“I have other ideas, like remodeling, but that will take money, and I don’t have it right now.”
He looked around the shop and then back at her.“Someday, you’ll have to tell me what you have in mind for the place.”
She shook her head.“You don’t want to hear about that.It’s boring.”
“Actually, I find remodeling fascinating.If I wasn’t a vet, I think I would have been a contractor.”
She arched a brow as she stared at him.“You know what?I can see that.You were always good with your hands.Okay.I have the sketches upstairs.Sometime I’ll show them to you.”
He nodded.“It’s a date.”
He didn’t mean an actual date, but once the words were out there, he didn’t want to take them back.He really didn’t.But he also knew Holly was going through a lot right now, and he didn’t want to make her life even more complicated.
She wrapped the soaps in tissue paper before placing them in a cute brown paper bag with the name: Kringle Soap Co.on the front.It had rope-style handles.
She held up the receipt.“Do you want the receipt?Or should I put it in the bag?”
“The bag is fine.”He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.“How did lunch go with your parents?”
She smiled as she looked at him.“You know I saw you drive by at lunchtime.”
“You did, huh?”Heat crept up his neck.“I was, uh, on my way home.”
Her smile broadened.“I believe you live on the other side of town.”
She’d made a very good point.Now what was he supposed to say?Perhaps the truth.Yes, that was always the best route.
“I actually drove over to see you.But then when I saw you with your parents, I didn’t want to intrude.”
“That was sweet of you, but you wouldn’t have been intruding.In fact, I kind of wished that you would have been at lunch, but you would have been bored.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, they chose The Peppermint Courtyard.I’d never been there.Gran never would have splurged on a meal.She always said there was nothing there that she couldn’t cook at home.”A smile flitted across her beautiful face as she thought of her grandmother.“And once we were there, well, all they did was talk about themselves.A lot.”
“So, I guess I don’t need to ask how the lunch went.”
She shook her head.“I feel guilty because I think they were trying.It’s just that their lives and interests are so different from mine.”
“It’s okay.They live in a place far from Kringle Falls.Did you tell them some about your life?”
She once more shook her head.“They never asked, and I never got an opportunity.”
“And how did you leave things?”
Her mouth gaped as her eyes widened.“I just remembered that they left me with the check.”
He had to admit that he didn’t see that coming.“They made you pay for your lunch?”
“No.I mean, yes, but I had to pay for everyone’s lunch.”
A frown pulled at his lips.“That couldn’t have been cheap.”
“It wasn’t.I had to put it on the business credit card.My grandmother is rolling in her grave.She said that credit card was for business.Period.And she never would have approved of me paying for their lunch.”
“Oh, Holly, I’m sorry lunch didn’t go the way you’d hoped.”
“Thanks.But they’re trying.I guess that’s something.”
