Page 76 of Oh, Christmas Con

He reached into the bag, and his eyes lit up when he pulled out a small, perfectly round donut; the cinnamon and sugar coating glistened under the nighttime lights.

“Mmmm,” he closed his eyes and chewed. “It’s still warm,” he added with a mouthful of donut.

He pulled two more out of the bag and handed one to Maye. “Cheers,” he said, eating half of the donut in one bite and then sipping his cider.

“Thanks for all your help guiding me through this movie plot in real life,” Maye said with ‌exaggerated excitement.

Chris spat out his cider and nearly choked laughing. “I did say I would do that, didn’t I?”

“Mmhmm…” she confirmed.

“Sorry,” he said after he finished chewing. “I’m a pretty lame date, eh?”

“I’ve had worse,” she waved him off.

“Yeah?” His eyes lit up. “Like what?” He asked.

“Oh, let’s see…” Maye thought through some of her most memorable debacles. “I once had to stab a date with an EpiPen because he was so nervous that he decided to eat peanut butter brittle instead of talking to me.”

“Wow, so you’re a hero?” Chris said.

“I don’t like to brag,” she said. “So, what about you?”

“Oh, lots of embarrassing stories from when I was young,” Chris said. “I hadn’t quite honed my romantic gestures at that point.”

“Ooh, embarrassing stories? Say more,” Maye was intrigued.

“Ha! I was always anonymously sending flowers to my crushes, planning a grand reveal, but it never panned out. Then I was in basically one long-term relationship, thought we’d be together forever, and she dumped me.”

“Aw,” Maye placed a hand on his thigh. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“Ehh, it needed to happen,” Chris shrugged. “I threw myself into my work after that, which has been really fulfilling.”

“And I think you’ve mastered the anonymous romantic gesture,” Maye said, thinking back to the dinner he orchestrated for her and Tracy.

“You’re not the only humble one here,” he flashed his eyebrows at Maye.

“Looks like we might have our winner,” Rex announced as the crowd began stirring.

Maye jumped to her feet and cheered while Chris whooped loudly from the comfort of his folding chair as Tracy and Todd crossed the finish line as the race winners.

“Third consecutive year!” Todd chanted between breaths as he and Tracy loosened their ankle tie.

“Well…” Rex started.

“Don’t even start, Rex,” Todd said. “The board agreed that was an anomaly.”

Tracy spotted Maye and started towards her with a confused look on her face. “What the heck happened to you?”

Chris raised a hand. “I’ll take the blame here. I took us out. This competition is no joke.”

“But congrats to you!” Maye said. “How was it being tied up with Todd?” Maye nudged her cousin playfully.

“How about I get us a round of cider, hm?” Tracy said with a mischievous smirk, and then bounded to the nearest cider stand without another word.

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Fall Fest Thursday night