Page 60 of Wilder

“You wouldn’t offer a spay or neutering?”

Lee chuckled. “I supposed we could. I just thought a grooming might be better suited for a Christmas themed event.”

“True. You could offer a coupon for a certain amount of money, which would cover the cost of that service or anything else the clinic offers.”

“If this comes together like you hope, I’ll talk to Carl and see what he’s willing to do.”

“We’ll need some help contacting people to donate to the auction if this idea gets approved. It’s unfortunate that it falls at a time that’s busy for me or I’d happily go around talking to people.”

“You should have a bake sale too,” Rori said. “You have several great bakers in your family, and probably at the church, too.”

“That’s a great idea, Rori,” Wilder said.

Rori’s cheeks pinked as she smiled. “I’d like to help out wherever I can.”

“Can you skate?” he asked. “We might need elves.”

She shook her head. “Sorry. I can’t help with that.”

“And even though I can skate, I think I’m too big to be an elf.”

Rori laughed as she leaned against Lee’s arm. “I can’t imagine you in tights and a Santa hat.”

“Maybe you could take pictures,” Lee said as he slipped his arm around Rori and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Pictures of the kids with Santa.”

“But Santa would be on the ice, and we wouldn’t want to confuse the kids by having two Santas. I doubt that’s the goal of the event.”

Lexi had stayed quiet at first, eating bites of her strawberry shortcake, but gradually she joined in the conversation. Though Wilder might have wanted to just hang out with her, it hadturned out better being with Lee and Rori because they’d had some good ideas for the Christmas event.

Now, if Alexander would just give them the green light to go ahead with everything.

Once they’d finished their desserts, Lee said, “We’d better get going. We’ve got church in the morning.”

“Will you be joining us, Alexandra?” Rori asked.

“By the way, you can call me Lexi,” Lexi said. “And I’m afraid I can’t. I have to be at the rink before it opens at eleven.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Rori said. “You could always watch the service online after the fact.”

“They record it?” Lexi asked.

Lee nodded. “They stream it live, but it’s also available for people who want to watch it at a different time. Get the info from Wilder, so you have it if you want it.”

“I’ll do that,” she said as they got up from the table after taking care of the bill.

Wilder wasn’t sure if she would actually ask him for the information, so he planned to offer it anyway. He had a sense that she was searching in her life. She’d lost a lot, but it didn’t seem like she’d succumbed to despair. At least not yet. But maybe she would be able to find an anchor in her life if she turned it over to God.

“It’s snowing,” Lexi said as they stepped outside.

“Woo hoo! Maybe we’ll get enough on the slopes for me to start working.”

“It was nice spending time with you, Lexi,” Lee said. “We’ll see you around. Bro, catch you at home.”

Rori said goodbye to them, then walked away hand-in-hand with Lee.

“Are you really excited about getting to work?” Lexi asked as they walked to his car.

“I am.” Wilder pressed the fob to unlock the doors. “I’m not one who enjoys sitting around for days.”

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