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“I’m looking forward to it.” Sabrina sounded happy, and that was all Elisa wanted. “Now how are you going to find this Mel guy who might or might not be your dad?”
“Hale thinks I should ask around the festival, so I’m down here now.”
“Hale?” Her sister asked the question with an expectant air.
She shouldn’t let that go on too long. “He’s the handyman at the motel, though I suspect that’s a side job for him. He fixed my shower this morning and he was delightfully weird, so naturally I’m having dinner with him tonight. Before you get excited, I’m having dinner with him and his… I don’t know if they’re married or if it’s a dating situation, but it seems like they’ve been together for a long time.”
A disappointed sigh came over the line. “Well, it’s good you’re making friends. I’ve got to get back to class. You keep me up to date. Love you.”
“You, too.” She hung up the phone and slid her cell into her pocket as she caught sight of… Was that a beet? There was a beautiful display of all kinds of holiday symbols, from Christmas trees to a menorah to some kind of Yule altar. But it was the smaller Christmas tree that looked like it belonged in a Charlie Brown special since it was skimpy on the leaves but heavy on… Yep. She was almost certain those ornaments were carved from beets.
Weird place, but it was kind of cool. She was absolutely certain that even a year before she would have missed all the quirky touches of this town, seen only what she needed to see and blown through here without bothering to soak it in.
She was trying to be a different person. A person who opened herself up to joy, to fun, to new adventures and meeting new people.
Even when she was kind of sad the person turned out to be gay because damn, that man had been fine.
They might be able to be friends. Maybe Hale would turn out to be the first friend she’d made in a long time. Hopefully his partner was nice and weird. She’d learned weird people tended to not mind when she was weird, too.
But before she tried to make new friends, she needed to put in some time looking for the elusive Mel Hughes, who might or might not know Luthor Hughes. She’d asked a couple of people and gotten strange looks before they practically ran away from her. One woman with red hair and a baby in her arms had looked like she was ready to answer but then her husband…or brother-in-law…had whispered something to her and she’d clammed up.
If no one would talk to her, she might have her answer. If she couldn’t find anything, she would look for another place to spend Christmas with her sister.
Though she thought Sabrina would love it here.
She glanced around, trying to decide who to talk to next. Was it the classified nature of her bio dad’s work that had everyone closing their mouths and practically running from her? She’d even told a couple of people she was looking for her dad.
To her left she could see the woman she’d asked previously was talking to one of the men who could be her husband, but she thought it was the other one, the one who hadn’t told her not to talk.
His eyes widened and he blurted out, “Are you kidding me?”
The woman sent the cowboy a look that was far colder than the snow falling.
That was none of her business. She saw a familiar name on one of the vendor booths. Trio. That was where she was meeting Hale and his boyfriend tonight. She strode across the snowy expanse. It was a good place to start, and she could use a drink.
She walked up to the booth and the man who was running it, and for the second time that day her heart seemed to skip a beat. The men in this town were all gorgeous. This one was tall, with broad shoulders and dark hair that curled around his ears. He was wearing a jacket and a T-shirt with the name of the restaurant he worked for on it. Trio. That word was playing around in her brain a lot today. His eyes were a steely blue that likely should have seemed cold but weren’t. He stared at her like he hadn’t seen a woman before.
Maybe she was about to get lucky.
“Could I get the boozy hot chocolate?” She was supposed to chase joy. Joy had turned into potential friendship this morning, but here was another shot.
“Absolutely.” A smile creased his handsome face, and she wondered if he was too young for her. “How are you doing today?”
Why did it matter? It wasn’t like she was staying for too long. He couldn’t be more than a couple of years younger, and she was probably overestimating her charms. The man worked for tips and was likely used to making the tourists feel special.
