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“What does that even mean?” He took a hesitant breath. “And the first part of the clue was definitely referring to us. So, what do you think about the opposite attracts part?”
She could hear the reluctance in his voice and her head shot around to his, her coffee catching at the back of her throat. “You think she meant us?”
She kept coughing and his eyes widened, one hand coming over to pat her on the back. “Well, I don’t know, do I?”
Tears started streaming down Piper’s face. “I thought the first part was being sentimental. I didn’t think it was any more than that.”
Dawson shook his head, clearly embarrassed. “Okay, you can take the horrified look off your face. I’m stretching. Trying to find anything that might solve this clue.”
They circled around passing the local Christmas tree and a few statues in the neighborhood. “I just don’t get the pairing,” Piper sighed. “Who on earth would put Tarzan and Eve together?”
As the far-away football stadium emerged on the horizon and edged into view, something sparked in her brain. “How did your interview go? I take it was sports related?”
Dawson’s shoulders finally relaxed, and he gave an easy smile. “Isn’t the whole world sports related?”
“No.” She smiled back. “Hey, can we get out and stretch our legs? Driving around just isn’t giving me inspiration.”
“Sure.” He nodded, heading into a parking lot near a small row of stores.
They both got out. The sky was getting darker around them. The sun usually set around four thirty p.m. in December, and some streetlights were already starting to flicker on.
As they started walking, Piper gave him a nudge. “Got your Christmas tree up yet?” There were some trees twinkling in windows around them.
Dawson shook his head. “Haven’t had time.” He gave her a curious look. “Christmas trees. Shouldn’t you disapprove of those?”
“Depends where you get them,” she said, walking over to a nearby store window. “There are sustainable versions. You could buy a smaller version, in a pot, and replant it in your garden after Christmas is over.”
“Or I could just keep using the one my mom used. It’s been going for twenty years now.”
“You have your mom’s Christmas tree?”
He nodded. “And her decorations. She died a few years ago. Left them all to me.”
“Wow,” said Piper softly. “That must bring up a lot of memories for you when you get them out.”
“Should do,” he mused. “I haven’t quite managed to put them up yet.” He stopped, looking in the same window as Piper, watching a little Christmas train go round and round in the display. “She was the one that readThe Mistletoe Crownto me.”
“Do you still have the original version?”
He shook his head. “The one with the half drawn-half painted kids? No, it fell apart eventually.”
“You read it that much?”
He looked slightly embarrassed now. “Didn’t everyone?”
Piper laughed. “Our mom bought us a few of the newer versions with updated pictures. At first, I liked them. But then, as I got older—we always reverted back to the original. My sister has it now and we read it to my niece Leila.”
“Remember the year they put Amy in roller skates and Joe on a skateboard?”
Piper laughed, her hand on Dawson’s arm. “Oh, the outcry. The horror.” They started walking again and Piper nodded. “My sister asked for Amy’s roller skates for Christmas that year.”
“Did she get them?”
“Almost. My mom bought a pair of light blue roller skates, painted them pink, and sewed green ribbons on them. We didn’t find out until years later they were fakes.”
“It’s the thought that counts.”
They stopped in front of another window and Dawson leaned back against it, looking out over the neighborhood. “You know, what if we’ve got this all wrong?”
