and environmental. The mugs can be returned for a partial refund, or kept as a souvenir.
I think we know what I'll be doing with my mug.
Nick insists I try the Glühwein, then laughs at the face I make after taking the first sip. It's essentially a red wine heated with spices and sugar, hints of cinnamon and cloves and a dash of vanilla heavy on my tongue. It’s stronger than I was expecting but I soon learn to embrace it.
We stand at tall round-topped tables while we eat, surrounded by others doing the same. Families with children in strollers and young professionals alike surround us. It appears the markets are a popular meeting spot for locals looking for a quick dinner or a drink with friends. Nick confirms this and it surprises me as I'd assumed it was geared toward tourists, but it charms me all the more knowing it's an authentic local experience.
"We need a Christmas market in Reindeer Falls," I tell him. "Or at the very least we need to add seasonal decorations to the front of the Teddy Bear Café to honor this magic." I wave a hand out before me to encompass the whole of the market, but we're interrupted before Nick can respond.
"Nick!"
A pretty brunette somewhere around our age stops at our table, grasping Nick by the shoulders and kissing him on both cheeks, greeting him with a flurry of words spoken in German.
"Johanna." Nick returns the greeting, a genuine smile crossing his face. He introduces me and explains that he used to work with Johanna when he was based in Nuremberg.
Johanna turns a friendly eye on me and gives me a quick hug of greeting, asking how I'm enjoying the city. I gush appropriately over the wonder and magic of the city, stopping abruptly when I catch Nick staring at me. Johanna smiles, a wide, easy grin covering her face before turning her attention back to Nick. Another flurry of German is exchanged between them. I don't miss the slight nod of her head in my direction or the flicker of Nick's eyes on me as he responds to whatever she's asked with a shake of his head. Johanna glances between us once again with a rueful smile before explaining in English that she has to run, her family is waiting on her, pointing to a tall man and a toddler in a stroller a few feet away.
"Auf wiedersehen." Nick reverts back to German to say goodbye, a brief hug exchanged before she disappears into the crowd.
I take a sip of my drink, watching him. I had the distinct impression they were talking about me, but it felt innocent. I think?
"What did she say? When you were talking to each other in German?" I ask a moment later, my curiosity getting the best of me. I’m chancing that whatever they were saying was innocuous and Nick will tell me. Or if it was awful, that he'll make something up to spare me.
He eyes me for a long moment, and I'm not sure he's going to respond. Either that or he doesn't want to share what the conversation was about and it's taking him a very long time to come up with a plausible story.
Curiosity piqued.
"She asked if we were sleeping together," he finally says. He doesn't break eye contact when he says it nor does he laugh or crack so much as a smile.
I choke on my drink.
"What?" I sputter around coughs, my heart racing faster than Rudolph on Christmas Eve. I focus on the table. The lights. The towering spire of the Schöner Brunnen. Anywhere but on Nick. "Right. As if," I finally manage, forcing myself to meet Nick's gaze. "What's the German word for ‘no?’" I ask with a big smile in an attempt to bring some levity to this conversation.
Another long stare. "Alles, was ich zu Weihnachten möchte, ist einen Kuss von dir," he says quietly, his eyes dropping briefly to my lips before he glances away. It felt like a caress, that glance. I'm not sure how that's even possible, but I felt it all the same.
I shiver, but I'm nowhere near cold.
Christmas market voodoo.
"That's a lot of words for ‘no,’" I finally manage.
"Yeah, complicated language." Nick balls up the wrappers from our sandwiches and tosses them in a nearby bin. "Come on, I want to show you something."
Chapter 8
"Are you sure we're allowed to do this?"
"Trust me." Nick flashes a smile at me when I glance back at him