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Oh, Christmas Con

Page 61

by Brian Herald

Maye looked out the window to try to hide her smirk. “You know,” she said, “when it’s just the two of us connecting, it’s great, but he’s a bit of a wild card. The way he just went live on his social media account? It was totally off script.”

“It worked out,” Tracy said.

“I know. It worked out great, actually. He has good intuition, for sure. Maybe too good.”

“I don’t think you need to be skeptical, though. He seems so genuine,” Tracy said.

“Yeah…” Maye wanted to believe it was all genuine.

“And if it’s not,” Tracy reached for her drink, “then just enjoy the ride. You’re single, you’re over Randy—”

Maye flashed an angry look.

“—all…Randall.” Tracy corrected herself. “At least, I thought you were.”

“I am, but…” Maye played with the umbrella in her drink. “I don’t think I’m exactly looking to put myself out there to get hurt again, so I am trying to be cautious.”

“Hi, I’m wind,” Tracy stuck out her hand. “Caution? Meet wind.” She held her hand out and nodded at Maye. “Shake my hand,” Tracy whispered.

“Okay I get it,” Maye offered a lazy handshake.

“Now throw it at me,” Tracy stared sternly. “Throw it.”

“Throw what…?” Maye looked around.

“Throw caution to the wind.” Tracy stiffened her posture and readied herself.

“Tracy, I’m not going to fake throw caution at you…”

“I can take it, Maye,” Tracy squeezed her eyes shut. “Throw it.”

Just as Maye wound her arm back and pretend launched caution at Tracy, Chef Antonio and Deanna approached the table each carrying two trays of plates.

“Everything okay over here?” Deanna asked as she laid the plates onto the table.

“Oh, yeah,” Maye pretended to stretch her arm. “Just a little arm cramp…”

“You sure?” Tracy said as she placed her napkin on her lap like she hadn’t just challenged Maye to throw it. “It looked like you were doing something really weird…”

Maye shot her a displeased scowl.

“This is a sampling of our appetizers to get you started,” Chef Antonio said. “And we’ll be back with fish and chips.”

Maye and Tracy ate everything that Chef Antonio and Deanna delivered, and by the time the dessert tray arrived, Maye was ready to call it a night. She threw her napkin onto the table.

“What are you doing?” Tracy sounded shocked.

“I can’t eat another bite,” Maye said.

“It’s dessert, though,” Tracy said. “It’s a separate stomach.”

“What are you talking about?” Maye said.

“Everyone knows there’s a separate compartment for dessert, no matter how much food you’ve had.

“Tracy, I don’t think that’s—”

“Trust me,” Tracy said as she waved for the dessert cart.