Page 17 of Christmas Creek Cowboy

“Straight talk works,” she assured him.

He nodded. “You’ve texted me three times today. Once with a funny cow video, another time to tell me about the customer who wanted to buy some UFO books, and a third one to let me know you were going to wear smutty underwear tonight. I want to think we can have all three, but I’m not sure we can.”

Emmy had to pick her way through that. He wanted the fun, the job chatter, and the smutty stuff. Heck, so did she, but she wasn’t stupid, and she knew that sex could ruin things between friends.

“Tell you what,” she said. “Let’s just go on this date and see what happens. And tomorrow, I’ll send you three more texts.”

He took hold of her hand, threading his fingers through hers. “What about the smutty underwear? Is that stillon the table?”

She winked at him. “Well, for now it’s on me. Swatches of red lace that barely cover anything, hence thesmutty label.”

Calen groaned, the sound of a man in sexual agony, but he was laughing when he pulled her to him and brushed a kiss on the top of her head. “All right. This date and we’ll see what happens. That means it’s best if I don’t stand here thinking about your underwear.”

Probably best if she didn’t think about his either, or they wouldn’t make it to the party to test out thesedating waters.

She eased back, noted the frown line in the center of his forehead, and rubbed it away. “Am I the reason for the rest of this worry, or is there something else?”

“Something else,” he answered on a sigh. “I haven’t gotten permission yet from the postal service to hand out the letters and packages. They assured me they’re working around the clock until after the holidays, so they could give the okay any minute now. There’ll be some disappointed people if the mail isn’t handed out tonight.”

Calen was obviously disappointed as well, and she didn’t have to guess why. Once the undelivered mail was no longer in his possession, then people would stop buggingthem about it.

“All right,” she said, “so this will be a party fraught with tension, gossip, and speculation. Oh, and the added bonus of seeing our exes.”

“Don’t forget all the holiday greetings we’ll have to hear,” he added.

“Nope, let’s not forget that. If things get too uncomfortable, just think of my smutty underwear.”

She smiled when that got him to chuckle. Mission accomplished, and she hoped the lighter mood would stay with him throughout the night.

Calen helped her into her coat, and she locked up before they went to his truck. She had a moment of fantasy déjà vu because when they’d been in high school, she’d imagined dates just like this with Calen. Of course, she hadn’t given him any signals that she was open to such dates, and if it hadn’t been for her showing him the letter she’d written all those years ago, this night might not have happened either.

The fantasy continued when the snow began to fall. Big fat flakes that drifted down like little paratroopers. Since the temps were low enough for the snow to stick, the town known for its holiday celebrations might indeed get one of those rare white Christmases.

“Nessa called,” Calen told her as he drove toward the civic center. “She wanted me to make sure you were truly okay with her coming over for Christmas dinner.”

“I am,” she assuredhim. “Are you?”

“I am,” he verified after a short pause. “I’m still angry at Waylon for not telling me about Nessa. It was a punch in the gut to learn she existed, but it’s not awkward like I thought it would be when I first tried to call her.”

Emmy made a sound of agreement. It hadn’t been awkward for her either. In fact, she was pretty sure Nessa and she could become fast friends.

“Despite everything Nessa’s been through,” Calen went on as he parked by the civic center, “she’s managed to stay positive. Hopeful. I think you and I lost our hopeful outlook when Owen and Sasha were caught cheating.”

She made another sound of agreement, and everything inside her went still when he looked at her. Not with the scorcher heat. No, this was something else, and if she had to put a label on it, Emmy thought it might be…peace. Maybe just a little, anyway. If so, she was all for it since they hadn’t had a lot of peace overthe past year.

“Let’s do this date,” he said, dropping a quick kiss on her mouth. Okay, so the scorcher heat was back, and even stepping out into the cold didn’t lower it.

However, stepping inside did.

That’s because every eye seemingly turned in their direction, and the party chatter stopped. In fact, everything except the music stopped, making the only sound in the grand hall the band’s overly cheery version of “Frosty the Snowman.”

“Clearly, we’ve impressed them with our choice of party attire,” Emmy whispered out of the corner of her mouth as they took off their coats and put them on the table by the door.

Calen laughed, and just like that, the tension eased in her chest. He helped ease it even more when he took her hand and led her into the crowd. They threaded their way to the bar, where he snagged two glasses of champagne.

As usual, the civic center was all decked out for the occasion in a way that only a small town like Christmas Creek could manage. Lots and lots of decorated trees, something that had caused spats over the years as various clubs, committees, and businesses vied to take charge of the decorations. In the end, it was decided that anyone could contribute a tree.

And anyone and everyone had.

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