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While he’s hanging one of the wreaths, connecting it with the other garland, I step back and look at the other booths. They look really good. The people of Fair Falls know what they’re doing when it comes to celebrating the holidays. Some people have lights wrapped around their poles, some have fake snow, one person even that those large candy canes set up like a path.
There are many options for people who wind up here. Homemade candles and wax melts, coffee mugs, there will be homemade food and pies and of course, and I’ll have the alcohol and warm cider. I’ll have to take a break or two to collect some of the wares from other vendors. Maybe Andrew will want to help with staffing the booth as well.
With a faint chuckle, I shake my head. That definitely won’t be happening. He barely wants to handle the decorations, frowning as I hand them to him. You’d think I was handing him poisonous snakes with how daintily he holds them before he has to hang them. Even now, he’s glaring at the wreath like it stole his lunch money. I would laugh if I didn’t know that his aversion to the holidays is rooted in something deeper.
Maybe he’ll open up to me during lunch. It’s worth a try to ask. He probably hasn’t had anyone he could talk to about it.
When he has the last of the wreaths in place, Andrew climbs off the ladder with a grimace. He makes his way over to me, turning around to look at the booth. “What more do we have to do?”
“Just bring supplies tomorrow. A few days after, it’ll be the parade. You going?”
“No.” No explanation, just a no. I want to bet him something so he’ll come, but I don’t want to push him too far. We have a sort of friendship, kind of thing. Trying to get him to do something he won’t like isn’t something I would do to friends.
I chide myself on that because I used what I correctly assumed was his competitive nature to drag him out here today. Sighing, I say, “Look, I appreciate you helping today, but I can handle tomorrow on my own. I’m sorry I used you like this.”
He gives me the first smile I’ve gotten from him. Granted, it isn’t a full smile, but it’s something. “A bet’s a bet, right? You didn’t use me. I could have said no when you made the proposition. And … I don’t know, it’s nice to be out of the house.”
With a grin, I ask, “Is that gratitude?”
“No.” Again with the one-word answer. Oh well, it’s better than him not wanting to be here at all.
Chuckling, I go over to the table and scoop up the car keys. “Come on. Let’s get some food in you, then I’ll get out of your hair.”
He grunts—I guess that’s his “yes” when he’s talking to me—and he follows me to the truck. “Wanna drive?” I ask, dangling the keys in front of him.
“I don’t feel like adjusting your seat.”
My seat is awfully close to the steering wheel, but I don’t want a car. I love my truck. Not compensating for anything since I know who I am, but I like the size of this truck. How it handles and how I can fit all my crates in it without having to make separate trips. Bryce gave me shit about it, but he loves driving it too. Good thing the settings on the side automatically adjust the driver’s seat back to how I need it.
“Okay. Where to for food? Anywhere you want to go?”
“There’s a diner by your bar. It has good—”
“Loaded hash browns!” we both say.
Andrew looks at me with another one of those small grins and I practically melt in my seat. I make it my mission to get a full one from him. I’m sure it’ll knock my socks off, but damn do I want to see it.
The drive back to the bar takes no time at all. I keep the radio off, because I know there will be something festive playing and I don’t want to piss off the Scrooge. Instead of trying to find parking along the street, I park behind the bar, and we walk the two blocks to the diner.
“Sit anywhere you’d like, doll,” Mack, one of the servers says to me. “I’ll have your usual put in.”
“Thanks, babe,” I shout at his back. I’m in here at least twice a week and Mack knows what I like.
Andrew gives me a look and I shake my head. “I’m a frequent flyer,” I explain.
He grunts and I’ve come to really like the sound. Makes me weird, but whatever. “What’s your usual?”
“Loaded hash browns with extra cheese and green peppers.”
“Extra green peppers?” he asks, eyebrows scrunched.
“Yeah, I know it’s weird, but—”
“That’s what I order.”
We both stare at each other for a moment. That’s a weird coincidence, but plenty of people like green peppers and cheese.
Still, I have to tease him. “Okay, Scrooge McDuck. I see you have good food taste. Now all we gotta do is get you to love candy canes and we’ll be a match made in heaven.”
