Page 60 of Once Upon A Christmas Song

“I dunno.”

“You don’t know?”

I gestured at Dawson. “He’s not kidding. Normally just smelling what he orders makes my nose hairs burn.”

“I see,” she said evilly.

“Don’t kill the band. We need them to make with the live music and all.”

“I make no promises,” she teased as Cami and a now sparkly Henry told Dawson, their voices overlapping, what kind of pizza they wanted, along with garlic bread and dipping sauces.

“Are you supervising that?” Georgine asked me.

“I will, yes. Now will you go change, please. Seth will be over shortly.”

She left with an under-her-breath comment about how much Cami liked Dawson. Apparently, she had regaled her mother about learning guitar.

“What did she say?” Dawson asked as he waited for the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen to pick up.

“Nothing.”

He squinted at me. “She likes me, though, yeah?”

“Everybody likes you.”

“So tell me, has anything changed with you, or do you still like your pizza the same way?”

“You’re asking? You normally don’t.”

“Well, I used to know everything, but I’ve been gone, as you keep pointing out, so instead of assuming, I’m checking.”

The new Dawson West, confident but also thoughtful, was hard to resist. “I like everything the same.”

“Everything, you say?”

“On pizza,” I replied, scowling at him.

He was chuckling before he gave all his attention to the person on the phone as he skillfully ordered precisely what the kids had told him and then, from memory, mine. It was impressive. I was terrible with food ordering. I always forgot something. But not Dawson.

When Georgine came back to the living room, where the very handsome, very dashing Seth Rafkin was waiting in his Hugo Boss suit—still a bit overwhelmed that Dawson West was in his friend’s house—all three of us gasped.

“Wow,” Dawson said softly, admiring the stunning woman in the navy-blue dress. “Someone should write a song about the way you look tonight.”

She smiled, reached out and took his hand, then turned to me. “Oh yes, I see the appeal. Feel free to keep him with my blessing.”

“That’s not helping,” I told her.

She shrugged, then turned to Seth. He took her hand in his and didn’t let go, and her answering smile was luminous. He worshipped her, and she adored him. I had no idea what they were waiting for.

“Hey,” Dawson said to Georgine, and tipped his head at Seth. “He’s good. Feel free to keep him with my blessing.”

Her flush was instant, but she looked at Dawson like maybe she understood something now. Sometimes it took someone different to open your eyes.

Seth and Georgine hugged and kissed their kids and thanked us. As soon as they were out the door, Henry and Cami turned to us. Dawson looked a bit concerned.

“The requests will commence now,” I explained with a chuckle.

“I’m sorry, what?”