She shook his hand. "Can you come over for a minute? I was trying to wait until your company left. I have a Christmas cake for you and Luna. Is she here yet?"
"She's back in town, but she ran to the store with my sister."
"Well, okay, you two come over with me for just a minute if you don't mind. I just need one thing at my house. It's my smoke alarm."
***
"Nothing happened. Most of the time you were gone, we were at Marjorie's house," I said to my sister once the girls were in bed. The two of us were sitting on the couch. She tilted her head at me with a skeptical expression that made me smile. "It's true," I said.
"Your neighbor?"
"Yeah, she came over as soon as you guys left and asked us to put batteries in her smoke detectors. There were three of them, and he had to get a ladder out of the garage."
"Ash was with you for all that?"
"Yes. He's the one who did it all. She loved him. She gave us these Little Debby Christmas tree cakes, and Ash opened the plastic and ate it right there in front of her. I've never heard her giggle like that. She gave him two more to take with him."
"I took Lu to Target on purpose to give you guys time."
"What?" I said. "What do you mean?"
She shrugged and smiled. "He was, you guys were… I don't know, I could just see and feel that you guys were looking at each other. It was sweet, and I knew you didn't get to interact with him at dinner." She glanced at me. "Did something happen with you two recently?"
"No, I mean… I had sort of already… I had my mind set on not really talking to him or anything."
"Did you kiss him tonight? I thought I saw you standing by the side door when we pulled up."
I stared at the ceiling, taking a deep breath. "We didn't kiss. I wanted to, though. He was adorable and so sweet with Marjorie."
"He was sweet with Lu, too. They were talking at the restaurant."
I nodded. "He told me."
"She sat on his lap."
"Really?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in disbelief. "How'd that happen?"
Josie shrugged. "I didn't see how it started, really, but he was leaning over and talking to her, and then she was just up there."
"Whoa."
"I know. You took an hour in the bathroom."
I laughed. "Anna Grace had a stomachache."
"Yeah, she had to go again when we were in Target just now," she said, making us both laugh. "So, no kiss?"
"No, you saw what happened when he left. We were just standing there. Besides, earlier, you were telling me to focus on Lu."
"I know, but I sort of saw a different side of things after I was thinking about it." We were quiet for a few seconds before she added, "Are you planning on seeing him again?"
"We don't have any plans. He said he might get Lu a little something for Christmas. But he also said that the director was hot to trot about prepping for that movie, so he might be going to California soon, if he gets that role. We didn't have that much time to talk after Marjorie. And I'm tired. My body sort of just shuts down at this time of night when I know I have work in the morning."
"Yeah, it's getting late," she said. "I should let you get to bed."
Chapter 13
Two weeks later
