Elf Against the Wall: A Holiday Romantic Comedy (The Wynter Brothers Book 2)
Elf Against the Wall: Prologue

“So, where’s this boyfriend?” My judgmental cousin made air quotes.

“I bet he doesn’t exist. She just made him up for attention.” Her younger sister smirked.

“Or he’s just some guy she’s been hooking up with, and she scared him off but thinks they’re in love.”

“We are in love. He’s perfect!” I protested.

But my cousins were already giggling into their cocktail glasses.

I knew what they were thinking. Evie Murphy: delusional, impulsive, disaster prone.

Chewing on my lip, I dumped pomegranate juice and champagne into the ceramic pitcher I’d made in high school art class and gifted to my mother several Christmases ago. It had been banished to the back of the cabinet, but wasn’t Christmas Eve the perfect time to put it out on display?

I checked my phone. Nothing.

Braeden hadn’t sent so much as an emoji in the last thirty-five hours, not since he told me he loved me as we lay on the big bed with the gray sheets in his luxury apartment that, unlike mine, had actual hot water.

Right before he’d kissed me goodbye yesterday morning, he’d said to text him the details of my mom’s holiday party.

Where was he?

“Evie, why are you always on your phone? This is a family holiday party. Try to be social.” My mother breezed past me, the perfect hostess, with her gorgeous red hair piled high on her head and wearing a form-fitting cream-colored cocktail dress and heels. “And use the crystal pitcher. I can’t have that thing out on my table.”

“No word?” Sawyer asked tentatively, sliding a tray of mini reindeer pizzas onto the overloaded buffet.

“He’s busy, okay? He works a lot.”

Defensive? Moi?

“Y’all work on the admin side of a company that sells luxury pool umbrellas.” Sawyer crossed her arms. “It’s December. I highly doubt Braeden is too busy to return your texts.”

“He’s not going to ghost me. Maybe he’s picking out a wedding ring. He could be coming to propose.” If I said it out loud, that meant my Christmas dreams would come true.

“Could he?”

“Next year, we’re going to host Christmas Eve in our new home.” I cut my cousin off before she could crash my sleigh of dreams. I swooned, envisioning my perfect future with my perfect man.

“You’ve only been with him for six weeks. Oftentimes, the men you choose don’t really work out.”

“Underselling it.” My brother Ian pushed his way through the too-warm crush of Murphy-family holiday revelers. “Evie has the worst taste in men.”

“Braeden’s not like that. I don’t even need Christmas presents if I have him.”

“With the state of your credit card debt, you should be asking Santa for cold hard cash this holiday season.” Sawyer held out her empty glass to me.

The rest of the Murphys, all successful or, in the case of my younger cousins, all with bright, shiny futures ahead of them, milled around the room, wearing their holiday best. Thinking of Braeden, I tried to keep the usual imposter syndrome and negative thoughts at bay.

I had to believe in the magic of love and Christmas.

The bells on the front-door wreath tinkled, announcing more arrivals.

Felicity—mean-girl-cousin extraordinaire—breezed in with my identical-triplet sisters. They were all immediately enveloped by their fan club, aka my family.

“Gosh, the snow is getting heavy,” my cousin was exclaiming loudly while my aunts and grandmother cooed over the triplets—my mother’s pride and joy.

Normally, I’d be upset, consumed by that empty feeling that I wasn’t and never would be as special as my ever-so-slightly younger and definitely much thinner, smarter, and prettier sisters.

But on this Christmas Eve, it didn’t matter, because there in the doorway was the most wonderful, most perfect Christmas present.

He walked in, framed by the softly falling snow outside, and took off his overcoat like a superhero’s cape. His suit was a little loose in the shoulders, his tie a little crooked. And yeah, maybe it was the booze and the rose-colored glasses, but my boyfriend was the most perfect man in the world.

“Braeden,” I breathed. “You came!”

“That’s who you’ve been mooning over?” Ian muttered.

“He looks worse than his photo.” Sawyer made a face.

I ignored them. They couldn’t dampen my holiday cheer, because the man I loved had come home to surprise me for Christmas.

He stood under the mistletoe for a moment, the most swoon-worthy Hallmark-romance ending.

Tonight is the start of my happily ever after.

Braeden unwrapped his scarf and smiled lovingly.

I rushed to him, threw my arms around his neck, and kissed him passionately, deliriously, happily.

“Merry Christmas, baby,” I murmured, closing my eyes and sinking into the familiar sensation of his body.

“Why are you kissing my fiancé!”

My neck cracked as I was yanked back by my hair.

“Ow! Help!” I clawed at the hand on my ponytail.

“You man-stealing bitch!” Felicity screamed in my face, her mascara crinkling in the corners of her eyes as she hauled me away from Braeden.

Sawyer rushed in. “What the hell? Have you lost your fucking mind?”

My heart pounded. I wanted to run to the safety of Braeden’s arms.

“I should shave your fucking head!” Felicity raged. “You literally kissed my man right in front of me.”

“And on Christmas, no less!” one of my elderly relatives exclaimed, fanning herself.

My cousin shoved me.

I tripped and fell in a heap of tangled hair and clothes on the floor. Palms stinging, knees shaking, I tried to stand up.

“Your fiancé?” I stammered. “But—no—he—I—we’re in love. Baby, tell them. Braeden?”

My perfect boyfriend wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

“You see? I wasn’t cheating on you, Felicity. There’s something wrong with your cousin. She’s delusional. She’s obsessed with me.”

“You’re sick, Evie,” Felicity spat.

The family backed away from me, leaving me alone in the middle of the foyer to face their judgment.

“I didn’t try to steal him. Honest, Felicity,” I warbled.

“I warned you, Melissa, when you adopted that girl, that you can’t undo the crimes of nature!” Grandma Shirley thundered, pointing a bony finger at me.

What the fuck? Sawyer mouthed.

“She’s exactly like her birth mother—a loose woman.” Grandma Shirley stared down her nose.

Ian snickered under his breath.

Mom glared at him. But she didn’t counter Grandma Shirley’s claims.

“Braeden, what’s going on?” I pleaded to my boyfriend. “You said you loved me that night in bed…”

Felicity’s face was candy-cane red.

“In bed? Why would I sleep with my employee?” Braeden scoffed. “I have a good job. I’m not ruining my life for sex. Especially not with her.” The corner of his mouth lifted derisively.

Felicity’s eyes flicked between him and me, like she wasn’t quite sure she believed him.

Braeden laid it on thick. “Like I said, Evelyn,” Braeden lectured in that condescending tone, “Out of respect for my friendship with your brother Henry, I wasn’t going to report you to HR if you just curbed your immature impulses, but this truly is too far.”

“Too far?” I was about to puke up all the holiday cocktails I’d consumed earlier. “You were going to propose to me. I have a Pinterest board with rings.”

I was aware of how unhinged I sounded, but the man I loved was acting like he didn’t even know me!

“Stop lying to me!” I sobbed, the tears making the festive decorations blur into a bizarre mad house. “We are in a relationship. I was in your apartment yesterday. I cleaned your bathroom.”

“Don’t gaslight people, Evelyn,” Braeden chastised me.

“Don’t use weaponized therapy-speak, Braeden,” Sawyer snapped at him.

“You should have saved one of the used condoms,” Granny Doyle piped up.

Several relatives crossed themselves. One woman fainted, though it might have been from all the spiked Christmas punch.

My arguing wasn’t helping my case, obviously.

“Slut!” Felicity yelled at me.

Braeden took her hand gently.

“It’s all lies. Your cousin has mental health issues. You know that. You were telling me all about how she’s a stain on your family’s good name.” Braeden kissed her hand. “I would never cheat on my fiancée, Felicity. You know that. I love you and want to marry you. I’m a traditional man who wants a traditional marriage.”

My father’s face was a mask of disgust. “Of all the shit you’ve pulled over the years, Evie, stalking and trying to steal a soon-to-be-married man—your cousin’s fiancé, no less—is beyond the pale.”

“We’re in love.” The words came out heavy and desperate, but clearly, we weren’t, or at least, he never was.

“Do you have any proof?” my oldest brother, Henry, asked.

“Fucker,” Ian scoffed under his breath. “Of course you have proof. Right, Evie?”

“I—well, we communicated over Snapwave, and it deletes the messages after twenty-four hours, but I do have some messages still.” Hands shaking, I rummaged in my skirt pockets for my phone.

“So do I,” Braeden blustered, pulling out his phone. “See?” He showed everyone the last messages I sent him.

Out of context they did look a little, well, stalkery.

I winced.

Aunt Lisa berated my mom. “Everyone told you not to bring that”— she pointed at me— “charity case into your home, into this family, and you refused to see reason. Now she’s attacking my daughter and trying to ruin her future. Evelyn is tearing this family apart.”

“Evie, apologize.” My mother’s green eyes flashed.

“But I didn’t!” I cried, but it was clear no one in my family believed me.

“Evie.” My mother shook her head. “Your father is right. Of all the terrible decisions you’ve made, this really does take the cake. Apologize. At once.”

“I—I’m sorry, Felicity, honest. But Braeden and I are—”

Felicity’s sisters had to hold her back. “Boyfriend-stealing ho. You’ve been harassing my fiancé. You think he wants to be with you?”

“Liar!”

“Cheater!”

“Homewrecker!”

The judgments flew around the room, branding me.

But I didn’t know. Why didn’t anyone believe me? It was like being trapped in a snow globe, screaming for help and no one to save me. I was suffocating.

“She’s telling the truth,” Sawyer and Ian, my ride or dies, said at the same time, stepping up for me.

I gave them a teary but grateful smile.

“Yeah, she’s been talking about dating her boss for the last six weeks,” Ian insisted.

“Did you see a photo of them together?” Henry asked Sawyer and Ian.

That earned him a scowl from Ian. “Whose side are you on?”

“The truth,” Henry said magnanimously.

“She showed us Braeden’s photo on their company’s website,” Sawyer insisted, “and I definitely saw messages from Braeden.”

“You didn’t save them, Evie?” Henry prodded.

“I didn’t know he was with Felicity. I didn’t know I needed to save receipts.” I was hyperventilating.

“If Evie says it’s true, I believe her.” Granny Doyle pushed through the crowd. “After I caught my husband palling around with a forty-year-old he met on Craigslist, I know you can’t trust a man, especially not one named Braeden.”

My dad pinched the bridge of his nose.

“This is a very close-knit family.” Grandma Shirley announced with finality. “Of course you knew, Evelyn. And how glad I am that I didn’t let my son name you after my beloved grandmother like he wanted to. You are a testament to the poor household your mother runs.”

“Thank you, Shirley. I will parent my daughter.”

“That will be a first.”

My mom’s cheeks were hollowed from anger.

“I am so disappointed in you, Evie,” my mom said quietly but firmly. “You need to start making better life choices. I’m sick of this behavior—not applying yourself in high school, dropping out of college, throwing yourself at the worst of men, the dead-end jobs, and now this? Maliciously trying to ruin my niece’s relationship? After all your father and I have done for you, after all this family has done for you, this is how you repay us?”

“I’m sorry.” My arms were clutched around me. I didn’t know why I was apologizing when I didn’t do anything wrong. I was full on sobbing now.

“Just…” My father made a disgusted noise and shook his head. “Just go to your room. I don’t want to see you for the rest of Christmas.”

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” I said sadly as I headed to the staircase.

“Isn’t that how it always is with you?” My father’s words were final, dismissive.

And that’s the story of how I ruined not just Christmas but also my life.