Dreaming of His Snowed In Kiss - Jessie Gussman Page 0,12

some underhanded technique to try to get his number, which had happened to him more times than he could count, he rattled it off without thinking.

“I’ll find you in the park.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “In twenty-five minutes.”

He nodded. Still a little in disbelief that he was walking away from his wallet, and that he’d just given her his number, and trying to remember that he didn’t even like her.

Chapter 5

Poppy juggled the Styrofoam take-out containers as she gently eased the bag up around them.

“Thanks so much for letting me go early,” she said to Kelly who was tying an apron around her waist. It wasn’t anything for Kelly to pitch in anywhere the diner needed help. That’s what an owner did, after all.

“If anyone needed help, it was West. I’m glad someone’s giving him a hand. I’m not sure what’s going to go on with that lady...what was her name?”

“Minnie.”

“Yeah. Minnie. What a sad situation.”

Poppy couldn’t disagree. She felt bad for West, too. He’d definitely looked overwhelmed with all the kids.

Of all the men in Mistletoe, West was probably the least likely to have children. He definitely didn’t seem like a kid kinda guy. He didn’t seem like a marrying kind of guy. He seemed like a let me go to my farm and leave me alone kinda guy.

She supposed that’s why girls seemed to buzz around him. They liked the challenge. Well, she didn’t need that kind of challenge. She had absolutely no intention of getting married and even less of having children. She loved them, of course she did, and her heart was pulled toward any child in her vicinity, but after what she’d already gone through, there was no way.

Shouldn’t that be up to the Lord?

She didn’t need to have that voice in her head, and she shoved it, rudely, aside.

God and she were in total and complete agreement on this. She knew it. He would never ask her to go through that type of thing again. And the best way to make sure that it didn’t happen was to not have a family of her own.

“It’s so pretty out. It’s hard to believe that they’re calling for that huge storm later in the week.” Kelly glanced at the window as she arranged the plates on her serving tray. “They said it might even snow. Of course, they say that every winter, and then we get like a dusting. If that. And all the kids are thinking that they might go home from school early, and we barely get any flakes. It’s always a bust. I believe the rain though. Looks like a lot.”

“If we get what they’re calling for, there’s definitely going to be some flooding in the low areas.”

“We can use that precipitation though, after last summer which was really dry.” Kelly put mustard and ketchup on her tray and grabbed a bunch of straws, sticking them in the pocket of her apron. “Enjoy your lunch date,” she called as Poppy grabbed a large bag in each hand and started for the door.

“It’s not a lunch date,” she said with a little laugh but also very seriously over her shoulder.

Kelly just pursed her lips and lifted a shoulder, wiggling her fingers before lifting the tray of food and walking to table twelve.

Was that what everyone was going to think?

If she took this food to the park and ate with West, were people going to have them married by next year this time? Were they going to be an item, even if they weren’t?

Poppy didn’t want that. In fact, that was one of the last things she wanted. She definitely didn’t want him to think that she wanted to be linked with him; she didn’t want to be linked with anyone.

Still, she couldn’t control what other people thought, so she might as well not worry about it. She’d already told him she was bringing him food, and her lunch was in here too, so she was going to spend an hour at the park with West. If the town of Mistletoe had a heyday with that, that was their problem.

Maybe she should say something to West about it. Make sure that he was under no illusions as to what she thought. The direct route always seemed to be the best way.

Jerking her head down in a firm nod to herself, happy she’d gotten things figured out, she marched down the sidewalk.

It didn’t take long for her stride to slow though. For