The Best Man's Holiday Romance

by Gail Sattler

  A growly rumble interrupted his plans.

  Her stomach.

  He pressed his forehead to the top of her head. Here he’d been babbling about his troubles, then making plots and plans to kiss her, and all this time she’d been hungry.

  He knew she’d skipped lunch.

  He was an insensitive idiot.

  Gently, he grasped her shoulders and stepped back. “I brought food, and it’s time we ate it. Let me get everything onto the plates and in the microwave. You’re going to be impressed.” At least he hoped she was going to be impressed, because it was the best he could offer.

  Chapter 9

  “What is this?”

  Jeff bit back a grin as Tasha stared at the plate he’d placed in front of her. “It’s a bunch of your favorite things. Enjoy.”

  She continued to stare at the plate. It had taken a good part of the evening, but he’d been very careful to either prepare or buy what she liked best. It was said that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, so he had to believe that in today’s modern age, the reverse was also true. Therefore he’d made asparagus with melted cheese on top. He’d ordered Almond Guy Ding and ginger beef from the Chinese takeout. He’d cooked up a box of beef noodle Hamburger Helper, even though he couldn’t understand how that would qualify as one of her favorite meals, but she’d once claimed it was. He’d baked yam fries in the oven so she couldn’t complain that deep-frying canceled the goodness of it being a real vegetable, accompanied by her favorite chipotle dipping sauce. To the side, he’d added her favorite sushi combo, and made sure the rolls didn’t touch the wasabi. He’d even brought a bottle of soy sauce in case the little packages weren’t enough.

  To top it all off, he’d bought a box with samplings of eight different kinds of cheesecake, which he knew was her favorite dessert. That was still in the fridge. She hadn’t seen it yet, but he could hardly wait.

  She looked up at him as he stood beside her, then raised one hand and touched her fingertips to her temple where he’d just brushed his lips. Her cheeks turned pink, she lowered both hands to her lap, then she turned her head down so he couldn’t see her face. “I don’t know what to say,” she mumbled.

  “You can say grace, and then we can eat.”

  She turned to watch him as he pulled out the other chair. When he smiled her cheeks darkened even more. After he took his place at the table and bowed his head she gave a short prayer of thanks for the food, then they began to eat.

  “I won’t be able to eat even half of this, you know.”

  “I know. I just wanted to make sure you had enough of everything. Whatever you don’t eat we’ll just put in the fridge for your lunch tomorrow.”

  “Lunch? This is enough food for a week.”

  To her credit, she nibbled first on the things he’d actually cooked. When she tasted the asparagus her eyes widened and she nodded at him while chewing, which told him that he’d done it right. She actually closed her eyes and sighed when eating the Hamburger Helper, something he really didn’t understand. Next she went on to the yam fries, which he knew were a little soft, but after all, she’d been specific about them being cooked in the oven. Not that he owned a deep fryer or knew how to use one. Placing them on a baking sheet and putting them in the oven had been a total no-brainer.

  Fact was, he hadn’t done anything challenging, which somehow made it feel as if he was cheating, but she seemed to be enjoying his cooking, such as it was.

  A few times, she reached up to brush her fingers over that spot on her temple that he’d ever-so-lightly kissed.

  He wondered what she would do after he kissed her properly.

  He pressed his lower lip between his teeth so he wouldn’t get caught smiling, and pushed the ginger beef toward her.

  Tasha shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m only going to eat a nibble of the Chinese food. I love having Chinese leftovers for a next-day lunch.”

  “Then I’m happy to oblige.”

  As they ate, since she’d been more than gracious listening to him pouring out his soul about Heather, he let her rant on about what had happened at work that day. She expounded, in detail, first about unreasonable customers, then she recounted the frustrations of other staff trying to do something they hadn’t been trained to do. Many of her stories were funny, even though he didn’t know the people. He supposed it was her perspective, which was always optimistic.

  Between stories she complained that there was too much food, but that didn’t stop her from taking just a little more of her favorite things, which was everything he’d brought.

  Finally, she couldn’t eat anymore.

  He rubbed one hand over his stomach. “Now for dessert.”

  She covered her mouth with both hands, burped, then groaned. “You brought cheesecake, didn’t you?”

  “Yup.”

  “The kind with strawberry sauce on top?”

  “Yup. And blueberry, and the chocolate kind, the mixed mocha kind, plus a few more. All the kinds you like.”

  She pressed one hand over her stomach. “I really can’t eat another bite.”

  “Then how about if you go sit on the couch. I’ll clean up, and then we can have dessert later.”

  “I don’t know...”

  He stood. “Go. I know you’re tired. Relax. I’ll pack up everything and get it in the fridge, and by the time I’m done you’ll have room for dessert.”

  “Okay...”

  He waited for the sound of the couch to squeak, signifying her descent into it, then made short work of cleaning up.

  While he put everything into plastic containers and then into the fridge, he realized that he really had brought way too much food. He’d eaten his fill, as well, but there were enough leftovers to last her for both lunches and suppers through the weekend.

  Suddenly he thought of the bad side to this. If she had so much food in the fridge she wouldn’t allow him to take her to a restaurant because she wasn’t going to let good food go to waste.

  He should have thought of that sooner. But it was too late now.

  Therefore he would make the best of it.

  He slid a couple of pieces of cheesecake onto plates, grabbed a couple of forks, then went into the living room to join Tasha.

  The television was on, but apparently, Tasha was off.

  She was still sitting, but her head looked to be at an uncomfortable angle, her mouth was hanging open and she was starting to snore.

  Now he knew what to expect once they got married. The thought should have stopped him dead in his tracks, but it didn’t. Instead, it made him smile. All the things he’d said to her earlier ran through his mind. This was one of those moments, and it felt right. Realistically, they would have some bad moments, but most would be good, except when she picked the peppers off her pizza and left them in the box instead of throwing them in the garbage. But he could live with that.

  So she wouldn’t wake up with a kink in her neck, he put the two plates on the coffee table, then slipped one arm under her knees and the other behind her shoulders, and picked her up. Slowly and gently, he made his way to the bedroom, and gently laid her on the bed, which he noticed wasn’t made. After he laid her down, he gently tugged off her shoes, then pulled the blanket up to her chin. When it touched her chin, she murmured and tugged it up, wiggled a bit, then stilled.

  So much for his romantic evening.

  Not wanting to waste the desserts, he put both back into the fridge, gave the counters one final swipe with the soapy cloth, then made his way to the door. But when he touched the doorknob, he froze.

  He couldn’t just leave, because he needed to lock the door.

  If he locked the door, then if she had to go out, she couldn’t lock her own door because he’d have her key.

  He looked at the couch
. He could probably fall asleep on the couch, but he didn’t know if they were at that point in their relationship where he could spend the night at her place, despite being in separate rooms. If the living room counted as a separate room.

  But then he got an idea. He located her keys, which were fortunately on the table beside the door and not in her purse, or worse, her pants pocket. He slipped her door key off the ring, went out, locked her door, then slid the key under the door. Knowing her purse was far away from Tasha in the bedroom and the tone wouldn’t wake her, he texted that he’d slid the key under the door and she’d find it somewhere on the floor, and left.

  Tomorrow was another day, and hopefully he could do something to raise the bar on their relationship then. It didn’t matter what she wanted to do. Whatever she wanted, he would do.

  He smiled the entire way home.

  * * *

  “I don’t think you should get that one. It’s the wrong color.”

  Natasha nibbled her lower lip. “It’s for a dog.” She turned toward Jeff, which was a mistake. The exasperation in his face nearly made her laugh. “I don’t think the dog will care.”

  His eyebrows arched, and he waved one hand in the air toward the display. “The top thing on that girl’s Christmas wish list is a dress for her dog. That means the dog is going to wear it year-round. These are all Christmas colors. You need to go over there, to the regular stock.” He pointed down the aisle, where a full selection of dog clothing was displayed by size.

  Regular stock. She couldn’t believe that people spent so much money for something as ridiculous as dresses and shirts for dogs. Dogs had natural fur coats to keep them warm, and except for sweaters in very cold weather, they didn’t need extra clothing. But obviously there was a big market for it, because the section for the dog clothing took up a third of the row.

  She turned back to Jeff. “But this is for Christmas.”

  “Exactly. When is that girl going to get the dress for her dog?”

  “At the Christmas party.”

  “That’s my point. By the time she opens it, it will be almost Christmas. Don’t give seasonal stuff at the end of the season. Have you ever got a Christmas shirt for Christmas? You get to wear it Christmas Day, then you have to put it in the closet for a whole year until after Thanksgiving when the season begins. That’s no good.”

  As Jeff stood before her, stiff as a board, Natasha studied him. “The last time we were shopping you ended up playing with the toys instead of buying them. And now you’re getting all strung out about the wrong color dog dress? Why is this so important to you?”

  She expected him to get contrite, but instead he stiffened even more, and again raised his arm to point to the all-season selection of dog wear. “Because it’s important to that little girl. If it’s on her Christmas list, that means her parents aren’t going to give her any dog outfits. If we can only give her one, then it needs to be the right one.”

  “We?” She wondered when suddenly they’d become a we. She so much wanted to be a we with Jeff, but everything they did together said they were just friends, except for that one moment of weakness when he’d been emotionally vulnerable. Even though she wanted more, she didn’t want to read more into it than she should, and mostly, she couldn’t allow herself to get her hopes up. “There is no ‘we.’ It’s not our Christmas list. It’s the company’s. Why is this gift suddenly so personal?”

  His mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything. He rammed his hands into his pockets, and his cheeks flamed so bright the red reached to his ears. “Because I know what it’s like to have a pet dressed out of season.”

  “The duck?”

  He nodded. “The diapers were quite elaborate at times, and my mother always made sure to have a good variety. She once needed to have pictures taken of Daffodil as part of her advertising campaign. That was before the days most people could afford a really good high-resolution digital camera. We had to get Dilly to a studio, and since we had to take her in the car, she had to actually wear one of the diapers in public. Back then, it was bad enough to have a duck in diapers, but it was July, and she had to wear a Christmas elf diaper. Everyone who saw her laughed.” His voice lowered and filled with regret. “Dilly was quite traumatized.”

  “The duck was upset?”

  He sighed. “She’s very sensitive.”

  Now more than ever, Natasha wanted to meet this duck.

  Again, he pointed to the center display. “If the dog gets a dress, it needs to be appropriate for all year long.”

  “Okay. You go pick a dog dress. I’ll go get the starter aquarium kit.”

  They had a few other pet-related requests, which she figured would be the easiest. They weren’t. But soon enough they had all the pet gifts purchased, including a gift card for two complimentary fish.

  “The next group is the primary and elementary level. I have no idea what to do for these. Most have no suggestions. I like it when the parents are specific.” Even when her shopping partner disagreed.

  Yet strangely, even though she had never spent time with this age level, they soon had a full cart, and everything on her list crossed off. Most from Jeff’s suggestions.

  “I can’t believe the time. We’re done for the day. Unless you want to start the preteen group.”

  Jeff rubbed his hands together. “That’s when they’re starting to get more interested in the electronic games. This group will be the most fun.”

  “My boss said no electronic games unless they’re educational or have significant merit. No killing, no blood or dismemberment and nothing that glorifies bad driving.”

  “He eliminated the majority of what’s available, but we still have lots of choices.”

  They managed to buy a few more gifts, but soon the small stores started to close. “All that’s open now are the big-box stores. They’re open late, so we can do more shopping after we eat. We need to get this all back to your house, and then we can go to my place for supper. I happen to have lots of leftovers.”

  “A deal I can’t refuse.”

  It didn’t take long for the car to be emptied, and everything neatly stacked in Jeff’s spare room. Once they were back at her apartment, Natasha began unloading all the food containers from the fridge and setting them on the counter. “You’re a good cook, you know. I was quite impressed.”

  With her head still in the fridge, Natasha heard shuffling behind her. She turned around with the two containers of the Chinese food in her hands and came face-to-face with Jeff—so close that when she straightened the containers she held, she touched his stomach.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You know that saying, kiss the cook?” As he spoke, he raised his hands and cupped her cheeks with his palms.

  “Well...yes...but...”

  “Then kiss the cook.”

  Before she could think of an adequate response, he brushed his lips against hers. Automatically her eyes closed. She felt her grip loosen on the containers, but before anything could drop from her hands, the warmth of his palms disappeared from her cheeks, and he stepped back.

  “I’ll take those,” he said, putting them on the counter. “I have an idea.”

  “That’s good.” Because she had no ideas. Everything in her mind jumbled. All she could think about was how he could kiss her, then go back to normal as if nothing had happened. He’d kissed her. It wasn’t exactly the kiss of a boyfriend, but it was on the mouth, so it wasn’t the quick brush of a friend. Not that she’d ever kissed a friend before.

  “I think we should make sure we have a small dinner, then stuff ourselves silly with dessert. Then we’ll be on a sugar rush when we go shopping, and we’ll get everything we have left in one night.”

  “That’s not likely. I think you’re just using that as an excuse to have a big dessert when we have so much food
here.”

  “Maybe.”

  He began opening all the containers while she got two plates out of the cupboard. Neither spoke as they began to spoon what they wanted onto their own plates.

  Overall, it seemed so...domestic. Almost friendly. But she’d never been kissed on the lips by a male friend before.

  Fear of being kept firmly in the “friends only” category was the only thing preventing her from asking why he kissed her. She wanted to hang on to the hope that there could be more.

  When both plates were full and heated, they said a short prayer of thanks for the food, then started eating.

  Jeff ate a few bites, then looked up. “What are you doing next weekend for Thanksgiving? I’m flying out to my grandparents’ place with my parents. After that I’ll be spending the last night of the long weekend at my mom and dad’s house. They say Daffodil is anxious to see me.”

  Natasha shook her head. “Sorry. We always have a huge family thing at my aunt Mary’s. It’s going to be a little strange, because, well, originally they’d expected you to be there, too, with Heather.” She lowered her head. “By now you would have been married, but that didn’t happen.” She raised her head and looked back at him. “I’d like to invite you as my friend, but that would be more than a little awkward.” She didn’t know how to define their relationship, but they were...something.

  “Yeah. I know. The day after I told my mom that Heather and I split up she called and asked if I’d go to my grandparents’ for Thanksgiving. I was lucky—I got the last seat on my flight.” He put his fork down and looked straight into her eyes. “I wish you could go with me.”

  Natasha would have liked that. Not just to meet his parents and his family, but to meet his duck. But it simply wasn’t meant to be. “I guess that means that I’ll be on my own for Black Friday shopping.”

  He visibly shuddered. “You don’t really do that, do you? I don’t think any discount, no matter how big, is worth the battle in a mob like that.”