“I’m so confident you two will win that I placed a bet on it,” her mom added proudly. “I’d thought you’d like to know.”
“Wait, hold on—you bet that Jackson and I are going to be Couple of the Year?”
“Sure did.” Gertie waved one hand. “I thought it would be a smart move. You see, I was crunching the numbers, and even though I planned ahead, there’s just not as much money in my retirement account as I’d like.”
Zoe blinked. “Mom…”
Gertie kept going, undeterred. “I was thinking I’d have to cancel my vacation with the girls, but then I saw you and Jackson and thought, bam! There’s my answer! I’ll bet my money on you two becoming Couple of the Year, double my holiday fund, and I won’t have to cancel my trip!”
“You gambled your vacation account?” Zoe repeated, stunned.
“Why not?” Gertie shrugged, grabbing a stray stem from the counter and twirling it between her fingers. “You can bet on just about anything these days. Betsy Copplehagen is keeping the book. You know how Mrs. C. is—no-nonsense kind of lady. I trust her to keep the contest honest.”
Zoe stared at her mother, utterly speechless.
She hadn’t realized a single hug could spiral so far out of control. And it broke her heart a little to hear that her mom didn’t have as much in her retirement fund as she’d thought.
But this couldn’t be the answer. She just had to figure out how to explain that to her momandget her money back.
“Hank! Did you hear the exciting news?” Gertie called the moment Edith and Hank Bloomfield—Mayor Bloomfield to most of Maple Falls—stepped into the shop. “Jackson and Zoe are going to be Couple of the Year!”
Mayor Bloomfield’s eyes widened behind his wire-frame glasses. “Well, I’ll be. I knew there was something special going on between you two,” he said, his voice booming. “Your face lit up when he walked in yesterday, Zoe.”
Zoe tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and turned quickly to fuss with an arrangement of tulips, praying her cheeks weren’t as pink as they felt.
Edith clasped her hands under her chin, her bracelets jingling. “Zoe, you didn’t tell me you were dating Jackson! And here I thought Madison would’ve spilled it first.”
“It’s…very new,” Zoe blurted. “Hot-off-the-presses new. We were kind of keeping it quiet.”
“Well, looks like your mom beat you to it,” the mayor said with a grin, giving Gertie a playful wink.
“I did, I most certainly did,” Gertie said proudly, puffing up like a hen. “And I can’t wait to see these two crowned King and Queen.”
Edith clapped her hands, delighted. “Oh, won’t that be romantic, Hank?”
Hank slid an arm around his fiancée’s shoulders. “Anything’s romantic if you’re there, sweetheart.”
Edith swatted him with her purse, blushing like a schoolgirl. “Oh, hush. You old flirt.”
“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” Gertie continued. “You and Jackson have been cute since preschool. Do you remember your mud pies?”
“Mom,” Zoe groaned.
“They were darling,” Gertie pressed on. “They served up the finest playground cuisine in Maple Falls. He was her first kiss, too! All innocent.” Gertie waved her hand. “Five years old and already breaking hearts!”
“Should we print the wedding invitations now?” Mayor Bloomfield chuckled.
“Ha, ha,” Zoe said flatly.
“Oh, come now. Just having a bit of fun,” Gertie said, clearly pleased with herself.
Zoe seized her chance to change the subject. “Speaking of weddings…Mom, do you remember a local flower that was blue with a white center? Edith mentioned it. We’re trying to find it for their wedding.”
Gertie’s brows lifted. “My word, I haven’t thought about those flowers in years. Seems like they just disappeared, no?”
“They were never easy to come by in the first place,” Edith reminded Gertie.
“No, that’s true. Everyone said you had to find them in the wild, over the ridge where the snow melted first,” Gertie recalled.
