Page 13 of Sugar and Spice Kisses

“Okay, let me book it.” I moved to push her aside, but she held fast.

“Glad you’re happy because I’ve already booked it, my treat. You two work your asses off, it’s the least I could do.” She smiled before slapping her hands together and walking over to the stack of boxes we still needed to unpack. “Well, don’t just stand there, get over here and grab a box. We’re nearly done.”

“Thank you, but you really don’t need to do that.”

“I know, but I wanted to, so I did. Now come on, let’s get this done so we can get home.”

We managed to get everything finished between helping a steady stream of customers. As soon as we were done, I hurried to my car and drove straight home. I couldn’t wait to see Randy but remembered I wanted to surprise him. Then I had an idea. I’d tell him we were going to Tahoe but not tell him exactly what we were doing or where we were staying. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about how to get him there. I’d just need to tell him what to pack.

I pulled up to the house we now shared and couldn’t believe how lucky I was that we’d found each other; sure, it took a while for us to work things out—well it took Randy a while—but now I knew he was very driven, and he’d seen me as competition. That thought still made me laugh. We were so good together, and now that I had a plan for a special getaway, I couldn’t wait to tell him. But not until Valentine’s Day.

Twelve

Randy

“Hey, babe, how was your day?” Eli asked as he walked in the door.

“It was good.” He pulled me in for a kiss that I had been waiting for since I left him at the gift shop. “We got everything rearranged and either stored away for next year or put on clearance. What did you end up doing today?”

“Well, like I told you earlier, I was checking on orders downtown, and we actually got more orders while I was out, so guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow?”

He smiled at me and brushed his thumb across my cheek. “Would that have something to do with decorating a bunch of cookies?”

“Why yes it would. Good guess,” I said making us laugh.

“Do you think we baked enough?” Eli asked.

“Yes, I think it’s plenty. We can do some of the flavored cookies too just in case. Everyone always loves chocolate chip cookies, and oh! What do you think of making those little white cookies your Aunt Carol makes? Those might be perfect for Valentine’s Day.”

“That sounds good. Those cookies are very easy, and they’d be good fillers for any gift boxes you sell,” Eli said and walked past me to the kitchen. “What should we do for dinner?”

“I actually made us lasagna.” I had gone to the grocery store after I’d visited him, and I was filled with so much adrenaline at the prospect of surprising him I needed to burn it off somewhere.

“You did?” he asked, his voice full of surprise.

“Didn’t you tell me it’s one of your favorites?” I hoped I was right. I could have sworn he’d said that the other day when we were having a random food conversation while watching a cooking show.

“It is, and I haven’t had it for months.” He opened the oven and took a big breath of the garlic and basil scented air. “I knew I smelled something that wasn’t cookies. Are you ready to eat?”

“Yes. I was just waiting for you.” I took out plates and we served ourselves then sat at the counter to eat.

“This is so good, thank you.” Eli grinned at me before taking another bite.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you, did you decide you definitely want to go to Tahoe Valentine’s Day? We still need to book if we’re going.” I had to bring it up because I was going to burst if I didn’t.

“I still like the idea of Tahoe, but I haven’t thought about it since we talked.” He gave me an odd look where he glanced at me and quickly looked down at his food, and if I didn’t know Eli as well as I did, I would have sworn he was lying.

“Should we book a room?” I asked and waited for his reaction.

“Sure, we can look. I asked Aunt Carol today and she said most of the rooms might be booked. Maybe we should plan to go somewhere else this year?” The words tumbled out of his mouth in a very unlike Eli way and I knew something was up. But then I remembered I had a secret too, and I wanted to make it special for him. If he had plans he wanted to keep quiet, I’d go along with it, or if he made no plans at all that was fine too. As long as we spent the holiday together that was all that mattered.

“We could look at the other side of the lake, it’s not as busy,” I suggested, and knew he would hate that idea. He’d mentioned going to a show and I had a feeling he really wanted to see something. “Then maybe we could get tickets to a show and drive there.”

“Yeah, I guess. It would be so much more fun to stay where all the casinos are though. It would have been fun to be able to walk around.” He poked at his lasagna, and I hated that I’d upset him, but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise either.

“How about if we check out what shows are playing that night, and we’ll see if we can get tickets. Then we’ll see if there’re any rooms close by,” I suggested, and hoped he agreed because I had no clue what we were doing since I hadn’t booked anything.

“That sounds great, but maybe we can do it later. I’m not sure I have the patience for it tonight.”

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