In the picturesque town of Winter Grove, the tenacious Alicia Whittaker faces off against her best friend's snobbish brother, Zeke Brighton, when his disapproval of his sister's boyfriend threatens to upend their Christmas.
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Tenacious college stud...
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Zeke
Huddled under a pile of every single one of Olly's tree skirts, all Alicia and Zeke could do was wait. They had tried everything to open the cellar door—Zeke was sure he'd bruised something by throwing himself against it—but it was all to no avail. Worse, neither of their cellphones had reception, and Olly was nowhere near back.
They were truly stuck down here.
"How much longer is Olly going to be?" Zeke grumbled through his teeth, pulling the black faux-fur tree skirt tighter around his shoulders. "There are people waiting on us..."
"They're probably too busy with the scavenger hunt to notice we're even missing," Alicia said with a defeated shudder, pulling her own tree skirt closer. It was a deep green velvet with gold details, and if Zeke didn't know better, he would've thought it was a fashionable cape. "Or are you thinking of Nancy?"
Her words came out sharp, though they were undercut by the chatter of her teeth.
Zeke went stiff but said nothing, hoping she'd drop the topic if he didn't respond.
But, of course, she didn't.
"So," she began, giving him a sidelong glance, "are you back together with her?"
Zeke closed his eyes, wishing he was anywhere but here. "I don't know."
Alicia gave a scoff. "You don't know?"
"Forget about it," Zeke muttered. "Why does it matter to you, anyway?"
That seemed to shut her up. She shrank back, but her dark eyes still glowed like smoldering coal.
"I'm just surprised is all," she said, finally.
Zeke suppressed a sigh. He should've known that it wouldn't have kept her down for long. Nothing ever did.
"I mean, I overheard your call with her on the street. It didn't sound good. After that, I didn't think you'd get back together so easily—"
"We're not back together."
"You're not?" Alicia asked. Maybe it was the twinkle lights overhead, but her dark eyes brightened.
"It's complicated," he said quickly, hoping to finally put a pin in it.
"Complicated how?"
Zeke fought another sigh. "I don't really want to talk about it."
"Then what do you want to talk about?" Alicia asked. "Or would you prefer to sit here and freeze in silence?"
Zeke just looked at her. She raised an eyebrow as if to challenge him.
He gritted his teeth. His mind was mixed up as it was. He didn't need another voice chiming in...
