She stood at the front desk while Mrs. Black and her small poodle, Princess, checked out. The door to the clinic swung open and Josh and Louie burst into the waiting room.
“Hi, Miss Holly.” The boy practically skipped across the waiting room.
“Hey, Josh. What’s up?”
The boy looked at the floor, then back up to her. “Um, my dad wanted me to ask you to dinner tonight. We’re having chili.”
“Really? That would be nice. I still haven’t had time to grocery shop.”
“Sure. We usually eat about six-thirty. You can come over before that if you want.”
“Tell your father thanks for the invitation.”
“Uh, sure. I will.”
Josh hightailed it out the door with a quick look back. It seemed like he couldn’t wait to get away. Strange. She thought shed hit it off last night with Josh.
Well, it would be nice to meet Josh’s mom. It was kind of them to ask her over for dinner. She was tired after the stress of figuring out a new clinic and how things ran. She’d just stop by the corner market she saw this morning on her way to the clinic and pick up a few things. She’d grab a bottle of wine to bring as a thank you.
She soon found out she was not going to get wine at the corner market. They could only sell beer. She bought a six-pack of imported beer, hoping that would work. After grabbing a few essentials to tide her over for a few days she headed back to the Christmas Cottage, as she thought of it now.
Sure enough, as she pulled in the drive, the Christmas lights were glowing brightly, welcoming her home. The lights were the clear white kind and she tried to convince herself some businesses had those kind of lights up all year round.
They’re not really Christmas lights.
* * * * *
Holly decided to walk over to the Bergeron’s house. It wasn’t far and the fresh air brushed against her cheeks as she briskly walked over to their home, a six-pack cradled against her side. She stepped up on their front porch— another big porch with comfortable looking chairs and a swing— and rang the door bell.
The door swung open and light tumbled out on the porch. Steve stood silhouetted in the light.
“Oh, hi, Holly.”
“Hi, Steve.”
He just stood there. Wasn’t he going to ask her in?
“What brings you here?”
Huh? Hadn’t he just invited her to dinner?
Josh slipped past his father and pulled on her hand. “Come in. We’re just putting up the Christmas tree.”
Steve stepped aside and let Josh pull her inside. She turned to Steve. “Here. I brought this.” She shoved the six-pack into his hands. “I didn’t know if you and your wife were beer drinkers, but I found out they don’t sell wine at the market here.”
Steve looked confused. “My wife?”
“I appreciate you asking me to dinner. I haven’t had much time to get things to cook. Not much on eating out every meal.”
“Asking you to dinner?”
“Yes, I mean, Josh came by and said…” She looked at Steve’s bewildered expression. It dawned on her, finally, that she’d made a mess of things. She should have known to check with the parents. Always check with the parents. She didn’t even have kids, but knew that rule. “You and your wife didn’t ask me to dinner, did you?”
“Joshua.”
Josh came back to stand in front of his father, scuffing his feet on the floor. “Did you invite Miss Holly to dinner?”
“I knew you always make enough chili for a bazillion people.”
“Josh, you can’t go asking people to dinner without telling me.”
“I’m sorry, Dad. I just thought it would be fun to have her here. She can help decorate the tree.”
The evening was just getting worse and worse.
“I’ll just leave. I’m sorry for the mix up.” Holly started back out the door.
“No. No. Please come in. Of course you should stay for dinner.”
“Don’t you think you should clear it with Josh’s mom?”
“I don’t have a mom.” Josh looked up at her with crystal clear blue eyes that held a hint of pain and a hint of defiance, daring her to question him.
“I…” Well, she couldn’t make a bigger mess out of the night if she tried. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Josh and I get along just fine, don’t we, bud?” His voice held a note of warning.
“Yep. We’re bachelors.” Josh flung his arms out wide. “This is our man house. And Dad is a great cook. So you’ll stay?”
There was no way she could turn down that hopeful face turned up to look at her with questioning eyes. “Yes, I’ll stay.”