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After a round of tired hugs and ‘See you tomorrow,’ the three of them headed toward the back entrance of the hotel.
“Hey there, if it isn’t my favorite Leavenworth sisters,” Chris greeted as they met him at the door.
“How’d the cocoa crawl go for you?”
“Ask her,” Frieda called over her shoulder, not stopping her journey home.
“We did great!” Heidi replied, then continued to head toward her car.
Chris turned to Birgit with a perked brow and grinned.
“That good, huh?” he asked.
“You have no idea,” Birgit replied tiredly, waving him into the hotel. “Come on, let’s go get changed, then I’ll tell you all about it.”
* * *
“Jesus, that sounds insane,” Chris muttered. They’d both gotten changed into their swimsuits, took the quick sanitary shower, and then headed out to the gated hot spring pools. Each one was different. One was kept steeping with rose petals, another with lavender, and so on and so forth. Each pool had a different healing property and could fit four people comfortably. Tonight Chris had chosen to sink into the lavender sea salt pool, and Birgit was happy to follow.
“It was insane,” she agreed, staring up at the tall pine trees. At night, they looked like black cages surrounding the midnight blue sky splattered with stars−as if it could keep the universe trapped above them for their viewing pleasure alone. As she looked up at them now, she could see clouds slowly blanketing the stars. Heidi had been right. Snow was coming.
“You know it was probably Anita, don’t you?” Chris asked, rolling his neck so that he could look over at her.
“Stop, you sound like Frieda,” Birgit replied tiredly. “I already have one of her, I don’t need two.”
Chris chuckled as he looked back up at the sky.
“Alright, sorry,” he said with a smile.
“So, how did your store do with the cocoa crawl?” Birgit asked, wanting a break from talking about her problems. Chris’s grin grew wider and he looked over at her with a sideways glance.
“All smooth on my end,” he replied happily. “I had quite a few people “rave” about my hot chocolate. Some even begged for the recipe.”
“Oh my God,” Birgit giggled, “what did you tell them?”
“Told them it was an old family recipe that I couldn’t part with,” he explained, still laughing. “But I did imply that the chocolate wine was a main ingredient for the alcoholic one.”
“And how did that go?” Birgit asked, smiling.
Chris let out another laugh, his eyes twinkling as he looked at her.
“I sold out.”
They both laughed as Birgit shook her head.
“Brilliant,” she said through her giggles. “Awful, but brilliant.”
“Hey, don’t hate on a man’s cleverness,” Chris replied, nudging her, “especially when it comes to business. Besides, I’m sure you weren’t that forthcoming about your ingredients.”
Birgit’s eyebrows perked up as she nodded.
“Touché,” she replied with a sigh. “Of course, we don’t matter, though. Anita, as always, wonBest Cocoa.As long as she’s declared the winner, no one will even care about how we made ours.”
Chris nodded, losing some of his smile.
“Did she happen to come by today?” he asked.
Bridget shook her head.
