” Marissa said, stopping at the entrance. “The line for Santa doesn’t look too long. You have the photo from last night, right?”
William patted his puffy vest. “In my pocket.”
Marissa cut through the room and slipped into place in the line. She didn’t expect him to follow, but he did.
“Why did you take off last night?” His voice was low, just for her. “I thought we were vibing.”
She arched her brows. “Vibing?”
He smiled, just a little. “Like teammates. Bonding. Maybe more?”
Marissa turned to face him completely, narrowing the space between them. “Look, William, I feel like I’ve made it abundantly clear that I intend to win. That’s why I’m here.”
His smile didn’t falter, but something flickered in his eyes. “Maybe winning and bonding aren’t mutually exclusive.”
She didn’t answer, mainly because she didn’t trust herself to speak.
“I just thought it might be more enjoyable if we had fun in the process. It seemed like we were last night, but obviously, I misread the situation.” He sighed and shook his head. “It won’t happen again.”
“Good.” She nodded curtly and folded her arms across her chest.
They waited in silence until it was their turn.
Santa boomed out a “ho, ho, ho” and waved them over with a white gloved hand. “Come on up.”
Marissa turned to William. “The photo.”
“Yeah, I got it.”
“What a lovely young couple,” Santa said. “Christmas card photo?”
“Oh no, we’re not a couple,” Marissa said quickly.
William gave her an odd look and then handed Santa his phone. “We’re hoping this selfie will mean something to you.”
“Santa does like a selfie.” Santa snapped once and caught the eye of an elf. “Come closer. My elf will take another snap for you.”
Marissa squeezed next to William.
“Closer, you two, closer. Pretend like you like each other. We can’t have matching scowls for our Santa selfie, right?”
William put his arm around Marissa’s shoulder, which made her spine stiffen. She forced a smile. Once the elf had taken their picture, she quickly ducked out of William’s grasp.
They both waited, expecting Santa to say more.
“Do you have a clue for us?” Marissa asked.
Santa touched the tip of his nose with his glove. “Check with my elf, but before you do, let me give you some advice.”
“Okay.” Marissa paid close attention, figuring that whatever “advice” he would give was probably their clue.
“I’m paraphrasing here, but there’s a saying that goes, ‘You can tell a lot about a person based on how they handle tangled Christmas lights.’”
“That one is attributed to Maya Angelou,” William replied instantly.
“That’s right. Well done. Very impressive.” Santa motioned to his elf. “Happy holidays.”
“How did you know Maya Angelou said that?” Marissa asked, unable to contain her surprise.
Two families in front of them waited for their pictures to be processed.
“I love her work. She’s one of the reasons I majored in English and decided to get my teaching degree.”
William Graff never failed to surprise her. He loved Maya Angelou?
“Santa’s not quite right on this one, though.
He got the basic gist, but the actual quote is, ‘You can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas lights.’ And while Ms. Angelou gets credit for the quote, there’s a big debate in the writing community whether she actually said those wise words. ”
Marissa didn’t have to fake a smile. “Regardless it’s a great quote.”
“In case you were wondering, tangled Christmas lights don’t faze me.”
“Does anything faze you?”
“Only women who judge me based on my family name.” He gave her a challenging stare.
Marissa was saved from responding because the elf handed them their picture. She moved closer to him to get a better look. “Do you see anything?”
He held the picture for her.
They looked good together. Marissa tried not to focus on William’s arm around her shoulder or how his smile lit his eyes. No wonder Santa thought they were a couple. Even in the photo, she could see the spark between them.
What she didn’t see was anything that resembled a clue. In the background of the photo was fake cotton and felt snow, Santa’s ornate gold chair, his red bag with a matching gold string, and a mural of downtown Bend.
“Do you think the clue is hidden in the mural?” Marissa asked.
William flipped the photo over to see if anything was on the other side. There wasn’t. “I’m starting to feel less smart at the moment. Unless we’re missing something obvious. I don’t see a bundle of tangled Christmas lights, do you?”
Marissa studied the picture again. Santa was grinning and waving with his right hand. It wasn’t as if he was pointing to something or had a sign with a clue pinned to his deep red coat.
“It’s not like we can search behind him to get a better look at the mural. We’d be in everyone’s Santa pics.”
“Unless the hint about Santa selfies and paparazzi means we’re supposed to photobomb people.” William sounded incredulous as he pondered the idea.
“Photobombing a kid’s picture with Santa seems pretty low. I can’t imagine the organizers would have us do that.” She paused for a minute. “Do you think we need a magnifying glass? Could the clue be in tiny print on the mural? If you think about it, the clue on the ice sculpture was subtle.”
“Do most people have magnifying glasses on hand?”
“Right.” Marissa frowned. “Wait, what if you take a photo of the photo, and then we can zoom in.”
“Now that is meta.” William pointed to an empty table nearby. “Let’s try it.”
Their heads were inches apart as they stared at William’s phone. Marissa was glad she’d popped a couple of breath mints into her mouth on the drive over. William smelled so good. Too good. She had trouble concentrating as they went through each mural section, zooming in to get a clear look.
“Look, there.” Marissa pointed to the bottom corner of the mural. “The Starlight Parade. Do you see how under the depiction of the parade, it says, ‘Come light up the night? Be ready to get tangled in the holiday adventure.’”
William looked closer. “Good eyes.”
“That matches what Santa told us. It must have something to do with the parade.”
William set his phone on the table. “Parker is one of the sponsors for the Starlight Parade. Let’s go to her winery and see if she’ll give us the inside scoop.”
Great. Another meetup with Parker. The last person in Bend Marissa wanted to spend time with.