Page 54 of A Christmas Bargain

But Claire… was something else.

My phone rang, pulling me from watching them, and I answered Nicky’s call.

“Just a heads up, Naomi left her bear stuffy at our house.”

I nodded. “We’ll stop by to get it when we head out.”

“Oh. Got plans for later?”

“Yeah. The animal shelter.”

He gasped. The burly carpentergasped. “No. Are you serious?”

“Yep.”

“You’re going to get her a dog?”

“I’m going to let her look at them.”

“She will faint from happiness, man. Christmas morning, she’ll faint.”

I shook my head. “Nah. I said we could just look.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.”

I shrugged.

“Is Claire going with you too?” he asked.

I furrowed my brow, surprised that he’d ask that. “I guess. If she wants to.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“Well, Stacey came home and said you two were getting hot and heavy at dinner.”

“No.” We did that here.

“And Naomi talks about hera lot.”

I sighed.

“It’s just happening kind of fast, right?”

“Do you remember how long I knew Jenna before we married?”

“Five days?” he guessed.

“A week. One week, Nicky. Maybe that’s just how it hits me.”

“Fair enough.”

We disconnected the call just before Claire and Naomi came inside, and I was pushed into action.

“Hot cocoa’s ready,” I announced.

“Yay!” Naomi shed her winter gear in the mudroom but her boot got stuck. Claire helped her, and then they raced to the kitchen.

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