Santa (Maybe): A Rom Com Novella by Alice Bex Read Free Book Online

she?”
    “Yes.”
    “ Ami is a very honest person, isn’t she?”
    “Yes.”
    “She believes in putting things right out there.”
    “Yes, she does.”
    “What about you? Where do you stand on complete honesty?”
    “I ’m strongly pro-honesty.”
    “And you have no idea at all what I might be about to tell you?”
    “Not a clue.”
    “Alright, I’ll give you a clue. We know someone in common.”
    Madeleine racked her brain. She couldn’t think of anyone who knew Mark except her sister and surely that didn’t count. Ami only just met Mark, too. However, it was the only guess she would come up with.
    “ Ami?” She asked.
    “Well, yes. But think further back.”
    “We went to school together? No, you’re too young. How old are you anyway?”
    “Not important.” Mark smiled.
    “Come on. Tell me.”
    “How old are you, then?”
    “I thought you were the one giving away his secrets.”
    “ Alright. This should help: we did go to the same high-school, only not at the same time.”
    That didn’t help. Madeleine was completely stumped. Still, there was definitely something familiar about him.
    “ You were a classmate of Ami’s?”
    “You’re getting warmer.”
    “You used to date Ami—no, you’re not her type.”
    “Not even close. But you’re on the right track with friends-of-siblings thing.”
    “Joe! You’re an old friend of Joe’s!”
    “Bingo!”
    “But I don’t remember you. You must be a college friend. I barely met any of his college friends. Too busy with law school.”
    “No. Not a college friend.”
    “But I knew all of his high-school friends. He had them over at the house all the time.”
    “That’s right. I was over there practically every day.”
    Madeleine couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be. Now that she looked closely, she guessed it could be possible. Blue eyes. Blond hair. A little taller, but lots of boys grew a little more—
    “ Marcus Silvin?”
    Mark didn’t look too happy. That had to be it. Joe had only one friend named Marcus. True, Marcus hadn’t been a very close friend of Joe’s, but he must have been over at the house more often than Madeleine remembered.
    Mark still hadn’t said anything.
    “I’m right, aren’t I?
    Mark opened his mouth to speak. Just then Madeleine’s phone jingled. Mark closed his mouth.
    It was Ami calling. Ami couldn’t resist calling to see how the date was going. That must be it. Unless something had happened to Emily. But what could happen to Emily at home with Ami? Stupid question. Anything could happen. Ami had never really grown up. The last time Ami had watched Emily, Madeleine had come home to find all her throw rugs at the bottom of the stairs. Ami and Emily had been using them as sleds. It had been Ami’s idea.
    “Don’t panic!” was the first thing out of Ami’s mouth.
    Oh, no. It must be bad. Broken bones. Or worse yet, a head injury. Maybe there had been an intruder. The intruder had kidnapped Emily and Ami was calling to tell her.
    “What happened?” Madeleine found her voice.
    “It’s nothing serious, but I thought I’d better go ahead and drive Emily to Urgent Care.”
    Madeleine nearly dropped the phone.
    “The Emergency Room? Why does Emily need the Emergency Room?” Madeleine could hear herself screeching. Mark looked concerned. The woman on the next bench looked concerned. If she got any louder, the boy running the concession stand across the rink would start looking concerned, too.
    “I told you not to panic!” Ami sounded maddeningly calm.
    “Don’t tell me not to panic again! Just tell me exactly what happened.”
    “Well, we were playing this game, see—“
    “ What kind of game?”
    “You know those Santa gummies I brought?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, we were having a contest to see who could snort a gummy the farthest.”
    “What?” Madeleine was screeching again.
    “You know. We were putting gummies up our noses and then snorting them back out.”
    Madeleine did a little