of tradition now.
After collecting the article of clothing, Amanda stowed it in the front seat and made her way to the grocery store. Following the store, she stopped by the bakery owned by her sister, Cari, to claim some of the Samoa donuts Cari had promised would be on special this week.
Amanda planned on eating ten of the sweet treats, but only bought five. Her plans didn’t need to come to fruition. Not when the donuts would mean she’d have to go up a size in pants within a week. Some things just didn’t need to be accomplished.
Five wouldn’t hurt anyone, though. She snort laughed as she tried to convince herself of that.
Amanda walked around the town of Mistletoe, unwilling to go into the office or anywhere more family centric for her. She couldn’t go into the Deans’ offices – her mother’s side – and she couldn’t go to the Wilsons’ offices – her biological father’s side.
The Wilsons also just happened to be the in-laws of Taylor and Lily, two of Amanda’s sisters. The revelation that the Wilson father had been having an affair with the Dean mother hadn’t been received with any great excitement.
The Deans and Wilsons had a feud and rivalry that spanned decades and had only just recently been softened to become a comradery. Now, though, all that was on tremulous standing and Amanda had no idea what to expect with the new information reveal regarding her parentage.
She avoided both family offices. Amanda didn’t even know how to tell Taylor she couldn’t go to their house for dinner since… she really wasn’t sure how to talk to Roman since he was actually Amanda’s half-brother.
Amanda stopped outside the door to the main café in the middle of town and sighed.
Snow drifted slowly from the cloud-laden sky, dampening the sounds of cars and trucks driving along the freshly plowed roads. Bright Christmas lights outlined many of the building edges, keeping them easy to make out in the rapidly darkening evening.
Amanda sighed again, taking a small amount of satisfaction in the white puff of air that appeared in front of her, stark against the night.
She wasn’t going to Taylor’s, but she was hungry. Since Dad wasn’t home, she could eat in town and not feel like she was abandoning anyone at the house. Brooke and Tanya would find their own reason to go out to eat, probably in Colby. They liked the night life a little more than Amanda did.
Turning, Amanda pulled open the door to the café and strode inside, waiting for a booth to open up. The café was packed during the dinner hour and with the dinner special of Mrs. Claus’s Meatloaf and Elf potatoes listed on the board, things were even busier than normal.
With the bustle of the servers rushing here and there and the muted sounds of customers talking, dishes clinking, and the cook calling out orders, the normalcy of the setting washed comfort over Amanda. She tugged her gloves off, tucking them into the pockets of her thick down-alternative jacket. Unzipping her coat, she pulled it off and draped it over her arm. She folded her arms against her waist while she waited.
The smell of gravy left a delicious aroma to linger on the air and her stomach growled. She hadn’t realized how hungry she really was.
“Hey, Amanda, a booth just came open, is that okay?” Millie grabbed a glass of water and motioned for Amanda to follow her. She knew the booth was optimal and asked out of formality.
“Always.” Amanda grinned, following Millie and grinning in hello to numerous individuals she recognized as she walked by.
She slid into the booth bench seat and set her jacket on the seat beside her. Facing the door would give her more of a view of the restaurant and she could smile at anyone else who might come in that she knew. She was eating alone. She wasn’t a leper.
Millie took her order and dashed away to take another. The door opened again, the dinging of the bell overhead catching Amanda’s attention.
She blinked in surprise at the sudden appearance of her therapist by the doorway.
His low-brimmed cowboy hat enhanced the lines of his jaw and accentuated the shadows around his eyes. He tucked his hands into his well-stacked jean pockets and glanced around at the packed restaurant. He wouldn’t have a table for a good half-hour at best. Millie confirmed that as she called out the wait time as she strode by him.
Did Amanda invite him over?