Page 33 of One Golden Ring
“Wow,” Darcy says happily. “Thank you.”
When my own shake is set down in front of me I just want to start laughing. The presentation is pretty much the same as Darcy’s except that my shake is pink with crushed candy cane sprinkled on top.
And for some reason the waitress has given methreecherries.
“Thank you, Ellen,” I say politely as she thunks down the canister with my excess shake.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” she says with a wink.
Across the table, Darcy looks a little annoyed.
“Are you mad that I got three cherries and you only have one?” I tease her. “If you want them, all you have to do is ask.”
But instead of half-crawling across the table for the cherries, like I would expect from my little sugar-obsessed zombie, she’s scowling after Ellen.
Is she… jealous?
Ellen was maybe barely flirting with me,barely.
And besides, this relationship isn’t even real.
“Are you okay?” it’s my turn to ask.
“Oh,” she says, turning back to me with a guilty look. “Yes, definitely. But I need to send Mandy a picture before we get into these. Do you mind?”
“Of course not,” I tell her.
She grabs my shake and pulls it next to hers before taking what I’m sure is a very cute selfie.
“Send that to me,” I tell her before I can stop myself.
She grins and a moment later my phone buzzes.
I grab for it, pulling up the photo and saving it so Idon’t lose it. I was right. It’s exactly the kind of picture you can’t see without smiling.
“Bottoms up,” she says, holding up her shake to me.
I lift my own, wondering how I’m going to manage not to hurt her feelings when I don’t take more than a sip, and a little worried she might try to finish mine too and end up in some kind of sugar-induced coma.
She touches her glass to mine and then pulls hers back and puts the straw to her lips.
Her eyes close in ecstasy, and she makes this little sound of satisfaction in the back of her throat that has my pulse pounding.
“Drink,” she tells me, without even opening her eyes to see that I haven’t touched my shake.
So I take a small sip.
Sweet, creamy, peppermint goodness bursts in my mouth and I feel like every cell in my body literally starts singing Christmas carols.
“It’s so good, right?” Darcy asks me.
I take another pull, a big one this time, and let the sweetness melt in my mouth.
It’s only temporary,I tell myself.I have to live a little sometimes…
I suck down the rest of my heavenly shake, groaning a little just because I know it will make Darcy happy.
She claps her hands and cheers for me, and I know this is crazy. I’m making every wrong decision and indulging in every wrong call.
