He wipes his mouth again and I don’t miss the way he white-knuckles the fabric. “Well, Kenzie, some of us aren’t as daft as others when it comes to the holidays.”

My head notches back as if he’s physically shoved me. “Are you calling me crazy?”

“You came to a dinner date dressed as a bloody elf!” The napkin drops to his lap and he leans across the table, his face growing redder. “What grown woman shows up to a date with a man she presumably wants to begin some type of relationship with dressed as a children’s Christmas character?”

My eyes burn with unshed tears because the disgust and condescension in his voice is something I’ve known all too well in my life. I stand with a flourish, the tiny bells ringing. At this point, no one else is really paying attention to the bells or that I’m dressed like an elf.

“I can see now that arriving here dressed like this”—I shake my hips for a little extra emphasis and, quite frankly, to annoy him—“was a mistake. But my intention wasn’t to embarrass you. It was so I wouldn’t leave you sitting in a restaurant, waiting for your date to show up. Making you think your blind date was a no-show felt rude and demeaning to me. So, I showed up here like this. But you had two choices. You could’ve laughed it off and appreciated that I did what I could to be on time, show it mattered that I thought of you and your feelings. Or you could make me feel like an idiot. And you chose the latter.”

He opens his mouth, but I raise my hand.

“As much fun as this evening has been, I’m leaving. And don’t worry, I’ll do you the courtesy of not telling my brother what a dick you were to his little sister.” I toss my napkin on the table and storm off in a chorus of tinkling bells.

If I ever see Andrew Wainwright again, it will be too soon.

Chapter Four

Kenzie

It’s not until I’m out in the chilly early November air that I stop and think about what I just did. My cheeks heat with embarrassment and I pull my phone from my bag and call Tessa.

“I’m really hoping you’re calling me from the bathroom to tell me you’re going home with your date and to give me all his details so I can send out a search party if you don’t surface? It’s only been forty-five minutes.”

“Most people answer the phone with hello.” Just hearing her voice pulls that security blanket feeling over me. I walk toward downtown. At some point I’ll have to hop on the subway, but I need to burn off some of my irritation before battling hundreds of people.