Midnight.
Oh, no.With renewed panic, I hollered into the house. "Cole! Are you in there? Can you come out?Please?"
The brunette sighed. "Oh, for God's sake. He doesn't want to talk to you, so just go away, alright?"
But Ididn'tgo away. Instead, I kept on yelling. "I'm sorry, okay? And I've come to break your curse. Will youpleasecome out?"
Just then, I heard the slap of wet footsteps as Cole appeared from who-knows-where. His hair was dripping wet, and he wore a navy bathrobe that fell just below his knees.
I felt my eyes go wide as I spotted white soapy suds easing down his bare shins and past his toes. The suds, along with quite a bit of water, was puddling beneath his feet on the marble floor, pooling outward as the clock gave another chime.
I looked up and searched his face.Was he happy to see me?
He didn'tlookhappy.
But he didn't look angry either.
Mostly, he looked very, very wet.
I stammered, "So…were you in the shower or something?"
He glanced down. "You might say that."
So he'd been naked?
Well, that was interesting.Was he naked now under his robe?But of course he was. At the thought, I fought a nearly uncontrollable urge to throw myself into his arms and beg for soggy makeup sex – minus his sister, of course, assuming I'd been right about who she was.
I gave myself a mental slap.Forget his sister.And forgetme, too.
I'd come here for Cole's benefit, and time was slipping away.
As the clock continued to chime, I rushed into the house. Midnight was fast approaching, and I was desperate to do this right.
I steadied the red box in one hand and used my other hand to rip off the lid, letting it tumble to the floor. And then, I tilted the box just enough to let Cole see what was inside. "Look!"
He looked.
So did the brunette. "So, you got him what? A hunk of ice?" She looked to Cole. "See? I told you she was nuts."
I kept my eyes trained on the person I'd come here to see. "It's notjusta chunk of ice. Take a closer look. Hurry!"
But the only one who leaned closer was the brunette.
"Notyou,"I said."Him." And when Colestillmade no move, I rushed forward and shoved the box practically under his nose. "Just read the words."
Sounding confused, he read the words aloud. "Christmas curse?"
From somewhere behind me, the brunette muttered, "Who gets someone a curse for Christmas?"
I gave my own creation a quick, frantic glance. While at my parents' house, I'd taken a rectangular baking pan and filled it halfway with water before placing it into the freezer.
When the water was almost completely frozen, I took it out and arranged red cinnamon jellybeans on top to spell out those two ominous words.Christmas Curse.
And then I'd popped the pan back into the freezer. After another hour, I'd pulled it out again and added a final layer of now-frozen water to seal up the sentiment nice and tight.
Finally, just before leaving my parents' house, I'd carefully extracted my creation from the baking pan and placed it into the gift box.
All of this was in preparation for what I planned to do next.
