Page 5 of The Holiday Set Up
“Hey, Mama Fitz, you got one of those for me?” Olive says with her sweet little bunny hopping along beside her.
“Of course, dear.” Fitzy hands over a pink fruity concoction as I reach down and pick up Rupert and nuzzle my nose between his big floppy ears.
“Traitor,” Olive says but gives me a wink, letting me know she’s teasing, so I keep him with me as she chats with Ivy.
Kallie, Dolly, and Juniper join us, and we all catch up about our week and work while sipping on delicious pink martinis with gummy bears.
Fitzy also baked a delicious batch of sugar cookies with homemade icing. The same recipe I’m supposed to be learning but failing at replicating. In true Fitzy fashion, hers are penis-shaped and not Christmas trees or stockings. Fitzy doesn’t seem to do anything traditionally, although they are colored in reds and greens and have tiny strings of lights painted on them, which is super cute but not appropriate for my children’s book.
After my wildly successful children’s fantasy series, I wrote a horrible follow-up that flopped flatter than my sad attempt at making pancakes. In my defense, I come by my bad cooking skills naturally. Just ask my sister, Poppy. She lives in Silicon Valley and is crushing it as head of design at the popular dating app SeekGeek.
“So, what’s up with the new handyman? Are we going to start dishing now, or …” Olive lets the question hang.
“My darling grandson is a great topic of conversation, right Blair?”
I suddenly feel put on the spot even though I basically called for this meeting of the minds…or meeting of the vaginas would be more fitting.
“I didn’t know you had kids, Fitz,” Dolly says, taking a sip of her drink.
“I have led a million lives, my dear girl. I have raised many,” Fitzy says, all wise and knowing, yet totally confusing. As far as any of us know, she has no children, yet a surprise grandson who dampens my panties is now living next door and helping around the complex. The writer in my heart wants to know all her stories, and that’s probably why I’m so drawn to her. Or, is it her outrageous, takeover-the-world personality.
“Oliver is a special man and Blair’s one true love.” She says like it’s an actual fact. My Disney princess heart swoons at the thought, and I sigh.
The girls laugh, and I shake myself out of my daze and chuckle.
“Oliver is a good man, and I would love to get to know him better,” I say to the crew, but inside I’m scared my heart already belongs to him, and I’ve fallen in love with him at first sight. Could he really be my one true love? It sure feels like it when we’re together.
“Oh yeah, you wanna get to know him better,” Fitzy says and winks, making us laugh, but still making me wonder what her real relationship is to him. Is she still going to give me advice on what I should do?
“Oliver came close to kissing me last week, but then he literally ran out of my condo. Now I think he’s avoiding me. I ran into him in the mailroom last Tuesday, the pool bar on Thursday, and Sylvia’s coffee shop this morning, but he doesn’t say more than hello to me.” Fitzy and I share a look that makes me wonder if she knows about how we really met.
“Finish up your drink dear, we have reservations for dinner and can’t be late,” Fitzy says, and the girls stand and start cleaning up.
“Wait, we had dinner plans tonight?” I ask, pulling out my phone to check my agenda, but Ivy swipes it from my hand.
“Hey!”
“You do now. Listen to the woman. We need to go get ready.” She tells me.
She pulls me up by my arm, clearly in a hurry, and drags me back to my place as I protest the entire way.
“I don’t feel like going out, Ivy. I’ll just call her and reschedule.”
“Nope.”
“What do you mean nope? I’m not going if I don’t want to.” I say to my live-in guest and soon-to-be former bestie if she keeps laying on this ridiculous pressure.
“You’re going, Blair, and you’re wearing this,” she tells me sternly, pulling out my new off-the-shoulder red dress I bought for Fitzy’s annual Christmas party.
“If I wear that, I’ll have to get a new dress for the Christmas party, so no. And no, to this setup. Those suspicious glances between you and Fitz didn’t fool anyone. If she’s planning on pushing me on a date to convince me I want Oliver or to make him jealous, count me out.” I say, flopping onto my bed, ready to call it a night already.
“Nope,” she says again, pouncing on me with my make-up bag in hand, ready to force me into this dreaded setup.
Chapter Six
Oliver
“No, dude, you have to turn it this way. Think righty tighty, lefty loosey,” Noah explains to me like I’m a child. I admit that trick really does help, and I tighten the bolt easily and turn the water to the sink back on. I climb out from under PK’s sink and grab a hand towel to dry the small mess.