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“I’m all yours,” she called over the hum of conversation. Christopher took her hand and led her through the crowd of customers. When they reached the back stock room, they both took a deep breath of fresh air and took a moment to enjoy the silence.
“You know, I’m all for Christmas festivities,” Chris said after catching his breath, “but starting them the Saturday after Thanksgiving does make for a long month of customer chaos.”
“I can only imagine,” Birgit agreed. “Thanks for helping me skip the line by the way. Things are kind of chaotic at the hotel right now. I really shouldn’t be gone too long.”
“No problem,” Chris said, smiling warmly as he put his hand on her shoulder. “So. I heard the good word. You are officially the ex-Mrs. Former Mayor. I put a bottle of Dom in with your order free of charge. I figured you’d want to celebrate the end of the longest divorce I’ve ever been witness to.”
Birgit laughed dryly. She was thankful for Chris’ support, but if he knew about it already, that meant that he had heard it from somewhere else−which meant the small-town gossip had already started. That−on top of everything else, only added to her stress. She thought wistfully back to a few hours ago when her only problem was figuring out what direction to place their award plaque on the table of Christmas decorations.
“Where was he?” Birgit asked with a sigh. Chris gave her a sympathetic smile.
“The Schauffen Stube,”Chris replied, having the grace to sound disgusted on her behalf. “It was the only place in town open on Thanksgiving after five. From what Jimmy told me, he’d been there since opening.”
Birgit knew the place. It was a high-end Bavarian-themed bar that offered authentic food along with its highly-priced booze. There were always plenty of rich tourists there, draped in their finery and boasting about new vehicles. It catered to Jim’s preferred class of people and was one of Christopher’s best customers.
“How obnoxious was he?” she asked with a sigh.
“On a scale of one to ten?” Chris asked. “I’d say fifteen. Luckily there weren’t many people out, though. I suppose most folks had a place to spend their Thanksgiving evening. Just a few locals.”
Birgit let out an admittedly unattractive grunt. “Silver lining, I guess. Well, thanks for the champagne. I’ll definitely be needing some tonight. Throw me in a bottle of Walker Blue, too, would you? I’ll be happy to pay for that one.”
“Sure,” Chris said slowly, taking a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue out of the box nearby. “Is something else going on? Or just the stress of the cocoa crawl tomorrow?”
“I wish,” Birgit replied, rolling her eyes. “Frieda is…well, Frieda is being Frieda, but she’ll hop on the bandwagon like she always does, and then Anita just came in, throwing some fit about her hotels being overbooked.”
“And that is your problem, how?” Chris asked with a raised brow.
Birgit explained the interaction, and Chris rolled his blue eyes before he grabbed a few mini bottles.
“I am in no way encouraging you to become an alcoholic,” he explained as he added the bottles to her growing box of goodies, “but after what you just told me, you might need these. I’ve been caught in the eye of Anita’s storm once or twice myself, and it never turns out well. Once she decides to make something your fault, there’s no going back.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured,” Birgit said with a sigh. “But I’ve put my foot down, and if she tries to come at me again, she can just trip right over it.”
“Good,” Chris agreed emphatically. “More people need to stand up to her. She acts like she has all the power in the place. It’s good when someone makes her realize she doesn’t.”
Chris grabbed his clipboard and Birgit pulled out her wallet. She paid for the supplies she ordered, and Chris tucked the receipt in the box and picked it up.
“Come on,” he said, nodding toward the back door. “We can go out the back. I’ll carry these to your Jeep.”
“Thanks, Chris,” Birgit replied warmly, following him. “So you know what we’re making for the cocoa crawl. What about you?”
Chris turned to her with a goofy grin. “I’m cheating this year,” he admitted.
Birgit laughed.
“How does one cheat at a cocoa crawl?” she asked curiously.
“You pour chocolate milk into a crock pot for one option, and offer shots of chocolate wine for the other.”
Birgit laughed harder. It was brilliant, but as Chris had admitted, it definitely was cheating. She didn’t mind, though. Chris had never been a competitive guy, and the only reason he was participating in all of the town business contests was because it was mandatory.
“Well, your secret is safe with me,” she promised, opening the back of her Jeep for him.
“That’s greatly appreciated,” Chris replied with a chuckle, sliding the box safely into the trunk space. As he did so, Birgit noticed him wince, and it seemed as if he was gritting down on his teeth.
“You okay?” she asked, concerned.
“Just getting old,” Chris replied with a weary chuckle, his hand going to his lower back.
