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She planted a smacking kiss on CC’s cheek, transferring her bright red lipstick in a stamp-worthy smudge. “I love you.”
“Ugh, I love you too.” CC wiped at her cheek, but the affection in her words belied the exaggerated annoyance. “Are you packed?”
“Yep, before I came to work.” Colby rewrapped the goods and placed them carefully back in Al’s bag. “Cab is picking me up at fuck-off early.”
CC chuckled around a bite. “I’ll take you.”
“And then you’ll go to French Truck and work all day.”
Al lowered the last bite of her doughnut. “You’re not going home too?” she asked CC.
“We traded,” Colby answered. “She took Thanksgiving, I took Hanukkah.”
“And we’re both going at Christmas,” CC said. “If we”—she gestured with her fork between herself and Al—“get the deal mostly wrapped by then.”
“I’m not doing two alone, so you better,” Colby said, then skirted out of reach before CC could swat her with her napkin.
“You two are exactly like I imagined,” Al said with a laugh.
“How so?”
“She tests you, and you adore her. Reminds me of how Tyler and Noah were growing up. Definitely how Molly and Michael are already.”
CC nodded as she finished her last bite, then wiped her hands. “Colby’s the one who lured me down here. If she hadn’t, I don’t know where I’d be.”
“With that bit of delicious”—Al pointed at the plate CC had just wiped clean—“of course you came with her.”
CC traded her napkin for her coffee. “She’s been making these for me since I was a kid, though back then it was Smucker’s and Cool Whip. But she’s been baking biscuits since she could reach the dials on the oven. Now the jelly changes with the season, even more so here, and sometimes she flavors the whipped cream, but the biscuit is still the best part.”
Al popped in the last bite of her doughnut and hummed happily. “She’s truly magic with baked goods.”
CC’s sexy laughter was cut short by a ding on Al’s phone. She wiped her own hands and flipped the device, reading the text on-screen. “We’ll have the quitclaim deed for the rail tracks in the morning.”
CC lifted her mug. “And that’s medium done. Thank you.”
Al clinked her own cup against CC’s. “I know exactly how to celebrate.”
CC slumped in her chair and waved a hand, palm out in surrender, groaning dramatically. “There’s no more room.”
“Not tonight, silly.” She slid her foot back against CC’s under the table. “Tomorrow night. Join us for Hanukkah.”
“You don’t have—”
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to. It’s a day for family and lights.” She glided her foot that little bit higher she’d wanted to earlier, notching it behind CC’s calf. “And you’re one hell of a firecracker, Red.”
Chapter Ten
They were barely outside Dram’s backdoor when Colby launched into her interrogation. “Okay, spill.”
CC had expected as much but had hoped—against all odds—that maybe Colby would wait until they made it the three blocks home.
No such luck. “That’s twice now you and Al have been at Dram together,” Colby continued as she tugged a wagon full of baking supplies behind her. “And both times you’ve been flirting up a storm.”
“She’s the opposing counsel on the year-end deal I’m working,” CC said, addressing the first part of her sister’s question.
Colby wasn’t letting her skip the second. “Yes, and I’ve lived with you for six years while you’ve been practicing and you’ve never looked like this”—she made a sweeping gesture in front of CC’s face—“over a deal.”
CC continued her evasive maneuvers. “What all did you put in that wagon?”
