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:
Ben agrees to help Riley with her mysterious town tradition—without realizing how serious Unity Falls really is.
Chapter 2
Ben thought he knew Unity Falls pretty well after living here for a year. But he wasn’t quite sure where he was. Riley had taken shortcuts and alleys he didn’t know. She knew whose yards she could cut through without causing problems.
But the darkness was the most disorienting. The snow reflected what little moonlight there was, but the only real illumination came from her flashlight and windows from houses they passed by. How had he never noticed that the only streetlights were on the corners of the main street and the exit to the highway?
It wasn’t until they got to an open field and a familiar shabby detached garage that he finally recognized where they were—Soapy’s. This was a bit of a surprise. The closest thing in town to a bar was a converted garage space. And everyone had to bring their own drinks. Soapy’s provided a fridge, ice (if you dared), and dubious seating. The big draw was that it was an indoor place to hang and with a large TV.
Soapy’s didn’t have a men-only rule, but he’d never seen a woman on the premises. Ben understood. It wasn’t comfortable and it wasn’t particularly clean. Most of the guys sat on old plastic milk crates. The other chairs were mismatched donations in various states of disrepair. The scent of oil, tools, and dust competed with stale beer. The posters from decades past of scantily clad women advertising different types of power tools completed the stereotype. Since all the posters were old, he assumed no one really leaned into this stereotype anymore. But no one made any effort to change it. Plus, the floors were sticky.
He asked Dylan Oliver, who had become his best friend since he moved to town, about the room style. Dylan explained that the eponymous Soapy had died ten years ago and the space became a silent tribute to the man. Then he winked, saying “It saves arguments about how to change it.”
Ben didn’t particularly enjoy hanging out there, but he did enjoy the post Friday night basketball games camaraderie. He found himself hanging out there more than expected. He never imagined going there with Riley.
But tonight seemed to be one of surprises.
The big garage door was up. He didn’t even know that the large door could still move. Lights were on and there were people busy inside, working in groups or sitting around heaters drinking beer.
And Soapy’s was full of women.
Riley waded right in as if eager to dig into the action. Ben found himself at the threshold, scanning the crowd, looking for familiar faces, wondering where he fit in.
He recognized most of the people in the garage-turned-unofficial bar, Riley’s friends and some of the older women who’d come into his matcha cafe. He smiled at Ruth Bendickson, who operated the B&B he had stayed at until the renovations for the living space above the cafe had progressed enough to allow him to move in.
The others he knew belonged to the Valkyries, the Walk and Run club every woman in town seemed to take part in. He’d seen some of the older men around town but hadn’t been officially introduced so he couldn’t attach names to a few. Probably partners of the women. He scanned the crowd, wondering if Ruth’s elusive husband had made an appearance but he could have been any one of the un-named five men. Then he noticed that all the men were either engaged in some task or sitting by the heater looking amused and slightly resigned.
It didn’t look like a party. It looked like they were preparing for gleeful war.
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