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She listened for his reply. “Awesome. He’s straight,” she said. “Rhiannon’s single and straight too,” she called. “Just in case you’re wondering.”

I died.

“I cannot believe you just did that,” I whispered.

“You’re welcome.”

I fanned my face.

“If he asks you out, go. If he’d do all this on a bet, imagine what he’d do on a date.”

I laughed nervously.

She looked at her watch. “I gotta go,” she said, putting her purse over her shoulder. “I’ve got the boutique. Have fun with this.”

It was a solid ten minutes before I could bring myself to go back to his table, I was so mortified.

“We have new regulars,” I said, bringing him a fresh water. “The Roths.” I nodded at the family of five in the corner booth.

He looked past me at them.

“They tip really well,” I explained. “So we take turns who gets to wait on them.”

He turned from them to look up at me, his eyes small behind the mask’s eye holes. “I thought I saw Ben Stiller at Fleet Farm.”

I cocked my head. “Huh?”

“The bet. I thought I saw Ben Stiller.”

“You thought you saw Ben Stiller…” I repeated slowly.

He blew out a breath, resigned. “My brothers said it wasn’t him, and I was sure it was, so I bet them I was right. I went over there and I told the guy I loved his movies. He said thank you.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Then I asked if I could take a picture with him and he let me—and then we went to Ben Stiller’s socials and saw he was actually in New Zealand filming a movie.”

I blinked at him. “Some random man let you think he was Ben Stiller,” I deadpanned.

“That is correct.”

“And you have a picture of this?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Can I see it?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Noooo. It’s way too embarrassing.”

I stared at him a moment. Then I started to laugh.

He crossed his arms. “Okay, sure. Laugh at me. Get it all out.”

“I’m sorry, I know this really sucks for you—”

“Why would it suck? I like the mask. And the Santa costume is only slightly itchy.”

I was coughing now. “I gotta go. I have to run food out,” I said, trying to get ahold of myself.

“Hey.”

I stopped, still cracking up. “What?”