The kids were now playing something with the extra wood pieces that seemed to be a mix of the floor is lava and follow the leader, all while chanting the lines ofThe Night Before Christmasthat they’d memorized.
He turned to Rachel, hoping that he could manage to take a leap of faith without crashing and burning at takeoff. “Holly and I have a few Christmas traditions of going to holiday outings, but most of them were tied to our old town. Well, except for my in-laws' ugly sweater party. We’ve got a fresh start here, and we decided that we need a few new traditions. Do you have any suggestions?”
He wasn’t asking Rachel on a date. The last time he’d asked someone on a first date was ten years ago, and he wasn’t quite ready to take a leap that big. But he also knew that it would only take about one more day to finish the fireplace, and he wanted to see Rachel again.
Rachel’s entire face had brightened when he mentioned Christmas traditions, but then she seemed to hesitate. He held his breath as he waited for her response. It was fine if she just recommended a town event that he and Holly could attend ortold him about a Christmas activity. He hoped that she would take it as an opening to see each other again.
She bit her lip and looked at Aiden, thinking. Not thinking, like she was coming up with a list of things to suggest, but thinking like she was trying to decide something. She clearly understood that his question was an opening.
He continued holding his breath.
Then she turned back to him. “Yes.”
“Yes?” He wasn’t quite sure what that meant.
“The snow sculpture activity in Downtown Park happened last week, but they’re still there. And there’s Santa’s village, a manger scene, a gingerbread house with hot chocolate, the works. Aiden and I planned to go tomorrow. Would you like to join us?” Her expression was uncertain, but he could see the hope behind it, too.
He grinned. “We’d love to.”
seven
RACHEL
Rachel was just savingall of her work in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign—yes, she’d managed to use all three today—and closing out of her many open tabs in her browser when her desk phone rang. A second phone started ringing on Lucy’s desk in their shared cubicle. They both picked them up and said hello at the same time.
“I’m so glad I was able to catch you both,” Courtney said in her professional,I’m on the clockvoice. “It is Wednesday, which means it’s been one full week since the bet officially started and we need to do a check-in. Will you both please meet me in my office promptly at five o’clock?”
Rachel glanced at the clock at the bottom of her computer screen. That gave her five minutes to wrap up. “Yep. For once, I’m actually finished with everything on time.”
She glanced at Lucy, whose eyes were on her screen in a frantic focus and whose desk was a mess of printed magazine layouts, sketches, post-it notes, and a half-eaten bag of peppermint bark. “I’m not finished, but I can come back… Do you know what?” She leaned back in her chair. “This all can wait until tomorrow. See you at five!”
They both hung up and Rachel organized the few papers she had on her desk and put some items into tomorrow’s Daily List on her phone. Then she and Lucy headed to Courtney’s office.
Court was focused on something on her iPad, but she glanced up long enough to wave them in and say, “Take a seat.”
And then, like Courtney’s internal clock knew right when the work day ended, she turned off the iPad screen, set down the pencil, and grinned at Rachel. “Okay, it’s been a week since we made our bet, and Lucy and I want an update. Will we be pampering you or experiencing a concert put on only by you?”
Lucy rubbed her hands together. “We want to know everything you said yes to.”
“And if you said no to anything.”
Rachel took a deep breath, trying to think back over the past week. They had texted in the group chat enough times that they had already been updated on much of it, so she tried to think of the things she hadn’t already shared. She probably should’ve been keeping a list on her phone.
“I think Aiden’s onto me. So far, he’s asked for a later bedtime, to put a tree he made out of Legos as the topper on our Christmas tree—yes, we have a tree on top of our tree now—to skip doing his reading homework one night, and to wear all of his clothes inside out to school one day. I think my saying yes to that one was what tipped him off. He learned pretty quickly not to ask for the same thing twice.”
“He never asked for ice cream for dinner?” Courtney asked. “Such a shame.”
“No, but he did talk me into getting ice cream and eating it outside in the snow. I think I still have a touch of frostbite on my lips.” She touched her lips and for some crazy reason, Nick popped into her mind.
“And you said yes to everything?” Lucy asked.
“Yep.”
“Okay,” Courtney said, “but that’s saying yes to Aiden, which wasn’t exactly the point. What else did you say yes to?”
“I already told you that I said yes to helping with Aiden’s class Christmas program and that I said yes to making a four-foot by eight-foot fireplace to use as a set piece.” They still looked impressed by that one, which they should be since she had never done anything like that before. “Oh, and I think I said yes to a date tonight.”
“What?” Courtney said, getting out of her chair behind the desk and coming around to sit on the edge of the desk in front of Rachel, right as Lucy said, “For real?”
