Jingle Bells & Social Fails (LBSC #1.1) | Completed

Chapter 1

"Reese," hissed Nicole Bartlett, the newest hire at the Dogwood Estates Leasing Office. She held a handset up to her ear with one hand and covered the mouthpiece with the other. The greenish tint to her face and her shallow gasps of air made me think she was going to be sick.

"I think this guy is...masturbating," she hissed in disgust.

Liz Fowler, my friend and coworker, let out a peal of laughter from her desk across the room.

I groaned and looked up from my game of Angry Birds. "I called the police last time. It's your turn."

Nicole's mouth dropped open, and impossibly, her eyes stretched wider. "This has happened before?"

"Three times in the past month." Liz sighed and snapped her Us Weekly shut. "What are you still doing on the line? Hang up."

Nicole's face shifted from sickly puce to bright pink like she'd been out in the sun for too long. She looked at the phone as if she didn't know how it had gotten in her hand, then slammed it down.

I leaned back in my chair, propped my feet up on the desk, and crossed my arms. "Tell you what, Nicole, why don't you take the rest of the day off?"

Nicole looked just past me, her eyes vacant. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Having been a fairly recent victim of Jay's shenanigans myself, I sympathized with her.

"Absolutely," I answered. "We'll go over the protocol for cleaning the fitness center tomorrow. Have a good one."

In a trance-like state, Nicole gathered her coat and left the room. Liz rose and arched her back like a cat before gliding across the room and perching on the corner of my desk. She raised her eyebrows.

"I thought cleaning the fitness room was your responsibility."

I put my feet on the floor. "Correction: it's the responsibility of the most recent hire, who just so happens to be Nicole."

Liz smirked. "Well played."

I was just about to answer when my phone vibrated on my desk. I snatched it up before Liz's nosy self could see anything.

It was my incredibly gorgeous, brilliant boyfriend of two months, Javier Delgado. Though our relationship had gotten off to a rocky start—the two of us squaring off over stolen éclairs, Javi lying to me about his occupation, and me dealing with an inferiority complex—we were still going strong. Honestly, I was head over heels for the guy.

Free tonight? the text read.

For you, always, I typed back. My thumb paused over the "send" button. Thinking better of it, I added a heart emoji to my message.

"You look like you got the last chocolate-raspberry éclair at Cuppa," Liz said. "Let me guess, it's the boyfriend."

"Yes, if you must know." I opened my desk drawer and pulled out my black, leather purse shaped like a cat's head. "I'm headed out to meet a friend for lunch. I'll be back at one thirty, okay?"

Liz hopped off my desk, picked up my Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer candy jar, and selected two peanut butter Christmas trees from its depths before placing one hand on her hip.

"And by one thirty, I'll assume that means two thirty," she said.

I eased on my heavy coat, slid my sunglasses up over my nose, and gave Liz a bright smile. "You know me too well."

***

A short while later, I found myself clutching my coat tighter around me and ducking my head against the cold as I raced up the sidewalk of downtown Wyndlake. Winters in the city tended to be fairly mild, but this year was colder than usual, and our local weatherman said we might see some snow. Even without the white stuff, Wyndlake looked more than ready for the winter holidays, a good thing seeing as Christmas was in two short weeks.