Back in high school, Lexie and I had shared a big rowdy group of friends. During my senior year, we'd been secret soldiers in a preposterous toilet-paper war that had continued for the entire month of October.
A few of these friends would hit our house. And then, we'd hittheirhomes in return. It was never anything malicious but just enough to let someone know they'd been rolled.
For weeks now, I'd been threatening to toilet-paper Cole Henster's house. Mostly I'd been joking, but if he was bringing new misery to my sister, I was perfectly willing to regress back to high school if that's what it took to make her smile.
She wasn't smiling now, that's for sure.
In a low voice, she muttered, "MaybeI'lltoilet-paper him."
I tried to laugh. "You can't. I've got dibs."
"Forget that," she said. "You can keep guard."
"Well you know me," I said. "I've always got your back."
"I'm gladsomebodydoes." But then, as if eager to change the subject, she said, "But you mentioned something about the tenant?"
"Yeah, actually." Early this morning, I'd sent Lexie a text telling her that I wanted to discuss a special request from the tenant – aka Bryce.
As part of my plans to keep the Christmas village a surprise, I'd also been keeping mum about the guy who was making it happen. Sure, it kind of sucked to not be telling Gwen and Lexie all about him, but the way I saw it, it would suck more to ruin the surprise for both of them.
At the moment, though, I was working on a surprise for Bryce.
After yesterday's house-cooling party, I'd gotten him talking about the reception that was on the verge of being canceled. Turns out, the event's goal had been to give local businesses first dibs on prime spots in the Christmas village.
The village itself would contain twenty small buildings that looked like classic little houses, but were really places for shopkeepers or craftspeople to sell their wares.
Thanks to the tourism grant, the rent would be well below market value, which would give these businesses a huge edge, especially when competing with larger corporations.
But if the reception was canceled, who knows what would happen?
Sure, the local people could still rent a spot, butwouldthey without a reception to bring them in for a look? As a local businessperson myself, I hated the thought of small-fries like me missing out.
As a result, I was reconsidering Gordy's crazy idea of hosting the reception at my own house.
Probably, I would've committed to do it already, but the house wasn't only mine. It was Lexie's, too, and I didn't want to do somethingthatbig without her permission.
So, as Lexie listened, I explained without going into too much detail that the tenant was thinking of hosting a reception for local store owners and was wondering if it could be held at our house.
"That's fine withme,"Lexie said. "You're the one who's always so worried."
She was right aboutthat. And I wasstillworried. But these days, I was doing a better job of setting aside the worry if it made life easier for someone I cared about.
And besides, Bryce had been such a good sport about the house-cooling party, I wanted to be a good sport for him in return.
But the clock was definitely ticking. The reception had been scheduled for this upcoming Sunday – less than a week from now.
Today was Monday, and the little houses were supposed to be set up during the next few days. I'd already seen pictures of the homes, but I was dying to see them in personandto tell Bryce the good news.
But when I did, his reaction wasn't what I'd expected.
Chapter 34
Bryce
When Harper finished talking, I said, "You're joking."
"Why would I be joking?" she asked. "The idea was actually pretty good."
