Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
“ I don’t think I’ve ever had a better time,” Tris said, laughing as they put the tape on the very last box. Somehow, he and Tris had both been assigned to tape up the packed boxes. He would have said it was coincidental, but he saw Amy had been in charge of giving out assignments, and he remembered how she was already matchmaking her sister. Could she be matchmaking between Tris and him?
Surely not.
Regardless, Tris and he had laughed and joked for the last two hours, and he found her easier to talk to than he remembered. And as they walked out of the church together, her admission that she had had a great time as well prompted him to say more. After all, he was going home tomorrow.
“So, I have a Christmas cookie contest today, but I was just going to buy a pack of Oreos for my contribution.”
“I love Oreos,” she said. “Those would be a winner with me.”
Before he could say anything more, Amy appeared beside Tris, putting her arm around her and leaning her head around her shoulder.
“If you want to win the Christmas cookie contest today, get Tris to give you her Christmas cracker cookie recipe. Phenomenal. You will beat every person there.” Amy grinned and then squeezed Tris. “Love you, girl,” she said, and then she scampered off, playing matchmaker somewhere else, probably.
“She’s not afraid to speak her mind, is she?” Fisher said, not sure how Tris felt about giving away her recipe.
“But she has a big heart. You know she opened a pet sanctuary just outside of town, right?”
“No. Really?” He had no idea. “Amy always did have a way with things though. When she got something in her head, she kinda grabbed a hold of it and plowed straight forward.”
“Yeah. If anyone can make something like that work, she can. You know, Jones is a veterinarian.”
Jones was Amy’s best friend, and as Tris turned her head, Fisher followed her gaze and saw Amy and Jones over in the corner, their heads together, talking.
“Everyone always thought they would get together. You mean they never did?” he asked, low.
“Nope. She seems to be intent on matchmaking everyone else, yet Jones is right in front of her, and she doesn’t even see him. Makes me wonder about her future as a matchmaker, if she can’t see what’s obvious to everyone else in town.”
“Well. I would’ve thought those two would have been married with about ten kids by now. Of course, Amy would be leading them on an expedition around the world and wouldn’t be here right now…”
“Yeah. That’s Amy. But, nope, she’s all settled downtown with her pet sanctuary, and just up the road, Jones opened his veterinary clinic. They’re together all the time when they’re not working, but not together together.”
“Interesting.”
Tris looked over at him. “Are you interested in winning that contest? ”
“I’m a little brother, and I’m always trying to beat my big sister.”
“That was a good guess. What time is it?”
“I’m supposed to be there at six. I have to shower.”
“If I can get Mom to man the desk for me, I can take you to the kitchen, and we can whip up some of my Christmas cracker cookies. I promise, you will win. You will beat your big sister and everyone else, guaranteed.”
“That’s a pretty steep guarantee.”
“Wait ’til you taste them,” she said, and he figured he couldn’t turn an offer like that down. Not that he wanted to. After all, it meant that he would be spending the rest of the afternoon with her, and that was what he wanted.
“It’s very easy to do, but I’ll have to go to the store and get soda crackers.”
“Wait a second. Soda crackers? You mean you use soda crackers for these quote, unquote, cookies?”
“Trust me. They don’t taste like crackers. They taste like…manna.”
The way she said “manna” made him feel like he was really missing out.
He smiled, but he had to mess with her a little bit. “I don’t know.”
Her hand landed on his arm. He was sure she didn’t mean anything by it other than to get closer so she could talk him into something, but whatever she said went right over his head as his eyes landed on her fingers resting on his forearm.
He’d taken his sweatshirt off and totally forgotten about it. It was lying in the church somewhere. And her skin on his sent electrical pulses right up his arm and down his backbone.
It took him a moment to realize her voice had trailed off.
She was closer now than she had been, and their eyes caught and held. Something seemed to pass in the air between them, and it charged the area around which they stood. Or maybe it shrank it, so that it was just her and him in that world.
Someone yelled, and it barely registered, and then a car buzzed by close, and he realized that they were standing in the middle of the parking lot, staring at each other.
They both stepped back at the same time, and her hand fell.
Neither one of them said anything, and he figured it was his turn to talk, but he hadn’t heard a word she said.
He might as well be honest.
“I’m sorry. I…got a little distracted. What did you say?”
She didn’t seem any less fuzzy than he was. Maybe their moment had affected her the same way.
“I forget,” she said, and then they both smiled.
“Cracker cookies?” he said.
She nodded. “Grocery store.”
“Right. How about I drive.”
“Sounds good,” she said, and he looked around the parking lot, trying to clear his brain enough to figure out where he’d parked his car. Finally, he remembered it was over in the corner of the lot, where he could find it easily. And get away if he needed to. Which had not been necessary.
“Over there.”
“All right. Let me run to my car and grab my wallet, and I’ll meet you there.”
“You don’t have to. I’m buying.”
She shrugged, and he assumed it was okay, and they started toward his car together.