Page 42 of Sweet Christmas Wish
“Will?”
“Shhh.” Sarah laughed, holding up a finger to her lips. “He’ll hear you!”
On cue, the man himself popped his head in the door. “Did someone call for me?”
“Nope,” Sarah assured him.
Will cocked his head to the side. “I could’ve sworn I heard someone say my name.”
Tiffany wiggled her eyebrows, and Sarah couldn’t help but laugh.
“Okay, fine,” Sarah said. “I may have told Tiffany that we’re going out to dinner tonight and she got a little too excited.”
“Ah. Speaking of, is it okay if I take off? I’ll be back in two hours to pick you up.”
“Yeah, absolutely. We only have an hour until closing anyway,” Sarah assured him.
He flashed her a smile that made her wiggle her toes in her shoes with excitement. “Okay then, see you at six,” he said, before giving Tiffany a wave and disappearing.
“We’d better go man the front counter,” Sarah said, leading the way back to the front room.
“You mean,Ihad better man the front counter,” Tiffany corrected. “The only thing you need to be doing right now is getting ready for your date.”
“No, no, I don’t want to leave you all by yourse—”
Tiffany didn’t even let her finish the sentence. “Nope, no arguments. Come on, I’ve closed the shop before by myself and I’m happy to do it!”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. Tonight is all about you. Besides, I’m pretty sure you need to take some more cough medicine. And put on a LOT of makeup, okay? You look kind of rough.”
“Oh my gosh, Tiff, way to build up my confidence.”
“Trust me, I’m doing you a favor.”
Sarah eyed her, trying to decide whether or not to be offended, and then decided to let it slide. Tiffany was nothing if not a precocious go-getter, so of course she would tell it like it was.
“Okay then, if you’re sure, I guess I’ll go get ready.”
“That’s the spirit,” Tiffany said briskly, pushing her out from behind the front counter.
“I’m just upstairs if you need anything—”
“If I need anything I know right where to find you,” Tiffany assured her. “Go!”
Upstairs in her apartment, Sarah took a long, hot shower, hoping the steam would help to clear her sinuses. It worked, but only for a few minutes. By the time she had toweled off and blow-dried her hair, her nose was clogged again and more of her symptoms were coming back. Hurrying to her medicine cabinet, she slurped down some more of her cold medicine, hoping it would see her through her date.
As she began picking out an outfit and putting on her makeup, she realized she was starting to feel super drowsy. Her limbs felt heavy and her body begged for rest. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep, which would never do. With a mounting sense of horror, she checked the medicine bottle and saw that she had taken night-time cold medicine instead of the daytime medicine.
I’ll never make it through tonight! Not like this!she thought, beginning to panic.
Since her makeup and clothes were pretty much finished anyway, she hurried down to the now-closed bakery to see if she could make herself a quick cup of coffee. She’d been practicing with Will and she could now make a pretty simple drink all by herself. What she needed right now was a caffeine boost, and fast.
Before she could pull out the ingredients and get the machine up and running, she saw a coffee cup sitting on the counter and realized Will had left behind his drink. Sure, it had been sitting for a few hours, but if he had made it that meant it would be delicious, even cold. Besides, it beat having to make a cup for herself. Without another thought, she chugged the still nearly-full drink, not stopping until the cup was empty.
* * *
Will pushed open the bakery door, his stomach already in butterflies at the thought that his first date with Sarah was about to begin. To his surprise, Sarah was already down in the front room of the bakery, sitting on one of the stools at the front counter. When she saw him, she swiveled around and almost fell off the stool, only just catching herself on the counter just in time.
