AllFreeNovel Stories worth discovering

Oh, Christmas Con

Page 28

by Brian Herald

“Don’t you have a wine store to run?” Maye whisper-yelled.

“Maye? Are you still there?” Chris said.

Maye shushed the onlookers and returned her focus to her screen. “Yes, I’m here. Sorry. I was just looking for my coffee.”

“So,” Chris continued. “You were saying that for someone who is going through a life change, like a breakup, doing activities can be helpful.”

“Right,” Maye confirmed.

“What types of activities have you been doing?”

“Huh?” Maye was slightly stunned. “Me?”

“I mean, you clearly know from your education and experience what is best in your situation, so what types of things have you been doing?”

“Um…” Maye took a long sip of her coffee. “Well, I, um…”

“She hasn’t been doing anything, Chris!” Laura shouted from her nearby table.

“What!” Chris said. “Who said that? Bring them over!”

“No, that’s okay,” Maye tried to regain control, but the train had already left the station.

Sandra, Laura, Estelle, and Margery dragged their chairs over to Maye’s table and squeezed in front of her camera.

“Do I have lipstick on my teeth?” Laura grinned at Estelle.

Sandra looked at Maye and nodded towards the computer screen.

“Chris,” Maye said, accepting her fate, “these are the Lunch Ladies.”

“Hello Ladies,” Chris waved through the screen. “So tell me more about what Maye has been doing to heal herself after her breakup.”

“Okay,” Maye interrupted. “We don’t need to get into all this.”

“Chris,” Laura said. “Tell Maye about that movie you did where your character volunteered at a charity event and ended up meeting his soulmate.”

“The pet rescue?” Chris asked.

“No, it wasn’t a pet rescue,” Laura said, thinking.

“Was it at a community center?” he said.

“I don’t think so…” Laura stared into space looking for the answer.

“The fall festival?” Chris offered.

“Oh, I know!” Laura said. “It was a bake sale!”

“Ah, yes! Bargaining at the Bake Sale and with Myself. We just wrapped on the third movie in that series, actually,” Chris said.

“What does this have to do with me?” Maye asked.

“I think I might have an idea,” Estelle said. “What if you tried some of those activities from the movies?” she suggested.

“Yes!” Chris leaned forward in his seat. “I love this, ladies! This is perfect! Maye, I’ll tell you some of the tactics we’ve used in the movies and you try them yourself in real life.”

“That’s a terrible idea,” Maye said.