LITMIR.BIZ

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register and bought the dress. Anyway, Riley had a point, and Noel decided she, too, needed to get a life, one that took place in the real world, not just inside her head with Marvella. She was going out and she’d be wearing this dress. And some sexy shoes, too!

      “I’m starving,” Jo said after they’d bought Noel a pair of red stiletto heels guaranteed to break her neck, as well as some rock-me-baby black boots. “Let’s go to the food court and see if they have any chocolate chip cookies left at Carmen’s Cookie House.”

      Chocolate chip cookies weren’t as good as sex but they ran a close second. Noel followed the sisters out of the department store.

      They all stopped for a moment to watch as Santa’s Play Land came to life with mall employees setting out plastic elves and mechanical reindeer with heads that bobbed up and down. “Just think,” Riley said to Jo, “this time next year you’ll be taking your baby to see Santa.”

      “That was always so fun when we were kids,” Jo said. “I can hardly wait to do it with mine.” Then she grinned. “In fact, I’ll start this year.” She turned to Riley and Noel. “You guys want to come with me to see Santa?”

      Now Riley was grinning, too. “Like we all did when we were in high school.”

      Noel remembered that. Jo had been in her junior year, and she and Riley had been sophomores. Riley had asked for a car, which she didn’t get. Noel had asked for straight As, and almost got there except for a B in algebra. And Jo had asked for a new boyfriend, which she did get. Jo had always been good at finding ways to get what she wanted. Sometimes Noel wished she was more like Jo. Considering all the time she and Riley had spent trailing her like puppies, you’d have thought more of her warrior princess attitude would’ve worn off on them.

      “Let’s do it,” Riley was saying. “Let’s come here on December first after I get done with school. We can see Santa and then go out for dinner.”

      “Twelfth Man Sports Bar,” said Jo. “Who knows? There might be some cute guys there.”

      “I think we’ve met about every single man in Whispering Pines,” Riley said, backing up Noel’s theory about the shrinking male population. “But hey, you never know.”

      True. Maybe if Noel asked for a man, someone who was a step up from Donny (which would be just about anyone), Santa would come through.

      They were buying their cookies when her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was her landlady. What could Mrs. Bing want?

      “Noel, I wanted to give you a heads-up. I’m bringing someone to look at the house this afternoon. It’s short notice, but I hope that’s okay.”

      “The house?” Her house? “I don’t understand.”

      “You remember I’ve been talking about selling it.”

      Yes, to her! She’d told Mrs. Bing she’d love to buy it. She’d hoped Mrs. Bing would be open to carrying a contract with her. Mrs. Bing hadn’t been too excited about that, so Noel had made her an offer. It turned out to be an offer she could refuse. Still, Noel had insisted she could come up with the money Mrs. Bing wanted. Somehow. She’d been saving like crazy for a down payment that would impress both Mrs. Bing and the bank. All she needed was a few more months. Okay, more like a year, but still.

      “I have someone who’s interested,” Mrs. Bing said.

      “But I’m interested!”

      “Yes, I know you are, dear, but this person actually has money and wants to make a cash offer, and I’m a little strapped for cash right now.”

      “Oh, Mrs. Bing,” Noel began miserably.

      “I’m sorry, dear. I really am. Anyway, we’ll be coming by around four. Like I said, I should’ve given you more notice, so I hope you don’t mind.”

      Yes, she minded.

      “You don’t need to be home,” Mrs. Bing continued. “In fact, I’m sure you’re out enjoying the Black Friday sales.”

      She had been until this.

      “Now, don’t worry. I’ll see that you have plenty of time to move out. A month’s notice should do, shouldn’t it? I heard they have vacancies in those new apartments over on East View.”

      Noel didn’t want to live in the new apartments on East View, even if some of them did look out on Case Inlet. But before she could say that—or anything—Mrs. Bing said a cheery goodbye and ended the call.

      “What’s wrong?” asked Jo.

      “Mrs. Bing’s selling my house. Can she do that?”

      “When’s your rental contract up?”

      Oh, boy. “End of this month. But I already told her I’d stay another year.”

      “Why’s she bringing in someone else? I thought you told her you wanted to rent with an option to buy.”

      “Because she didn’t want to do that,” Noel said. “She wasn’t exactly open to any of my ideas.” She handed over her money and got a big cookie in exchange. Suddenly she wasn’t in the mood for a cookie. She wasn’t in the mood for anything except a good cry.

      “She could have given you first dibs,” Riley said, incensed on her behalf.

      “She knows I don’t have enough for a down payment yet.” Now she wished she hadn’t bought that fancy dress and boots. Or the stupid shoes. Even though the money she’d spent on them was only a drop in a very big bucket that seemed to have a hole in it.

      “What if you went and talked to her, asked her for a few days to see if you qualify for a loan?” Jo suggested.

      Noel already knew the answer to that. She’d been to the bank. With her fluctuating earnings as a children’s book author, Mr. Ridley, the loan officer at First Mutual, was nervous about giving her a loan, especially in light of how far short she was of what she’d need for a healthy down payment.

      Her parents weren’t currently in any financial shape to help her. Dad had been laid off, and he and Mom were trying to make ends meet on his unemployment and what Mom earned working part-time at the library. Plus, they now had a wedding to pay for.

      If only Marvella was real. Noel would sic her on this would-be buyer and get him out of the way so she’d have time to pull together her finances.

      But she didn’t have a Marvella. All she had was herself.

      “You should go over there and talk this potential buyer out of it. Don’t let him or her swoop in and take your place away from you,” Jo said.

      Noel looked despondently at her cookie. “I have no idea how to talk somebody out of buying a house.”

      “Too bad it isn’t falling down around your ears,” said Riley.

      “Too bad it doesn’t have termites,” Jo added. “Or rats.” Then she grinned. “Rats, that’s it!”

      Riley stared at her as if she were nuts. “What are you talking about?”

      “I’m talking about a strong deterrent,” Jo said. “Come on, Purrfect Pets has got to be open today.” She started waddling down the mall.

      “What’s she talking about?” Noel asked as they followed her.

      “I think she’s found a way to discourage your buyer,” Riley said. “Would you fall in love with a house that was infested with rats?”

      “You mean turn rats loose in the house?” Eeew.

      “It’s worth a try,” Riley said as they caught up with Jo.

      “But...rats?”

      “You got a better idea?” Jo asked.

      “No,” Noel said with a sigh. “But I hate rats.”

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