Page 5 of Caught in a Christmas Conundrum

“That’s fine. I’ll wait for you, see if I can get a few things together. I’m going to have to make a grocery run.” I’ll head to the big box store and to the poultry place where I buy my Cornish hens in bulk. But first, I can get him started on a few different things that we’ll need to be getting ready.

We nod our heads at each other. We’re not rivals anymore, but I still wouldn’t term our relationship warm or friendly.

I take one last look at him and walk out.

“Oh my goodness, is that Kate coming out of Lucas Nearhoof’s store?” Kathleen Carson stops on the sidewalk and stares at me.

“It is. Our rivalry is suspended for the next two days.”

“Your rivalry is suspended?” she says, like she’s never heard of such a thing.

To be fair, I’ve never heard of such a thing either, but it doesn’t matter. I’m going to be able to pull off the double-booking that I thought was going to ruin me. And Lucas Nearhoof, of all people, is going to help me. I’m not sure I’m ready to admit to the town that I screwed up this bad. I think I want to wait until after I’m sure that everything is fixed. Saturday night at midnight, maybe.

“It is. You can expect to see us getting along for the next few days.”

“Wow. You suspended your rivalry for the festivals. That’s irony,” Kathleen says with a laugh. Then she waves and hurries off down the street.

That should do it. People will think we suspended our rivalry for the festivals, and hopefully they won’t think to ask if there’s any other reason. Now, all I have to do is get along with Lucas for the next two days. That might be harder than it sounds. I have found that once I suppressed my animosity toward him, I find him quite attractive.

Animosity is much safer than attraction.

four

. . .

Lucas

Just because it’s Kate,I change my apron again. This one says,I turn grills on. I laugh as I’m putting it on. So appropriate for my interactions with Kate. It might be passive-aggressive, but I have a passive-aggressive attraction type thing. At least that’s the way I see it. Maybe she doesn’t see it the same way.

It’s a beautiful day out, despite the chill in the air, as I walk across the street to Kate’s.

The bell jingles happily over my head, and I see Phyllis, Kate’s assistant, moving around in the back.

Kate’s at the counter, bending over. As she stands up, I see her apron. It says,I’m the chef. If you don’t like the food, I’ll stab you.

I laugh out loud at that.

Her eyes go to mine, and she huffs out a laugh before she says, “Hey there. I really am appreciative that you agreed to help me.”

“No problem. Although, how do you know I’m not going to use this opportunity to sabotage everything?”

Her mouth forms an “O,” and all laughter flees from her face.

I put a hand up. “I was just kidding. Seriously. I would not do that. You know me.”

Sometimes I think she doesn’t. She thinks I’m so much worse than what I am. But I guess we do that to people, don’t we? We somehow see something negative about them, and then from then on, all we do is find the negative, because that’s what we want to see and that’s what we’re looking for. It’s hard for us to see anything positive about them, because we just don’t want to like them.

I’ve done that at times, and I don’t like it when I do. I try hard to see the best in people, no matter what.

“So… I hope it’s okay, but I wasn’t going to tell people that I double-booked. I was honest with you, and I don’t want to lie to anyone, but I also don’t necessarily want that to be part of my reputation.”

“I won’t lie, but I guess you’re asking me to not share this with anyone, and I can do that.”

“People are going to want to know why you’re helping me.”

“After years of us competing at the barbecue contest, I suppose it will look a little odd if we’re all of a sudden working together.”

“Exactly. I just… I’ll tell people, but I would really like to wait until after the festival is over.”

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