Emma and the Elf Next Door: A Sweet Christmas Novella by Belinda Mary

Author:Belinda Mary [Mary, Belinda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: H&J Publishing
Published: 2024-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Noah

It’s too quiet over there.

In the hours since I’d left the DVDs and cookies on the Grinch’s doorstep, I’ve been waiting to see what she’s going to do next. It’s been excruciating, anticipating how she’s going to retaliate, what she’s going to subject me to, and so the silence has me…worried.

“This is stupid,” I mutter, keeping one eye on my front window to catch a glimpse of her.

It’s Christmas Eve. I should be relishing in festive joy and the knowledge that I have the next week off work, but I’m on tenterhooks instead, willing her to do something. To get it over with, so that it’s my turn.

“I’m acting like a lovesick schoolboy,” I observe as I open the door to check if she’s made a delivery that I missed when I blinked too long. “She’s obviously over this little game and is moving on. Or perhaps I took it too far with the DVDs and she’s upset.”

Not liking that thought at all, I go to my happy place looking for a distraction. Today, my happy place is my kitchen where I have the makings of a Christmas pie laid out for me. As sad as it sounds, I’m spending Christmas Day home alone and am planning on spoiling myself with a feast of sweet treats. Partly because I love dessert more than the main course and partly because I’m a chef who cannot cook a main meal to save myself.

It's a travesty, really.

I put some background music on low and after checking the front doorstep one last time to make sure I haven’t missed something (I haven’t), I get to work, rolling out the pastry for the pie crust. The monotonous work soothes me and I lose myself in it, letting my mind go blank.

“Looking good,” I tell the pie as it sits complete on the counter, ready to go in the oven.

Now what?

This is the problem with turning down all the invitations from my friends to join them to celebrate Christmas. I’d done it because I’m sick of being the third, fifth, seventh wheel at every event, with all my mates suddenly settling down and getting into serious relationships. Now that I’m staring down the barrel of a lonely Christmas Day, though, I’m regretting being so resolute that I’ll ‘be fine by myself’. I’m somewhat of an introverted person, who is fine with being on my own, but for some reason all the alone time I have staring at me now is…depressing.

“What are you doing over there?” I ask the wall, or rather the gorgeous woman on the other side of it. In the months since I moved in, before the Love Actually of it all, she’d been quiet but present. I’d often hear her talking to herself, sometimes singing. There was the occasional laughter and the click clacking of high heels, and until now, until her complete silence, I hadn’t noticed how much I’d noticed her. Her presence on the other side of the wall had kept me company without me realising it and the now deafening silence is unnerving me.

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