Page 141 of Mistletoe and Mischief

Will had been attracted to Shirley. His ego had taken a beating when she chose Larry Knight over him. The fact that he’d introduced Shirley to Larry had made the whole situation especially galling for Will; Miranda understood that. When he’d first started paying attention toher,Miranda had reason to think he was trying to make Shirley jealous. She wouldn’t stand for that and made sure Will knew it.

Lately, however, there’d been a shift in the way he treated her. But his first tentative attempts to deepen their relationship didn’t work, mainly because Miranda didn’t trust him. He’d invited her to dinner and she’d refused. Later, she felt bad about that and she’d taken him a store-bought chicken. So they’d ended up having dinner together, after all. That was the night he’d invited her to spend Christmas Day with him.

“Now what?” Will asked. He was pushing the homemade stuffing into the cavity.

“Keep going until you can’t get any more inside.”

“Okay. Although this is kind of a revolting activity.”

She laughed. “Will, why did you buy a twenty-three-pound bird for just the two of us?” she asked.

“I don’t know... At least there’ll be plenty of leftovers.”

“Enough to feed an army,” she muttered.

“And a navy,” he added.

He finished with the stuffing, and washed his hands while Miranda basted the turkey and placed an aluminum-foil tent over the top. “Okay, it’s ready for the oven,” she said.

She held open the oven door and Will slid the turkey inside. “How long will it take?” he asked.

“Twenty minutes a pound, so do the math.”

“Seven and a halfhours?”

“You’ll build up an appetite,” she said. “And we can have some crackers and cheese while we wait.”

“And a nice glass of wine...” Will pulled off his oven mitts. “Any other suggestions?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.” She left the kitchen and went into the living room to collect her bag. Reaching inside, she took out a wrapped gift. “For you,” she said playfully, handing him the large square box.

Will looked a bit uneasy, which told her what she already suspected. He hadn’t purchased her a gift. She hadn’t really expected him to. Besides, this was more of a thank-you for having her over.

“It’s small, just a token,” she said. She didn’t want to embarrass him or make him feel guilty for not reciprocating.

“Go ahead and open it,” she urged.

“You shouldn’t have,” he said theatrically. He sat down on the sofa and tore away the paper. When he saw the jigsaw puzzle, he grinned. The picture was a seascape, with dolphins and tropical fish swimming in a blue, blue ocean. “Hey, good idea! We can put it together this afternoon.”

Miranda stood and started to clear off the table. “I used to enjoy doing puzzles,” she told him. “This table’s big enough to lay out all the pieces.”

“Here. Now you open my gift,” Will said.

Miranda turned around, leaning against the table’s edge. She frowned as Will gave her the small, beautifully wrapped gift. The shape and size hinted that it’d come from a jewelry store.

“Is this a marriage proposal?” she joked, and then laughed nervously, wondering how she could have asked something so idiotic.

“Not yet,” he returned quite seriously.

Miranda stared at the package, almost afraid to remove the wrapping.

“Open it,” he said.

Reluctantly, she untied the ribbon. “You didn’t wrap this yourself.”

“You’re right, the store did.” He stood next to her and nudged her to continue unwrapping.

“I...wasn’t expecting anything like this,” she said. “All I got you is a puzzle.”

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