Page 23 of Christmas Secrets

Toni nodded and stirred her tea. “Aye, but don’t ye think it’s better to tell him than to be caught in the lie? It is Christmas after all. Maybe he’ll go easy on ye.”

“Probably. It’s just so hard to admit when you’ve been the world’s biggest idiot,” she grumbled.

Toni stood up. “Well, do ye still want to practice that sexy belly dance one more time? Ye could always give him that surprise first, then tell him.”

Dottie sighed. “I guess there could be worse ways fer him to find out.” She hauled herself out of the chair. “I’ll go change my clothes.”

Toni sighed and shook her head as Dottie disappeared into the bathroom. She thought about her latest boyfriend, the one who had broken up with her just a few days ago. A real class act to drop someone right before Christmas. “At least Dottie has someone who cares enough about her to spank her, even if she doesn’t like it,” she mumbled. “I wonder if I can return Lothario’s gifts?”

***

Ben backed his pickuptruck to the front door of Thistlewind and waved at Poppy when she appeared in the doorway. The supplies he’d purchased to make the Clootie Dumplings were in the heavy plastic box he kept in the back to protect groceries and other things from the weather during the winter months. He jumped out of the cab and went around to the tailgate to let it down. “I think I got everything, Poppy,” he shot at her with a wide grin. She gave him a thumbs up sign.

Lifting the lid on the box, he laid it back out of the way and peered down inside to see if the shopping bags had shifted. One bag had fallen over so he set it upright and grabbed at the can of baking powder that rolled into the corner of the box. He picked it up and saw a dirty piece of paper lying crumpled into the corner. It looked like a special type of receipt, not your normal cash register tape, but with part of it missing. He smoothed it out so he could read it. The total amount handwritten at the bottom was staggering. Almost 400 pounds!

He smoothed it out some more, trying to make out the faded ink and finally realized it looked like ‘Lasagna with garlic sides’...149.00 pounds. The top with the vendor was torn off, so that was the only purchase listed, but there must have been more since the bottom total was higher. He frowned, staring at it until the penny finally dropped. Lasagna?

Lasagna!

“Cripes,” he muttered, stunned and unable to believe his eyes. Did this mean what he thought it meant?

“Do you need some help?” Poppy asked, peering at the paper in his hand. She suddenly gasped. “Ben, what is that?”

Ben stuffed it in the pocket of his jeans with a growl. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” He handed her a bag of groceries. “Ye take this and I’ll get the bamboree pot and the other bag,” he added. “Ye don’t even have a coat on, ye shouldn’t have come out here.”

“You parked six feet from the door, I can handle it that far,” she replied, hurrying back into the warmth of the home.

Ben slammed the door down on the box, carried his load into the house, and set it on the kitchen table. His mind was working furiously and not liking the answers it was coming up with. Surely Dottie wouldn’t have paid for food to be prepared? Would she? She said she had only volunteered for one night and a dish for the party. The one night was over, that left only the party day after tomorrow. What else could she have possibly ordered that cost 250 pounds?

“Ben?”

He looked up and realized he was at the coat rack, had hung up his coat, taken off his shoes, and was still standing there. “Huh? Oh, sorry, Poppy. I guess I’m a bit distracted at the moment.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Poppy asked quietly, taking the ingredients out of the bags and setting them on the counter. Her eyes were soft with sympathy and Ben knew she’d put it together and come to the same conclusion he had.

He padded into the kitchen area in his sock feet. “Where can ye even buy prepared food that costs that much?” he asked in bewilderment. “If that’s what this means anyway.”

“High end restaurant chefs will sometimes do it if you know them personally. Helo’s Fine Catering in Inverness will take orders, but they charge a literal fortune for their dishes.”

Ben dropped into a chair. “I can’t believe Dottie would do that, but I also see the evidence with my own eyes.”

Poppy crossed to the counter and took out two mugs. “Would you like some coffee? Or some tea?”

“Aye, coffee would be nice this morning, thanks.”

“She must have her reasons, Ben. If that’s where her lasagna came from, try not to be too hard on her. Maybe she feels inferior in the cooking area because it seems to be such a huge expectation of a woman. Not every woman enjoys cooking and could care less if that’s one of her skills. Dottie is extremely smart, capable, and could probably write a program on how to cook a dish, she just doesn’t care to prepare it.”

“Aye, I know that,” Ben replied heavily. “I just wish she’d told me.”

Poppy raised one eyebrow. “You really didn’t know?”

Ben felt a stab of guilt and sighed. “Aye, ye are right. I guess I did know. I just didn’t know howmuchshe hated it. Or maybe I just didn’t want to believe her. Part of this is probably my fault.”

“If that’s what it is. Sometimes things aren’t always as they seem,” she replied.

“I know, but I’ll still be checking this out. That’s money we could have used fer other things,” he growled in response.

“Do you still want to make the dumplings?”

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