Page 86 of Only for the Season

“For those of you who are new,” her gaze settles on Jeremy. “And for those of you who prefer to cheat.” She glares at Eli, who motions to Paisley and mouths,She’s the cheater.

The mayor clears her throat. “Here are the rules. You have one hour to decorate your tree. Every fifteen minutes, you’ll take a shot ofBuccaneer’s Holiday Moonshine.All decorations must come from the committee’s stash. You’ll be judged on theme cohesion. If our panel of judges can’t guess your theme, you’re out!”

Jennifer arrives with a tray of shots and begins passing them around. Once everyone has a shot glass, Lana holds up her glass. “Here’s to the smugglers. Masters of the sneaky sips and secret stashes.”

“Thanks for keeping the party alive!” The group responds before everyone downs their shot.

“Holy shit.” Jeremy sputters and coughs.

“You okay there?”

“The cinnamon kick got me.”

Eli grins. “It’s our Cinnamon Sugar Cookie Moonshine. The vanilla and brown sugar are sweet, but the cinnamon gets you every time.”

“And we have to drink one of these every fifteen minutes?”

“Welcome to Smuggler’s Hideaway.”

Jennifer bustles toward us with a clipboard. She indicates two trees next to each other in the front by the road. “Those are your trees.”

I thank the town secretary before leading Jeremy to our tree.

“Why do we have to be next to the road?” he grumbles.

“Because everyone knows we’re going to win.”

“Ha!” Eli shouts. “We’re winning.”

I wag a finger at him. “No cheating this year.”

“How can you possibly cheat at a tree trimming contest?” Jeremy asks.

I sigh. “Landlubbers are silly sometimes.”

“You have five minutes to discuss your theme with your partner,” Lana shouts. “If you put any decorations on your tree, you will be disqualified, Eli Raider.”

“What if I put decorations on our tree?” Paisley asks.

“I’ll tell everyone here about the time you were interviewed by the FBI for—”

“I get it!” Paisley shouts.

“Hold on. I wanted to hear about this,” Eli says.

She rolls her eyes. “Liar. You were there. You know exactly what happened.”

He shrugs. “Maybe I wanted the town to know.”

“Good.” I rub my hands together. “If they’re busy bickering, they’ll be distracted and won’t win.”

“You really want to win this thing. What’s the prize?” Jeremy asks.

“The honor of knowing you’re the best tree decorator on Smuggler’s Hideaway. And free admission toBarnacles & Barnyardsfor two for an entire year.”

“What’sBarnacles & Barnyards?” He holds up his hand. “Never mind. Let’s win this. We need a theme. I’m assuming you want to do something mermaid related.”

“Nope. Everyone does mermaids or shipwrecks or smugglers. I have a better idea.”