Free I'm Dreaming of an Undead Christmas by Molly Harper Page A

is staring at me right now, huh?”
    “Yes,” we said, all at once.
    “So, yeah, Collin and I could be getting married soon . . . Or I totally misinterpreted the ring I found, and Collin has a second family somewhere.” She turned to Jane. “You would see that coming, right?”
    “ ‘Second family’ would probably come up, in terms of guilty, nagging thoughts,” Jane assured her.
    The second round of butter-sugar mix came to a bubble on the stove, and Tess turned her attention to it. It was a convenient way to escape the most awkward conversation in the world. Andrea turned to the still-tweaky Miranda to say, “It will be fine. Collin will propose with a ring that I’m sure is very pretty.”
    “Soooo pretty.” Miranda sighed. “It has little roses carved into the band and everything.”
    Iris stretched her arm across the table and very deliberately, very gently squeezed Miranda’s hand. “I’ll help you plan a lovely vampire-friendly wedding that even your parents won’t be able to find fault with.”
    Miranda snorted. “Good luck with that.”
    “It will be perfect,” Iris promised.
    “Someone change the subject before I start having a panic attack,” Miranda said.
    “So, how’s Nola?” I asked, turning to Andrea. “Dick has to be a little disappointed not to have his baby girl around for the holidays.”
    “Still making this face when he calls her his ‘baby girl.’ ” Andrea screwed her face into a parody of an embarrassing grimace. Nola was the granddaughter of Mr. Wainwright, Jane’s former boss and Dick’s several-times-great-grandson. She’d come to the Hollow a year or so before from her home in Ireland on a supernatural scavenger hunt of magical artifacts for her coven. She’d found much more in unexpected vampire ancestors and a local shapeshifter, Jed, with whom she lived whenever they were stateside. And when they weren’t on this side of the pond, Jed was traveling to Ireland to stay with Nola’s family.
    Andrea continued, “Well, we’re learning that we have to share Nola with the other side of the family. The McGavocks were really nice about her spending Christmas with us last year, so it’s only fair that she travels to see them this year.”
    “You’ve been reading books on how to be a reasonable, not annoying grandparent, haven’t you?”
    She nodded. “Yes, I have. But Nola will be home this summer, so you’ll see her then.”
    “You’ll be home this summer, Geeg?” Tess asked, brows raised. “No internship lined up yet?”
    I glanced toward Iris. I had not had the chance to properly prepare Iris for my job announcement. And in front of all of her girlfriends was definitely not the way to do it. “Uh . . . not yet.”
    Tess deftly poured the toffee mixture from the saucepan over a baking sheet lined with soda crackers, spreading it evenly on every square. “I’d think that the computer companies would be lined up to hire you,” she said.
    “Uh . . .” I hesitated, shoving one of the spare uncandied crackers into my mouth to stall. I really needed to learn how to lie.
    “It does seem sort of weird that you and your adviser haven’t come up with something,” Iris said. “Your supervisor at NetSecure gave you a glowing reference. Cal actually got weepy when he read it, he was so proud.”
    Jane stared at me, eyebrows arched, and she chirped, “Right, well, you can always work at the store this summer if you don’t find anything else. Hey, Iris, what’s next on the candy list?”
    This was one of the few advantages of hanging out with a mind-reader: she knew when to change the subject.
    “Turtles and then Jolene’s bacon truffles,” Iris said, checking her carefully mapped-out candy timetable. She turned to Jolene. “You are sure that bacon truffles won’t actually kill people, right?”
    “They haven’t so far,” Jolene said with a shrug.
    As the others began crisping the bacon and melting even more chocolate, Jane leaned close and