Page 43 of Wish You Faith

“Oh?” Rosie put her hands together. Then her shoulders sagged. “I’m on a diet.”

“I hear you.” The man behind the counter nodded. “But it’s Christmas.”

“I know…”

“How about this? You pick the cupcake and you just take a bite. I’ll have the rest,” Evan said.

“How’s that an idea? Are you kidding me? These cupcakes are small.”

“Whatever it is, we better hurry. There’s a line behind us,” Evan said quietly to her. He didn’t want to say it too loudly because it might embarrass her. But he also wanted to be considerate to the people behind them.

“Oh sorry, sorry.” Rosie waved to the couple behind them. “I just can’t decide. They don’t have fruit cups.”

Rosie pointed to a carrot cupcake, and Evan ordered one for her and one for himself. He also paid extra for their two cups of hot chocolate because he bought two white ceramic travel mugs with Piper’s Place logo on them instead of single-use paper cups.

“I thought we were going Dutch.” Rosie picked up some paper napkins and handed one to Evan.

“I get my Christmastown paycheck every Friday, so I can afford this.” Evan wondered if he might be overplaying his hand.

He wasn’t dirt poor, but a multi-millionaire he was not either. He had some trust fund that his grandfather had left him, but that was all. He had left his cushy job at Cavanaugh Shipping because he was tired of being told what to do all the time by an overbearing mother, who was the Chief Financial Officer of the family business.

“You splurged on these mugs,” Rosie said. “Take them home with you.”

“You don’t want one?”

“I have two similar ones at home. One is mine and the other is Mom’s.”

“Then I’ll put them in my own kitchen.” Evan had bought the travel mugs to commemorate their evening together, but now Rosie didn’t want hers.

Perhaps Rosie saw something in his face because she quickly added, “On the other hand, it’s a gift from you…”

“That’s right.” Evan didn’t mind Rosie’s ambivalence as long as it wasn’t about him.

“All right. I’ll keep one. Thank you.”

It made Evan’s heart happy.

Evan pointed to a bench where two people were vacating. He rushed there to save their seats.

“Sorry, I should have just said thank you for the hot chocolate and shut up instead of complaining that you spent money on ceramic mugs.” Rosie sat down.

“No, it showed that you cared. We’re not strangers anymore.”

“We haven’t been strangers since day one.”

“True.”

“Anyway, next time it’s my treat.” Rosie sipped the hot chocolate from the mug. “Mmmm. It tastes better drinking it from a mug than a paper cup.”

“I know, right?”

They made small talk as they ate their own cupcakes.

“I don’t usually eat carrots, but this is yummy.” Evan finished his cupcake and balled up the cupcake liner.

“Name one vegetable you like,” Rosie said.

“Kale. Can you believe it?”

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