Fate had assigned Grace the challenge of buying a gift for Nico. With the stipulation that a gift could cost no less than five dollars and no more than ten, she’d struggled to come up with something remotely appropriate for a man who cooked professionally. She’d opted for a practical gift instead. Patsy had set her up and she knew it.
“Where’s yours?” Grace asked. What had he thought of the telescoping ice scraper for his car? It was difficult to wrap, so she’d covered it in red tissue paper, tied a bow and a name tag on it and stored it in her office for the past week. She’d asked Patsy to sneak it into the room and prop it up near the tree.
“My fancy snow-removal tool is in my office where no one can steal it.” He grinned. “I guess someone assumes I’m not prepared for winter.”
“Or wants to make sure you’re safe,” Patsy suggested.
“Or saw you cleaning your windshield with a scraper from the dollar store,” Grace added.
“Come to think of it, you did see me doing that once,” he said. “And you loaned me yours. So thank you.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s from me,” she said, but she smiled at him.
“True.” He pushed the silver bag closer to her. “Open it. I can’t stand the suspense.”
It wasn’t from Nico, thank goodness. Patsy hadn’t gone so far as to arrange that, which was a relief. He’d bought birdseed.
“I have something for you,” her friend said. “You can take that home and add it to your pile.”
“Don’t you think it’s more fun to wait?”
“Sometimes,” Nico said. “When you don’t have any other choice.”
She lifted the tissue from the top of the bag and pulled out a fluffy knit scarf composed of blended shades of aquamarine and light blue.
“Oh, it’s beautiful!”
Patsy agreed, touching the wool. “It feels like alpaca. Or mohair?”
“I don’t know,” Grace said, “but it’s so soft.”
“And matches your eyes,” Nico declared. “Are you sure you don’t have a secret admirer? Other than me, I mean.”
“Stop teasing,” she said, fingering the scarf. “It looks handmade.”
“Someone must have made it especially for you,” Patsy said, shooting Nico a suspicious look.
He ignored her. “Aren’t you glad you opened it? You can wear it tonight when I drive you home.”
“Home to my place,” Grace said.
“Home to mine,” he countered. “We have a wedding to organize, remember?”
“No, we don’t. It’s all done. We can finalize the details later this afternoon.” She intended to dip ornaments in glitter and assemble the lights in the canning jars while she kept her foot elevated. The darn thing had already begun to ache more than she thought it would. Spending another night being pampered by Nico sounded more tempting than she wanted to admit to herself.
“Al will be heartbroken.”
“There is one thing you two might need to consider,” Patsy interjected.
“What?”
“A bridal shower.”
“A bridal shower?” Grace hadn’t even thought about something like that for this last-minute wedding, but why not? “When?”
“Tomorrow night,” Patsy said. “Noelle’s friends on staff have been talking. You know how close they are. We could invite Noelle’s and Ted’s friends, plus some of the family. They wondered if they could hold it here. A couples thing. They talked to me about it last night because they didn’t want to bother you until they knew you were okay.”
“This room is available,” Grace said, considering the possibility. “It was originally reserved for the rehearsal dinner.”
“The ex-groom said he hoped the preparations wouldn’t go to waste,” Patsy said.
“Yes. I got that message,” Nico replied. “ Mason wanted Ted and Noelle to have whatever couldn’t be refunded.”
“So we use Wildwood for a couples shower?” Grace saw Noelle and her son near the Christmas tree. Josh found a present with his name on it—Grace had made sure there would be something for him—and held it up to his mother. “If Noelle and her fiancé agree.”
“Or we could surprise them,” Nico suggested.
Patsy nodded. “I think her friends would like that idea.”
“Well,” Nico drawled, looking at Grace. “The romance continues.”
“YOU MISSED THE MOVIE,” Nico said, stepping into Grace’s office. He stopped, taking in the rows of red ornaments covering her desk and the folding table opened to its six-foot length. Grace sat with her leg propped up on a metal folding chair. She was attaching something to a jar lid with white duct tape.
“The snowboarding preview? Was it good?”
“I looked in a few times. The crowd was certainly into it.” He came closer. “What are you doing?”
“Putting batteries in two dozen sets of lights.” She held up a plastic box. “This holds the batteries. Then I tape one to the underside of the canning jar lid and put the lights in the jar. When they’re turned on they make a pretty decoration.”
“These are for the wedding, I assume?” She looked tired. And she had silver glitter on her chin and her right cheek. He suspected she was hurting, too. He wanted nothing more than to scoop her into his arms, haul her out of the office and put her to bed, where he would tuck pillows around her and feed her. Chicken medallions sautéed in white wine, with capers. A little pasta, perhaps.
“Yes. I spent the afternoon fixing the ornaments.”
“I see that.” He eyed the rows of glittered balls. “Don’t you have any help? I thought you had an assistant.” He was sure he’d seen a tall young woman following Grace around, assembling floral arrangements and guiding guests to various events.
“Just part-time. She’s in college and she went to Mexico for the holidays.”
“Not good timing.”
“I didn’t mind. After the wedding, the rest of the holidays will be fairly quiet until New Year’s Eve. Then I have a wedding in the afternoon and one in the evening, remember? Both are fairly small. I’d offer you a seat, but—”
“You can have one of my interns,” Nico said, frowning at the pain in those beautiful eyes of hers.
