Fool Me Twice at Christmas by Camilla Isley

Author:Camilla Isley [Isley, Camilla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Second Chance Romance, Fake Engagement, Holiday, Christmas, New Adult
Publisher: Pink Bloom Press
Published: 2021-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

Seventeen

Kate

Thanks to Marco’s untimely wake-up call, Chuck and I are the first ones in the kitchen. It’s honestly too early for anyone to be awake, but we get breakfast started anyway, because not even serving hot chocolate at one a.m. is enough to keep my family asleep for long on Christmas Day.

Chuck grabs plates and mugs from the cabinets and lays the table while I tune the stereo to the Christmas channel and then load the coffee maker while dancing along to Jingle Bell Rock. And I try really, really hard to ignore how cozy and familiar the arrangement feels. Or the confusing way my ex makes me feel these days. First, with all the talk of towels and sex, then with us having to kiss for the photo shoot, and this morning after that stupid pillow fight…

Truth is, I would’ve liked nothing more than to get rid of all the pillows and give the mattress’s springs a real endurance test. Which is wrong for so many reasons, I don’t even want to peek under that particular rug. And thankfully, I don’t have to, at least not now.

As expected, the coffee has barely filled the pot when my parents both shuffle downstairs wearing matching robes from our bedroom line. Pops Teddy peeks in soon afterward, and the Roses break a record by arriving before eight-thirty—say what they might, I’m sure they’ve missed having their son under the same roof.

Breakfast is intentionally light, as Mom doesn’t want to spoil anyone’s appetite for the Christmas meal. And soon enough, we’re ready to move outside for another Warren-Rose tradition: our holiday interfamily snowman building competition. As sponsors of the official Bluewater Springs Annual Snow Sculpture Challenge, members of our families can’t enter the contest, but we still like to host our own private competition in the backyard.

Nana and Pops have declined to take part for a few years now and have reserved for themselves the role of judges. To remain impartial, they’re not allowed to know which team produced which sculpture until after they’ve announced the winners. Which leaves us with only three teams of two to sort. Not a business to be taken lightly, nonetheless.

We all gear up for the outdoors and Mom brings out the sacred black velvet sack containing our names carved on six wooden disks. Mom jostles the bag, and Bud is tasked with fishing out the names. We use the same method to decide teams for all our family games, from Christmas Pictionary to Charades to Family Feud.

Abigail is on my team, and the dads are together, which leaves Chuck with my mom. I don’t envy him. Mom not only is a perfectionist, but she’s also competitive and a sore loser. Whenever she loses, which, luckily, doesn’t often happen, she blames whoever her unfortunate companion is. But with her craft mastery and Chuck’s artistry, I’m sure they won’t have any trouble winning this year.

I turn out to be right. We try to forfeit when we see how perfect

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.