The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Catherine Hapka

and help keep me distracted from what might or might not be going on down at the concert. We’d spent the first part of the evening working on her college essays, and when she’d gotten bored with that we’d switched to listening to music and then to playing Monopoly. When the phone rang, I jumped up so fast that I knocked the game board off the bed. Playing pieces, dice, and fake money scattered everywhere. Blitzen, who had been napping on the rug, woke up just long enough to bat the thimble under the bed.
    â€œNick?” I said into the phone. “Is that you?”
    â€œIt’s me.” He sounded weirdly somber. “I can’t believe it, Lexi. I mean, I know you can do anything you set your mind to. ButI can’t believe you actually pulled this off. It’s almost kind of . . . I don’t know,
eerie
.”
    My stomach did a funny little loop-de-loop. “What?” I demanded. “What happened?”
    â€œIt was just like you predicted,” he said. “They sat together for the concert.”
    â€œAnd?” I prompted.
    Even through the phone, I heard him take a deep breath. “Well, you know that Jaylene chick isn’t, you know, the bashful type,” he said. “Plus it’s pretty cold out here tonight, and I think she’s still wearing her Georgia wardrobe. So she started, like, snuggling up to Cam about halfway through. And she sort of grabbed his arm and put it around her, and he left it there.”
    I winced. Yeah, it was what I had wanted to happen, more or less. That didn’t make it any easier to hear. Or to imagine.
    â€œWhat?” Allie whispered, clearly reading the expression on my face.
    â€œHe was probably just afraid she’d freeze to death,” Nick added quickly. “Like I said, her jacket wasn’t really the kind of thing most people would wear to sit around outside in Wisconsin at the end of November. And her skirt was pretty short too, so herlegs were . . . Well, anyway. They didn’t actually kiss or anything like that. At least not that I saw. But they were both laughing and talking when they were walking out just now, and she kept kind of squeezing his arm . . .”
    â€œI get the picture.” I didn’t particularly want to hear any more details. “Thanks, Nick. Now I guess I just have to wait and see what happens next. I’ve done what I could—it’s up to Cam now.”
    I hung up and told Allie what Nick had reported. She looked stricken. “Oh, Lexi,” she cried. “I’m sorry!”
    â€œDon’t be.” I steeled myself, doing my best to get the big picture back in focus. “This is what has to happen, remember? It’s the best thing—for everyone.”
    On Sunday morning, Cam turned up on my doorstep bright and early. His face was haggard and conflicted, and the deep shadows under his eyes made me wonder if he’d slept at all.
    â€œLexi,” he blurted out. “We need to talk.”
    â€œCome on in.” I stepped back, and he followed me into the foyer. Luckily myparents were both out, so we had the house to ourselves. “What’s up?”
    He took a deep breath. “Last night,” he blurted out. “Um, the concert?”
    I could tell this wasn’t easy for him. “Uh-huh,” I said. “Did you stay and watch? Did you run into anyone you knew there?”
    â€œAs a matter of fact, I did.” The words came slowly, as if each one had to be dragged up out of his toes with a rusty fishhook. “Um, it was that girl Jaylene? You know, from the banquet? And the food committee?”
    â€œOh, sure!” I said, doing my best to sound normal. As if I didn’t know what was coming. I had to be strong—for both of us. “She seems really cool. And you guys have been getting along really well on that committee, right?”
    â€œYeah. And actually, we—we sort of got along pretty well last