Page 20 of Second Down Scrooge

Maybe we could, but then I think about where we’re going: Ava and Grayson’s bakery. My close friends. The ones who have given so much to me.

Could I really repay their debt by being with someone who acted with malicious intent against them?

It’s always that nagging thought in the back of my mind that stops me short from pursuing things with him…no matter how much I want to ignore that voice.

He volunteers to drive, and he carries the wreaths out to his car and buckles Mia into the car seat before slipping into the driver’s seat of his Escalade. It’s quiet as he starts the car, and I’ve noticed that about him. He almost never has music on as he drives, and I finally ask him about it.

“How come you never listen to music?”

“I always listen to music. I just flip it off when I get out of the car and don’t turn it on when I have a guest in the car.”

“Why not?”

He lifts a shoulder. “Conversation.”

He’s quiet as he backs out of my driveway.

“What do you want to converse about?” I ask.

He chuckles. “Have you figured out your price point on your wreaths?”

“Mrs. Howard said she’d pay fifty, so I was thinking forty, actually. I think she was just being nice.”

“You want my opinion?” he asks.

I glance at him, a little nervous for what he’s about to say. “I’m not sure. Do I?”

He nods. “Yeah. You do. You’re selling yourself short at fifty. I did a quick search earlier and found most handmade wreaths like yours going for over a hundred bucks.”

“Yeah, but those are by pros. It’s just a hobby for me.” I lift a shoulder.

“Yours look better than most I saw online, Kel. Take into account your materials and your time, plus the fact that you had a professional football player helping you…I think youshould charge at least one twenty-five. Take orders for a little personalization, and you could up that to one fifty.”

I wrinkle my nose. “You’re nuts.”

“I’m dead serious. Try it.” He glances quickly at me before his eyes return to the road.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I could take putting them in the shop and nobody even looking at them because of the price tag.”

“You’re in charge, so you decide. But that’s my two cents.”

I consider it as he finds a parking spot. Maybe I’ll ask Ava for her opinion. She knows the clientele better than I do, and it’s not like her cookies are free.

Austin grabs the stroller from the trunk and sets it up while I grab the wreaths, and he straps Mia in. We walk toward the bakery, and I’m glad I have the employee badge as we walk up and see a line out the door for the lunch rush. I head to my office with Austin right behind me, and I set the wreaths on my desk.

Ava appears in my doorway a minute later, and she eyes Austin without any judgment crossing her eyes before she turns to me. “What are you doing here on your day off?”

I nod toward the stack of wreaths. “I finished a few, and I was raving about the chicken salad, so we’re here for lunch.”

“Oh, they turned outsocute, Kel!” She walks over and picks one up. “How much? I want one for my house.”

“Take one. They’re free for you.”

She makes a face at me that saysno way, absolutely not, I won’t hear of it.

“I told her to charge one twenty-five,” Austin says. “Similar ones online go for that, but she was only going to charge fifty. What do you think?”

“I say go for it. If no one takes it for one twenty-five, you can always lower it,” Ava says.

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