Page 29 of The Holiday Gift

“She was there tonight, though she didn’t cut in. Unless she tried it when he was busy dancing with Ella Baker.”

“Ella Baker?” Celeste frowned. “I don’t think I know her.”

“She’s Curt Baker’s daughter. She’s moved to Pine Gulch to look after her father.”

“The girls at the salon were talking about her when I went for my color this week,” Mary said. “She teaches music or something, doesn’t she?”

With a jolt, Faith suddenly remembered her conversation with the woman at the beginning of the party, which seemed like a dozen lifetimes ago. “Oh! I have news. Big news! I can’t believe I almost forgot.”

“You probably had other things on your mind,” Flynn murmured, his voice so dry that she shot him a quick look.

Did her lips look as swollen as they felt, tight and achy and full? She really hoped not.

“You owe me so big,” she said. “I begged Ella Baker to help out with the Christmas program. I told her my sisters were desperate and she totally agreed to do it!”

Celeste’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding? What’s wrong with the woman?”

“Nothing. She was very gracious about it and even said it sounded like fun.”

“Right. Fun,” Celeste said with a shake of her head.

“You had fun, don’t deny it,” Mary said. “Look how it ended up for you. Married to a hot contractor, tool belt and all.”

“Thanks, my dear.” Flynn gave a slow grin and picked up Mary’s hand and kissed the back of it in a totally un-Flynn-like gesture that made Celeste laugh and Mary blush and pull her hand away.

“That was a definite side benefit,” Celeste murmured, and Flynn gave her a private smile that made the temperature in the room shoot up a dozen degrees or so.

“Well, I’m afraid we don’t exactly have more hot contractors to go around for Ella Baker,” Faith said. “Though I do think she would be absolutely perfect for Chase. I told him so, but for some reason, he didn’t seem to want to hear it.”

All three of them stared at Faith as if she had just unleashed a rabid squirrel in the kitchen.

“You told Chase you think this Ella Baker would be perfect for him,” Celeste repeated, with such disbelief in her voice that Faith squirmed.

“Yes. She seems like a lovely person,” she said, more than a little defensive.

“I’m sure she is,” Celeste said. “That doesn’t mean you should have tried to set Chase up with her while the two of you were out together on a date. I’ll admit I didn’t have a lot of experience before I met Flynn but even I know most guys in general probably wouldn’t appreciate that kind of thing. Chase in particular probably didn’t want to hear you suggest other women you think he ought to date.”

Why Chase in particular? She frowned, though she was aware she had botched the entire evening from the get-go. How was she possibly going to fix things between them?

“We’re friends,” she retorted. “That’s the kind of things friends do for each other, pick out potential dating prospects.”

None of them seemed particularly convinced and she was too exhausted to press the point. It was none of their business anyway.

She pulled off Celeste’s coat and hung it over one of the empty chairs and also pulled all her personal things out of the little evening bag.

“Thanks for letting me use your coat and bag.”

“You’re welcome. Anytime.”

Right. She wasn’t going to another stockgrowers’ party.Ever.

“I’m going to go change into something comfortable.”

“I’ll come help you with the zipper. That one sticks, if I remember correctly.”

“I don’t need help,” she said.

“That, my dear, is a matter of opinion.”

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