There was no dishwasher.Oh no.He’d just volunteered to handwash all of this stuff.He inwardly groaned.
“Is there a problem?”Holly’s voice jarred him out of his shock.
“Uh.No.”Yes.Definitely yes.How is it that she doesn’t have a dishwasher?
“The dish soap is under the sink.You don’t know how much I appreciate this.I never realized until now how busy my grandmother was in order to run a business, raise me, and still participate in community events.She was impressive.”
“So are you.”He located the soap and a dishrag.Holly had a drying rack, so he supposed that was something.Then again, with all these dirty dishes, there was no way they’d all fit in that drying rack.He hoped she had a lot of dish towels.
He got to work.He found himself continually glancing over his shoulder to see what Holly was up to.They chatted about the snow, the holidays, and his family.
When he glanced over at her and noticed a piping bag in her hand, he lowered the dish rag.“What are you making with the piping bag?”
“The butter cookies.I pipe out the dough in order to make all of the ridges.When they come out of the oven, I’ll take half of the cookies and dip half of each one in white chocolate.The other cookies, I’ll dip in milk chocolate.Then I’ll add red, white, and green nonpareils.”When he sent her a puzzled look, she clarified.“Round sprinkles.”
“Oh.”He nodded and gave it some thought.“I remember those cookies because I always thought they looked like they would take a lot of work to make.”
Holly continued piping the cookies.“They take a fair amount of time, but they are totally worth it.”
“I’m looking forward to having one, if you’re willing to share.”
“I suppose that’s the least I can do for the help.”When she smiled at him, he got a funny feeling in his chest.
He briefly smiled back before returning to washing more dishes.There were two large mixing bowls in the sink and one on the counter with frosting.He wanted to ask how many mixing bowls she owned, but he didn’t.
They continued to work.She dirtied the dishes, and he cleaned them.He’d swear that she dirtied them faster than he could wash them.By the end of the evening, he knew his way around her kitchen.
He wanted to stay and have dinner with her, but he couldn’t do it, because he had his own furbabies waiting at home for him.And then he had an idea.
“Would you like to come to my place for dinner tomorrow?”he asked.
Holly hesitated as her gaze moved around the kitchen where almost every flat surface was covered with cookies.
Before she could turn him down, he said, “Come on.You know that you need to eat.And Tater Tot can meet my dogs.The socialization will do him good.I’m sure he’s missing the other puppies he traveled here with.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”She looked at Tater Tot, who was now lying next to her feet.“Okay.If you’re sure it’s not an imposition.”
“It won’t be.”And then they made arrangements for the following evening.
When he left, he told himself it wasn’t a date.They were just two old friends helping a stray dog.Nothing more.
Chapter Seven
Shewasn’tsurewhyshe’d accepted his invitation.
The following day, Holly was a nervous wreck.She’d dropped things, forgotten things, and knocked things over.Thankfully, her customers were too distracted by Tater Tot to pay her clumsiness much attention.
The pup practically glowed with all of the attention.It made her happy to see him doing well, even if she was still struggling to figure out what he needed when he would bark at her or sit there and stare at her with his head cocked to the side.
As soon as she locked the soap company’s door for the evening, Holly raced upstairs to get ready for her date…um, for her dinner with…Nope.That sounded too much like a date too.She was getting ready to eat dinner at Colin’s house.Yes.That’s it.Finally.
This was her first visit to Colin’s house.She’d heard that he’d bought the place on the edge of town, but she didn’t head in that direction very often, so she hadn’t checked it out.And now that she was on his street, she realized that in the daylight, he would have a spectacular view of the distant hills.
With Tater Tot curled up on the passenger seat, she turned into Colin’s driveway.The first thing she noticed were all of the twinkle lights strung across the front of his house.It was festive-looking but not something she would have expected from Colin.Maybe she didn’t know him as well as she thought she had.Or maybe Colin had changed a lot since they grew up.
His walks were shoveled, except for the little bit of fresh snow that had fallen that evening.On the porch was an inflatable brown dog wearing a red Santa hat and a matching red scarf.It was cute and rather fitting.
On the other side of the red front door was an inflatable Christmas tree that must have been six feet tall.Tater Tot wasn’t sure what to make of the blowups.He sat up in her arms and growled at the tree, never taking his gaze off of it.
