The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Catherine Hapka Read Free Book Online

already volunteered to be on Mom’s food committee. So I guess I can start by getting Jaylene on the committee too, so they’ll have to spend lots of time together. . . .”
    Nick swung the roll of snowflake-print wrapping paper like a golf club, connecting with a pudgy little tube of silver ribbon and sending it flying into the rec room wall with a solid
thwack
. He nodded with satisfaction as the ribbon unraveled its way to the floor, then turned to face me.
    â€œOkay, let me get this straight,” he said. “You want me to have a man-to-man talk with Cam about how he should dump you?”
    â€œSort of.” I tied off the bow on the empty box I’d just finished wrapping. Nick and I were supposed to be working on the fake gifts that would go under the town’s Christmas tree, though he wasn’t working on them very hard at the moment. “You’ll need to be way more subtle about it than that. Just remind him that he should never be afraid to go for what he wants or do what’s best for him. That kind of thing. You know, guy stuff.”
    â€œYeah.” Nick snorted. “Guy stuff. Gotit. ’Cause we guys just love a nice chat about relationships and feelings and that sort of thing. Maybe we can sip some chamomile tea and have our nails done while we discuss it.”
    I grinned. “Hey, whatever works for you. Remember, this is all for Cam’s own good.” I set my gift-wrapped package aside and reached for another box. “I’ve been dropping hints for the past week and a half since their date, so your little chat is just a way to make him think about things so he can’t blow it off and pretend nothing’s different.”
    â€œHints? What kind of hints?”
    I shrugged. “You know. Mentioning how I hope that whatever happens with college and stuff next year, we’ll always stay friends. Turning my head or coughing whenever he looks like he’s thinking about kissing me. That sort of thing.” I took a deep breath. “And tonight, I’m going to call and cancel on him for next Friday. I’ll tell him I need the time to finish up the last of my applications or something.”
    â€œWhat?” Nick looked startled. “You mean you’re backing out of your traditional day-after-Thanksgiving date?”
    I wasn’t surprised by his reaction. Over the past three years, Leftover Turkey Day had been sacrosanct. Cam and I always spent the entire afternoon eating cold turkey sandwiches, snuggling on the couch watching movies, and just enjoying each other’s company.
    â€œYeah. I have to.” I sighed. It wasn’t going to be easy to purposely miss my last chance at that particular tradition. But what choice did I have? “Blowing him off for Leftover Turkey Day is guaranteed to get his attention even if nothing else does.”
    Sure enough, Cam sounded shocked when I called him to pull out of our post-Thanksgiving date. “You’re joking, right?” he said, sounding so plaintive that I almost changed my mind about the whole thing. “But we always get together for Leftover Turkey Day.”
    â€œI know.” I clenched the phone tightly, glad that I hadn’t tried to do this in person. “I’m really sorry. But maybe a rain check? Say, Saturday night? I should definitely be all finished by then. We could go see the Candy Cane Carolers concert down by the lake.”
    â€œUm, all right. Saturday night it is, then.” There was a long pause. “Good luck with those apps.” Cam still sounded disappointed and a little confused. Most guys probably would have pointed out that I could have planned to finish my applications on Saturday night instead so we could keep our Friday-afternoon date. But Cam wasn’t most guys; he knew me too well. He probably assumed I had the application process planned out down to the minute. And he was far too caring and respectful to ask me to