10
JENSEN
Jensen pulled up in front of Carla’s Place just before eight o’clock the next morning.
He had Elvis Presley’s Christmas hits streaming from his phone onto the car speakers instead of just listening to the radio, but he knew he couldn’t avoid his commercial forever.
He’d gotten so many texts about it last night, and even more this morning. Some of them were congratulating him, some were gently teasing him, and a few were just emojis or pictures of oranges.
His cousin Lucy, an up-and-coming local artist who had worked for the Co-op for years and designed their holiday window display, sent him a really nice message, telling him that she was proud of him for using his skills to promote a local business.
But mostly he felt like the target of a very elaborate prank.
How did this happen?
He hesitated after parking. On the one hand, hewanted to get Henry out of the car and go up the fire escape to knock on her door like a gentleman.
On the other, if there was any chance that she was the only person in Trinity Falls who hadn’t heard his radio spot yet, he couldn’t risk walking past Joe Cassidy and Uncle Reggie, who were out on the porch sipping their coffee, in spite of the cold weather. The two of them would definitely give him a good ribbing—which he normally wouldn’t mind at all. But on his first outing with Willow, it just didn’t feel right.
My first outing with her?
He’d told himself over and over last night that today didn’t mean anything because they were just going to a daytime activity with Henry, something any pair of friends might do. But of course he’d also spent the whole evening desperately trying and mostly failing to avoid dreaming up elaborate dates to invite her on.
Just as he was about to turn off the truck and head up to get her, Willow appeared on the fire escape with a backpack, practically sprinting his way.
Maybe she’s excited to see me, too.
He watched her wave to the two older gentlemen on the front porch and prayed that what they yelled back had nothing to do with him.
When she had almost reached the car, he hopped out and ran around to open the door for her.
“Good morning,” she said brightly.
It honestly felt like sunlight was glowing from those blue eyes of hers, like a burst of vitamin D on a cold winter day.
“Good morning,” he replied.
She hopped into the truck, and he closed the door gently behind her.
“Morning, Tropicana,” Joe Cassidy called out to him, chuckling and giving him a wave from the porch.
“Orangeyou a lucky guy?” Uncle Reggie asked, waggling his bushy eyebrows.
Jensen waved back, pretending not to understand their jokes, and hopped back into the truck. He wondered if Willow had overheard, but predictably, she was turned around to face Henry, who was already grinning at her.
“More knock-knock jokes?” Jensen guessed.
“Are you getting tired of them?” she asked.
“Never,” he told her.
“Knock, knock,”she said in a singsong way that made Henry chuckle.
Jensen waited a beat, in case Henry decided to answer, then joined in when the little one stayed silent.
“Who’s there?” Jensen asked.
“Boo,” Willow said.
