Page 25 of Christmas In Love

Chapter 8

Natalie

“Ifoundyouadate!” April sang as she walked through the front door, twenty minutes after five. She was never on time.

“Hello to you, too.”

April stuck her tongue out.

“Well, yay to not being a third wheel.” It was all the enthusiasm Natalie could muster. Poor April. Natalie couldn’t even guess how they were friends. April was sweet, optimistic, and peppy. Natalie was usually… not.

April looked a little disappointed but didn’t say anything until Natalie logged out of the computer.

“Hey, can I borrow your black heels?” April asked when Natalie walked around the desk.

“This is a heels kind of date? I hadn’t even planned on changing.”

April looked Natalie up and down. “Even though that sweater is on backward?”

“Back—what?” Natalie looked down. “I’ve been wearing this all day!”

April patted her arm consolingly. “I doubt anyone even noticed.”

“You noticed.”

“I’m above average.”

“That you are.” Natalie pulled the sweater over her head and turned it around once they reached her suite of rooms. It was a nice setup, with a small living space, large bedroom, closet, and en suite bath. Plus, it was near enough to the entry that she could generally hear if there was a problem, or if she was needed for something. “I guess this explains why Cade was staring at me this morning,” she said, putting the sweater back on.

“I can say with absolute certainty Cade wasn’t staring because of your backward shirt.”

Natalie scrunched her nose teasingly at April’s grinning expression. “You didn’t answer my question, is this a heels sort of thing?”

Thankfully, April didn’t press the conversation. “Nope, it’s not. I want to borrow them for a work Christmas party.”

“Then sure, go ahead. Wait, actually.”

April stopped walking toward Natalie’s closet and raised a brow in question.

“You can borrow my heels if you let me out of this date.” There was no way April would, but it was worth a try.

“Oh, be quiet, you’re the one who made the challenge.”

“I regret it already. More than the time I challenged you to eat both our meals on girls’ night after you complained that I only got an entree for the free dessert. Then you threw up in my car.”

“Yeah. Not one of my finer moments,” April winced.

“Or mine. I cleaned it up, you’ll remember.”

“Oh, I remember. Like you’d let me forget.” April made a face at her after setting down her makeup bag.

“Okay, fine, I’ll go on the date. So, what kind of dateisthis?” Natalie pulled out a mirror and some makeup, retouching her mascara and adding a little eyeshadow and blush.

“Nice jeans are probably fine. We’re just going to dinner and ice cream. Will you let me curl your hair? Your hair looks so pretty curled.”

Natalie narrowed her eyes at her friend. “This date is about you. Not me. I don’t even like to date. Youknowwhy.”

April froze in the act of walking to the bathroom for the curling iron. She stared at the floor for a minute and seemed to be deciding something. When she finally looked up, Natalie was surprised at the fierce look on her face.

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