Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances by Myracle, John (good book club books TXT) 📕

you came to see me sometimes.” To Gabriel, she said, “See what a good heart she has?”

Something else clicked in. “And I’ll get your money back from Pet World. I’ll explain the whole crazy mess to Nathan.”

She chuckled. “If anyone can, you can.”

“So . . . yeah,” I said, feeling pretty good about things. “I’ll bring you your refund, and I’ll bring those chocolate-covered graham crackers you like, too. And we’ll have tea, ’kay? We’ll have a ladies’ tea every week. Or coffee. What do you think?”

“I think that’s a splendid idea,” Mayzie said. She handed Gabriel to me, and he paddled his legs, searching for purchase. I breathed in the heavenly scent of him. He smelled like whipped cream.

Chapter Sixteen

Gabriel pressed his snout against my coat as I tromped through the alley snow. I wished the Silver Sneaker van would miraculously appear and pick me up, even though I was sixteen instead of seventy-six. Although, at least I could muscle through these drifts. If I were seventy-six? No way.

Gabriel squirmed, and I said, “Hold on, little guy. It won’t be long now.”

Halfway to Starbucks, I saw Tegan’s Civic pull to a stop at the traffic light two blocks down. Eek, she’d be here in, like, two minutes! I picked up my pace, because I wanted to get inside before Tegan arrived. I wanted to settle Gabriel into an actual teacup—or coffee mug—because wouldn’t that be the cutest thing in the world?

I used my hip to push through the door, and Christina looked up from the espresso machine. The other barista, Joyce, wasn’t in sight.

“At last!” Christina called. “Can you take these guys’ or-ders?”

She gestured at the guy and the girl standing at the counter, and I did a double take.

“Stuart!” I said, because it was Stuart Weintraub of the Stuart-and-Chloe-heartbreak-forever duo. Only, the girl he was with wasn’t Chloe; in fact, she was pretty much the opposite of Chloe with her short bob and cute little cat-eye glasses. She smiled at me kind of shyly, and my heart went awwwww, because she looked nice, and she was holding Stuart’s hand, and she wasn’t wearing bright red lipstick. She did not look like the kind of girl to have skanky bathroom make-out sessions on guys who weren’t her boyfriend.

“Hey, Addie,” Stuart said. “You cut your hair.”

One hand went to my head; the other kept a firm hold on Gabriel, who was trying to snuffle his way out of my coat. “Uh, yeah.” I jerked my chin at the girl he was with. “Who’s this?” It probably came out abrupt, but good heavens! Stuart Weintraub was not only without Chloe, but also without sad Stuart eyes! I mean, he still had eyes, but they were happy eyes now. His happiness made him look super-cute, too.

Yay, Stuart, I thought. Yay for Christmas miracle happening after all.

Stuart grinned at the girl and said, “This is Jubilee. Jubilee, this is Addie. She goes to my school.”

Awwww, I thought again. How adorable that he was going out with someone named after a yummy Christmas dessert. How adorable that he got his yummy Christmas dessert—even though he was Jewish or whatever.

“Thanks for that,” Jubilee said to Stuart, blushing. To me she said, “Weird name. I know. I’m not a stripper, I promise.”

“Uh . . . okay,” I said.

“You can call me Julie,” she said.

“Nah, I like Jubilee,” I said. Saying her name out loud made a memory ping in my brain. Tegan . . . the Kissing Patrol . . . some un-Jeb guy thrusting his fist into the air . . .

“Maybe you could take their order?” Christina prompted, knocking whatever it was right out of my head. Oh, well. Stuart was with a lovely girl named Jubilee, and she wasn’t a stripper. That’s all that mattered.

“As in, now?” Christina said.

“Uh . . . yes!” I said enthusiastically. Possibly too enthusiastically. “In just a second, ’kay? I just have to do this one teeny thing.”

“Addie,” Christina warned.

To my right, Tobin stirred in the purple chair. Was he just now waking up? He blinked at me and said, “Whoa. Your name’s Addie?”

“Um, yep, that’s me, Addie,” I said, thinking, See? Knew you didn’t know my name. I juggled Gabriel to keep him hidden under my coat, and he made a funny noise that sounded like wheep. “And now I’m just going to run to the back—”

Gabriel wheeped again. Louder.

“Addie,” Christina said in a trying-not-to-freak voice. “What do you have under your coat?”

“Addster!” Charlie said from the bar. “You gonna set me up with that chai?” He grinned, and I realized why when I saw his arm slung around the girl beside him. Oh my God, this was like Christmas Miracle Central.

“Hi, Addie,” the evil Brenna said. “Nice hair.” She might have smirked, but I wasn’t sure, because she didn’t look quite as evil as I remembered her. Today she looked more glow-y than snarky. Maybe because of Charlie’s arm?

“Seriously,” Tobin said. “Your name’s Addie?” He nudged Angie, who woke up and rubbed her nose. “Her name’s Addie,” he told her. “You think she’s the Addie?”

“The Addie?” I asked. What was he talking about? I wanted to push for details, but I got distracted by the sight of Tegan’s Civic turning into the parking lot. Dorrie was in the passenger seat, clutching Tegan’s shoulder and speaking intently, and I could only imagine what she was saying. Probably something like, “Now, remember, this is Addie we’re talking about. It’s highly possible she’s having some crisis and didn’t get Gabriel after all.”

“Adeline,” Christina said. “That’s not . . . a pig, is it?”

I glanced down to see Gabriel’s head peeking out from the top of my zipper. He wheeped and looked around.

“Well,” I said proudly, since the pig was out of the coat, so to speak. I rubbed Gabriel’s ears. “Not just any pig, but a teacup pig. Very rare.”

Jubilee glanced at Stuart and grinned. “You live in a town where people carry around elf-size pigs?” she said. “And here I thought my life was weird.”

“Not elf. Teacup,” I said. “And speaking of, I need one