Page 5 of Joy to the Girls (She Gets the Girl #2)

Barnwich is like if a Hallmark holiday movie and Santa Claus himself had a baby. I’ve never seen so many string lights and garlands in my entire fucking life.

I feel like I woke up from my nap on a different planet.

I press my forehead against the glass, absentmindedly shoveling gummy worms into my mouth as I take in the snow-covered streets and frosted storefronts passing by, the main square with the enormous Christmas tree, a sled pulled by actual reindeer , even a giant menorah, fully lit since Hanukkah ended last week.

No wonder May is a ball of emotional stability and sunshine.

If I grew up here, I’d probably poop tinsel too.

The Parkers, on the other hand, go all-out.

Cookie baking and sledding and a big dinner with the extended family.

When December hits, it’s hard not to get swept up in the holiday spirit if you’re within fifty feet of my hot-chocolate-every-night, twinkling-lights-on-the-front-porch, ugly-Christmas-sweater-wearing girlfriend.

For a moment that perfect Lawrenceville town house flashes into my head, and I imagine Molly’s decorations covering every possible surface.

“This place is unreal,” Molly says, and the image fades, her cheek pressing against mine.

We crane our necks to follow an elf dressed in red-and-white-striped stockings booking it down the packed sidewalk, dodging people with the agility of a professional football player and the grace of a ballet dancer.

Our breath starts fogging up the window, so I hold up a gummy worm and she bites it before leaning back in her seat.

“I tried to tell you. We take this time of year pretty seriously around here,” May says, which might just be the understatement of the century.

She turns down a side street where rows and rows of charming and festively decorated houses give way to a much larger building.

The flashing red-and-green present-shaped sign out front has MISTLETOE INN spelled out on the enormous gift tag.

We park and I nearly break my arm taking Molly’s bag out of the trunk while she runs ahead to check us in. May very smoothly carries Cora’s stuff in while I wrestle my way down the sidewalk with mine and my girlfriend’s.

“All righty,” Molly says as the four of us enter the cinnamon-and-pine-tree-scented lobby.

A candy cane is already sticking out of her mouth.

I guess this place didn’t waste any time giving her the Spirited Away treatment.

She’ll probably turn into an elf by Friday.

As Elvis croons that it’ll be a “Blue Christmas” without us from the speakers, she holds up our keys and points to the picturesque wooden staircase, garland looping between the rails, red bows tied around the banister. “We’re in room 134.”

“Yeah, no worries. I got your bags, babe,” I say sarcastically as we follow her. Everyone waits at the top for me, watching as I lug everything up the final few steps.

She rolls her eyes at my tennis-player-level grunt and grabs the handles of her two bags and swings them over her shoulder like they weigh about half a pound. May raises her eyebrows at me in amusement.

“I mean, technically I was carrying three bags.” I hold up my underpacked, sagging duffel as we head down the green-carpeted hall after Molly.

“Mm-hmm,” she says with an unconvincing nod. She and Cora exchange smirks, and I can’t help but smile, knowing at least some good came out of my misery and delicate noodle arms.

When Molly scans the key card at the very end of the hallway, the door clicks open to reveal…

One queen bed.

We all stand there staring at it. “Does it still count as the one-bed trope if there’re three of us?” I ask. Molly immediately whacks me with her bag, nearly puncturing my lung.

She goes into damage control mode while I launch myself onto the one, surprisingly comfortable, bed. May and Cora poke around the rest of the room like a futon is going to magically appear out of thin air.

Hell, maybe in this town it will.

Molly taps a number into the plastic phone on the bedside table, then holds it up to her ear.

“Hi. My name is Molly Parker and I’m in room 134.

It seems there’s only one queen bed, but we have three people planning on staying in this room.

Is there anything with two beds available?

Or a pullout couch?” I prop my chin up on my hand, watching as she chews on her lip and a muffled voice coming through the speaker confirms my suspicions.

“You’re fully booked? Peak season? Okay. ” She nods. “Thank you.”

When she hangs up, she tilts her head back, frustrated. “This is totally because of what you did to my lucky socks, Alex.”

“We could sleep head to foot,” I offer quickly, guiltily deflecting from the Incident. “Sardine style.”

“Or, uh”—May pops her head back into the room from the walk-in closet, rubbing at her neck as it turns red and then crimson—“I don’t know.

I mean, Cora, you could stay at my place.

We could definitely squeeze you in.” Her eyes widen.

“I mean, only if you want! One of you could instead!” She swings her head over to look at me and Molly.

Ah, to be young and in love.

And completely incapable of admitting it.

I roll off the bed and sling an arm over Molly’s shoulder. “As much as I’d love to cuddle with you, May, I’ve been told I occasionally snore.”

“True.” Molly wraps herself around me, tilting her head back to meet my gaze. “But you always let me steal all the covers.”

Also true. It works out because I run hot when I sleep anyway.

Cora nods, her cheeks almost as red as May’s as she accepts the invite. “Um, yeah, that would be cool, if it’s not too much trouble. I mean, we’re going to be spending a lot of time at the farm anyway, right?”

May lets out an uncharacteristic nervous giggle before quickly clearing her throat and nodding out the snow-covered window.

“There’s a Christmas movie night happening at seven if you guys want to meet up in a few hours after everyone gets settled?

Starlight Cinemas. The place is pretty cute.

Good popcorn. You can walk there from here. It’s just off Pine.”

“It’s a date,” I say a little too pointedly, as our two lovebirds head for the door. Cora shoots us a nervous look before it clicks shut.

“You think anything will happen?” I ask. At the rate these two are going, it’ll be a miracle if they speak at all while staying in the same house. Maybe they’ll kiss before we get our AARP cards.

“It will if we’ve got anything to do with it,” she says with a shrug. “That’s why I booked a room with a single queen bed.”

My eyes widen as she looks up at me with a mischievous grin.

“Molly Parker…” I let out a whistle. “You sly devil. The student has become the master.”

She laughs as I kiss that mischievous smile right off her perfect face. The two of us fall back onto the bed, limbs tangling together, her mouth tasting like Christmas morning.