Page 27 of A Very Grumpy Thanksgiving

“No worries. I know that you two were probably busy. We loved meeting her by the way! She sure is a keeper.”

“She sure is,” I agree.

“Are you going to bring her back for Christmas?”

“Um, I’m not sure. I think that she might be celebrating it with her sisters.”

“Oh, well, you two could come down before or after too! We’d love to see you both again. Oh! Or maybe for New Year’s!”

“Maybe,” I tell her noncommittally. “I’ll have to ask Saffron.”

Right after I ask her to be my girlfriend for real.

“Okay, well let me know. I’ll let you go and talk to you later.”

“Sounds good. Talk to you soon, mom.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

I hang up, and a minute later, I hear Saffron’s car pull into the driveway. My heart takes off like a shot, and I head out of the library to greet her at the door.

I take a deep breath as she walks up the front porch steps, and as soon as she walks inside, I open my mouth and blurt out, “We need to talk.”

ELEVEN

Saffron

Things aren’t offto a great start.

I planned on out everything when I left work. I would walk into my house and find Nolan, then try to figure out how he was feeling about last night and how awkward things were before I asked him if we could talk.

Instead, he beat me to the punch.

“Uhh,” I start, my hand still on the doorknob.

“About last night,” he says, trying to comfort me.

Really, it has the opposite effect.

We stare at each other for a beat and then I close the door and peel off my coat and hang it up.

“Okay.”

He swallows, and we head into the kitchen, each of us standing on either side of the counter as we stare at each other.

“How was work?” he asks, and I blink.

“Good. How about you?”

“Good. I have a surprise for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but first, I wanted to talk to you about last night and about…us.”

“Okay,” I whisper.

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