Holiday Madness: A Boyfriend Thief Christmas Story (4 page)

I raised my eyebrow at her.
“You know this area is for employees only, right?”

Molly waved a hand. “I was
dressed as a giant bottle of mustard all day. I think that gives me
the right to trespass on hallowed Diggity Dog House ground.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you
were dressing up?” I asked as she tossed the costumes into the
supply closet along with the giant hot dog.

“Zac wanted it to be a surprise
for you,” Molly said. “He found the mustard and ketchup costumes in
an old box in the storage room. Apparently, Mr. Throckmorton had
once wanted a whole team of Diggity Dog mascots, but the mustard
and ketchup weren’t as popular as the hot dog. Elliott was the
ketchup, by the way.”

I smirked. “I figured that out.
The crutches kind of gave it away.”

“Too bad he had to go and twist
his ankle.” She shrugged. “But if he hadn’t, I guess he would have
been Bob in the end instead of you.”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling. “I
guess it all worked out anyway.”

We walked back to the dining
room, where Elliott was sitting in a chair, his crutches propped
against his knee.

“Ready to go?” Molly asked
him.

Elliott nodded, wincing as he
stood, balancing himself on one leg. “My ankle is killing me. I’ve
been on my feet too long today.”

“Man up,” Molly told him. “It
was for a good cause!”

Elliott sighed and rolled his
eyes toward me. “I get no sympathy at all.”

We stepped out into the cold
night air and I shivered as the breeze hit me. All around us,
colorful Christmas lights gleamed from stores and buildings, and
the red ribbons tied to the lamp posts flapped back and forth.
Traffic streamed by, people on their way home, probably to spend
Christmas Eve with the people they loved.

“Have you guys seen Zac?” I
asked.

Molly and Elliott exchanged a
glance. Molly frowned and my stomach sank.

Elliott cleared his throat. “I
think you should go see Santa Claus.”

I shot him a confused look, but
he nodded at something behind me and smiled.

I turned around and there was
the round Santa with the thick beard, the one who had sat in the
chair and listened to the kids tell him what they wanted for
Christmas. I walked toward him, my heart thudding against my
ribs.

“Ho, ho, ho,” Santa boomed in a
deep voice. “Merry Christmas, young lady.”

“Merry Christmas.” I frowned.
“I don’t think I’ve been good this year, Santa.”

“No, ho, ho?”

I scuffed my shoe along the
pavement and ducked my head to avoid his gaze. “I was a jerk to my
boyfriend. Maybe I’m still just as insecure and controlling as
ever.”

Santa scratched at his beard
and studied me with his dark brown eyes. “Maybe being willing to
admit you were wrong and apologizing means you’ve grown more than
you think.” He paused, then added, “Ho, ho, ho.”

“Do you think he’ll forgive
me?” I asked.

Zac pulled the white beard and
Santa hat off. “It is Christmas Eve. Miracles do happen.”

I laughed and leaned forward to
kiss him. A thrilling shiver swept over me at the touch of his lips
on mine.

“I really am sorry for
everything I said,” I told him. “Your idea wasn’t stupid. It was
genius. You got people interested and we collected way more cans
than I could have done on my own.”

Zac smiled. “I only did it for
you, because it was important to you. I’m sorry I took over your
project and didn’t listen when you said you were afraid to dance in
front of everyone. I thought because you’d done it before, you’d be
fine. Sometimes I forget that not everyone is as willing to get
onstage and embarrass themselves as I am.”

“Molly told me that the
costumes were your idea,” I said. “I can’t believe you got her to
dress up as a bottle of mustard.”

“I hoped it would make things
easier on you,” Zac said, shrugging. “I called everyone I knew and
asked them to dress up too. If there was a whole room of people in
silly costumes, maybe you wouldn't feel so out of place.”

I laughed and wrapped my arms
around his neck. “You really are a genius.”

The tips of Zac’s ears turned
pink and he ducked his head. “I don’t know about that. But I’d do
anything for you.” He gestured toward the diner, where Mr.
Throckmorton was turning off the lights. “I even gave you snow
right here in Willowbrook. Sorry it took a few days.”

“A Christmas miracle,” I said,
grinning as I leaned toward him for another kiss.

Thank you for reading this
short story about Avery and Zac! You can check out more of my books
at my website,
www.shananorris.com
.

Find out how Avery and Zac first got
together in

THE BOYFRIEND
THIEF

Available now in all ebook
formats

Avery James has her life
planned out: this summer she'll work with a humanitarian program in
Costa Rica, next year she'll graduate at the top of her class, and
after that, college and medical school. Perfect, planned, total
order.

The only problem: getting the
rest of the money she needs for the trip before the deadline.
Hannah Cohen, her biggest competition for the valedictorian title,
makes an unexpected offer: If Avery can win over Zac Greeley and
make him break up with Hannah before the end of the school year, a
check for five hundred dollars is all hers. Faced with the prospect
of spending yet another summer working as a giant hot dog, it's an
offer Avery can't refuse.

Zac is nothing like Avery
expected. Within his chaotic world of midnight slushie runs and
spontaneous dance parties, her total order is quickly falling apart
while Hannah seems poised to get everything she wants. But just how
much is Avery willing to give up for the perfect life?

To learn more
visit:
www.shananorris.com/the-boyfriend-thief

While the
original idea I had been trying to write about a girl dealing with
her mom walking out on her family first started back in 1996, the
story that ended up becoming
The Boyfriend
Thief
began around 2007. I had an idea for
a guy who pays a girl to be his girlfriend. I knew the guy was
funny and a bit of a clown, and I knew that the girl was uptight
and dedicated to being the best in everything she did, but that was
about all I knew. I decided to bring in the other story idea about
the deadbeat mom to add another layer to the female character. I
wrote the original draft of this story and tried to revise it, but
something just wasn’t working. I couldn’t ever figure out why the
guy I had created would go along with the whole plan to fool
everyone into thinking this girl was really his
girlfriend.

When I had the idea to have
someone else hire her to be his girlfriend, I liked that much
better. And when I realized that the person doing the hiring was
his current girlfriend, it added even more complications to the
story—why would a girl hire someone else to steal her boyfriend?
Why would the second girl go along with it? What would the guy do
when he found out?

So that was
the birth of
The Boyfriend
Thief
. I wanted to write a story about a
girl who is very intelligent, very determined to succeed, and isn't
afraid to go after the things she wants—the valedictorian title,
medical school, the trip to Costa Rica. But even as smart as she
is, there are things Avery doesn’t know about people and things
she’s too afraid to admit about herself. Avery was one of my most
difficult characters to write about because she tries to hide so
much throughout the story. She distances herself from people to
keep from getting hurt and at times it was hard for even me as the
author to get under her skin and see who she really was.

On the other hand, Zac was much
more open and honest, yet he also caused me some problems. He’s
very hyper and constantly on the move. His brain moves a lot faster
than mine does and he has a lot of crazy ideas I would never
attempt.

Despite their differences, I
love writing about Avery and Zac and how they compliment each
other. Throughout the story, they each peel away at the little
parts of who they think the other person is until the truth is
revealed. That’s what this book became to me as I wrote it—a story
about the way we see ourselves, the way we want others to see us,
and the way we really are underneath.

I’ll leave you
with two fun facts about the book: Molly was originally a character
in my first published book,
Something to
Blog About
. She was a third friend of my
narrator Libby, but was eventually cut from the final book. I gave
her a makeover and revived her for
The
Boyfriend Thief.

Also, the
original title of the book was
Girlfriend
For Hire
. But I eventually threw that one
out because I thought it sounded like the characters were running
an escort service!

-Shana

www.shananorris.com

Most days,
Shana Norris still feels like she’s stuck at sixteen, which is
probably why she enjoys writing about teens. Thankfully, she’s
never had to work as a giant hot dog. She lives in a small town in
eastern North Carolina with her husband and small zoo of pets,
which currently includes two dogs, five cats, and five grumpy
chickens. Visit her online at
www.shananorris.com
.

Thank you to all the readers of
The Boyfriend Thief
and my other books! I’d also like to
give a big thank you to the ladies of the Bistro Table for all of
the encouragement, feedback, and support.

And as always, love to M.B.
from M.N.

Happy holidays!