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mother’s bed at your age, young lady?”
    “Because…” She looked to her mother for guidance.
    Jenny rolled her eyes and blurted it out. “Because we were fighting, and Mom separated us.” Mallory gave a helpless toss of her hands and walked away when the door chimes jingled again. Looking over her shoulder, Mallory saw that it was AJ. An unintentional smile separated her lips and made her heart thud against her rib cage. When Dina noticed him, she instinctively steered the girls toward the backroom.
    Mallory greeted him as though he was the bright light in her day, and the fear of him asking her out in front of the girls was no longer a concern. In fact, she hoped he would. There was something about this guy who had managed to snake his way into her mind.
    “How long did it take you to warm up last night?” she asked.
    He laughed. “Not terribly long. I took a hot shower as soon as I got home; it worked its magic and got my blood flowing again.” They shared a laugh.
    “I’d like to thank you for delivering my Christmas tree…and,” she said reaching for her purse, “I owe you money. I didn’t pay Jess for that tree. So how much did it come to?”
    He gave her a twisted smile. “If you’ll have coffee with me, we can call it even.”
    “That’s not fair. The tree cost a lot more than a cup of coffee.”
    “No amount of money could ever compare to the joy I’ll get from having you sit across from me.”
    “Ooh.” Her eyes squinted. “You’re good. I’ll give you that.”
    “Yeah? You think so?”
    She nodded. “Okay, let me see if my sister will mind watching the girls. They didn’t have school today so I’m putting them to work.”
    “That’s a good way to teach them some responsibility. Tell ‘em will bring back hot chocolate.”
    She held up her finger. “Good thought. I’ll be right back.”
     
    ~~~
     
    AJ’s pulse raced as she walked away. Finally. She was going to have coffee with him. Slow down, cowboy , he told himself. Push too hard and you’ll push her right back into abstinence . Nope, he was going to play it smart this time. He was surprised it had taken him this long. He was certain his friends would never believe he wasn’t able to convince a woman to have coffee with him on the first try. Now that he knew the circumstances of her life, his plan would need to be a little different, but that didn’t mean he liked it. He’d always claimed “slow and easy” was for men who lacked confidence. But now that he was maturing, as his aunt would say, that philosophy didn’t necessarily fit the mold or the circumstances.
    He watched Mallory walk out from the back room, a brown-striped scarf wrapped around her neck, her tan down jacket open. Seeing her walk toward him gave him an overwhelming feeling in his chest. She was definitely the one and there was no way he was ever moving away from Chester. How did he know? He just did. Attraction was always exciting, but this was by far the most awesome thing he’d ever experienced. It was as if he’d just learned he held the winning lottery ticket. And he didn’t need the lottery. He needed her.
    “Are you ready?” she asked.
    “I’ve been ready for a long time,” he said with a wink. And then he took her hand and looped it through his arm as they exited the shop. “Hang on tight. It might be slippery out here.” He said a silent prayer, thanking Mother Nature for sending them snow. Having Mallory this close confirmed everything he’d been feeling.
    As they walked past the other shops, one of the storeowners was throwing salt on the sidewalk in the front of his store. “Glad to see you made it to the shop, Mallory,” he said. They stopped walking. The owner nodded toward the parking lot. “This snowfall did us no favors so close to Christmas.”
    “I think we’ll be all right, Jack,” she said. “The sun is out and the snow seems to be melting rather quickly. I suspect we’ll have a good Christmas after all.” They