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“Yeah, those are the ones I’m worried about,” Faith said. “If they see us together, it’ll be all over town by morning.”
Holden shrugged. “May as well get it out there. But I’ll bet people will be so distracted by it being Christmas Eve, nobody will even notice us.”
“I’ll take that bet,” Faith said. “If we’re the center of attention, you owe me a peppermint latte first thing the morning after Christmas.”
He thought about that for a second. He’d never been a guy to pass up a good bet. Not when it was something fun like this.
“And what if I’m right and nobody notices us?” he asked.
“Then I’ll owe you a latte?”
He shook his head. “You haven’t seen my coffeemaker.”
“It’s fancy,” J.J. said. “It even makes the foamy stuff on top.”
“I love cold foam on my coffee,” Mrs. Ardmore said. “I may just head on over to your house for coffee tomorrow morning.”
“Come on over,” he said. “In fact, you’re all invited. J.J. will be opening her gifts, and then we’ll just be sitting around.”
“Can we make cinnamon rolls, Dad?” J.J. asked.
He smiled at her. “Sure.”
“Sounds amazing,” Charity said. “But you two have to come with Faith for Mom’s Christmas lunch.”
“Two o’clock.” Mrs. Ardmore pointed at Holden. “Be here.”
“We will,” J.J. said. When she saw her dad flash a look in her direction, she just shrugged. “I can’t wait.”
How could he argue with that?
“You didn’t say what Faith owes you if you win the bet,” Nic said.
There was mischief in his eyes as his gaze skidded from Faith back to Holden. The first thing that popped into Holden’s mind was a kiss. No mistletoe required. But he wouldn’t want her to kiss him as part of some sort of wager. And besides, everyone else at this table would assume they’d already kissed at least once if they were engaged.
So, he came up with a great idea.
“If I’m right about the crowd at the church, you get to take J.J. to the ice show next week,” he said.
“The one with fairytale characters?” Mrs. Ardmore asked. “That seems like so much fun.”
“Yeah, that sounds like more of a reward to me.” Faith flashed a smile at J.J., who smiled back. “But I wouldn’t want to take your ticket.”
“It’s okay,” J.J. said. “Dad just looks at his watch the whole time.”
Guilt slammed into Holden. His smartwatch was constantly buzzing with one alert or another. He tried to limit how often he glanced at it, but if an emergency popped up with his helicopter tour company, he needed to be on top of it.
“You know what?” Holden asked. “I’ll get an extra ticket so all three of us can go. And I’ll leave my watch at home.”
He could work that out with his pilot. Maybe tell him to call his phone multiple times in a row if there was an emergency situation.
“And if I lose the bet tonight, I’ll buy the refreshments,” Faith said.
All the talk about the ice show had veered his mind off track. Oh, yeah. They’d been talking about going to the Christmas Eve church service together.
“All I know is you kids had better get going,” Mrs. Ardmore said. “The service starts in less than half an hour, and you still have to park.”
Those words got everyone going. Chairs were scraping against the floor and dishes were being rushed over to the sink, all while Mrs. Ardmore urged everyone to leave the dishes to her. But Charity and Faith double teamed at the sink and had the dishwasher loaded in a matter of minutes while Holden and the other guys cleared off the table.
