Page 17 of The Rule of 3

“Well, not officially, but she’s coming back to my place tonight for sure. We’ve also talked about letting you have her house while you’re here. It’s small, but it has everything you need, and it’s way better than the local motel, especially now that the house has been fixed up.”

Eli laughed, “For someone who’s taken years to get there, you’re certainly moving quickly now!”

Chuckling, Tanner answered, “Yeah. I can’t let her think about anything and back out now.”

“As if. Night, Tan. Kiss Zoë for me.”

“Sure. Night, Eli.”

“Wait,” Eli commanded. Tanner didn’t hang up. “I really am happy for you, man.”

“Thanks, Eli.” They disconnected simultaneously.

Chapter 16

Christmastime was a sweet, happy occasion filled with local pageants and carolers. The Honeybee Hollow residents embraced the pageantry and the schmaltz of the season with zeal. Everyone tried to outdo each other by festooning their houses and yards with lights and gaudy decorations, and the entire town seemed to smell like pine boughs and mulled cider. Each of the businesses along Main Street had cookies or candy canes set out for shoppers, and Mayor Lassiter wore a red and green plaid vest under his suit jacket for most of December. The local kindergarten teacher often wore red tights and Christmas earrings, making her look like a beautiful Santa’s helper.

On Christmas Eve, Zoë got a call from her parents who sounded a little high. They wished her a Happy Winter Solstice, even though they were actually off by a couple of days.

“Are you still in San Francisco?” she asked them.

Zoë’s mom replied, “We’re not too far from there. We found a place to work, so we’re making some cash. You’d love the people we’ve met, Zoë. They’re so well-informed and down to earth.”

“This place has great benefits too,” cackled her dad.

Grimacing a little, knowing that her parents tended to be overly influenced by blowhards and fools, Zoë answered, “That’s great. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourselves.” After a little more conversation, Zoë discovered they were working on a pot farm.At least it’s legal now in California—not that they’d have cared much if it weren’t. So, I guess ‘the benefits’ aren’t in the form of a 401k—more like free samples.“Merry Christmas to both of you.” She was going to tell them about Tanner, but they hadn’t asked her a single question about herself, and suddenly they were gone. Zoëwashappy for them, though she still felt somewhat abandoned. She wondered what they’d make of her dating the mayor.

Tanner and Zoë went to the midnight Christmas service at the local Episcopal Church after her call. Tanner’s parents were also MIA as they’d elected to take a seven-day Christmas cruise around the Caribbean. So, Christmas was a quiet day for them that they spent mostly in bed.

The day after Christmas, however, a messenger arrived and presented both of them with command performance invitations to a New Year’s Eve party at Halden Dahl’s house in Louisville. They were instructed to wear formal attire, and a limousine would be taking them to and from the party.

Zoë couldn’t stand it, so she called her best friend, Madison, and put her on speakerphone and had Tanner sitting with her. “Merry Christmas, Madison! What’s the deal with the fancy invitation?”

Tanner also chimed in, “Merry Christmas, Sis! Yeah, what gives? Your boyfriend sure seems to know how to get people’s attention about a party.”

They could hear Madison asking Halden to come join the conversation and said, “We’re both here now, and you’re on speaker too.” Her voice sounded a little tired to Zoë, who chalked it up to too much Christmas cheer. But Madison went on, “Please don’t tell anyone else who’s invited, but we wanted you two to know that Halden and I are getting married that night, and we want you both to stand up for us. Zoë, will you be my maid of honor?”

Gasping with delight, Zoë gushed, “I’d love to. Ohmygod, this is wonderful!”

Breaking into the conversation, Halden said, “Tanner, will you be my groomsman? My brother Gunnar is my best man, and his wife Åse is great friends now with Madison, so she’s going to also be a bridesmaid for her. We’re keeping this whole thing as small as possible.”

“Thanks, Halden. I’d be honored to be in the wedding party. Congratulations to both of you!”

Chapter 17

Over the next couple of days, Tanner and Zoë took care of moving the rest of her things into his house. Finally, tired from lifting and carrying things, Tanner sat on the bed and took a look at a box full of paperback books that Zoë apparently hadn’t been able to part with. As Zoë continued to hang her clothes in the closet, he smiled.

Several of them seemed to be by the same author—one he’d seen in his sister’s possession from time to time—Dolly Gunn. Tanner pulled the top book off the stack and saw that it was well-worn and earmarked in quite a few places. The cover showed the naked torsos of two muscular men with a woman standing between them, and the title wasTwo Times the Fun. Snickering, he heard Zoë close the closet door, so he quickly slid the book back into the box.

Sitting down, Zoë snuggled up to him.

“So, read any good books lately?” he asked breezily.

“Actually, I have. How about you?” she asked without taking the bait.

“I haven’t had much time for pleasure reading, I’ve mostly been working as much as possible on how to run for governor.” Tanner was going to just make the minimum age requirement to become governor by a week, and he wanted the job passionately. To change the subject back to Zoë, however, he pointed out, “I see quite a few Dolly Gunn books on your shelf here. Doesn’t Madison read those too?”

“Uh-huh,” she said with a nod. “I introduced Madison to Dolly Gunn. You can always count on a romance author to put you in a good mood. I love that there are guaranteed happy endings. Life is so hard sometimes. It’s great escapism.”

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