A Unity Falls Holiday Story
It’s the insider tradition nobody talks about. But every resident of Unity Falls knows it’s coming.
The lights go down. The lines are drawn.
For one night, everyone has to choose a side.
Welcome to the coziest sabotage of the year!
Previously in Decoration Games:
The mission was all going well until the lights went on. Have they been betrayed?
Chapter 10
Ben flipped onto his stomach to look at the spectacle that was the Whitcomb house. He couldn’t place the tune, but it sounded festive and classical. Tchaikovsky? He had to admit, it was amazing. Riley’s window decoration on his café window was perfection, but this was on another level simply in sheer excess. Mechanical deer with heads bobbing up and down stood scattered on the front lawn. A string of illuminated plastic figures created an animation of Santa climbing up the house, crawling across the roof and standing on top of the Whitcomb chimney. It blinked out as if it had popped down the chute.
They had even incorporated projection mapping against the walls of the house, turning it into a clockwork gingerbread house.
Ben gave a low whistle. “Loubelle and Eddy have some hidden talents! I had no idea they had those kind of tech skills.”
Dani snorted. “She claims to be the queen of eBay. Loubelle can barely open her email. I think it’s Alvin’s fiancée, Celia. I heard she does something digital back in Calgary.”
“Maybe she made it as a peace offering to Loubelle. That kind of work is pricey, and it does look good,” Kei admitted. “Though it’s kind of hard for me to feel generous to her all things considered.”
Dani grunted. “Peace offering maybe. But as far as I’m concerned, I feel very generous to Celia. She did Riley the biggest favor by sneaking off with Alvin to get married in Vegas.”
And then a wump of snow covered them all as if it were divine retribution for Dani’s words.
And then they heard a voice from behind them. “Glad you think so. “And yes, it was Celia. And no, it didn’t work on Loubelle.”
The three rolled over to see Eddy standing behind them. He looked triumphant and held another shovel of snow to toss on them.
“Thought you’d get us this year, huh?” Eddy said with that same glee that seemed to take over the town folk tonight.
Ben didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing. He did note that glint of triumph in Eddy’s eyes. Interesting. He always thought that Eddy had just been a quiet guy, almost mousy, but here he could see that little hint again of what made him and Loubelle a couple.
He opened his mouth to say something but stopped. What was he going to say? He had no idea what was going on. He looked at Dani and Kei to see how they were going to answer. Why didn’t they look disappointed? In fact, Dani had that facial expression Riley liked to call, “too innocent to be believed.” Ben decided to say nothing and let them take the lead. They were caught and yet they didn’t seem to care.
Eddy stared at the group. “Where’s Riley?”
This one he could answer. “She’s decided to stay out of things tonight.”
A small smile took over Eddy’s face. “Always liked that girl. Alvin was an idiot, but I guess things worked out in the end.”
Ben said, “I think so.”
Eddy pursed his lips as if to disagree, then he nodded. “Seems like.” His voice had a note of finality that intrigued Ben.
Headlights swept around the scene, breaking the tiny detente.
They all saw the car decked out with decorations, lights, and a huge, illuminated sign that read, “Judgemobile.”
“Oh, here they come!” Eddy said excitedly.
In mere moments, the car would complete the turn and see the Whitcomb house in all its holiday glory. The lights were still on. They had lost. The car started the turn. Ben slumped against the snowbank.
And the lights went out. The house went completely dark. Silent.
Eddy shrieked, “No!” His wail broke the sudden silence of the night. He started running towards the house. Then he stopped as if jerked by a rope, turned back and threw a large plastic freezer bag at them. “Eat these!” he growled. It was probably supposed to sound tough, but it seemed so rehearsed that it took away some of the punch.
Without looking to see their reaction, he ran back to his house, even though it was too late. The judge’s car had already left the street.
“Loubelle!” he cried.
Kei opened the bag to pull out some cookies shaped like male anatomy. She looked at them in shock. “Are these from Riley’s almost engagement party?”
Dani grabbed a cookie. “The ones that we made last year for hours and hours upon torturous hours without end?” She took a bite. “Yeah, and they still taste fresh. He must have kept them in the freezer.”
Ben remembered those cookies and the moment Loubelle and Eddy had come to Riley’s house to confront them about their budding relationship. Eddy had taken a bag of cookies that had so further enraged Loubelle. He grabbed a cookie and ate one. He was starving. “No freezer burn,” he agreed.
Dani started laughing. “He kept those cookies in the freezer all this time? Just for this moment? Was he planning this even back then?”
Kei munched on her cookie. “If so, it’s impressive. The foresight and the restraint? These cookies are good. I don’t think they’d last that long in my house.”
Dani nodded. “Yep. He’s got game. Eddy’s got game. Good for him.”
Ben stopped mid-chew, then swallowed hard. “Wait a minute, what happened? I got distracted by the cookie. Loubelle and Eddy didn’t win. But we didn’t do anything.”
Kei patted Ben’s knee and Dani patted his cheek. “Oh, that’s so cute. You thought we were the main event.”
Kei laughed. “We did our job just fine. Come on, let’s go back to Soapy’s and debrief. You can get the whole report there.”
“Oh, thank God,” Ben said. “I’m freezing.”
Want to see how Riley and Ben got together?
Their story begins in Riley and the Love Jinx → link
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About the author:
Cleo Croft writes sweet contemporary romance set in the fictional town of Unity Falls. → About Cleo