Page 14 of All I Want is You this Christmas Final

“Know what?”

“That you confessed your love for A.B. on her wedding day, serious rom-com style, with the car still running?”

“That’s not how it happened…is that what she said?”

Olive shrugged. “Not exactly. She told me the basics and I let my imagination take it from there.”

“It wasn’t quite that dramatic.”

“Yet you didn’t share with anyone? Not even Vance?”

“No, I never told anyone.”

“I see. I wouldn’t either, I guess.” Olive handed him back his card. “Even if the two of you were destined to be together, you telling her like that wasn’t cool. Expecting her to run off with you and break another man’s heart? That’s just immature.”

“Thanks.” Jared took the receipt and signed his name with jerky motions.

“Don’t forget to tip your barista.”

“What happened to tips are accepted, but not expected?” Still, he wrote two dollars on the tip line. He handed her back the receipt and she blew him a kiss.

“This girl needs all the mula she can get.”

“Maybe you should be a little less honest with your customers. You may find your tips increase.”

“Hey, I call it like I see it. I gotta do me.”

He’d forgotten what a pain in the ass Olive could be when she thought she was right.

She is right. Confronting Anna Beth that day and expecting her to choose you was a stupid move. You should have just sat in the back pew and gotten drunk at the open bar during reception on Ian’s dime. At least then, you might have stayed friends.

As he crossed to the back of the shop where Karen stood talking

animatedly with Anna Beth, his heart beat double time. Bundled up in a blue hooded peacoat with a yellow and blue plaid scarf, she looked so sweetly beautiful his teeth ached. Her blond curls were held back from her face in a ponytail, drawing focus to her rosy cheeks and sparkling green eyes.

“Jared, I was just telling Anna Beth she needs to come over for dinner tonight.”

Anna didn’t quite meet his eye as she responded, “And I told your mom, I didn’t want to impose at the last minute.”

“I invited you, silly! It’s not an imposition at all, and I’m not taking no for an answer. Tell her, Jared.”

“Hi, Anna Beth.” There was no staying out of the conversation now. “You might as well say yes. Unless you’ve forgotten how stubborn she can be.”

Her gaze finally met his. Before her wedding, he would have greeted her with his arms wide open and she would have jumped into them or burrowed herself against him, but they weren’t kids anymore. They were adults and virtual strangers, so he kept his hands at his side.

Her lush mouth twitched. “Oh, so you didn’t forget my name? I thought I was ma’am now.”

“What’s this?” Karen asked.

“Nothing,” he said.

“Hmmm mmm, sounds like it.” Karen cupped Anna Beth’s cheeks. “Come by the house at six, alright? It is so good to have you back, baby.”

Anna Beth’s eyes shimmered. “Thank you, Karen.”

Olive called out his name and before he could make his escape, his mom hurried to grab the cups. An awkward silence fell between the two of them amid the bustle of the coffee shop.

Anna Beth spoke first. “If you don’t want me to come to dinner, I can make an excuse.”