“Bedtime?”
Holly nodded.“It’s lights out at nine.Don’t your dogs have a bedtime?”
He laughed.“No.No, they don’t.”
She shrugged.“To each their own.”
When he laughed some more, she said, “Stop laughing.I’m just trying to be a good foster mom.”
He stopped laughing and smiled at her.“You’re being the best foster mom.Tater Tot is a very lucky fellow.”Colin pulled everything out of the box.“Here it is.”
He held up the tree stand.The green and red stand was nailed to a two-by-two piece of wood.No wonder the box was so heavy.
He turned to her.“Can you help me?”
“Uh… Sure.What do you want me to do?”
“Well, you can hold the tree upright, or you can get down on the floor and tighten the stand to hold the tree.It’s your choice.”
So, either her arms got poked by pine needles or she lay on the floor and hoped the needles didn’t fall all over her.Not great choices.“I think I’ll hold up the tree.”
He smiled at her.“Okay.Let’s get it in the stand.”
For the next half hour, they fussed over the tree.It was a lot harder to get the tree straight than she would have imagined.
It was nice to have someone there to do this with.She couldn’t see herself doing it alone.Eventually, Tater Tot got up off the couch to inspect their work.
And when Colin got down on the floor, the pup was all over him.Tater Tot stood on Colin’s chest and licked his face.Holly found herself laughing because it was so ridiculous.She even snapped a couple of pictures, contrary to Colin’s complaints.
Once Tater moved to a different spot under the tree, Colin was able to tighten the six bolts that held the tree in place.He’d just tightened the last bolt when a beeping started.
Holly frowned as she tried to figure out what was going off.“Can I let go?I need to find out what is beeping.”
“You can let go, but the beeping is me.”He got to his feet.“Sorry.I have to go.Cupcake needs her medicine.”
“Oh.Yes.Sure.I didn’t mean to keep you.”And then she realized she should have offered to feed him.“I owe you dinner.”
His eyes widened.“I accept.I’ll see you tomorrow.”
That wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.It was more of something to say than an actual invitation.But before she could say anything else, Colin was gone.
She was left with thoughts of the nice evening that had been ruined by the unexpected appearance of her parents.What were they doing in Kringle Falls?Her grandmother swore her parents hated this town.So, what had changed their minds?
Chapter Twelve
Ithadn’tbeenarestful night.
Saturday morning, Holly struggled not to yawn in front of the customers.She’d grabbed her largest insulated cup from the cabinet, and she’d filled it with coffee, milk, and sugar.She’d sipped on it throughout the morning.
Even though she’d tossed and turned much of the night, she still hadn’t come up with the reason her parents had picked this particular moment to come back to town.She hadn’t heard from them at all that morning.Was it wrong of her to just want them to go away?Maybe they realized they’d made a mistake and headed off to deal with their “business.”
She pushed away the unwanted thoughts, and in their place, Colin’s image formed in her mind.A smile tugged at the corners of her lips.In her mind, she visualized Colin walking through the doorway of the soap company.Her smile broadened.If only…
Her gaze shifted to Tater Tot, who was curled up in the bed Holly had made for him behind the counter.She noticed he’d dragged his blue blanket out of the bed, so she knelt down to pick it up.“You’re going to get cold.”
She petted Tater Tot before she began to tuck the blanket around the pup.Just then the door jingled.
“Arf!Arf-arf!”
