Page 35 of Stuck in Christmas

“And you knew all of that in an evening?”

Bonnie grinned at me. “Well, no. I just had a feeling about him.

He felt like coming home. We didn’t know everything about each other, but we knew enough. And over the years, the more we got to know one another, the deeper we fell in love. It feels like falling in love with him fresh - every day.”

“You fall in love with him all over again - every day?” A strange sensation tickled the back of my mind.

“That’s the secret to a long and happy marriage.” Bonnie stood from the table and reached for her cane. “Well, I’ve been jaw-jackin’ way too long, and here comes Eli.”

The man in question smoothly entered the dining room with pie and hot chocolate placed precisely on a tray. When he clocked the cane in Bonnie’s hand, he frowned. “No pie and hot chocolate for you?”

“I have something to do in the other room,” she said before kissing him on the cheek and leaving Eli and me alone in the dining room.

I took a whiff of the pie on his tray and salivated. I was like Pavlov’s dog with peach pie. “That smells so good.”

“Fresh out of the oven.” Eli set the pie and mugs on the table, then pulled a chair to my side and sat down. “You and Bonnie were having an intense conversation.”

I took my first bite of pie and fell in love with this place all over again. “She was telling me the story about how she met Joe.”

Eli smiled. “How theworstwaiter become herbestman?”

I snickered. “I take it you’ve heard that story before.”

“Many times. It’s probably why I never married.”

“Afraid to get stuck?” I challenged.

“No. I would love to be stuck in a romance with my perfect person.”

“Bonnie says she gets to fall in love with Joe all over again each day.” I watched his reaction.

“It’s true,” Eli said without a flinch or wince. “And watching that sets a pretty high bar.”

“Impossibly high standards?”

Eli sipped his hot chocolate. “Not impossibly high - more like worth waiting for.”

“You’re willing to wait for it?”

Eli gazed over the rim of his mug and said, “As many times as it takes.”

I shivered. “What did you say?”

“As long as it takes.”

I shook my head and pushed back in the chair. “That’s not what you said… wait a minute, are you…” I stood up suddenly and accidentally knocked over my hot chocolate mug, spilling it all over Eli. “Dang it. Let me go get a towel.”

I turned toward the kitchen and barely heard Eli shout a warning about the spilled hot chocolate before I slipped in the liquid and landed…

…in a snowbank.

“Garrrr-denia,” I swore.

Part Eleven

Seventeen

I had to find Eli and ask him what he meant about “as many times as it took.” I wasn’t sure if he’d remember the conversation. No one ever remembered our conversations during a reset. But what if he was different?

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