‘You too,’ Piper said, accepting the plate that Gloria thrust at her.
Emmett was a little quicker in grabbing his. He dug out a ten-dollar note from the pocket of his coveralls and handed it to Gloria. ‘I got this one.’
Gloria raised a brow, accepting the note, and Emmett didn’t miss the look she flicked between him and Piper. Did he hate that the bush telegraph would have them paired up as a couple before the end of the day? No. But he probably should.
‘Did you get to see the street decorations?’ Gloria asked.
‘They’re beautiful,’ Piper replied. ‘Especially against that brilliant blue sky. Not a cloud in sight.’
‘Yes, well, don’t let it fool you. It can be blue one minute and black with a raging storm the next. Keeps us on our toes, that’s for sure. We secured those decorations so well that hell in a tornado couldn’t destroy them.’
Piper’s eyebrows rose and Emmett’s smug satisfaction at Gloria backing him up on the savage nature of their storms showed itself in his grin.
‘I’ll believe it when I see it,’ she said with a warm smile.
‘Head on down to the sign-up tent.’ Gloria waved them further along to a camping gazebo that held two tables parallel to each other with several clipboards on them. ‘I’ll be very interested to see where your names end up.’
‘Our names?’ Piper asked when they followed the queue to the next tent.
Emmett took a bite of pancake and groaned at the fluffiness of it. ‘These are so good. They’ve gotta be homemade. No packet ever tasted like this.’
Piper rolled her eyes. ‘Emmett, focus. Where are our names going?’
‘There’s lists up here of activities to partake in for the Christmas Eve Bonanza. Volunteers, contests, and other things.’
‘And the pancakes are part of this?’ She took a nibble. Her face brightened and she took a bigger bite.
‘Hard to say no when the bribe’s this good.’
Piper laughed but didn’t disagree. He hadn’t heard her laugh so much in the five days they’d been housemates and he wanted to keep it going. An idea sparked.
‘Want to make things interesting?’
‘I’m listening.’ Piper took another mouthful of breakfast.
‘Instead of signing up for something for ourselves, let’s pick for each other. I’ll put your name on a list, and you can put mine. Just remember that I’m already manning the first aid tent with Stef.’
Her eyes widened and she chewed thoughtfully. Then a grin spread across her face as she swallowed. ‘Deal.’
They turned to separate tables, pens at the ready. Emmett scanned the options before sighting the one he wanted.
He stepped back and finished off his pancakes while he waited for Piper, who was hunched over a different clipboard.
She whirled around to face him, mischief twinkling in her eyes.
‘Congratulations, you’re the newest member of the Rush Creek Carols Choir.’ He pointed to her name on the clipboard.
‘How do you even know I can sing?’ she hissed.
He rolled his eyes. ‘Because, diva, you sing really loudly in the shower and it’s not terrible.’
‘It’s not good either,’ she mumbled, and Emmett hid his smile.
‘Relax, Maddie’s on the list too.’ Emmett hadn’t missed the chatting and laughter between the two nurses when he’d brought patients into the ED.
She brightened at that news. ‘I haven’t been in a choir since the sixth grade but I’m up for the challenge. You’re probably going to need just as much practice because I have signed you up for this …’
He followed the finger she pointed. Gingerbread House Decorating Contest. His groan was drowned out by her full-blown laughter. The sound rained over him like water from the sprinkler they used to race under in the summer as children. It was glorious. He looked again at her neat writing of his name, the third on the list because clearly it wasn’t a popular contest.
