“I’ll see you Friday, honey. We can grab dinner. I’ve been dying to try that new lodge restaurant.” The phone went silent seconds before a knock on her office door forced her to recover. Through the slivers of glass not covered by a giant holiday wreath, she spotted Rilee Harris.
“Just a minute!” she called, hoping Rilee was available to start today. She’d need all the help she could get if she was going to save the store and survive her mom in town. She also had to figure out what to say to the lurkers outside her office door about this relationship. But first she sent an SOS text to Brayden. They’d need coffee. Lots of coffee.
* * *
“I got here as fast as I could,” Brayden said, appearing at the top of her stairs with Elsie at his heel and two raised coffees in offering. His widened eyes were no doubt caused by the alarming amount of Christmas chaos spread throughout her living room. “What are you doing?”
“Panic decorating.” Ava set the box of ornaments she’d been holding onto a precariously tall stack of others. Still panting heavily from her countless trips up and the down the stairs, she glanced around the room. “What does it look like I’m doing?” She accepted the cup from Black Bear Coffee as he moved into the living room and Elsie sniffed at the boxes. “Peppermint. Good choice.”
“Why?”
“Because peppermint and Christmas go together?”
“No, I meant the decorating. You went from zero to a hundred pretty quickly.”
Pushing hair out of her eyes, she focused on steadying her breathing. “I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to come out with it.” Buying herself a few seconds to work up her courage, Ava sipped her latte and watched Elsie saunter to the window. “My mom’s coming to town. Friday afternoon.”
Brayden laughed, slow and quiet at first. But he didn’t stop. Instead, his laughter built until Elsie wagged her tail in curiosity. Ava might’ve enjoyed the sound of his deep, warm chortle if it weren’t so ominous.
“This isfunnyto you?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s . . . well, I shouldn’t even be surprised.”
“This is your fault. Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Or what you’re in for, I might add? My mom isfromSunset Ridge and used to run the store. She knows the entire town. Just because she moved away doesn’t mean she lost contact with a single person. Stupid social media.”
Brayden took a leisurely sip of his coffee, no urgency in anything he did. How could the man be calm in a situation that demanded panic? “Well, you’re not the only one with a major dilemma caused by our brilliant idea.”
“Our?” Ava shook her head, waving Brayden along downstairs. At least a dozen boxes and totes still needed to make their way upstairs, and she was putting him to work as punishment. “Oh, no. This was your idea. I was joking. You ran with it. Your trigger finger took those selfies that sealed our fate.”
“You agreed.”
Ava shoved a tote at Brayden, then grabbed one for herself. They carried them upstairs. Elsie was content to be the lookout at the window as they made decoration runs. “My mom posted our picture on Facebook. The whole town will think we’re a hot item by sundown. Oh, and she’s so happy I’m not hopelessly single that she’s coming tomeetyou.”
Brayden beat her downstairs and grabbed two more totes. “Huh, isn’t that something.”
“That’s all you have to say about this?”
“Friday, you said?”
“Yeah.”
“Some timing,” he mumbled.
“Oh, is that inconvenient for you?”
“My mom’s arriving on Friday, too.”
Ava nearly dropped a tote filled with lights on her slipper-clad toes. “You’re kidding.”
“Afraid not.” Brayden scanned the living room. “Allof these are filled with Christmas decorations?”
“Yep.”
“Why do you need so many?”
Ava retreated downstairs and together they secured the last of the Christmas decorations. “You should know something about my mom. There’s nothing she loves more than Christmas. I mean, I’m pretty sure she loves the holiday more than she loves her own kids. If she showed up and I had nothing up, it’d be worse than her finding out this whole relationship thing is a scam. So much worse.” Ava left out that an undecorated house would tip her mom off that the store was in peril. She couldn’t have that.
“Worse than being forced out on a date with Pete?”
