Page 34 of Second Chance Christmas

She drew in a deep breath. “A couple of times now, yeah.”

“It never hurts to mention the important information, you know. Is there any way I could convince you to fit an old lady into your schedule?” Ivy did her best to hide a grimace as she fished out her planner from her shoulder bag and thumbed through the pages. “Let me see what I can do.” She didn’t have the heart to tell her no.

Mrs. December peered over her shoulder. “Oh, look tomorrow works perfectly,” she said, pointing at the only space Ivy mentally penciled in to use for the dreaded tree decorating of however many trees her gran had coming today.

“That will be okay, right dear? Say noon-ish? It will only take a couple of hours. You’ll see.”

After almost four years of working with clients, nothing ever took only a couple of hours. Mrs. December continued, unaware of Ivy’s inner cringing. “The girls are due the day after so that will give us enough time to do any changes. Of course, I’d pay you for your expertise and time, hon.”

“Is there a shortage I should know about, ladies?”

A warm, deep smoky voice spoke up beside them and Ivy’s stupid heart did a funny quiver in her chest. Right that second, Ivy wished she could follow her own advice and stay clear of man territory, but Aspen had a way of luring even the deepest of emotions to the surface.

“Hey, Ivy! It’s so good to see you!”

Ivy turned to find a skinny brunette a couple of inches taller than herself coming straight for her, arms spread.

“Julie! It’s been too long!”

Julie, the youngest of the Kennedy siblings, unwound her arms from her and pulled back, smiling. “I can’t believe you’re actually here. Aspen said as much but I wouldn’t believe him until I saw you for myself.”

“It’s true,” she laughed nervously.

“We’ll have to catch up while you’re in town. I have to go before Ryder has a heart attack,” Julie grabbed her hands. “Promise me we’ll have some girl time?”

“I would love that.”

They’d been best friends in high school but drifted apart as time went on. “I’ll call you.” Julie pulled her in for another hug. “See you later.”

“Be careful out there. Lots of ice on the road.”

Julie waved to everyone as she nodded to her brother’s warning.

Ivy shook her head with a small laugh and turned to peer up at a set of deep brown eyes and a grin that pulled on strings that had no business being connected to her heart.

“Speak of the devil, we were just talking about you, handsome,” Mrs. December spoke up. Which was a good thing because for a second she lost all ability to form syllables. That voice, the way it still held sway over her. She needed out of Dixen ASAP. Had it only been an hour since she saw him last?

“We were? I mean, we were.” She smiled. “Mrs. December needs help with her stove and countertops.”

“You can never be too careful when dealing with kitchen appliances,” Aspen offered with a slow smile. “I’m here to see Ryder about the same thing.”

“Touché.” Her mind raced to keep up with her mouth because it was primarily weighed down with other questions such as, was he stalking her? And was that dinner date still open?

“I’ll see you two tomorrow then. Aspen, you’ll pick Ivy up, right?”

“Sure, Mrs. December. See you then.”

That made twice people volunteered to fling them together. She quietly wondered if the whole town was in on trying to hook them up, or if it was just Gran and her tightly-knit group of friends.

And as fast as she came barreling into her morning the woman was gone, half-filled cart and all.

“They sure are putting in overtime.”

“You caught on too?”

“You’d have to be blind and deaf to not notice what the threeamigasare up to.”

“Yep. I never took Gran to be such a masterful schemer but must have pulled a couple of all-nighters with her girlfriends to try to pull off the biggest game of matchmaker in Dixen history.”

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