“Hey, so nice to—” But my sentence is cut short as I trip on the curb, stumbling and almost falling, before I’m able to get my balance back. Unfortunately for my pride, Mateo somehow is able to close the distance to me and try to catch me. As he bends, I stand, and my head collides with his jaw.
“Ow!”
“Shit!”
Cradling his chin, Mateo scrunches his eyes together, clearly in pain. “Well, that’s one way to introduce yourself. Are you okay?”
Mortified, I take a step back and cross my arms over my chest. “I’m so sorry, Mateo. I can leave, I should go?—”
“No, stop,” he takes a step forward, “don’t be silly. We have cookies waiting for us, remember?”
“Are you sure? I’m pretty sure I just assaulted you.”
“Nah, I’m the one who wanted to be a white knight and save the damsel from her impending doom of a scraped knee. That collision was my bad.”
His lopsided smile makes me smile, and a warm fuzzy haze sweeps through me as he extends his hand for me to take. “Come on, we need something warm to drink before we consume our body weight in cookies and frosting.”
“Just our body weight?” I ask, taking his hand. The gesture is friendly, and although I feel a little crazy for immediately holding hands with a stranger, it doesn’t feel awkward or weird.
He laughs. “Ah, I’ve got a sweet tooth on my hands, do I?”
“Maybe just a little.”
Stopping in front of the coffee counter, I scan the menu and figure out what I want to drink, settling on peppermint tea. Coffee sounds better, but even with decaf, I’ll be up all night if I drink it past two o’clock. Mateo orders our drinks, and I find us a table nearby to sit at until the cookie decorating begins.
“So tell me about yourself, Holly North,” he says as he takes the seat across from me a few minutes later, passing me my tea.
“What do you want to know?” I’m horrible at talking about myself. Give me a direct question and I can answer just fine. Ask me to just dive in and start telling you things about my life, and I freeze.
“How long have you lived in San Diego?”
“Pretty much my entire life. You?”
“Just moved here for work about three months ago. Hence, finding a stranger to decorate cookies with me.”
“Is cookie decorating your thing?”
“Nah, I just thought it sounded like something cutesy to do for the holidays with a pretty lady.”
“Ah, so what came first, finding the deal on the cookies or finding the lady?”
His eyes narrow playfully as he takes a long sip of his drink, then he laughs. “A gentleman can’t tell all his secrets.”
We fall into a playful banter for the rest of the time we sit and relax until we can go decorate our sweet treats. Set up as a pop-up style venue, we’re greeted by three rows of tables adorned with every type of sugar cookie cut-out shape, frosting color, and type of sprinkle you can think of. Immediately, I feel giddy, anddon’t hesitate before pulling Mateo through the doors to find a space and wait for further instruction.
Showing our proof of payment to the woman who comes to greet us, she explains the rules and hands us both thin fabric aprons.
“They’re really quite simple. Wash your hands prior to touching the cookies and always use the utensils for the application of the frosting and sprinkles. Absolutely no licking your hands if you get frosting on them, and if you choose to eat your cookies while you’re here rather than take them home, please feel free to sit at one of the tables along the side. You each get a half dozen cookies to select and decorate. If you need me, my name is Sandra.”
“Thank you, Sandra,” I tell the woman sweetly, then look back at Mateo.
“Don’t lick the frosting off our hands if it gets on them? Uh. Way to ruin the fun,” he whispers, and I burst out laughing.
Stepping closer to the cookie table, I take in all of my options.
“Are any of them speaking to you?” Mateo reaches for a reindeer. “This one spoke to me. He said, pick me, you ho ho ho.”
Once again, I can’t control the laughter that bubbles out of me. “I think I want one of these.” Grabbing a snowman, I purse my lips, then reach for a present. “And maybe this one.”
