Page 12 of Snowflakes and Sparks

“What?” I asked. “Is there something on my face?”

“You look nice. Stunning,” he said. His smile hit me right in the stomach and made a bunch of little fairies inside of me do cartwheels.

“Thanks,” I replied and quickly hid behind the menu so he couldn’t see the maroon color that must be flushing my cheeks.

Alex thought I looked nice. Stunning! Okay, so it’s not like I could actually date him, but I wasn’t immune to his good looks and charming demeanor either. Any woman would be flattered if Alex told her she looked nice.

“Good evening,” the waitress said, walking over toward us with a pen and a notepad. She pushed her gold-rimmed glasses up her nose and unapologetically stared at me like I’d just escaped from an intergalactic zoo. “What can I get you two?”

“Hi, Leanne,” Alex said. “I’ll have the cheeseburger, fries and a Coke.”

“And I’ll have a veggie cheeseburger.” Not that I was a strict vegetarian, but I liked to eat as little meat as possible.

She looked at me as if I’d just ordered a bowl of squirrel soup and then broke out in laughter. “Hey, Dave, this girl wants a veggie burger,” she yelled to the man in the kitchen.

Heads turned our way and a wave of giggles and snorts went through the diner.

“I’m afraid they don’t do veggie burgers in this place,” Alex said, leafing through the menu to double-check.

“You’re damn right we don’t. We serve real meat here. Not the fake kind. This has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve heard all day.” Leanne rolled her eyes, not even bothering to do it behind my back.

“Oh. In that case, I’ll just have the same as him,” I said, shoving the menu back in the napkin holder.

Leanne turned on her heel, muttering something to herself about young people and their insane diets.

“Never mind her,” Alex said. “Things here are different than in the big city, I guess.”

“The big city?”

We both laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I sound like a ninety-year-old man who’s never set foot out of his home town. I have. At least five times.” He winked at me. Those big brown eyes of his lit up like fireworks every time a smile reached his mouth, and I got sucked right into them. The ability to speak or think left me temporarily.

“If I’d known you were a vegetarian, I would’ve picked another place to eat.”

“It’s fine. I’m a part-time vegetarian. I guess it’s a big city thing.”

Alex laughed. “Definitely. You know, if this was my restaurant, I’d put a veggie burger on the menu.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet. Would you consider adding spaghetti as well? It’s my all-time favorite.”

He put a finger to his lips, pretending to mull things over. “Yes, I’d give you all the spaghetti you could eat,” he finally said.

I threw him a smile. “All-you-can-eat spaghetti, you can’t go wrong with that. Now, fill me in on yesterday. What happened to Diane?” I asked, wanting to know all the juicy details.

“We were talking about her regular routine when she insisted I show her a pose I did with another one of my clients. Apparently this girl has been talking about it all over town, so Diane felt she couldn’t miss out. I tried telling her a tree pose would be kind of tricky for her, considering her age and the fact that she’s only been doing yoga for a month. But she’s hard to say no to. I tried to warn her, but she kept insisting. While I was getting things ready for our session in the yoga room, she took it upon herself to try out the pose, without warming up and right next to my Christmas tree! That’s when she broke her hip, and got a few cuts and bruises to top it off.”

I winced. “That sounds painful. Although I do know what you mean when you say she’s persistent. I don’t think she’s happy that I’m here in Old Pine Cove.”

“Why would you think that?”

“The accident with your truck. She says I destroyed Christmas and thinks I’m here to ruin another one.”

Alex laughed. “Yeah, Diane’s kind of a drama queen. But she’s a nice lady once you get to know her. She looked out for me at a time when I was going through a rough period in my life. But please don’t give any weight to her accusations. You didn’t destroy Christmas. Besides, I was to blame as well. I should’ve never let you drive my truck.”

“Then why did you?”

“You were so excited about it. I thought it was cute, I don’t know.”

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