Page 21 of No Business Like Snow Business

“The seedy underbelly of Christmas Falls is made up entirely of geese.”

His smile turned into a laugh. “I’ll bet. Geese a-laying and lords a-leaping all over these mean streets.”

“The lords are fine,” I said. “It’s the maids a-milking you have to watch out for. Never turn your back on a maid a-milking, Sterling. Never.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.”

“Did you know that all the things mentioned in ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ are actually birds?”

“What? No, there are lords, and maids, and dancing ladies.”

“Okay, so they’re all medieval food,” I said. “They’re getting a feast every day, and they loved to eat all kinds of birds back then. The pipers are probably sandpipers, and the drummers might be grouse or even snipe, because they were both eaten back then, and they both drum on the ground when they court their mates.” Usually at this point on whatever tangent I was on, Steven would tell me to shut up, but Sterling looked as though he was actually interested, so I kept going. “The ten lords a-leaping are herons, and the nine ladies dancing are lapwings. They’re both on medieval menus. But the fun one is the maids a-milking. Because guess what?Doves and pigeons both produce crop milk to feed their chicks. Isn’t that amazing?”

“Huh.” Sterling sipped his milkshake, his handsome brow furrowed. “Wait. What about the five gold rings?”

“Pheasants,” I said. “They have rings around their necks.”

“That is...” He shook his head, smiling. “I’ve always had this vision of this weirdo turning up every day at his true love’s house with a whole parade of people behind him, and it turns out it’s just some guy deliveringbirds. It’s not as impressive, is it? But it’s a lot more practical. What are you going to do with all those lords and milkmaids? Are you supposed to house them and entertain them? It’s the worst Christmas gift ever. It makes much more sense if they’re birds.”

Warmth filled me, and I ducked my head to shove a fry in my face, hoping he didn’t see the flush of color on my cheeks. “It’s weird and pointless trivia.”

“But it’s interesting.” His smile grew. “Don’t tell them at the Pear Tree though, or they’ll need to replace the decals on the doors.”

I snorted at the thought.

“I wonder if Freddy got the same culture shock I did when he came here,” Sterling said, his voice softening. “My grandfather was not a warm man. We’re not a warm family. I don’t even know…” He shook his head and cleared his throat. “I came here on business. If Freddy is still alive, then that’s something my father and the board and the shareholders need to know.”

“That’s not why you came,” I said, and he looked startled. “I mean, maybe that’s what you tell yourself, but I don’t think it’s the only reason.”

“You think the best of people.” Sterling’s smile had faded. “That’s not always the smartest thing.”

“I know. I’m not always the smartest guy.” I shrugged. “This one time, when I was a kid, a woman at the grocery store told Grandma she needed ten dollars for diapers. And after Grandma gave it to her, this man said she’d just got scammed. You know what Grandma told him?”

“What?”

“That she’d rather get scammed out of ten dollars than let someone’s baby go without diapers.” My chest ached a little. “And that’s how I try to be. I’d rather think the best of people and sometimes be disappointed than think everyone was out to get one over on me and never take a chance at doing a good thing because of it. And maybe that’s dumb or naive, but that’s okay. I mean, if I’d been smarter, I never would have dated Steven, but it’smostlyokay.”

“The guy who didn’t want to break up with you.” Sterling’s expression did something complicated. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“About Steven?” I picked up my shake and sucked the straw slightly too aggressively. “Not really. And, just to clarify, it’s not that he didn’t want to break up with me that was the issue, it’s that we were never actually together.Ithought we were, but apparently Steven didn’t agree. And his actual boyfriend probably wouldn’t either.”

Sterling sucked a breath in through his teeth. “Yikes.”

“Yeah,” I said, wishing the burn I felt was more from anger than humiliation. It wasn’t, though. “Yikes.”

Sterling looked at me through narrowed eyes, as though he was reevaluating everything he thought he knew about me. Probably negatively. Then he surprised me by opening his mouth and saying, “I think I can beat that.”

“What?”

“I think when it comes to terrible romantic history, I’m winning.” He popped a fry in his mouth, and chewed and swallowed. “I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

“Oh,” I said, “Well, that’s...that’s not unusual?”

Why did I say it like a question?

“I’m gay,” he said. “And I’ve never had a boyfriend because I’m in the closet.”

His words hit me in the gut like a punch. “Holy shit. Wow. I’m...that sucks. I’m sorry.”

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