Page 19 of The Christmas Arrangement

“Apparently,” I say.

“Jack says it’s fairly common,” Holly informs us.

Jack would probably know. His late mother was an extremely famous author. I note, but don’t mention, that Jack could only have weighed in if Holly, Dad, or Noelle spilled the tea despite the NDA. Maybe Merry isn’t the only loose-lipped Jolly.

Instead I say, “A public relations stunt that Lia backed out after Dash’s latest behavior.”

Merry’s catching up. “And you took her spot. How did that happen?”

“Quinn asked me to make these enormous flower arrangements, over a thousand flowers, for a photo shoot. Turns out the photo shoot was going to be Dash and Lia’s big announcement about their relationship. I’ve been awake for almost two days putting together these elaborate flower arrangements.”

“We seen the pictures on the internet. They’re gorgeous,” Noelle says.

If they’ve seen pictures of the flowers, they’ve also seen pictures of this kiss. Their extreme interest is making even more sense.

“When I was unloading them into Quinn’s barn, Dash came outside for some air. I asked him to give me a hand.”

“You asked Dash Pine to help you unload flowers from the bed of your dad’s pickup truck?” Noelle asks, as if she’s misheard me.

“Well, I didn’t know it was Dash. He had his collar up and hat pulled low over his forehead. I had my hands full and didn’t take a close look at him.”

“So then he said, ‘I don’t do manual labor,’ and that’s when you found out it was Dash,” Holly guesses.

“No, he helped me, and then I recognized him.”

“Huh,” Holly says.

“It’s your meet-cute!” Merry declares.

“It wasn’t a meet-cute. It was the beginning of a business arrangement.”

“So what happened?” Noelle says. “Did you offer to take Lia’s place?”

“No, he asked me. Actually, first he asked me to take my coat off.”

“He asked you to take your coat off?” Holly says. “And you did it? That doesn’t seem like you.”

She’s right, of course. “He had just told me Lia backed out and I was panicking. I thought if the photo shoot didn’t happen, he might not pay for all those flowers.”

“That would be breach of contract, and we would have nailed him to the wall.”

“Maybe, but in the moment, I just took off my parka and …”

“He liked what he saw,” Merry says.

Blood rushes to my face.

“And cue the blushing.”

Noelle throws her a warning look as I barrel ahead with the story. “So he asked. At first I said I couldn’t because I have too much work to do.”

“You do have too much work to do,” Merry says.

Holly and Noelle stare at her.

“It’s a crazy time of year. We have a big bulletin board in the kitchen where we have all of our orders pinned up so we don’t lose track.”

“She’s right. Between her desserts business and my flower business, our house is busier than Santa’s workshop. But that’s not my biggest problem.”