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“Positive. I’ve only had the one beer so I’m good.”
Clare stood. “Thanks! I’m going to go pee real quick, be right back.”
She practically bounced her way to the bathroom. When the door shut, I stood. Something was changing between us. Was it just a friendship we were building? I’d never really had a girl hang-out friend. That’s what the strange feeling was. It was simply something new.
I nodded, grabbed her beer bottle and tossed them both in the recycle bin. Clare practically floated out of the bathroom, still on her Brady Thompson high.
“Ready?”
She nodded and grabbed her purse. “Ready!”
• • •
“Oh my gosh, this is the best hotdog I’ve ever had in my entire life!” I said with a mouth full of hotdog.”
Clare pointed her hotdog at me. “I told you! Best hotdogs ever! And all the different ways you can get it. I mean, come on.”
I nodded. “Fully agree with you. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this food stand.”
She shrugged as she chewed. Once she swallowed, she said, “You’ve had to have walked by this place before.”
Wiping my mouth with the napkin, I shook my head. “I don’t ever walk this way. And if I’m going to the office, I drive so I wouldn’t have seen it.”
Slowly shaking her head, Clare sighed. “You’ve missed out for so long. You’re welcome. I’m glad I introduced you to it.”
“Me too,” I replied, shoving the last bite into my mouth. “It’s fucking freezing. I feel like we’re going to have a bad winter.”
Clare glanced up at the sky as we stood, then started toward our cooking class. “I hope we have a white Christmas.”
“What do you usually do for Christmas?” I asked.
“We used to go to my parents. By we, I mean me and my brother. The last couple of years they plan a family Christmas dinner a week before Christmas, then for Christmas they travel somewhere. It was always hit or miss if my brother got leave. Last year they went to London. This year it is San Francisco. They always invite me, but I don’t want to be the third wheel.”
“What about your brother when he is on leave? Do you spend Christmas together?”
“He’s still a bachelor, and if he is home on leave, he will usually go somewhere with his buddies. He has invited me a few times, but you have no idea what it is like to hang out with a bunch of Marines when you’re the only girl there. It’s not fun.”
I laughed. “I imagine your brother warns his buddies not to hit on you.”
“Oh, they all think of me as one of the guys. What every woman wants to be thought of.”
We walked for a few feet in silence before I said, “You should come to my parents’ house on Christmas. They would love to have you.”
She waved me off. “Nah, I’m okay being home. I normally make myself something simple to eat, grab a book and spend the day reading. I do wish I had a fireplace, though, it makes it so much cozier.”
“Do you put up a tree?” I asked.
“A little one in my bedroom. My place is so small I can’t put a large tree up. I miss going and picking out a live tree, then coming home and decorating it.”
“Yeah, that was one thing I loved doing as a kid. Getting the tree.”
“Do you put up a tree?”
Laughing, I shook my head. “No. It’s just me so I don’t decorate at all.”
“Not even a little CharlieBrown tree?”
“Nope.”
