Beautiful Disaster

Part Six

"Daddy, I hate him. He's annoying and loud, and he makes fun of me every chance he gets," Izzy complained as she talked to her father over the phone.

Her father sighed in exasperation on the other end of the line. "You're acting like a spoiled brat, Isa. This is not how any daughter of mine should act."

"But I'm your only daughter," she reminded him.

"Isa, that's not the point." Papers shuffled on the other end of the line. She waited for her father to fix whatever documents he had on his desk and finally get back to her. "If it's any consolation, we got a lead on my bad guy. As soon as the forces apprehend him, I'm personally going to tell Hugh to shove off. Okay?"

"Fine." Izzy did know she was acting like a brat, but she couldn't help it. Hugh was getting on her nerves, and it didn't help that she was slowly buying into his shenanigans. "Bye, Dad."

"Stay safe, sweetheart."

Izzy smiled despite her disappointment. It felt good to know that even though they had their disagreements, she and her dad still cared for each other. She knew how lucky she was to belong to a family that looked out for her.

Lost in thought, Izzy almost dropped her phone when Hugh suddenly called out. "Ha! Check this out!"

"Would you cut that out?" Izzy looked around and tried to see if anybody had noticed them. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that they were the only two people in the aisle.

Hugh had tried on a funny Santa hat that continued changing colors and had hung two Christmas balls from his ears. Izzy rolled her eyes and started yanking off those things from his head. It wouldn't do if they accidentally broke something they didn't need to buy.

"Well, what did your father say?" Hugh asked.

"What do you care?"

"Did he leave any directives for me?"

"No." Izzy balled her fists tightly. She absolutely did not want to be seen talking to this man.

But her want was in vain. In the next instant, a familiar face popped up from behind the other aisle. "Izzy! I'm so glad I ran into you!"

Her friend, Heather, pushed her cart closer and only stopped when she noticed Izzy's companion. "Who is this?"

"Hugh Grayson, at your service, Ma'am," Hugh said, putting on the charm that most of his acquaintances said could make any woman faint.

"And Hugh Grayson is..." Heather scrunched her brows.

"An acquaintance of Izzy's, Ma'am," Hugh replied. "In fact, I'm staying at her place."

Now, if that didn't shock Heather. "Oh! How long will you be here?"

"It all depends on Izzy."

"I see." Heather eyed Izzy, who had to her own mortification turned red in the cheeks. Fortunately for Izzy, her friend chose to get back to the reason she'd approached them. "Anyway, Mikey has this grand idea about closing the pub on Friday so that we could have our own private Christmas party. We already invited Mister Spencer and his daughter. And Theo's family too. Would you like to come?"

Izzy recovered quickly enough. "I'd love to. And if you need help with preparing anything, I'm free just about anytime."

"I knew I could count on you, Izzy." Heather beamed. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"I need a few more decors for my apartment. I thought some holiday colors would cheer up the old place."

"What happened to your old decorations?"

Izzy huffed and put her hands on her hips. Each and every decoration she'd bought two years ago had been acquired under the direction of Peter Lewis. "Are you kidding me? I'm not gonna use a single one of them."

In fact, she'd already burned them to ore and ashes.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot."

"What about those decorations?" Hugh asked, feeling a little lost. The two women were talking about something he had no knowledge of. Well, he did have a tiny suspicion that it involved—

"No biggie. We need to go." Izzy pulled at his hand. The spark that came from her touch momentarily robbed him of concentration.

"But—"

"Come on, Hugh. We have to go." Izzy pulled Hugh along, almost forgetting the two grocery baskets they'd filled with decorations. "Bye, Heather!"

"It was nice meeting you!" Hugh called out too, hoping that nobody had noticed his short state of speechlessness.

But Heather had noticed, and she was forming suspicions of her own. "Hugh Grayson, huh."

♥

Continued

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