Two each. It was a new collection in these cream boxes.
“Okay, so I want either the pink into purple one, or the black into gray,” I said, tapping pictures of the different teddiesthat could be inside with a Twizzler. “Oh, and of course, the mystery one.”
Oliver nodded, grabbing a Twizzler from the pot on his desk.
“That goes without saying,” we said at the same time. But it was true, we always wanted the mystery one. Even if they were the ugliest, we didn’t know what this one looked like, and I hadn’t been online to see spoilers.
“I would love the peach into pink,” Oliver said. “Or the orange into yellow. That one makes me want to sit on a beach somewhere drinking a cocktail.”
“That’s the dream,” I said, fanning myself. “Best we can do is the lake.”
“And I do love the lake, but I bet if we had a beach, there’d be more tourism.” He waved a hand and tutted. “I’m just being silly, we get plenty of the right type of tourism here. I don’t want us overrun with college kids from Maplehaven.”
I shuddered. “Remember when they came here in a bus? They had that huge party out on the lake, and we were fishing beer cans out of it for weeks.”
Oliver rolled his eyes, tapping his Twizzler against mine. “Let’s not even think about that. Let’s say the magic words.”
I stuck my candy between my teeth and grabbed both of the boxes. “Oh teddy gods and teddy goddesses, bless my blind boxes with teddy goodness,” I offered up with my jaw slightly closed and my teeth clenching on the candy. It was followed up with two taps and the accidental drop of saliva from the end of the Twizzler.
We unboxed them, closing our eyes and tearing into them. They came in these small plastic silver-foil bags, but we kept our eyes closed regardless. And there was no peeking.
After a countdown from three, we opened our eyes.
I got a peach into pink and the mystery one which was rainbow. All the tufts of fur on the teddy were a different color of the rainbow, blending into each other. I barely looked over at Oliver’s, I was too excited to hold my rainbow one up like I was raising Simba in theLion Kingover Pride Rock. “Ta-da,” I said.
“I’ll swap you,” he said.
“No way.”
“Not for that one, for the other,” he said, pushing the purple into pink one my way. “An easy swap, right?”
“Deal.”
We swapped them. “No takebacksies,” he said, giggling. He’d unboxed the purple one and a green-blue one. It looked better on his desk than it did on the photo on the back of the box. “I think I’m gonna have to get more of them. You know I need the whole collection now.”
“I think I’m happy with just this one.” The mystery teddy was like winning the lottery, which meant I should probably buy myself a ticket, or maybe my luck had run dry now that I’d got my big win.
“I bet they cost a fortune to buy outright,” he said, eyes narrowing in on the teddy.
“Eyes off,” I giggled.
Once our fun was over, it was time to actually discuss the boring work side of things. I was a little bit sidetracked by the teddy, but this work was important. With the end of summer festival approaching and the town about to see an influx of people arriving, it was somewhat of a logistical nightmare.
On the stand plan sheet, Oliver scribbled notes. “Thinking the portable toilets are going to be in this corner here,” he said. “And we’re going to have the big screen up that we used for Pride. The one that made it look camouflaged.”
“Right, right,” I said. “Also, Wilde Ranch aren’t making it. Something about being too busy, and they’ve got horses arrivingand they’re hiring help. Which I would love to go peek at because I love horses.”
“Yeah, I saw Martha in town the other morning. Jace isn’t taking the news well,” he said. “It’s probably why he hasn’t responded to the chat in a while.”
“Would you take it well if someone was coming into your place of work and practically about to steal your job from you?” I grumbled, knowing only half of what was going on. “It’s not going to be the same without him there. I don’t think he’ll be at any of the events this year now.”
Oliver nodded, then shrugged. “Probably best. If he sees the new bakery, and how you’re practically living with the owner, he might see it as a betrayal.”
I gasped. “Nope, he would never. Plus, I’m sure news has traveled to him. Anyway, even if he is annoyed, he’ll be happy to know I’ve found someone. A hot someone.”
“A Daddy,” Oliver said, wiggling his brows. “So, are you moving in, then?”
I grabbed another Twizzler just to hit on the desk. “It’s only been a couple of weeks; I’m not going to be moving in with him just like that. Give it a couple of months, and I’m sure most of my stuff will be there.” As I stuck the Twizzler in my mouth, I realized I’d eaten too many of them. “Henry’s going to say I’m spoiling my dinner if I finish this.”
