Page 5 of Christmas Secrets

We should be back to Neamh by 5:00 p.m. or so,” Poppy added. Then she asked a tentative question. “Were you able to get a dish ready?” She hastily went on. “If not, it’s not a problem, Pauley and I can throw together an omelet or something.”

Dottie’s lips tightened, the swirl of confusing feeling’s she’d had this morning rushing back. “Aye, I prepared food fer ye all tonight. I left the lasagna on the kitchen counter and it should be defrosted by now. It’s already cooked so all ye have to do is heat it up. I also left two loaves of garlic toast that just need warming in their foil cover.”

“Lasagna?”

The wonder and dread in Poppy’s voice grated like dozens of chigger bites all itching at once. “I thought ye all liked lasagna?” Dottie couldn’t help the derision in her question. Poppy sounded like she was about to ingest arsenic or something.

“Oh, yes...of course,” Poppy gushed. “We certainly do. Thank you, Dottie, for going to all the trouble. We appreciate it more than you know. Are you and Ben coming to dinner?” she asked tentatively.

Dottie bit her tongue before she finally replied. “I’m not sure yet. I think we might be; I’ll have to check with Ben. I’m shopping right now, and I’m running over a bit on time, so I don’t know if Ben would prefer to do that or eat grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup at home. I’ll check with him. But there is plenty if we do come over.”

The lie slipped easily off her tongue and Dottie felt dirty after she said it. But darn it, she didn’t want them to throw her high-priced contribution into the trash. At least if they thought she was coming, they wouldn’t dare throw it away.

“Oh, do come over,” Poppy replied hastily. “No point in going home and cooking after a full day, especially when the food is already prepared.”

Dottie hesitated. Should she? “We’ll see,” she finally replied. “Tell Darro and Lucerne congratulations fer me. I can’t wait to see the baby. Mayhap I’ll run by the hospital before I leave town.”

“Okay, dear. He is a lovely child. Maybe we’ll see you later this evening then.”

Poppy rang off and Dottie stared at the phone trying to make up her mind. She would love to be there, but could she keep up the pretense while right in the thick of it? Would they be suspicious and unbelieving? Would they be surprised and delighted that all their efforts were working and she finally came up with a good dish? She groaned inwardly suddenly wishing she had never started this whole charade. And she had two more weeks to get through with the Christmas season.

“Everything okay?”

The soft voice of Toni behind her had her spinning around. “Aye, the call was from Poppy. Lucerne’s baby is here, a healthy boy.”

Toni flicked back her dark curls. “Then I can forgive ye leaving the line before the last refrain,” she responded with a smile. “A healthy baby is always exciting news. A new addition to the family at Christmas time. What a great gift.”

“Aye, a great gift,” Dottie echoed.

Toni eyed her shrewdly. “Ye don’t sound very sincere about it, hon. Since it can’t be the wee bairn, what else is bothering ye?”

Dottie sighed. “I’ve done something I’m thinking I’m going to regret,” she confessed.

Toni looped her elbow through Dottie’s. “Cripes, ye better come and have some tea with me then and tell me all about it. Get it off yer chest so to speak.”

Dottie went with Toni into her studio office and plopped miserably into one of the two red vinyl cushioned chairs at the tiny round chrome table. She’d met Toni Kavanagh in high school when her family had moved from Edinburgh to Inverness. They’d both been in the drama classes and they both loved to dance. Toni had opened a dance studio after college, Dottie had become a software developer and married Ben, and they’d remained fast friends ever since.

She glanced around the brightly colored office with its vivid paintings of dancers on the walls. Her friend prepared tea at the counter which sported a hot plate, a microwave, and a coffee pot. The office was small but the bold colors made it feel warm and bigger somehow. Even Toni’s desk had been painted a deep red color and her bookshelves were a hot pink and melon combination. The walls themselves were pale yellow which accented the bolder colors of everything else.

In her pale blue body suit and leggings, Toni’s dark curls and flashing brown eyes made her seem exotic.

“Ye know how I hate to cook, right?”

Toni poured hot water into two cups, added a teabag, and plopped down on the other side of the table. “Sorry, all I’ve got at the moment is teabags. My teapot gave out. I’ve ordered a new one but it isn’t here yet,” she apologized. “And aye, I know ye don’t like to cook much. Ye told Ben that, so what’s the problem?”

Dottie stared at her and morosely swished her teabag around in the hot water, watching the brownish color of the Earl Gray tea slowly seeping out. “Ye are no going to believe me.”

“Try me,” Toni remarked dryly.

After Dottie finished explaining, Toni was barely keeping her mirth in. Her eyes were watering and she snorted, guffawed, and finally burst out laughing. Even Dottie couldn’t keep a tiny grin from curving up the corners of her mouth, but she still felt miserable inside.

“Let me guess,” Toni finally gasped, “yer biggest worry now is whether or not yer fine braw man is going to turn ye over his knee when he finds out. Eh?”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” she confessed, her face pink. “But that’s not what’s really bothering me. I shouldn’t have let my pride tempt me into doing something dishonest. That’s what’sreallybothering me.”

“So? Fess up then.”

“Are ye kidding me? I’ve still got to get through Christmas dinner.”

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