“Want to grab some hot chocolate and sit for a while?”
She nods, smiling.
We cross to the adjacent quadrant of the square. Like all the buildings on the perimeter, the one with the coffee house must have been built before the start of the last century. The ceiling is high, and a mezzanine creates a partial second floor. Old hardwood creaks with our steps.
Its holiday color theme is nontraditional, with turquoise, pale green, and silver balls hung in creative spots and arrangements. I’m a boring traditionalist most of the time, but the decorations hit a perfect note, blending the modern with the old-fashioned.
The place is cozy and surprisingly un-packed considering the crowd outside. I order regular old hot chocolate, Everly, white mocha. We find a table near the roaring fireplace strung with stockings, and settle our coats onto the backs of our chairs.
We take quiet first sips of our drinks. A picture pixelates in my mind of Everly with a dab of whipped cream on her cheek and me kissing it away.
Yep, the image goes a long way toward incriminating both Mom and Becca in subjecting me to way too many lame Christmas romance movies.
I can’t think about kissing Everly right now. I’ll turn into a bumbling idiot if I do, and tonight is about getting to know this enchanting woman better.
I lean onto my elbows. “So. Did I notice a third Wilkes sister in the family photo above the fireplace?”
Everly nods. “That’s Hadley. She’s the middle sister.”
“Is she local?”
Everly shakes her head. “Not this year. She’s been wanting to ‘stretch her wings’, as she put it. This spring, she and a friend from college have been traveling the country and posting videos of their adventures.”
“Wow. Thatisadventurous.”
She shrugs. “I guess. Their channel is up to two-hundred-thousand subscribers, so she’s thrilled.”
“I’ll bet.” I tilt my head, taking in Everly’s winter-kissed cheeks. Her soft hair is styled into sleek streams, spilling along her shoulders. Somehow, I ended up on a date with the prettiest woman in the entire town. “Are you the sister who sticks close to home?”
She makes a sound of resignation. “That’s me. Oakley and Hadley are the fun ones. I’m the boring sister holding down the fort. Not always in Chandor, of course, but in a metaphoric sense, yeah, I don’t go far.”
I smile into her eyes, a place I could linger. “I’m a homebody, too.”
“Oh, please. You travel for a living.”
“I don’t exactly think of the places I work as traveling.”
She shrugs. “I guess.”
I cradle the mug on the table. “You know, I’ve been wondering. You told me this waitress gig is only temporary, and it occurred to me—somewhere between Tulsa and OKC last night—that I have no idea what you do when you’re not running Charlie’s place.”
Her hands mimic mine, curving around her mug. “Usually, I work in a law office. I’m an attorney.”
The old ladderback chair tasked with holding my weight creaks dramatically as I sit back against the aging wooden slats. “Wow, Everly, that is a far cry from waiting tables at Charlie’s.”
She nods thoughtfully. “They both give me headaches, though.”
Laughter snorts out of me. When it settles, I lean for a good, long look. “Yeah. You in a courtroom arguing with people? I can see it.”
She swats my hand from my cup, her touch tingling my skin. “That was rude.”
“Your fault. I was recalling the way you cross-examined me about skipping out without paying.”
She flips her hair back. “I had valid questions, yes, I did.”
“Hey, I was wrongly accused.”
“Well, we got to the bottom of things, didn’t we?” She bobbles her head smugly.
