Page 41 of The Cupcake Cottage

“They have that chicken wrap thing.” They should have eaten in the city. He was going to have to make supper tonight, and he didn’t enjoy cooking for one. So much work for a lonely meal.

“You’ve got to be getting tired of ordering that.”

“It’s okay, actually. But truthfully? I’m not sure I can handle listening to the diner’s Christmas CD over and over again while we eat.”

“I almost have the song order memorized.”

“We should teach Mrs. Fisher how to use the shuffle button.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“Maybe we could fix her radio?”

“You’re not a fan of Christmas music?”

He shrugged. “Maybe not listening to the same eight Country and Western Christmas songs over and over again. How about you? Do you get into the holiday? I like your lights.”

She laughed. “You already said that.” Daisy-Mae pointed at the lights hung along her eaves with a sigh. “Don’t ever leavethem up all year though. They used to have color, but they’re all faded now.”

“I could help you. We could replace these with colored ones, and then I could help you take them down in January. Then back up again next winter.”

“Nah, they still work—they’re just not as colorful.”

“But you bought colored lights,” he pointed out.

“True.”

“I don’t have any decorations up at my place.” In fact, he wasn’t even sure if he had decorations any longer.

“You don’t celebrate?” She tipped her head to the side.

“I do. I just…” He lifted his hands, giving her a helpless gesture.

She sighed in a way that reminded him of his mother. “Men,” she muttered.

He chuckled. “What does that mean?”

“These things don’t just happen, you know. You have to go out there and buy the tree. Kind of like if you want food in your fridge, you have to go to the grocery store.”

“Now you’re just busting my chops.”

“I promised I would,” she teased. She was relaxed, sitting back in her seat, obviously not eager to go back into her home and spend her evening alone, either. Even though she had her dog.

“Do you have a tree?”

“Yes. And I have food in my fridge.”

“So do I. In fact,” he said, an idea coming to him, “go get Ella.”

“Why?”

“Get her. I have a plan.”

“A plan?”

“I have something to prove to you.”

She grinned, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening her door. “I like the sound of that. Back in a flash.”

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