Page 24 of Maybe This Christmas
Someone coughed behind them.Caleb turned to find Dutch.“Hello, hello!My name is Dutch, and I’ll be your server tonight.”He focused all his attention on Emma.“Caleb has known me most of my life, so that introduction was for your benefit, Ms.Dale.”
She laughed.The kid did have charm—Caleb could give him that.
“Let me take your coat, then I’ll be back with a couple of hot toddies, if that’s agreeable?”
Emma nodded.“That sounds perfect.”
She made her way toward the fireplace at the opposite end of the room.“I’m freezing.Care to warm up by the fire?”
Caleb had been nervous, sweating for at least an hour, but he wouldn’t deny her.He had no choice but to follow.
Caleb’s cheeks were cherry-apple red.And the fireplace wasn’t giving off enough heat for that to be the cause.
He worried his hands over one another while Emma tried and failed to keep her gaze on the blueish-orange flames.Caleb’s hands gave up on worrying and he ran one over his beard.A nice, tidily trimmed dark beard, a shade darker than his dark brown hair.Little flecks of silver caught in the fire glow.Aniyah had done a little digging and found his social media profile.He didn’t update it much, but through snooping, she’d been able to figure out some basic facts.He was thirty-six.Only two years older than her.
“Hot toddies on the way!”the young waiter called, although he didn’t carry the tray himself—another waiter followed him.
“I’m underage, so I have my friend Paul here helping out with the booze.”
Paul brought the tray over to them.The glasses had hand-knit cozies, which of course had a Christmas theme.
“My sister’s idea,” Caleb said.“She got our town’s coffee and knitting society to make them.”
“The biddies, actually knitting?Who would’ve thought it?”the young waiter quipped.
Emma blew on her drink.“The biddies?”
“There may be a mayor of Falling Leaves—the town we’re all from—but the biddies run things.That dog that nearly took you out yesterday?Owned by one of the biddies.”
“They are a force of nature,” the waiter said.I’ve left your customized menus on the table.I’ll give you a few minutes to get…acquainted.”He waggled his eyebrows.
The glass doors were smoothly pulled shut once again.
“I saw that there’s a Christmas tour of Falling Leaves on the list of activities.”
Caleb took a sip of his drink.“It’s my hometown.As a kid, I hated growing up here because, you know, it cramped my style.But it does have its charms.”
Emma wandered over to the table.“Maybe I’ll take that tour, then.Are you the tour guide?”
He chuckled to himself.“I suppose I am.I’ll have to check with my sister, though.”
Emma set her drink down and pulled up the menu.“Mr.& Mrs.Ellis.Huh.Was that the couple that had to cancel?”
Caleb started to spit his drink out before he covered his mouth with his hand.He swallowed.“Hmm, I guess so.What a coincidence, given that my last name is Ellis.”
Caleb didn’t seem to see it as a coincidence, but Emma didn’t say as much.She might not be a mind reader, but she knew well enough to know that this setup wasn’t his style.If it was, why would he be so damn jumpy?
It was adorable.Maybe it meant that he’d felt the same way she had when they’d first locked eyes yesterday.
She turned her attention back to the menu.
A delicate red-and-white pattern wove around the outside.She ran her finger over the paper.Nice quality paper weight.
“Can you see okay?Given the dim lighting, I may have to whip out my glasses.”
Glasses?Oh my.Caleb was already handsome.Glasses just made him even more so.
“I can see fine.I was admiring the paper weight the menu is on.”
