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“It was a moment. I swear it was. Then he got this weird look on his face and left. He barely said goodbye. I don’t know what happened. What I’m most afraid of is I imagined the moment because, I don’t know, I’m pregnant and single and he’s Micah Ruiz. Maybe all this is happening in my head, and the reason he ducked out is he thinks I’m pathetic.”
Reggie reached for her sister’s hand. “I have no experience with this,” she admitted. “I’ve never dated a celebrity of any kind, so I don’t know how it usually goes. My first thought is if you thought he was going to kiss you, then he was probably going to kiss you. That’s not the sort of thing you get wrong.”
“And then?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he had gas.”
Dena stared at her for several seconds before laughing. “Gas?”
Reggie grinned. “It’s the best I could come up with under the circumstances. I don’t even know the guy—something you should change, by the way. Invite him over for dinner.”
“At our parents’ house? That is so not happening. No. Just no.” She sighed. “Maybe I really did imagine it.”
“Maybe he had gas.”
“It wasn’t gas. Stop it.”
“He also poops.”
Dena got out of the car. “What are you? Five?”
“I’m just saying everyone does it.”
“I can’t believe you’re my sister.”
Reggie grinned. “Because you know you’re so lucky to have me in your life? I get that.”
They were still laughing as they walked into the community center and found the room where they would do their project. Paisley was already there, placing shipping boxes onto the long tables set up in the middle of the room.
“Hey,” she called, motioning to the coatrack in the corner. “Strip down, then help me. We have to open the boxes to see what’s inside, then figure out how we’re going to load the backpacks. Oh, and you each owe me two hundred dollars.”
“I already have my check,” Reggie said, pulling it out of her back jeans pocket and waving it. “Thanks for doing all the shopping.”
“I have mine, too. And I’m with Reggie. You were great to coordinate this.”
Paisley brushed aside the praise. “Once I knew what the project was, I made a few calls, placed a few orders.” She paused. “Wow, I guess I am the superior friend, huh?”
They hugged each other.
Reggie and Dena helped put the rest of the boxes on the tables, then began to open them. There were three huge boxes filled with backpacks. The slightly less large boxes contained things like socks, hand towels, tampons and pads, toiletries, cosmetics and wallets. The last one was filled with snack-size bags of M&M’S.
“Once we get everything sorted by type, we can form an assembly line,” Paisley said. “We’ll get the backpacks filled, then load them in my SUV, and I’ll take them back to the resort. There’s a truck going to Seattle tomorrow and the backpacks will be on it, getting there well before Christmas.”
Camryn and Shaye arrived just then. Shaye wheeled in several boxes on a hand truck, and Camryn held two covered trays that looked a lot like snacks.
“I apologize in advance,” she said, setting down the trays. “The twins helped me, and they have strange ideas of what makes a good snack. These are for us to eat while we work, by the way.”
Paisley eyed the plastic coverings. “Should we be afraid?”
“Do you like celery stuffed with cream cheese and walnuts?”
Paisley paused to consider the question. “I’ve never had it, but I think I might. I mean, come on, it’s cheese. Where’s the bad?”
They all laughed.
After Shaye and Camryn took off their coats, Shaye unpacked her boxes.
“Books and fun things,” she said. “Yo-yos and puzzles. I thought they would be a surprise, along with the practical stuff.”
