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“Could weekly be Fifty-second Street, monthly Twelfth Street, and yearly…” Her voice tailed off. “Nope, don’t have anything for that one.”
Dawson started that little tell of his, drumming his fingers on the table while he was thinking. “It could be Twelfth Avenue. Or it could be the twelfth district? Do any of those intersect with Fifty-second Street?”
Piper shook her head. “Nope. We must be going down the wrong road again.” She arched an eyebrow at her unwitting joke.
“Maybe we should stick to the cake recipe,” he said putting down his napkin as the waitress appeared for their plates.
“Cake? No problem,” the waitress immediately said.
Piper started to laugh as Dawson tried to object. “Leave it. We can take it with us as we drive the streets of Chicago again and try to figure out where we should be.”
“Christmas lights will be up at the zoo,” Dawson said. “They might be worth a visit. Or the tree at Millennium Park, or the skating rink. Or even the Christmas market.”
“That’s it!” The yell came out louder than she meant it to.
“What?”
“The German Christmas market. It’s at Daley Plaza.”
Recognition dawned in Dawson’s eyes. “So it is. Daily, like weekly, monthly, yearly. Darn it. Why didn’t we think of that?”
Piper was nodding enthusiastically. “You already said that Germans were one group of the cities ancestors.”
A grin spread across his face. “I can’t believe we might have solved this clue.” He signaled to the waitress for the check.
“Hold on, this is only the start.” Piper held up her hand, then dug in her purse, but she was too slow.
Dawson had already settled the bill and asked for their desserts to be boxed.
They waited a few minutes for the boxes then climbed into Dawson’s car. They followed the signs to the Christkindlmarket. The traffic was slow as the Christmas market was a popular destination for tourists and families.
They parked and walked toward the plaza, Dawson breathing in and letting out a deep laugh. “Should we be happy or sad that we just ate, because this place smells amazing?”
Piper breathed in too and let the smells assault her senses. The air around them was rich with cinnamon, cloves, mulled wine, beer, orange, and Christmas spices.
“We might need to forget the cake we just bought.” She smiled.
They reached the busy entranceway and Piper spun around at the wide variety of stalls spilling in multiple directions. “Where on earth will we start?”
Dawson held out one hand. “Let’s do that old trick that you’re supposed to do in a maze, and keep going left.”
“You do know that doesn’t work, right?”
“It doesn’t? Who told you that?”
But Piper was already distracted. “Look at these.” She walked over to the nearest stall that had a huge array of Christmas ceramic mugs in a whole host of designs.
It only took her a few moments to find a mug that resembled a Christmas tree and buy it.
“Is that what happens at every stall? This could be a long night.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, get with the program. We don’t even know what we’re looking for, so we might as well wander around and get in the spirit of things.”
Christmas music was playing all around them, and they grabbed two small mugs of mulled wine that they sipped as they walked around. Some of the vendors were dressed up in wigs, large costume dresses, or top hats and Christmas coats.
Just about everyone was eating something. Decorated cookies, or chocolates, or muffins. Dawson and Piper made their way through the jostling crowd.
“Look at these!” called Piper again as she found some brightly colored hats and scarves. She picked up a striped hat and pulled it on Dawson’s head. “Suits you.”
