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As it turns out, when Ves and Elisha arrive at the Chocolate Mouse, their presence seems surplus. It’s a full house, with cookie-making stations set up across the shop floor. All the decorations from the holiday party are still up—snowy clumps, shiny ornaments gleaming reflections back at them, tinsel and string lights strewn everywhere—lending to the impression that they’re contestants on a fancy holiday baking show.
Momentarily mesmerized, Ves tunes back just in time to catch the end of Elisha’s conversation with her grandfather. “Nonsense,” Dave insists, “I’ve saved you a spot and you’re here now. Come on, get those coats off and stand at your station.”
“But Grandpa, you said you only needed us to make up numbers if there weren’t enough sign-ups and there are, just take a look around, oh my god even Bentley’s here—”
“You can’t let Ves down! Look at him, he’s so excited.”
He is? Ves blinks when Dave gestures at him with a pastry bag filled with a hideous green icing.
Elisha sighs. “Fine, but we’re not going to have fun.” She casts an irritated look over at her ex-fiancé. “Especially since the only station left is right next to his.”
“The early bird gets the cookie,” says Dave.
“Not how the saying goes, but fine.” Elisha grabs Ves’s arm and leads him to their station. Pre-made shortbread cookies in the shape of boxy sweaters are already laid out, along with several icing bags and edible decorations to make buttons and patterns.
“Hi, Elisha,” says a woman who must be Bentley’s wife. She’s pretty, with a genuine smile and excitement in her face as she picks up a dish of snowflake sprinkles. “These are so cute. You’re so lucky to have this place year-round. My parents put all the decorations up the day after Thanksgiving and take them down right after New Year’s. If it were up to me, I’d at least have the lights up every day of the year.”
“Thankfully for our electricity bill, it’s not up to Victoria,” says Bentley. He’s the only one to laugh.
When his wife flushes with embarrassment, Elisha says, “I know exactly what you mean, Tori. This is my favorite place in the entire world, except maybe for my grandparents’ beach home in Goa. Whenever you need a dose of Christmas injected straight in your veins, stop by. Mom runs an awesome candle-making class in January, and we do a Cowboy Christmas during summer, which is always a great excuse to dig out the boots and fringe.” She grins. “It’s so extra, but I love it. I can give you the details, if you want?”
Tori’s enthusiasm, for some reason, makes Bentley bristle. Ves studies the other man under the guise of familiarizing himself with everything on their station. Why did they even move to this town if Ben isn’t keen to throw himself into local activities? The way Bentley’s eyes dart to Elisha with an odd frown of disappointment confirms Ves’s suspicion that he’s still trying to get some kind of reaction out of her. Jealousy, maybe. Does he want her to be a bitch to Tori or something? The opposite is happening here.
Elisha and Tori chat about upcoming events until Dave takes center stage to walk them through the best tips and flavor combinations for their cookie decoration.
“And don’t forget!” he says with the biggest of grins. “As a couple, you must make at least one Ugly Christmas Sweater cookie to enter the contest! This is one of our most popular Winter Festival activities, and the prize is a doozy! Winners get their choice of their very own solid chocolate mouse! Brain fillings range from sweet to salty to plain disgusting.” He winks.
“He’s talking about the bubble gum flavor,” Elisha whispers in Ves’s ear. “I actually designed it to look like a veiny brain, but it has the consistency of a Tootsie Roll. The kids love it, but uh, it didn’t go over super well with the grown-ups.”
“Ellie’s always been a kid at heart. Christmas year-round at the emporium, this obsession with Sleighbells...” Bentley chuckles like he finds it ridiculous, shaking his head at the pastry bag Tori offers him. He even goes so far as to cross his arms like he doesn’t want to be here and is definitely not planning on participating. “It’s cute how she never sees things how they really are, but how she wants them to be.”
“You mean like when I was too naïve to realize you were never going to move here?”
The words fly out of Elisha so fast that Ves doubts she meant to do it.
“What?” Tori looks between her husband and his ex. Finally, she turns to Elisha. “He’s never going to give me a straight answer, so I hope you will. I know you two dated, but he planned to move here for you?”
“That’s debatable, actually,” Elisha says at the same moment Bentley snaps, “I did mean it at the time!”
Elisha’s glare softens when she looks at Tori. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. I really don’t want to rehash the past, but it’s hard when it’s walking and talking right in front of me.” She waves a disgusted hand in Bentley’s direction. “We had plans to live here together after we graduated, but he got a better job offer, so he took it and didn’t tell me until I was already back in town.”
“Ellie, this is exactly what I meant when I said you live in a fantasy world,” Bentley says, condescension dripping from every word. “Did you really think this place would be enough for me?”
Tori’s mouth drops in obvious outrage. “Excuse me? I grew up around this area.”
“I didn’t mean it like—” Bentley massages his forehead.
“So why did we move back here?” Tori demands. “If it’s so beneath you.”
At this, a few people around them glance over.
Ves thinks this is the moment. When he’ll finally discover whether Bentley just wanted to rub his new life in Elisha’s face or whether he wants her back. Either option is as distasteful as the man himself.
“It doesn’t matter to me whatever the reason is,” Elisha says quickly, as though the same idea has occurred to her and she doesn’t want anything admitted in front of Tori. “The fact is, I’ve moved on and while I generally like to stay on good terms with my exes, I’m willing to make an exception for you, Bentley. You treated me like shit and if that wasn’t enough, not only did you never apologize for it, but you showed up back here and keep acting like you and I are friends. Let me be very clear: we aren’t.”
With an open-mouthed choking sound, Bentley starts to say, “Ellie—”
“I hate when you call me that. It’s Elisha. We’ve had this argument a dozen times.”
