A Toast to the Good Times - By Liz Reinhardt Page 0,3

other set of complications.

The next few hours blip by, and I’m finally pouring one last whiskey for Joe McHarris, an old, ornery regular who hates the holidays as much as I do.

“Mention Christmas, and I won’t leave you a tip,” he warns before he throws the shot back.

“You never leave me a tip, Joe. But you won’t get any holiday cheer from me. I’ll be glad when all this bullshit is over and we can get back to plain old, cold, depressing winter.”

I cash out my tips and pour one more shot for Joe that he doesn’t need.

His smile is bleary. “I’ll drink to that.”

I leave him when my enthusiastic and gorgeous bartender, Emma, takes her place behind the bar, turns the Christmas music up, and gets a smile from old Joe, who, apparently can appreciate the season when it’s being celebrated by a bouncy brunette in a too-tight reindeer t-shirt.

Maybe I’ve got more of Joe’s traitorous holiday appreciation than I thought, because I’m looking forward to chilling with Mila on the couch, watching movies, and eating turkey. And cranberry sauce, no berries. If I have to celebrate this stupid holiday, it might as well be with a friend as cool as Mila.

I jog up the freezing stairway and down the poorly-lit hallway to our door, where I slide the key in, and my mouth drops open.

Chapter 2

“Holy shit.” I look around, wondering where the hell all our stuff is. The gym-sock stink is replaced by the smell of good food and cinnamon. There are candles lit. And not only can I actually see the floor, it looks like someone vacuumed. It’s amazing how good this little rat-trap looks when it’s actually neat.

“Mila! Did you clean?”

“Landry!” I hear her voice from the kitchen and wonder what she’s burning for us. I walk over to her, craning my neck to check our bedrooms, which are also spotless.

“Okay, you got me. I believe in the power of Christmas miracles now. Did you know we apparently have a vacu...wow. You look nice. You look...wow.”

I step in closer and to see she’s warming up cocoa in a pot on the stove. Her hair is darker and it hangs wavy and soft-looking down her shoulders. She’s wearing a snug little dress that shows off all her curves and heels. High ones. Sexy ones.

I clear my throat. “Um. I thought this was kind of a kicked back thing?”

She looks down at the cocoa and blushes like she’s embarrassed. “It is. Seriously. I just got in. The ladies at the library...they kidnapped me!” She laughs and pushes her shiny bangs out of her green eyes.

They look big and sexy, I guess because of all the makeup, but I never noticed how green they were before. She looks...different. I feel like a light has just been turned on, like she’s some hot young thing who just caught my eye and got me going.

But she’s not. She’s so not. This is Mila. My roommate. Mila.

“It was weird, Landry.” She points to her face. Her extremely gorgeous face. “What you’re seeing is a vast improvement, trust me. They paid for this whole salon package thing, and I had, like, three pounds of makeup on my face when they were done. I wiped about two and a half pounds off on the way home. And they got this dress for me for the company party on New Year’s, but I was so late after trying it all on, I didn’t have time to change, so I just ripped the tags off and wore it home. I picked up food from that little restaurant we love on Laurel, though.”

She points to a few Styrofoam boxes on the counter. They smell amazing. I don’t know if I’m buying this whole, “I just fell into this dress,” bit, though. And part of me wonders if she’s dressed up for me. But that’d be crazy talk.

“What happened with the apartment?” I ask, trying not to stare at her ass. I had no idea Mila has such a fine ass. “You didn’t clean, did you?”

“No. I hope it’s cool. One of the cleaning ladies at the library had a woman she cleans for move away unexpectedly, and, you know, it’s Christmas and she was strapped for cash. So I asked if she’d clean for us, and I got the big package. I totally forgot to ask, but it looks great, right?”

She grabs two mugs with dancing Santa hats on them and pours the cocoa in, then