Bring Me A Maverick For Christmas!

“Not really.”

Her stomach rumbled, calling her out on the fib.

His lips curved. “You want to reconsider your answer?”

“Apparently I am hungry,” she acknowledged, one side of her mouth turning up in a half-smile.

“Do you want to grab a bite at the Gold Rush Diner?”

She hesitated.

“It’s a simple yes or no question,” he told her.

“Like...a date?” she asked cautiously.

“No.” His knee-jerk response was as vehement as it was immediate.

Thankfully, Serena laughed, apparently more relieved than insulted by his hasty rejection of the idea.

“In that case, yes,” she told him.

Since nothing was too far from anything else in the downtown area of Rust Creek Falls, they decided to leave their vehicles parked at the community center and walk over to the diner. Even on the short walk, the air was brisk with the promise of more snow in the forecast.

The name of the restaurant was painted on the plate-glass front window of the brick building. When Bailey opened the door for Serena, a cowbell overhead announced their arrival.

Though the diner did a steady business, the usual lunch crowd had already cleared out and he gestured for her to choose from the row of vacant booths. She slid across a red vinyl bench and he took a seat opposite her.

After a quick review of the menu, Bailey decided on the steak sub and Serena opted for a house salad.

“Your stomach was audibly rumbling,” he reminded her. “I don’t think it’s going to be satisfied with salad.”

“I’m supposed to be going to a dinner and dance at Sawmill Station tonight. The salad will tide me over until then.”

“The Presents for Patriots fund-raiser,” he guessed. “I’ve been working with Brendan Tanner on that this year.”

“Dr. Smith bought a table and gave the tickets out to his staff.”

“Then I’ll see you there.”

“Unless I decide to stay home with Marvin, Molly and Max.”

“I know that Marvin’s your dog,” he said. “But Molly and Max?”

“Cat and bunny,” she admitted.

“You have a lot of pets,” he noted.

“Animals are usually better company than people.”

“Present company excluded?” he suggested dryly.

Her cheeks flushed. “Maybe it would be more accurate to say that I’m better with animals than with people.”

“You were great with the kids today,” he assured her.

“Thanks, but kids are generally accepting and easy to please. Especially kids who are focused on something else—such as seeing Santa Claus.”

“That reminds me,” he said. “What do you know about this PKT-79 all the kids were asking about?”

“It’s an upgrade of the 78 that came out in the spring.”

“The 78 what?”

“An interactive pocket toy that communicates with other similar toys,” she explained.

“And where would I find one?” he asked.

“You won’t,” she told him. “They’re sold out everywhere.”

“They can’t be sold out everywhere,” he protested, nodding his thanks to the waitress when she set his plate in front of him.

“It was a headline on my news feed last week—‘Must-Have Toy of the Year Sold Out Everywhere.’”

He shook salt over his fries as he considered this setback to his plan.

“Of course, you could always ask Santa for one,” she said, tongue in cheek, as she stabbed her fork into a tomato wedge.

“Do Santa’s elves have a production line of PKT-79s at the North Pole?”

“They might,” she allowed. “The only other option is an aftermarket retailer.”

“Like eBay?” he guessed.

She nodded. “But you won’t find one reasonably priced,” she warned. “Supply and demand.”

“I was hoping to get one for Owen,” he confided. “To give him a reason to believe that Christmas doesn’t suck.”

“And because you feel guilty?” she guessed.

“Yeah,” he admitted.

“Well, it’s a really nice idea,” she said. “But I promise you, he’ll have a good Christmas even without a PKT-79 under his tree.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know his family, and yes, it’s going to suck that his best friend is leaving town after the holidays, but he’ll be okay.”

“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it,” Bailey decided. “And since I’m apparently going to do this Santa thing again, I could use some pointers on how to interact with the kids.”