After the Christmas Party...

“Well, yeah.” Karen gave her a “duh” look. “We are friends, aren’t we?”

“Well, yeah.” She mimicked Karen’s tone, mostly to cover the odd emotion moving through her chest. Karen had gotten her a Christmas gift. And just called them friends. “But we never discussed gifts, so I didn’t expect you’d get me anything.”

“What? You didn’t get me anything? Guess that rules out that new Corvette I’ve been wanting.” Karen feigned a sigh. “There’s always next year.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t get you anything,” Trinity pointed out, “but you’re right, there’s not a Corvette sitting out in the employee parking lot with a big red bow and your name on it. At least, if there is, I’m not the one who got it for you.”

Karen grinned. “Maybe we should check the parking lot out to see.”

They both laughed.

“So what are your Christmas Day plans?” Karen asked, but sounded as if perhaps she already knew the answer.

“Well, unless I can convince you to let me work in your place, I’ll be going with Riley to his family Christmas lunch.”

“Wow. I figured you’d be spending the day with him but a family get-together? Are you two that serious?”

Heat infused Trinity’s face. That serious. How did she answer that when she didn’t know the answer herself? “It’s just a meal.”

“When a man takes a woman with him to a family holiday meal, it’s never just anything. It’s a big deal.”

“Maybe he just felt sorry for me because I’m new in town.” Yet another reason why she didn’t want to go. She didn’t want his pity.

“Are you kidding me? I have seen the way that man looks at you. He is smitten.”

Which sounded good but also a little too good to be true. She kept expecting him to snap out of whatever spell he’d fallen under. Then where would she be? Lost.

“What are you wearing?”

Trinity shrugged. She hadn’t even thought about what she’d wear. What was wrong with her? She should have thought about it. Only she was so used to just wearing hospital scrubs that she didn’t give much thought to anything else.

Laughing, Karen shook her head. “Okay, so you’ve no clue what you’re wearing. How about gifts for Riley’s family?”

If her face had been hot moments before it was deathly cold now.

“I wish I knew. I’ve been searching for something from the moment I realized I was going to have to go to this dinner, but what do you buy for people you’ve never met?”

Karen paused a moment then shrugged. “Nothing big or fancy, just some token of appreciation that says thank you for including me and, no, I’m not a total loser that your son’s dragged home to meet you.”

“Maybe I am a total loser when it comes to Christmas, because I don’t have gifts for them and don’t know what to buy.”

Karen looked thoughtful then waggled her brows. “Anything at home you can re-gift?”

Re-gift? As in give away something that someone had given her once upon a time? That would be assuming that she’d received gifts over the years. She rarely had.

She winced and met her friend’s gaze. “What am I going to do? I’m running out of time. Tonight, after work, is the last chance I have.”

Shaking her head in mock sympathy, Karen laughed. “I guess you are going to join the throng of last-minute shoppers who are hitting the stores the minute they get off work tonight and pick something from whatever is left on the sales rack.”

Trinity closed her eyes.

Go shopping for Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve.

Oh, joy to the world.

CHAPTER TEN

RILEY HAD PLANNED to spend Christmas Eve with Trinity, but obviously she’d had other ideas because when he’d asked her to come over for dinner, she’d refused.