Page 17 of A Cozy Christmas Blizzard
“On the triplets?”
“No,” LaVonne returned, laughing. “On you and Wynn. The babies come later.”
“Okay,” she said, resigned to continuing the charade. Everything might’ve been delightful and romantic the night before, but this was a whole new day. She was beginning to figure out his agenda. She’d criticized his beliefs, especially about Christmas, and now he was determined to change hers. It was all a matter of pride.Malepride.
She’d been vulnerable, she realized. The dinner, the wine, Chef Jerome, a carriage ride, walking in the snow.Christmas. He’d actually used Christmas to weaken her resolve. The very man who was threatening to destroy the holiday for children had practically seduced her in Seattle’s winter wonderland. What she recognized now was that in those circumstances, she would’ve experienced the same emotions with just about any man.
As was her habit, K.O. weighed herself first thing and gasped when she saw she was up two pounds. That fabulous dinner had come at a price. Two pounds. K.O. had to keep a constant eye on her weight, unlike her sister. Zelda was naturally thin whereas K.O. wasn’t. Her only successful strategy for maintaining her weight was to weigh herself daily and then make adjustments in her diet.
Even before she’d finished putting on her workout gear, the phone rang again. K.O. could always hope that it was a potential employer, but caller ID informed her it was her sister.
“Merry Christmas, Zelda,” K.O. said. This was one small way to remind her that keeping Santa away from Zoe and Zara was fundamentally wrong.
“Did you get it?” Zelda asked excitedly. “Did you get Dr. Jeffries’s autograph for me?”
“Ah...”
“You didn’t, did you?” Zelda’s disappointment was obvious.
“Not exactly.”
“Did you eventalkto him?” her sister pressed.
“Oh, yes, we did plenty of that.” She recalled their conversation, thinking he might have manipulated that, too, in order to win her over to his side. The dark side, she thought grimly. Like Narnia without Aslan, and no Christmas.
A stunned silence followed. “Together. You and Dr. Jeffries were together?”
“We went to dinner... .”
“You went to dinner with Dr. Wynn Jeffries?” Awe became complete disbelief.
“Yes, at Chez Jerome.” K.O. felt like a name-dropper but she couldn’t help it. No one ate at Chez Jerome and remained silent.
Zelda gasped. “You’re making this up and I don’t find it amusing.”
“I’m not,” K.O. insisted. “LaVonne arranged it. Dinner was incredible. In fact, I gained two pounds.”
A short silence ensued. “Okay, I’m sitting down and I’m listening really hard. You’d better start at the beginning.”
“Okay,” she said. “I saw Wynn, Dr. Jeffries, in the French Café.”
“I already know that part.”
“I saw him again.” K.O. stopped abruptly, thinking better of telling her sister about the confrontation and calling him names. Not that referring to him as Jim Carrey and Charles Dickens was especially insulting, but still... “Anyway, it’s not important now.”
“Why isn’t it?”
“Well, Wynn and I agreed to put that unfortunate incident behind us and start over.”
“Oh, my goodness, what did you do?” Zelda demanded. “What did you say to him? You didn’t embarrass him, did you?”
K.O. bit her lip. “Do you want to hear about the dinner or not?”
“Yes! I want to heareverything.”
K.O. then told her about cocktails at LaVonne’s and her neighbor’s connection with the famous chef. She described their dinner in lavish detail and mentioned the carriage ride. The one thing she didn’t divulge was the kiss, which shot into her memory like a flaming dart, reminding her how weak she really was.
As if reading her mind, Zelda asked, “Did he kiss you?”
