His Holiday Crush - Cari Z. Page 0,10
and parades.”
A crinkle of puzzlement developed between Max’s eyebrows, and he stopped fiddling with the napkin. “Town mascot?” he asked as Dinah showed up with the drinks.
“Oh yeah. Mayor Clawson got the idea when she visited her son and daughter-in-law in Japan. Apparently, a lot of Japanese towns and cities have mascots, and she thought it would be fun if we did, too. Edgewood is now the happy home of Edwina the Blissful Beaver.”
Max almost dropped his water glass. “Hold on, what? Edwina the Beaver?”
“Yep.” I was really enjoying the look on his face. Maybe a little too much. “The mayor made the costume herself. It’s basically a big brown beaver with manga eyes wearing an apron.”
“Creepy as hell,” Dinah grumbled, adding her two cents as she poured the coffee. “She tried to get me into it for the Fourth of July parade last year. I’ve never been so glad to be a size twenty in all my life.”
“Nobody really likes wearing the costume, but it has been really popular,” I said. “Like, there was actually a Buzzfeed article about it. Now the mayor and Lauren—she’s my work partner—and the DMV’s office manager take turns being Edwina.”
Max’s eyes were comically wide. “And your partner doesn’t mind?”
I shrugged. “She gets overtime pay to do it, so no.” Lauren actually hated dressing up in the thing—“Does Mary not get what beaver is slang for?” she’d demanded more than once—but with four kids at home and a husband who had disabilities and couldn’t work, she jumped at any chance to make a little extra money.
“Edwina the Beaver. Wow.” Max sat back against the booth, holding his coffee mug but not drinking yet. “Does Edgewood still do the big tree downtown? And the nativity scene at the church?”
“Yes to the tree, no to a permanent nativity. Baby Jesus was stolen three years ago, and we still don’t know who took him.” I held up my hands when he looked at me incredulously. “Hey, I wasn’t even here three years ago. Don’t look at me! The past two years there’s been a nativity play on Christmas Eve. They get live animals brought in and everything.”
“Mary tried to get a real camel for it the first time around.” Dinah shook her head. “I told her you can’t just rent a camel, they’re a specialty item, but she tried until she was blue in the face. She finally settled on dressing her Labrador up in a camel costume.”
Max was laughing now. He was gorgeous when he laughed, his eyes brighter than ever, lines appearing in the corners as his grin stretched wide. I bit my lip as my stomach swooped in reaction. “What did she use for camels last year?”
“Blow-up dolls, same as she wants to use this year. They’re easier—way less mess than real animals.”
“Blow-up…wait, what?” I couldn’t help it—the thought of Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus surrounded by a bunch of open-mouthed porno blow-up dolls was enough to make me lose it. I put my coffee down and laughed, covering my face with one hand. Me cracking up made Max laugh harder.
“Why are you—oh my god!” Dinah slapped her dishtowel across the edge of our table. “You filthy things, get your minds out of the gutter! They’re in the shapes of animals, not people! They’re cartoon-like!”
“That—that doesn’t make it better,” Max gasped. “That kind of makes it wo-worse…”
I had to put my head down on the table, I was laughing so hard. With any luck, our little church would have the filthiest nativity display on the East Coast this year. Maybe Buzzfeed would do another article on it.
The bell on the kitchen counter rang. “Order up!” Troy shouted like it was the middle of the lunch rush. I glanced his way—he’d gone all out for the holidays, which meant he was using a red Santa hat instead of a net to hold back his long, gray hair.
Thirty seconds later, my second dinner of the night thunked down onto the table, followed by bottles of ketchup, mustard, and whatever hot sauce had been on sale at Costco that week. “You boys eat up and enjoy,” Dinah said with a smile. Lipstick had seeped into the wrinkles in the corners of her mouth, stretching it out into more of a rictus than a grin. She looked tired, and I felt guilty for keeping her here.
“We’ll be out of your hair soon,” I promised her.
“Aw, honey, are you kidding me? What’ve I got to rush home for, huh?”