She was staring now. "So what happened?"
"So the next morning, Jeff and I are eating cereal at the kitchen table when a bunch of unmarked cars screech up to the house and practically bust down the door. They're ready to start tearing the place apart until I confess it was just me messing around."
She was still staring. "You're joking."
"No joke," I said.
"So, did they arrest you?"
"No. But theydidtake me down to the station." With a rueful laugh, I added, "Man, was Grandma pissed."
"And what about your grandpa?"
"Oh, he was pissed, too. But he got a huge kick out of it. If you want the truth, I think he was proud." I smiled at the memory. "Didn't stop him from grounding me though."
"And that was yourfirstarrest?" she said. "The way Jeff talked, there was more than one."
"Eh, there was this thing in high school too. I busted into the grading system, looking to make some changes."
"What?" she laughed. "You were gonna give yourself all A's?"
"Nah. I already had all A's. What I wanted was to impress a girl in my chemistry class."
"How?"
"By givingherall A's."
Gwen covered her mouth with both hands before saying on a snicker, "You didn't."
"Idid," I said. "I was a total nerd."
Her hands dropped, and she gave me a skeptical look. "Oh, stop it. There's no way that's true."
"Why not?"
She eyed me up and down. "Just look at you. You're absolutely gorgeous."
"Good to know," I laughed.
"I'm serious."
"Yeah, well you're pretty gorgeous yourself."This was no lie.Even back when I'd first met her, I'd seen the beauty through the disguise. But it was herinnerbeauty that had claimed my heart.
"Me?" she giggled. "Oh, come on."
Just then, a loud throat-clearing made me turn to look. When I did, I spotted some pencil-necked guy in a rumpled gray suit. When he saw me looking, he took a single step backward and made a show of looking at his watch.
From behind me, Gwen said in a hushed voice. "That's my boss."
I was still taking his measure. The guy looked like a jerk tome, but the last thing I wanted was to cause Gwen any more trouble, so I turned back to her with an easy smile. "Good to know."
Already, she was pulling out a big white gift box and lining it with white tissue paper. "Do you prefer Christmas Holly or Elves?"
My gazed locked on hers. "Elves, definitely."
Her lips gave a cute little twitch. "I was talking about the wrapping paper."
"Yeah? And I was talking aboutyou."
