The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily(58)

“Think Mrs. Cratchit looked like this under her frock?” I asked Dash bashfully. Why was I standing so far from the light switch? I wanted to turn out the light immediately!

“Mrs. Fezziwig is more like it. She threw great parties. Just like you.”

“She also maimed librarians?”

“Only when M-Fezz went ice-skating.”

There was an awkward pause. I had the outfit. Now what were we supposed to do with it?

“Get over here, Lily Present,” said Dash.

My pirate pulled me to him. He kissed me. And kissed me and kissed me and kissed me. Slowly. Deeply. Commandingly.

He stepped all the way inside my bedroom, and I tore Dash’s Santa hat off his head, running my hands across his hair, placing more kisses on his forehead, his cheeks, his beautiful lips. “Santa can definitely feel his face,” Dash muttered.

Then we heard my parents stumble into the foyer, tipsy and laughing.

“Should we check on her?” my dad asked.

“You know she falls asleep before midnight every Christmas,” said Mom. “Can never stay awake after all the excitement of the day.”

We heard them stumble toward their bedroom door.

I moved toward my own bedroom door, assuming Dash would conclude our make-out session and return to his own home now that my parents were here.

Instead, Dash said, “Close the door, Lily.”

—

The door stayed closed less than one minute before it opened again, with no knock to precede it.

Dad tossed Dash’s tricorne hat into the room and said, “Good night, Jack Sparrow.”

Dash said, “I take Depp offense.”

“Good,” said Dad. “Now go home.”

I walked Dash to the foyer and kissed him good night.

“Know what the best thing your true love can give you is?” I asked him.

“What?” said Dash.

“True love.”

He kissed me one last time, placed his pirate hat on his head, winked his non-patched eye at me, and took off.

I was not tired at all, and I had those beautiful new cookie sheets Dash had given me. Time to start baking.

Only 364 days left until next Christmas!





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


Thank you, as always, to our family and friends.

Thank you to Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Bill Clegg, Alicia Gordon, and everyone at WME and the Clegg Agency.

Thank you to Nancy Hinkel, as always, for making being edited feel like a holiday. Thank you to the many, many people at Random House Children’s Books who have made such a wonderful home for our books, including (but in no way limited to) Stephen Brown, Jennifer Brown, Melanie Cecka, Barbara Marcus, Mary McCue, Adrienne Waintraub, Laura Antonacci, and Lisa Nadel. And thank you to Egmont, Text, and all our foreign publishers for their ace support.

Finally, thanks to everyone who told us how much Dash and Lily have meant to them over the years. This book wouldn’t exist without you.