Page 21 of A Curvy Carol
“No,” I replied flatly.
“Oh,” he said, nonchalantly. “That’s too bad. Let’s go.”
Mom looked just as happy as Santa with a plate of cookies. “You two have fun.”
I gave her a wave and followed along behind Whit until we caught up to the Carol Karens. They seemed a little too happy to have us.
Once they were done cooing over how cute we were together—and making me blush like crazy—they began a new song, “Silent Night.”
Whit started singing right away. He had a nice deep voice. Meanwhile, I tried to get away with lip-syncing. It wasn’t fair that he was good-looking and had a voice like he could winAmerican Idolsomeday.
Whit nudged me. “Come on,” he whispered.
“No,” I shot back.
Halfway through the song, though, one of the Carol Karens turned back to me again, giving me a pointed look and waiting for me to sing.
I wanted to disappear. I hated singing.
“Don’t make me tell your mother,” she said.
That was thelastthing I needed. And I had no doubt Mom would say I wasn’t following through on my part of the no-Christmas deal. So I figured if I could belt out a few notes, maybe they’d all leave me alone and the sooner I could go home.
I opened my mouth, began singing, and tried to pretend no one was there. Especially not the guy I was starting to crush on, despite my logical brain fighting it kicking and screaming.
Right away, the Carol Karens turned toward me, each of them giving me a smile or clapping at the sound of my voice.
“Hey, you have a really pretty singing voice,” Whit told me.
I nudged him away, but felt myself blushing hard and tried to keep singing like it was no big deal.
A few songs later, thankfully, the route was done.
The Carol Karens turned around and began heading back into town, gossiping non-stop. Whit and I followed just a few steps behind.
“That was fun, wasn’t it?” Whit asked.
“Sure,” I said sarcastically, drawing out the word.
“Well, it was fun for me,” Whit said sweetly. “And I’m glad you were there with me.”
I had no sarcastic response for that, so we kept walking. At least it was dark enough outside to hide my blush.
“You know you don’t have to walk me home,” I said. “I know it’s out of the way for you.”
“I want to,” he replied simply, making my heart beat faster. I liked spending time with him… and it seemed like he enjoyed his time with me too. Maybe going caroling hadn’t been such a bad idea.
All too soon, we were on the sidewalk leading to my house.
As we walked up the steps, I noticed something hanging above the door.
“Is that what I think it is?” Whit gazed up at what looked very much like mistletoe. Amusement was clear in his voice.
“No,” I said quickly, avoiding his gaze. “It’s not.”
Had that been there before? I was pretty sure it hadn’t…
I chanced a look at Whit. All I wanted to do was go inside and disappear. A moment ago, I’d felt something happening between us, but what if he didn’t feel the same?