Chapter 7 #3
I made a mental note to never eat there on a night she was working. I didn’t need my meal spit-glazed. Or worse.
“Is she from here?” I asked. Susie wasn’t a Christmasville kind of name, though I supposed not everyone was given a holiday themed one at birth.
“No, she moved to town a year ago. To be honest, I think she had this fantasy idea that she’d create her own cozy small town love story like in those TV movies.”
“Bizarre,” I said. What kind of lunatic would do that? I held myself back from whistling innocently.
I worried that he would now ask about my dating history, and that was something I didn’t want to get into at the moment. I patted my stomach dramatically. “Well, I don’t know about you, but getting accosted by your stalker ex made me hungry. Is there a stop on your tour for food?”
He seemed just as happy with the change of subject. “There’s always time for food. I know you’ve already been there, but what about Holly’s Bakery? It’s my favorite.”
“Yum,” I said, and I meant it. “Best sandwich I’ve ever had so I could definitely go for another.”
Only a few minutes later, we were ordering at the register and grabbing a table in the corner. I only got soup this time because I wanted to save room for one of the scrumptious desserts I spied in the glass case.
“Spit in his!” Holly yelled from the back as someone delivered our food.
“It would taste exactly the same!” Ellison hollered back.
“What is it with you two?” I said, laughing.
“Her husband, Nick, is a buddy of mine. I watch football at their place a lot on Sundays. She’s a trash talker. I love them both.”
My squash soup was amazing—buttery and creamy. Ellison’s turkey and avocado sandwich looked drool-worthy as well. I could seriously eat here every day and be a happy woman.
Holly came over a moment later wiping her hands on her green apron that said “It’s Beginning to Taste a Lot Like Christmas.” She gazed at us with interest and asked, “Am I interrupting anything?”
“Like that would stop you.” Ellison gestured to the empty chair at our table.
I explained, “Ellison kindly agreed to show me around town today. The best places for tourists, picture spots, stuff like that.”
“I have to thank you, New Girl,” Holly said, pointing at me. “Those photos you shared on the town’s socials of my bakery were gorgeous. And I’ve picked up a good number of new followers since.”
“Really?” I said, delighted. “That’s great.”
“I’m not surprised,” Ellison said. “Kelsey is amazing at her job.”
Holly’s eyebrows rose even higher as she looked at Ellison and back at me. I wondered what that meant.
Ellison’s cell started ringing. He checked the name and answered quickly. “Hello? … Did you try hitting the escape button? … Okay. I’ll head back. No, that’s fine … I’ll be back in a bit.”
He sighed as he placed the phone back down on the table. “Unfortunately, Alma is having some technical issues.”
“That’s what happens when you hire a two-hundred-year-old,” Holly said under her breath.
Ellison cut her a look. “Alma knows more about books than the rest of the town combined.”
“But not a lot about touch-screen checkout,” Holly teased.
Ellison ignored her last dig and turned to me. “Sorry I didn’t get you to as many places as I wanted to.”
I shrugged. “Quality over quantity, right?”
He gave me a pleased smile. “Right.” Then he stood, gathering his things, and said, “Holly, it was terrible as always.”
“You’re banned,” she said. “Take yourself out with the trash.”
I chuckled. Their playful banter made me ache for a friendship like that.
My only friends back in the city were surface friends—coworkers, girlfriends of Trent’s friends, and the like.
My real, true friends were from college and dotted across the country.
We still got together once a year for a raucous girl’s weekend but didn’t catch up more often than that.
One of my biggest regrets of what I will now refer to as my “Trent years” was that I had invested so much into our relationship and didn’t put any time into nurturing friendships of my own that were separate from him or our workplace.
I was hoping to change that here. But making friends as an adult was so hard.
It’s different when you’re young and thrown together—into the same homeroom or the same dorm.
Adult friendships took effort to create.
First, you had to find people you liked (harder than it sounds).
Then they had to like you back and have room in their life for a new friend.
Then you had to find time to get together. The whole endeavor seemed exhausting.
I used my spoon to trap the last drop of soup from the bottom of the bowl. “This is so good.”
“Thank you, darling,” Holly said dramatically. “And dessert is on me as a thank-you for the social media boost.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I said. “I’m just doing my job.”
“But you’re doing it well. I don’t know who was doing it before—”
“Carol,” I cut in.
Holly grimaced. “Well, that would explain it.”
I snickered as I wiped my mouth with a napkin.
Holly leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Nick said you and Suit Man were on a date when you found Mary.”
I shook my head so fast I nearly made myself dizzy. “We didn’t find her. We ran to help a woman who was screaming. She found the body. And it wasn’t a date.”
She gave me a skeptical look. “So how did you end up strolling along Lover’s Lane like that?”
“I was eating alone at the Golden Spoon,” I explained. “Aaron came in, also alone, and so we shared a table. We’re both staying at the Christmas Creek Inn, so it only made sense that we walk back together. It was my idea to take the creek path because Main Street was crowded.”
“So it didn’t start as a date. But maybe if you hadn’t been interrupted by finding Mary …” her voice trailed off.
I knew it was none of her business. She was definitely being a busybody. But for some reason I wanted to be honest with her.
“Maybe,” I admitted. “We did have a nice time at dinner. I haven’t seen him since but he is an … interesting man.”
“And Ellison?” she prodded.
I couldn’t hold back a smile. “Another very interesting man that I am also not dating.”
“And back home?”
My smile disappeared. “I was dating someone pretty seriously and he cheated.”
She winced. “Ouch.”
“Yeah.” I stared down at the table. “I don’t really want to talk about it. It was pretty recent.”
She reached back and tightened her ponytail. “Well, it looks like there are two ridiculously handsome and eligible bachelors willing to be your rebound man. If you’d like to be put on one of their naughty lists.” She wagged her eyebrows suggestively.
I laughed and gave a dreamy sigh. “I wish I was one of those people who could have a night of meaningless, hot, passionate, steamy—”
“I get it,” Holly said with a chuckle. “But you’re not?”
I shook my head. “I’ll catch feelings. I know I will.”
“And that’s so bad?”
I thought for a moment. “I guess it depends on if he’s worth it.”
She nudged me with her shoulder. “Girl to girl? Ellison is.”