“I really wouldn’t know,” she admitted as they moved up in line. “I typically get my coffee from a cart pushed around the office by an intern.”
That surprised him, considering the amount of time she’d spent in Bitter Cold since returning home. “You don’t go to coffee shops to get your daily fix?”
“Honestly, I don’t get out a whole lot. If I couldn’t see the city from my apartment window, I think I’d sometimes forget I lived in it. It’s to the office and then home for me every weekday. Even some weekends.”
“What’s the draw of living in the city when you don’t even get to explore it?”
“That’s a fair question,” she said with a hint of resignation in her tone and in the breath that lifted the strands of blonde fringing her face. “One I don’t think I have an answer for anymore.”
He left it at that. It had helped that the music track was an inherently bubbly tune that encouraged dancing along to the beat. Even in line, Holden found his foot tapping and head bobbing in time, despite the melancholy that had unexpectedly slipped into their conversation.
“What’ll it be, big guy?” Holden’s favorite barista, Perry, aimed finger guns at him. “The usual?”
“You know? I think I’m in the mood for something different. Surprise me.”
“Up for a little adventure.” Perry nodded beneath his colorful beanie. “I like it. I’ll come up with something good.” He transferred his attention to Rachel. “What about you, miss? What can we get started for you?”
Rachel thumbed her chin as she peered up at the illustrated menu. “How is the Gingerbread Breve?”
“My current favorite on our seasonal menu,” Perry answered emphatically. “You can’t go wrong with that one. It’s like an entire gingerbread house in a cup. Magical.”
Holden pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “How about you make it two?”
“Righty-o. Two Gingerbread Breves coming right up.”
Inserting his card into the reader, Holden waited for the beep before returning it to his billfold. “Thanks, Perry. And Merry Christmas.”
“Same to you, boss.”
They found a table near the back—the one Rachel usually claimed as her own—and waited while the baristas crafted their holiday drink order. Rachel unwound the scarf from her neck and piled it onto the table in a knit coil of reds and greens. She was always beautiful, but something was different today. Holden wondered if the thought of their kiss drew the pink blush to her cheeks. If it set the smile on her mouth and the shimmer in her eye.
He knew being in love changed people from the inside out, and her magnified beauty verified that tenfold.
But they weren’t in love. Not yet. Time was not on their side when it came down to it. You couldn’t fall in love with someone in forty-eight hours. And yet, Holden wasn’t going to let that stop him.
She stood quickly when the barista called out the drinks, making a move to collect them before Holden had the chance.
“Thank you.” He took the proffered cup from her grip when she returned. “It’s fitting we would order this particular drink since gingerbread house making is on today’s agenda.”
Her gaze filled with delight as she reclaimed her seat across the table. She cupped her hands around the specialty drink. “Is it, really?”
“Yep, along with sledding and snowman building.”
“This is beginning to sound a little familiar.” She cocked her head slightly, deciphering his plan.
“It should. Those were all challenges in your Christmas Competition. Only now, instead of vying with one another for the title, we’ll be working as a team.”
“Probably something we should have done all along.”
“Probably so,” Holden agreed. “But better late than never, right?”
She didn’t answer. The question might have sounded rhetorical, but Holden hadn’t intended it to be. He wanted her reciprocation. Some confirmation that it was okay to invest his heart in this.
In the end, it didn’t matter. Who was he kidding? He was already invested, whether or not that was wise.
“What’s the order of events?” She removed the lid from her drink and blew across the caramel-colored surface. Her lips pressed together and her beautiful cupid’s bow pursed as steam rose around her in wispy curls.
He wanted to kiss her right then and there, and if a table hadn’t separated them, he very well might have. He cleared his throat. “I was thinking sledding, then snowman building. And then we’ll finish up with gingerbread decorating at my parents’ place, if that’s okay with you.”
