The 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Tichu Party

If the title tells you what to expect from the following short story, you can probably skip right to the story.  If it doesn’t, this story takes place a few weeks after The Art of Proposing ends.  I don’t think there are any spoilers aside from who ends up with whom.  But you definitely want to read the entire Romance Arts series first anyway.

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    Violet looked at her phone flashing on the counter. “It’s your sister,” she said.
    “Go ahead.” Ryan nodded at the phone. “I’ll finish cleaning up while you see what she wants.”
    Violet smiled at his exasperated tone as she answered the call.
    “I have the best idea ever,” Audra said.
    “I thought the 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Tichu Party was your best idea ever.”
    “I thought of a way to make it even better.” Audra squealed into the phone. “But wait… Is Ryan there? He’s not supposed to know yet. Don’t tell him about this improvement. Is he there?”
    “Yes, he’s here,” Violet said.
    “Can he hear me!? Go somewhere he can’t hear me.”
    Violet was watching Ryan and saw him nod when Audra asked if he could hear her. She wasn’t on speaker but tended to talk loudly when she was excited. Violet sent him a look that said she was going to humor Audra as she moved out of the kitchen and towards her bedroom. “Okay. You can speak freely now.”
    “So I was thinking about plans for the 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Tichu Pary and then… I looked at a calendar.”
    The pause was long enough that Audra seemed to want a prompt.
    “And what did you see on the calendar?”
    “Do you know what happens on Christmas Eve this year?”
    Violet could look at a calendar herself – though she didn’t know what it might say other than Christmas Eve – but she could tell that despite the questions, Audra wanted to be the one to tell her. “I don’t. What happens on Christmas Eve?”
    “A full moon!”
    “Oh. I guess that’s cool,” Violet said. “How does that change the plan though?”
    “Isn’t it obvious?” The excitement in Audra’s voice was building.
    “No. You’ll need to tell me.”
    “It means it’ll be the 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Tichu Party… with a Full Moon!”
    Violet laughed. “That part is obvious. But what’ll be different other than adding extra words the guys will refuse to say?”
    “Instead of separate games, we can combine to play Grand Seigneur.”
    “That’s what a full moon means?”
    “Yes.”
    “And you think the guys will agree to that?”
    “Sure,” Audra said. “Logan’s already on board because I told him he’s on board. But you have to get Ryan on board without telling him exactly what’s going on because he’s more likely to tell Trevor and he really can’t know yet. If he doesn’t have time to think of arguments, he’ll be more likely to play along.”
    “Well, I think it sounds fun,” Violet said. “I’ll play along.”
    “Great! I’ll let you get back to hanging out with your brand-new fiancé.”
    “See you soon.” Violet put the phone back on the counter as she rejoined Ryan.
    He had her kitchen back in order and was waiting for her. “What am I not supposed to know?” he asked.
    “I’m not supposed to tell you.”
    “Are you really not supposed to tell me or is Audra being Audra again?” He came a step closer and took both of her hands in his.
    The proximity made her brain foggy so it was good that Violet already knew the answer to his question. She also knew that Ryan was going to enjoy the 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Tichu Party with a Full Moon as much as he enjoyed getting the information out of her. And that he’d groan at the new name.

To be continued...