Chapter 1
As Bing Crosby crooned from a loudspeaker overhead, Luke sighed. This never-ending line to the register was sure to be his undoing. He adjusted the box he was holding and shuffled forward as best he could with a Battle Action Robot secured between his feet, a coveted toy people were hawking for ten times its price online. He was afraid if he set it down next to him, someone would swipe it. Merry Christmas indeed.
As soon as he got these gifts home, his Christmas shopping would be complete. He tilted the box in his arms and studied the sparkly packaging for an underwater mermaid castle. His niece was going to love it.
“Is that a gift for someone?”
He turned to see the older woman in line behind him beaming up at him. She was a tiny thing with large hair dyed an unnatural red color. And yet, it seemed to suit her.
“It’s for my niece. After tonight, I’m officially done Christmas shopping. How about you?”
“For once, I’m ahead of schedule this year, but I like to collect these Christmas village pieces, and they had them on sale.” She showed him the little box she was holding, picturing an old-time fire station covered with snow drifts.
“What other pieces do you have?” Not that he cared, but she obviously did, and it was the friendly thing to ask. She rambled on about the church and the little schoolhouse, and how she’d found a long piece of white sparkly felt to go across her piano as the base for her whole collection.
“Do you collect anything?” she asked.
“Pez dispensers,” Luke said. It was something his brother made fun of him for, but he’d started collecting them as a kid, and then with eBay, he’d bought and sold enough to actually fund the hobby.
Her eyes lit up. “How wonderful. I have a Tupperware full of them somewhere. They are fun to collect, aren’t they?” She put out her hand. “I’m Sandy.”
He shook her hand. “Luke.”
“What do you do for a living? Can I ask that or is that no longer P.C. these days? It’s hard to keep up.”
Luke held back a laugh. “It’s okay to ask. I’m a sports dietitian, and, as of last month, an employed one. The university hired me for their athletics program.”
“Oh, congratulations. My friend’s daughter went into a similar field. It’s so much school. They don’t pay you during the internship portion, do they?”
“No, they do not. In fact, I moved back in with my parents and rented out my house so I could afford it. I’m almost to the point where I can quit my side job.”
“What’s your side job?”
He smiled. “Being a personal chef. I love that it’s flexible, but it’s also almost exclusively nights and weekends.”
“Well, good for you, going for what you want to do in life.” She pursed her lips as if suddenly discovering something. “Are you, by chance, single?”
Oh, no. One ofthoseladies. No wonder she wanted to know about his work. He shouldn’t have been so friendly. “I’m um...”
Curse him for not being able to lie faster. Sandy was already pulling a piece of paper and a pen out of her purse.
“Here, hold this.” She handed him the fire station, and he moved aside the box in his hands just in time to grab it before it fell. Sandy wrote down an address, date, and time and handed it over. “My niece, Tara, is a music teacher, and tomorrow night is the school’s holiday concert. If you’re not working, come and I’ll introduce the two of you. Totally casual.”
Nothing about that sounded casual. He stared down at the piece of paper, knowing he’d throw it away the second she was out of sight, but there were still three people ahead of them in line. He pretended to study it. Sometimes it stunk being in this exclusive category of people who had the audacity to be single. He had a feeling Sandy probably did this a lot. Even considering the remote possibility that this niece of hers was both hot and sane, there was no getting around the fact that he’d be a stranger showing up to a children’s concert. Not gonna happen.
He handed back Sandy’s box and tried to think of something else to talk about to fill the time before they reached the register. “What did you get her for Christmas?” He assumed if Sandy was throwing men at her niece, she’d also have gifts for her of the non-eligible male kind.
Sandy hugged the fire station box to her chest. “Tara likes to knit, so I got her some beautiful skeins of yarn and a set of leopard-print knitting needles. How fun is that?”
“So fun.” Luke had never worked so hard at keeping a poker face.
“She knitted this sweater I’m wearing.”
“Impressive.” Actually, it kind of was. It looked like something you might see in a store, rather than a shapeless fuzzy mess that you would expect from an amateur knitter.
“So, you’ll come to the concert?”
Luke’s mouth opened and closed. He didn’t want to get her hopes up, and he had a feeling anything except a complete no would be turned into hope by this woman. Maybe it was time someone told her the truth. “Aren’t you worried about introducing strangers to her? I could be a total loser, a pervert, a murderer, or all three. How would you know after talking to me for five minutes?”
