If Chad is reticent to drop in on Dr. Fortescue's big annual holiday bash without a date, imagine his horror when he arrives to discover the party revolves around a city-wide scavenger hunt with a two-to-a-team policy stricter than Noah’s. Worse, his efforts to pair up with his hunky doctor crush are thwarted, and he winds up being assigned the doofus with an elbow in the punch bowl as a partner.<br><br>It turns out scavenger hunts are hard -- were they really supposed to dognap the doctor's neighbor's dachshund and carry it around the mall all night? But running around with Jarek is easy. And kinda fun.<br><br>Even with help from an unsuspecting celebrity and Santa’s sexiest elf, it’s starting to look like a participation trophy might be the best they can hope for prize-wise, but Chad starts to wonder if losing alongside Jarek might not be its own kind of win.

Chad vs. the Holiday Hoopla

“Thanks,” I said, raising my paper cup for a cheers


“You’re welcome.” We clacked cups and quaffed companionably.


“So, someone else here is single,” he said. “When I walked through the door without a date, they acted like I was trying to sneak myself onto Noah’s ark.”


“Well, I was supposed to come with my partner,” I said.


I left it at that. I was way single, but I wasn’t trying to lead anybody on. I hadn’t come out tonight for a game of Pin the Tail on the Doofus.


“Well, good, I guess,” he went on. “Apparently three to a car is a major violation of scavenger hunt etiquette. There was a minor panic.”


“Yeah, not sure I’m gonna stick around for all that.”


I figured I might’ve let Dr. Sabrososweet-talk me into scavenging the house and yard looking for a list of holiday dollar-store geegaws in the name of good fun and getting-to-know-you, but I was unconfident that my tenuous holiday spirit could be stretched to accommodate poor Jarek, alas.


Chapter 4